http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/209645719/letter-f

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/209665551/quit-goi

Many have asked, "So just what is it you do now?" I try to answer, in brief, below.

— Brant Hansen, in We Quit "Going to Church" a Year Ago

(Hat tip to bish)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/214046666/why-god-

Here's why.

(Hat tip to jonny, again)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/214051444/the-chur

Lon Wong quotes Shane Claireborne:

Let’s stop complaining about the church that we see, and set our hearts on becoming the church we dream of.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/216226855/groundho

We just finished watching Groundhog Day with the kids, who managed to put up with a lot of kissing thanks to it being just plain funny. But it's been a while since I'd seen it, and I didn't remember it as such a profound spiritual movie. The wikipedia write-up says it better than I can:

Groundhog Day is a tale of self-improvement, to look inside oneself and realize that the only satisfaction in life comes from turning outward and concerning oneself with others rather than concentrating solely on one's own wants and desires. As such, the film has become a favorite of Buddhist, Christian and Jewish leaders alike because they see its themes of selflessness and rebirth as a reflection of their own spiritual messages. It has even been dubbed by some religious leaders as the "most spiritual film of our time."



Highly recommended. (Thanks, Chris, you can have it back now. You doing a February 2nd showing?)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/216761808/bad-day-

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/218011345/coworker

In response to an email about moths on our floor at work, one of my friends replied:

According to my CSI field manual, the moths found rampaging our hallways are of the flesh-eating zombie family -- Plodia interpunctella zombia. There must be a dead construction worker in the ceiling above one of our offices. Be careful to avoid being bitten by one of these zombie moths. I was bitten last night and now hunger for the brains of my coworkers and find that I now move even slower than before.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/219472519/how-geek

75% Geek

This one's particularly fun because it shows a meter that rises according to your answers. (And it's nicely written in JavaScript so it all happens quickly in the browser with no page loading.) But I had to approximate my answer to the question, "When did you first start playing video games?" because the earliest they offered was 1980. Pfft. Kids.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/220203910/kay-sez.

"Then why don't you put the cross in the trash?"

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/221084263/prayer-t

It's time.

++

How long before I get in

Before it starts, before I begin

How long before you decide

Before I know what it feels like

Where to, where do I go

If you never try, then you'll never know

How long do I have to climb

Up on the side of this mountain of mine

Look up, I look up at night

Planets are moving at the speed of light

Climb up, up in the trees

Every chance that you get is a chance you seize

How long am I gonna stand

With my head stuck under the sand

I'll start before I can stop

Before I see things the right way up

++

Coldplay - Speed of Sound

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/222657264/trevor-s

"It's not every day that I wear a bra."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/222692643/lost-in-

Well, it's taken me a month to use up my Christmas gift from Kay: a $30 iTunes gift certificate. A month! (Some of you are shaking your heads at me in wonder.) You see, because I love music so much and iTunes makes it so easy to spend money, I have trained myself to resist the temptation. So being given permission, well, it just made my head spin. Where to start? What to buy?

With new things about to begin, Soliton is on my mind, so the musical trigger of Coldplay was on my heart. So it seemed only fitting to start with:

Clocks, and

Speed of Sound

Then it was time to go back to my prog roots. First, a bit of prog jazz:

Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever

This album used to be listed at $5.94 because it only has six pieces, but by the time I bought it the price had been jacked up to the full $9.99. Oh well. This is so worth it.

Then onto prog pop. You didn't know there was such a thing, did you?

The Gist of the Gemini by Gino Vanelli

I mean, side B (remember, albums used to have sides?) is a full-on concept piece called the War Suite. Jazzy progressions, with great synth work, and above all Gino's amazing voice. He has an odd falsetto, but has such control of it that it gives me chills.

Since I'm on my prog kick, I really had to get true-blue prog rock:

Relayer by Yes

At $2.97 for a full album, this one's a steal! Are there other prog bargains out there?

By this point I was starting to run low. Do I go for Todd Rundgren? No, the sound of Gino Vanelli's voice had infected me, so I picked up

Appaloosa and

Feel Like Flying

I had forgotten that they both have sa-weet bass playing.

One more Coldplay,

Trouble

And finally, some serious jazz funk:

Hip Pockets and

Juicy

by the Billy Cobham and George Duke Band.

Because all these tunes are so familiar from long ago, but I haven't heard them in a long time, I have found they give me a big energy boost when I do household chores. I mean, I am dancing around, woo!

And I've got 12 cents left.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/224309523/imprompt

Erin & I just went shopping for a few groceries. It's raining, so I was looking for a parking spot close to the store. I noticed an older man holding up a sign: "hungry, need help".

In front of our neighborhood Lucky grocery store? We live in middle-class suburbia, a place designed for comfort. This man was an uncomfortable reminder that the world is not all like this.

I parked the car, and we ran through the rain. The man had moved out of the rain to the sheltered area at the entrance to the store. I went about fetching a cart, not sure what to do, not sure what to feel, trying to fool myself into thinking that I didn't notice him. But 10-year-old Erin, bless her heart, said, "Did you see that man holding the 'hungry' sign? I feel sorry in my heart for him."

So we did our shopping, keeping our eyes open for anything that might help get him. As we shopped, Erin said, "I saw another homeless man not too long ago. As I was going to bed, I prayed for him quietly in my heart."

We picked up snack bars and orange juice, along with the rest of our shopping. We put the snack and juice into a separate bag along with a $10 bill. And we walked out of the store.

He was gone.

We looked around, but couldn't find him. Was he kicked off the premises? Where did he go in the rain? We walked in the rain. We searched by car.

I asked Erin what we could learn from this experience.

She said, "That we have a lot more than many people."

I said, "I wish I hadn't been afraid to talk to him at first. I could have asked him how we could help. We could have taken him shopping, or if that was too uncomfortable, we could at least have told him, 'Wait here, we'll be right back.'"

When we got home, I wanted to do something to help us remember this as a God moment. So we had communion, just the two of us, using the food we had hoped he would eat.

"The body of Christ, broken for you and for that man" — a Quaker Baked Apple Crisp Bar

"The blood of Christ, shed for you and for that man" — Sunnyside Farms Original 100% Pure Orange Juice

Technorati Tags: communion, poverty

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/224956263/erin-sez

Erin: "What's an atheist?"

Kay: "Somebody who doesn't believe in any god."

Erin: "That sounds like me, in the morning."

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/224991442/and-so-i

Well, here we go. Potluck at our place, this Saturday evening, 6:30. Let me know if you want to be added to the select list.

This week, we will devote ourselves to the following text:

Wow. SPs, they'll just read about them in the history books. I just go through that tech, literally. It's not how to run from an SP. It's PTSP — how to shatter or confront oppression. You apply it, then boom. — Tom Cruise

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/225984528/pray-for

I cannot absorb the news; it just seems like a world apart. So it was helpful for me to see this photo essay and read the captions. People. Faces. Stories.

I mean, this is Kenya, for crying out loud!

Pray.

(hat tip: Mike Todd)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/226625723/competit