Is this really needed?

Would you buy one?

Is your name Indiana?

I voted with the 31% in this Christianity Today poll.

My favorite all time Christmas song is the traditional O Holy Night.. nothing matches it.

I also like a lot of other genres as well. My favorite CD album is A Vineyard Cafe Christmas.

How would you vote and what is your favorite Christmas song?

Complements of Small Paul

Assembly of God pastor George Wood posts a review of William Lobdell's book at AG Think Tank. Here is the way that it starts:

Losing My Religion is William Lobdell’s memoir of becoming an evangelical, then a Roman Catholic, then a reluctant atheist. It is an engrossing and quick read. And unlike Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, Lobdell is not vicious. He disagrees with believers, but he does not despise them.

Lobdell is an award-winning journalist who covered the religion beat for the Los Angeles Times. As a one-time resident of Costa Mesa, California—where Lobdell lives—and a former reader of the Times, I personally know some of the people Lobdell reported on, and I remember reading some of his stories. His reportage on the sins of Paul and Jan Crouch and their Trinity Broadcasting Network sticks in my mind even to this day.

The book begins with Lobdell’s life in a mess. A friend tells him he needs God, and he ends up going to Mariners Church, an evangelical megachurch pastored by Kenton Beeshore. As he matures in his faith, he switches to St. Andrews Presbyterian, pastored by John Huffman. Eventually, however, he finds himself drawn to Catholicism, and he and his wife enroll in catechism classes.

I recommend reading the whole review that goes on to describe how Lobdell eventually got disgusted with the church and Christian behavior. He eventually lost his religion.

Do you know someone like William Lobdell? I do. It would be so easy to for me to sit here and cast stones at Lobdell and people like him. The truth is that I am also often disappointed by the same things that he was. I honestly don't know how I would have responded if I had to investigate and report on the things that he did.

I do know that I am often challenged by health struggles.. by heartbreak.. by sometimes unbearable pain.. by unanswered prayer.. and for some reason I hang in there seeking to embrace God in different ways.. discarding a belief system and religion that was so obviously broken. Maybe William Lobdell's fate was somewhat sealed by the type of religion that he embraced? What do you think?

You can check out William Lobdell's blog here.. it is where I initially read the review.

Ever since I switched internet browsers I have been discovering some of the great features of Firefox. One that I'd like to highlight today is the search menu and bar.
I love that I am able to do a simple search of the bible (Via Bible Gateway), the dictionary (via Websters and dictionary.com), YouTube, Wikipedia and weather.com as well as doing a traditional Google search using the search menu feature.

HT: Locusts and Honey

Next to Secretary of State this one might be his most important appointment :)

As I travel around BlogWorld these days I have come across several posts labeled "The Advent Conspiracy" and usually showcase a video from their website. The central message of the video is that we Americans spend too much on Christmas and how we need to give more. Here are a few of their main points:

[Spend Less]
Before you think we’re getting all Scrooge on you, let us explain what we mean. We like gifts. Our kids really like gifts. But consider this: America spends an average of $450 billion a year every Christmas. How often have you spent money on Christmas presents for no other reason than obligation? How many times have you received a gift out of that same obligation? Thanks, but no thanks, right? We’re asking people to consider buying ONE LESS GIFT this Christmas. Just one.  Sounds insignificant, yet many who have taken this small sacrifice have experienced something nothing less than a miracle: They have been more available to celebrate Christ during the advent season.

[Give More]
God’s gift to us was a relationship built on love. So it’s no wonder why we’re drawn to the idea that Christmas should be a time to love our friends and family in the most memorable ways possible. Time is the real gift Christmas offers us, and no matter how hard we look, it can’t be found at the mall. Time to make a gift that turns into the next family heirloom. Time to write mom a letter. Time to take the kids sledding. Time to bake really good cookies and sing really bad Christmas carols. Time to make love visible through relational giving. Sounds a lot better than getting a sweater two sizes too big, right? Need a few ideas? Just click here and see what others have done to give more during the advent season.

I think that I am about to make a very politically incorrect statement so hold on and hear me out. I am tired of organizations trying to guilt me into behavioral change. I am weary of folks that use manipulative images in an attempt to shame me into action. Why not just say what you mean and not cloak it in all this conspiracy language? Maybe the real conspiracy is more about them than us?

Why is it that the assumption is that people are stingy and materialistic? Why do they believe that change should be inflicted from the outside? Why can't they just speak to the heart of the issue.. namely that religious folks live out of their guilty consciences more than any of us like to admit and we are often persuaded when someone comes along and guilts us into action.

Our church has an annual Christmas donation that will be taken next week and will go to help families in need over the holidays. It is simply advertised beforehand and there is no impassioned appeals for giving. Our church leaders just believe the best about the people who will give and I am always amazed at how generous people are. The same is true for our monthly food pantry donations.

Maybe people would respond with generosity if we just started believing the best about them instead of trying to guilt them into action? I mean really.. aren't televangelists enough.. do we need somebody else talking down to us about money?

Hello. I'm Forrest, Forrest Gump.

Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

Stupid is as stupid does.

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

It happens.

Mama always said, dying was a part of life.

Sometimes, I guess there's just not enough rocks.

My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on.

When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went.

My momma always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where the go, where they've been.

That's all I have to say about that.

Wired.com offers a listing of the 20 Worst Film and TV Turkeys of the Year. Here are a few of their Turkeys:

18. Heroes: When even die-hard fans say a TV show is struggling, you know your superheroes have super problems. But even if it runs out of ideas, a series needs to do whatever it can to reach that 100-episode mark so it make a little scratch off syndication.

10. Cloverfield: C'mon! The plot was basically, "Walk here. Die there." And the lauded monster looked like it was assembled by evolution after losing a bet.

8. X-Files: I Want to Believe: I wanted to leave. This sluggish, self-important tribute to clinical depression managed to kill the franchise.

6. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: This desperately unnecessary sequel was so bad it's hard to believe Stephen Sommers didn't direct it.

4. The Love Guru: Mike Myers was determined to prove that midget jokes and toilet humor could entertain an audience for a couple hours. He pulled that off -- if you substitute "bore and disgust" for "entertain."

3. Brit TV remakes: Stop remaking good British TV shows. The Office worked. Life on Mars doesn't steam like the pile it could have been. But, remakes like My Own Worst Enemy (Jekyll) was euthanized, and Eleventh Hour isn't far behind. It will soon join the recreations of Cracker and Touching Evil.

2. Knight Rider: It's not like the bar was set very high by David Hasselhoff in the original series, but NBC's new Knight ended up tripping over it, falling on it and somehow swallowing it.

I tend to agree with these Turkeys with the exception of Heroes.. I am still hooked.. maybe I am just hopelessly addicted.

Check out all 20 Turkeys and let me know if you agree or disagree.

I watched this 6 minute video clip at Alex's place and came away from it wondering why Christian's do the full yoga experience. I understand the exercise part but don't quite get the other parts. Maybe someone can help me out.

Karen at TSSO suggested that her readers share seven random or weird facts about themselves at their blog site. I have posted stuff like this before but here are some new boring KB "facts":

1. I am a New York City pizza bigot.. anything else is
   not really pizza.
2. I have seen most of my dreams come true.
3. I used to design software architectures.
4. I love the Statue of Liberty.
5. My grandkids give me a lot of joy.
6. I have had a meal with my promise keeper buddy Jim almost every week for the past 16 years.
7. I like to take long car trips.

If you'd like to share something similar then just post seven random/weird facts about yourself in a post on your blog site and let me know about it.

According to this What Kind of Shopper Are You? quiz :

You Are a Reluctant Shopper

You really don't enjoy shopping. For you, it's just another chore. You approach shopping systematically. You research what you're going to buy and come prepared with a list.

Of all the types, you are the most likely to not buy things you don't need. You try to de-emphasize stuff in your life. You find shopping and buying things to be a rather empty experience.

Hmmm.. I think that this is an accurate picture of my grocery shopping escapades at Walmart.. but I'm not sure it would be representative of my other shopping experiences.. not that I buy very much :)

Let me know if you take the quiz and what kind of shopper you are.

The Chumps really stunk up the day last Sunday losing to the Bills 54-31. KC Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock is comparing the management and coaching team to the three stooges. Here is an few excerpt from his column:

There’s no reason to blame Tyler Thigpen, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali or any of the nameless, faceless jerseys masquerading as starting NFL linebackers. It’s not their fault. They didn’t assemble this team.

Carl “Moe” Peterson, Herm “Larry” Edwards and Bill “Curly” Kuharich put together the worst team in Chiefs history, a squad with a two-year, 19-of-20 losing stretch.

I tend to agree with Jason. Of course.. even my friend Brian now thinks that the Bungles are better than the Chumps.. maybe a great draft pick will change everything.. oh wait.. they don't draft new ownership or management.. sigh.

..and it is just 90 seconds :)

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks unto the Holy One

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, 'I am strong'

Let the poor say, 'I am rich'

Because of what the Lord has done for us

Give thanks

Catch the Video with author/singer Don Moen here.

Saw them this morning in the Macy's parade..
hard to believe anyone really wants to see this act :)

Have you heard about the lost astronaut's tool bag?

The astronaut who lost her tool bag on a spacewalk admitted Wednesday that she made a mistake by not checking to see if the sack was tied down, and said she's still smarting over the whole thing. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview with The Associated Press that it was "very disheartening" to lose her bag full of tools. She was trying to clean up grease that had oozed out of a grease gun in the backpack-size bag, when the tote and everything in it floated away Tuesday. The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut. NASA put the price tag of the tool bag at $100,000.

You can track the orbit of the tool bag at this satellite tracking site.