You’re Watership Down!
by Richard Adams
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you’re
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You’d
be recognized as such if you weren’t always talking about talking rabbits.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
HT to Jay
How about you… are you crazy enough to change things? Are you sick of status quo? I am.
HT to Dennis
Last night I got an invitation to put all of our church videos on a new Christian-only version of YouTube. First there was GodTube and now this.
I laughed at GodTube’s claims that they were the fastest growing site on the internet… totally a joke of a statistic if you ask me… not like GodTube got bigger than Facebook did in 2007.
As far as interface and design go… could this new site be any more cheesy? Technically speaking… a lot of the videos don’t even work!
Let me share my opinion about “Christian only” content sites. I don’t mind sites that are geared towards Christians networking… heck, I own one. But I am against the idea that there should be a differentiation between the “Christian internet” and “secular internet.” Both GodTube and this new video site claim to be “family safe.” While that isn’t a bad thing in and of itself I always wonder why people like this don’t just create channels of “family safe” stuff within the existing structure of MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube. Christians were never commanded to separate from the world or form our own sub-culture… we were commanded to penetrate the culture for God. Ephesians 5 teaches us to bring “light” to “dark” places. These sites are trying to do the opposite.
I don’t plan on moving content to these new sites. If they offered services that were better than YouTube’s than I might consider it. But I’m not going to pull content off of a great delivery channel only to put it on a weaker and sorry to say cheesier delivery channel. That completely misses the point of using the internet for ministry.
Plus, I don’t know how YouTube doesn’t sue these companies for trademark violations. That’s for another day.
A key component to the second law of thermodynamics is entropy.
Entropy is the scientific principle that all systems will eventually go from order to disorder. Entropy allows mathematics to explain dissipation within a system boundary. In the first law of thermodynamics, energy is never lost in a macrosystem. But in a microsystem, entropy explains why stuff breaks down. The classic example of entropy is a glass of ice water. Water, a system where water is in a mixed state of solid and liquid, is constantly 
breaking down. Entropy explains that eventually the glass of ice water will break down. The ice will melt into the water because of the heat energy outside of the glass or the liquid will freeze because of the lack of heat. But entropy will not allow the glass of ice water system to stay the same.
In short, entropy is one of the variables that explains that stuff (a system) breaks over time. Pressure, stress, strain, temperature… all are variables. It’s why cars don’t last forever. It’s why toys eventually break. It’s why today’s superfast computer will be slow in three years. If you are a scientist designing a closed system… a car or a medicine or anything scientific you have to plan for entropy… that system will break down over time. If a scientist has no plan for entropy in his system he has failed on a professional level.
But what about entropy in social organizations? Does social entropy exist within systems?
I don’t know Chris Groeppner. Here’s a tad about him. But I have been following him via his blog for the last several months. He and his wife have just completed the process of adopting two children from Siberia.
Along the way, Chris and his wife have created some beautiful videos. I don’t think you have to know them to see the beauty they capture as a couple reaches out to adopt two little boys. During this Lenten season, it is good to reflect on our own adoption. Christians believe that they are children of God but that we were not born in that condition. As you watch the Groeppner’s videos I hope you will get a glimpse of the extreme measure Jesus took to adopt us as sons of the Father.
Gotcha Day
There is more to read, pictures, etc. on Chris’s blog.
The Light Force All Night Party went great. In every regard it was a good night. That’s really all I can manage to say coherently. It is time for sleep.
I use Twitter a little bit. You can find my Twitter page right here, follow me if you’d like.
But I don’t think Twitter will last long. Sure everyone is talking about how cool it is. And all the cool kids are posting tweets from a desktop application or the internet or with text messages or mobile internet connections on their phones. I think it is interesting and I like to answer the question “what am I doing right now” 5-6 times per day. I think it’s a little narcissistic to think that anyone cares where I am driving or what I had for lunch. But I don’t think narcissism alone will fad Twitter’s fad. If that were the case you wouldn’t be at a website named after me. To the contrary many millions of blogs will be started in 2008.
I think Twitter will fade because it has no real usefulness. It’s not a utility. There is only so much I care about what my friends are doing this very instant. In fact, it’s as sad as when we had binoculars when we lived in a high rise. When you stare into someone else’s life… even someone’s life you greatly admire… you discover they are just as boring as you are.
At the end of the day I want to know what you think. I don’t really want to know what you are doing this very instant. What you do is uninteresting to me. What you think… I will read that.
p.s. I will still use Twitter. Just I still have the binoculars. You never know if a purpose will emerge for either.
p.p.s I think something like Twitter, with true utility will become more popular than Facebook and Myspace combined in 2009.
“I’ve read that passage 10 times in my life, heard several messages in church, but never understood what God was trying to teach me until your message. Thank you.”
This is something that most Bible teachers and pastors hear from time to time. It’s meant as a compliment to the preacher… and it is. It is a compliment to preparation, creativity, and delivery. When I receive that compliment it always helps validate the hours of work that go into everything from simple lessons to the most complex sermon to a weekly youth group talk. But the primary compliment goes to God. When I hear that comment I know that the Holy Spirit has done something in that person’s life.
Here is the definition of illumination I learned in college:
The Illumination of the Bible (also relates to pneumatology) That supernatural help of the Holy Spirit which enables man to understand and comprehend the meaning of God’s revelation.
Illumination has two aspects as it relates to us. First for unbelievers, illumination is the Holy Spirit helping the person to understand God’s truths for the purposes of salvation. Practically, this is what makes the difference between someone who has heard the gospel message 20x’s and not responded and responding to the 21st time. Second for believers, illumination is the action of the Holy Spirit when you understand God’s revelation to you. (99% of the time that revelation is the Bible)
Practically, what does illumination look like or feel like? (more…)
Why is it that weeks like this go by so fast? And why is it weeks when nothing notable happens seem to take forever? Wouldn’t it be better if it were visa versa?
I know I’d like to stop and smell the roses a little more during good times… and I kind of wish those non-notable moments would just fly by.
Today we have a new female vocalist in church for the first time. During their first song, Joyous Light, the harmonies made it seem as though she had sung with Jimmy her whole life. I don’t think I’ve ever had chills like that run down my spine during a rehearsal.
If you are here in the area. 9 & 11. Get here.