Archive for December 2006
Happy New Year’s!!
Thanks for reading my blog in 2006!
No resolutions here — maybe I’ll post some next week.
This year, I’m celebrating with my small group again. We will be eating a 5-course meal in formal attire — I’ll post the menu next week!!
Renaissance Man?
Today:
8 am make eggs for Jennifer and the boys.
10am creative meeting with LifeBridge team
12-2pm shop for groceries for New Year’s Eve Meal
2-7pm cook with Ryan in preperation for New Year’s Eve Meal
7pm – ???am (it’s 1am now) work in my basement (I’ve been doing some finishing — right now I’m literally waiting for paint to dry so I can recoat and go to bed)
Merry Christmas!!!
My best reads of 2006
Well, since everyone else does a list, I thought I’d do mine, with something near and dear to my heart…books. (Similar format to my 2005 list.)
Summary…it looks like I’ll finish48 books this year, just 4 shy of my goal. The catagory breakdown is as follows:
Fiction 17
Christian Living 14
Non-Ficiton 6
Leadership 6
Church 3
Theology 2
Okay, so here’s my recommended books from 2006 in no particular order: (obviously, not all were published in ‘06, but I read them in ‘06).
favorite author writes a book on a topic that I was afraid would be boring — but I was challenged, and it changed my prayer life — post link
i was introduced to Anne Lamott this year, and while her Plan B (released in 2006) was disappointing, this book is one I’ll read again and again post link
at the time of this writing, I’m 2/3 of the way through this book, but it’s my favorite fiction book of 2006 (it was published in 1995 — that’s how behind the curve I am!)
it says that it’s a history book, but it’s really great analysis of global trade, free markets, outsourcing, etc. — I can’t stress enough how important this book is post link
what do you expect? another great book from David McCullough
i had low expectations for this book, but it really challenged to think about the roles of jealousy, envy, anger and greed in my heart
excellent book that added new words to my leadership vocabulary like “hedgehog concept,” “level five leader,” and “the stockdale paradox.” post link
leadership always involves personal pain — if you don’t believe it, you need to read allendar not only to come to that realization, but then also learn how to deal with some of the pain of leadership. post link
I barely knew anything at all about the Mayflower before I read this book — according to some news pieces that I saw about this book, I’m not the only one!
arghhh!
So recently, I had saved up about $300 to buy a new iPod. Two years ago I bought a Dell Jukebox and it has served me fine, but it’s starting to get quirky, so I’m assuming a new iPod is in the works. However a friend (JD, you know who you are!) talked me into waiting until Jan/Feb, when Apple should release the next generation of iPods. So, I thought, I’d just use the money from my birthday to buy an iPod and instead buy an air compressor that I’ve been thinking about, so I can do some work on my house over Christmas.
Of course, since I bought the compressor a week ago, I dropped my Jukebox this morning, and now it won’t work at all.
Doesn’t it always seem to work this way?? ARGHHHHHH!
Book Review: Three
This weekend I tried to read some Christian fiction. Okay, I finished it, but I wasn’t happy. I read Three by Ted Dekker. I’d heard a lot of good stuff about Mr. Dekker. I was disappointed. The plot was decent enough, but the writing was utilitarian, characters were fairly one-dimensional and there was no sense of pacing, expect to pause and theologize for a couple of pages. So I’m retreating back into the world of good fiction. Right now I’m reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire (yes, I’ve gotten caught up in the hype of the musical).
Someone’s going to have to do quite a bit of convincing to get me to try another book of Christian fiction.
Happy Blogiversary!
Oops!
I missed it!
My 2-year blogiversary was on Friday. (Dec. 15)
Anyway…here’s a link to my first post.
- I guess all I want to say is “thanks” for reading — and commenting!
- I’m a little humbled that anyone really cares what I think about anything.
- I’m also a little “miffed” that everytime I post, Blogger loses my formatting and it ends up in one big, run-on paragraph, unless I bullet everything.
Connect Four
Well, it’s official…
We’re having another BOY! We just found out tonight!
(maybe we aren’t doing something right!!)
The Redemptive Trend
For a couple months now I’ve been following Scot McKnight’s blog. He is the professor of religious studies at North Park University. He posts a lot, I can’t even begin to keep up with the volume (3-4 long posts per day), but ocassionally he posts something that I can’t help but take 5 minutes and read.
Anyway, if you look at my “shared” list in the sidebar, you’ll find a link to his post called “Women in Ministry – The Redemptive Trend.” Okay, for you RSS’ers, here’s the link.
I don’t want to get bogged down in a discussion about women in ministry, but I’ve been really intrigued by “The Redemptive Trend” in theology. He mentions a book, that I haven’t read yet, but hope to soon called Slaves, Women, & Homosexuals.
In a nutshell, The Redemptive Trend is a hermatalogical (sp?) understanding of the Bible that follows this form X – Y – Z where X is the original culture, Y is how the Bible speaks to that culture and Z is the ultimate ethic. How this varies from my theological training is that we were basically taught that Y & Z are the same. (if this bores you, bail now, cuz I’m going a little deeper).
Let me explain with a simple example. I’ve mostly been involved with churches that look at Acts 2 as a blueprint for how church should work today. So you would hear slogans like “We’re an Acts 2 Church.” With the Redemptive Trend, you wouldn’t hear the same slogan because they would say that there was a cultural context (X) that the early church worked within (Y) and now we need to consider what they may or may not look like today (Z).
This example is a little weak. Where it gets hairier is when it comes to an issue like women in ministry, where those that believe in the redemptive trend would argue that while Paul may sound prohibitive, he was actually living in an oppressive culture (X) and he was the voice of freedom (Y), which point to a trend toward increasing freedom for women (Z).
I’m not sure, I’ve represented this well — if you want a better idea, go to his post and follow some of the links.
My point is, I’m intrigued.
What Think Ye?
in with the specials. One of the specials was grilled Buffalo. It wasn’t cheap, but I’ve always wanted to try Buffalo. So I ordered it.
