You Name It, and Exercise Helps It

It’s amazing what just some exercise will do. Click here.

What if no one were fat?

Think about it. Here is the article.

Gollum and Smeagol sing Barry White

YS Marko posted this video. Too kewl!!!

Ten reasons men should not be ordained for the ministry

Ten reasons why men should not be ordained for ministry
Thanks to Eugene Cho

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.

8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.

1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.

 

Bed of Roses Love Sonnet Contest Finalists

Click here for all the love sonnets in Prairie Home Companion’s contest. There are 30 short sonnets to click on and enjoy along with an entertaining snippet about each sonnet’s author. Keep a couple of the best for Valentine’s Day next year (and some other occasions suggested by the poem).

Is this the way we age?

MSN.COM ran a spread on how the celebrities look before an after they have gone under the knife.  Believe me, natural aging looks better!!! Kenny Rogers looks like a space alien, not to mention Wayne Newton.

But I do wonder if there is a parallel to Christians who go into makeover mode, spiritually speaking, and end up not being themselves. We fall into line with the latest makeover and adopt a persona that promises the new and the exciting. I think of the new men’s movement or the latest version of positive Christianity or the newest road tour of the Women of Faith seminars. Yes, there is something to see and to learn. But the problem comes when we think we have found the ultimate plastic surgery (spiritually speaking) and we have been granted the genie’s wish of no longer being ourselves. The reality is that I am me. You are you. We will always have our genetic code, physically and spiritually – our combination of gifts, challenges, tendencies and patterns. These will be sanctified, utilized, and where necessary challenged and watched. Spiritual growth is always changing me into the real, God-designed me. Embracing this reality leads to authenticity and true attractiveness. My belief is that each of us has been given a certain kind of brokenness to face and overcome with Christ’s power. We never lose that brokenness – we embrace it and become a demonstration to the world of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Fads can seem to promise me that I can escape that struggle, lose that memory, change the gravitational pull of that pattern. I think not. The new nature does not replace the old nature. The old nature remains. The new grows stronger and the old becomes weaker – but it never ceases to exist and will always reassert itself given the chance.

Note these verses:

(1Ti 6:6)  A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.
(Gal 6:4)  Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others.
Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

An image of recovery

I like this metaphor for recovery.

For all you preachers out there, here’s a great idea for self-composing sermons

Click here for the New York Times article on the guy who wrote 200,000 books using a computer program that scanned all the info at Amazon.com and compiled it in a meaningful order. Just think, you can scan Christianity Today, First Things, Scott McKnight, iMonk, Tony Jones, Tall Skinny Kiwi, Dan Kimball, etc., and come out with some pretty good stuff.

In Weak Rivets, a Possible Key to Titanic’s Doom – the theories go on

Click here for the New York Times article. Once again, great catastrophes of made up of small shortcuts. Sounds like I have heard this before, like 2,000 years ago in the words of Jesus. Mat 7:13 – “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do.” It feels like I live in a day of shortcut Christianity. Don’t have to pay attention to the rivets of building transformed lives – you can have it all today. But the rivets I use pop in a crisis. The ripping of the Titanic’s hull stopped at the point where the rivet materials changed from iron to steel. Rivets aren’t the ship, but they keep the ship strong. A lesson is in here somewhere for churches and those who attend them.

TV,movie star Scientologist gets out – tells why

In 2005, Jason Beghe(Demi Moore’s love interest in GI Jane) appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology. But now Beghe has escaped the Church after taking courses since 1994. He’s made a video that’s up on YouTube. Watch out for a few f bombs and some scientology geek-speak. But you’ll get the point.