Psalm 139 and Birth Control
A coworker and friend of mine, whose anonymity I shall maintain, has raised some interesting questions about the normative usage of Psalm 139 in arguments against abortion--that if they are true would they not also preclude birth control. I left my gut-shot answers, but the guy's got me thinking. They are some good questions. I'm most interested in the historical viewpoint on the subject. Check him out.
A Post From Nowhere
I can't make any promises about the future of this blog, but I thought I needed a new post. Funny my last post should be on my philosophy of youth ministry as I am now officially broken off from any formal ministry to youth. Sure I have Chuck Swindoll practically begging me to run his youth program, but I'm just not feeling "called" to do so. Having said all that, I registered for my last semester of classes the other day. Here they are:
History of the Charismatic Movements in America
Systematic Theology Colloquium
Intertestamental History
Academic Ministries Internship
Fun, fun, fun. I'll start work on my thesis in the Spring as well, so if anybody has any ideas for a topic, let me know.
Philosophy of Youth Ministry
I'm currently in the process of applying for a position as Youth Pastor. As such I decided I should write down my philosophy of ministry. Here's what I came up with off the top of my head. What do you think?
Youth Ministry is the dispensation of time, energy, and funds not available to parents to aid them in the discipleship of their young adult.
Discipleship is the reproductive relay of spiritual growth from one member of the body of Christ to another (2 Tim. 2:1-2).
Spiritual growth/maturity consists in an increase in the clarity/degree of their reflection of God’s glory. God’s glory is reflected in:
-The human being’s innate but marred imprint of God’s image.
-The human being’s actions which (by common grace) are consistent with God’s nature.
-The believer’s union with Christ, the Image of God.
-The believer’s knowledge of God’s nature.
-The believer’s enjoyment of God’s nature.
-The believer’s actions which (by grace) are consistent with God’s nature.
The Youth Pastor aids in spiritual growth by:
-Displaying God’s nature in his/her actions.
-Displaying God’s nature in his/her teaching of God’s word.
-Displaying a heart-felt enjoyment of the nature of God.
-Accountability toward actions that reflect God’s character.
-Accountability toward study of God’s nature.
The Youth Pastor employs the following means to do the above:
-Personal time of devotion
-Personal discipleship (Being discipled)
-Rapport
-Personal testimony
-Personal counseling
-Corporate teaching
-Corporate worship (music, Lord’s Supper, giving, etc.)
Ojeda's
Yesterday was my birthday, so, with my choice of any restaurant in the DFW metroplex, I chose the amazing Ojeda's. Now, for convenience' sake we went to Big Ben Ojeda's in Plano, which is still awesome, but it seems like you loose something in the atmosphere. (Pictured is the one on Maple--much more Latin part of town.) If anybody out there hasn't been, you need to go. It's the best Mexican in town (in my humble, white opinion). Actually, when Bill Clinton came to town it was recommended to him and they still have a blue table cloth with a sour cream stain on it to prove it (just in case).
Separated at Birth?
William Wallace*
John Eldredge*William Wallace portrait courtesy of Ransomed Heart Ministries and Adobe Photoshop.
You Supply the Caption
here's how this works. i post a picture that begs to be mocked, and you, the reader, come up with possible captions. for example, if i were you (the reader) and you were me (the post...man?) and had posted the above picture i might suggest, "liberal vampires invade local skinhead rally--skinheads get resourceful," or "jurers at cheney hunting accident trial asked for sentencing--jury responds with above gesture."
tom waits (cont'd)
in the words of my friend and waits-mentor "tom waits deserves more than one comment." well, he just may deserve more than one post, too. therefore i dedicate this post to his early stuff. waits' early stuff is quite possibly the most enjoyable music i listen to. the island years are like musical vegetables. one has to acquire the taste before the nutritional benefits can be fully enjoyed. the early years, while not quite musical candy, are rather enjoyable. it is the cereal of the musical world. rare is the moment when i wouldn't enjoy a bowl of cereal--and not the fruit loops or cocoa pebbles junk--i thoroughly enjoy a good bowl of wheaties, quaker toasted oatmeal, or crunchy corn bran. so, the greatness of tom waits early stuff is it takes no getting used to, no learning curve. it's pleasant to the ears and yet offers substance and excites development and growth in its hearer. it was a time when...
life was full of roses
poetry and prose and
[tom waits], all i had was you and all you had was me
there was no tomorrow
we packed away our sorrow
and we saved it for a rainy day
tom waits
this is tom waits. what a weird guy, but man what an artist. i really hadn't heard much of him until one jon kever recommended his debut album "closing time." after buying it, it soon became one of my favorites. then i got "beautiful maladies." what an apt title. his voice is horrible, i was like, "he's not even trying to sound good." but i knew he was an artistic force to be reckoned with, so i listened. it only took two times through the album to see the beauty in the maladies.
couple dating
so there's couples and they date each other and it's not like when you date in high school, but it is, cause you like each other...
...just go read my brother's blog.
pilotdrift
i was in a staff meeting at my church the other day and i'd mentioned my love of music. one of our staff members told me about his future son-in-law from texarkana who is in a band called "pilotdrift." he gave me their website and i checked it out. it sounded great--radiohead, the arcade fire, queen--at least those are the closest equivelents in my musical library (i don't actually own any queen). then i picked up the latest copy of paste magazine and on a page called "4 bands to watch" there they are, pilotdrift. i felt so on the cutting edge. because i heard of them one whole day before reading about them in paste i feel like i can say, "you need to watch these guys, they're gonna be big."
more new music
i should also mention the following new music i obtained over the christmas break:
johnny cash- american iv: the man comes around
-it was about time. obviuosly good stuff.
the arcade fire- funeral
-the album art is worth the price of the album, granted i got it used on amazon.
havalina rail co.- space, love, and bullfighting
-a havalina classic
danielson famile- tridanielson (alpha)
-number one in a two-part series. some seriously weird stuff, but entertaining.
the royal blue- where only love has gone (ep)
-this is a good year for me and female vocals. we'd had a falling out somewhere along the way, and between karin berquist, emmylou harris, and kristin leigh they've been redeemed.*
*please note this is in no way an attack on the female gender or their vocal cords. any statements made about their redemption reflect niether an over-realized eschatology nor an inherent sinfulness of female vocals en toto.
new music
i got a few cd's for christmas most of which i highly recommend, and a few that are growing on me:
1.damien jurado- where shall you take me?
-quickly becoming one of my favorite cds. excellent, excellent, excellent! a dark inclusio with plenty of indy-folksie relief between.
2.over the rhine- drunkard's prayer
-loving the laid-back alt-pop sound--somewhat more country than their past stuff.
3.ben lee- something to remember me by
-his debut album. acoustic british indy pop. i'd heard it back in 97 when it was released and have considered buying it ever since. so glad i finally got it.
4.emmylou harris- wrecking ball
-falls under the category of growing on me, but is doing so quickly. contains her priceless cover of dylan's "every grain of sand."
5.tom waits- beautiful maladies the island years
-i had "mule variations" in my hands and the guy at cd world said they'd just got a used copy of this one in. (apparently the island years are a significant period in waits' career...so now i can sound artsy with such phrases as, "hey this stuff kind of sounds like waits' island years" or "yeah, waits' early stuff was good, but man, those island years...") i've only yet listened to the first few songs, so more to come on this one.
album update
i finished and handed in my album. 13 songs. 6 instruments (3 of which are different kinds of shakers). i plan on revisiting it here and there throughout the year to clean up vocals, add various instruments, etc. the album had a title, but it was extremely lame, and i lack the self confidence to ever use it again, so i scrapped it.