So when it tells me “Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool” does that mean its going to take windows (because I find Windows and Microsoft to be malicious) off of here and magically turn into a computer I can use… you know.. like an iMac or MacBookPro with OS X on it.

At least Steve Jobs is a benevolent dictator.

What resources did you use when you first became a Christian?

Did your church, assuming you attended one, have a new believers class? Was this class tied to church membership?

Did your church give you a book? If so, what did they give you?

Did they recommend any books/resources to you? If so, what?

If you met a brand new believer, what 3 books would you tell them to read?

Thanks for your help!

(To explain why I’m asking this: I had a meeting with Pastor Pete and I asked him what Cross Point was doing for new believers.  At the end of it, he asked me to come up with a list of resources for the church to evaluate and ultimately give to new Christians.  Having been in a Church of Christ school growing up, when I became a Christian I already had a certain level of Biblical knowledge… I hadn’t really internalized what was in Scripture.  So, looking at this question from my perspective isn’t very helpful.  I’m working on a survey to other churches but also thought I would ask the readers of my blog.)

Headline on yahoo news this morning:

Poll: Obama leads McCain among people who don’t have pets

Seriously.  Is that important to know?  Does this mean that they are going to start targeting messages to dog owners?  Free flea collars for all pets!

‘My opponent won’t care for homeless pets.  He will allow them to continue to be abused.  He will cut funding for the ASPCA and rescue organizations…’

This is just stupid.  I can’t wait for the election to be over.  The world will not change overnight.  I was at the dentist yesterday and he’s trying to convince me to vote for Obama - WHILE HE’S DRILLING!  I can’t argue with him while there is a moving, deadly instrument in my mouth.  When he finished, I said “I don’t care.  Working for the state made me a libertarian.  I want to be left alone and have as little interaction with the government as possible.  It leaves me alone; I leave it alone.”

“But you do care!”

“I care about people.  I care about those who are hurting and need help.  However, more government is the absolute worst solution for it.”

We stopped talking about it at that point.  This morning on the bus I noticed the sign outside the Andrew Jackson state office building.  The quote below his picture says “There are no necessary evils in government.”

I tell ya, the people who chose it have no idea what it means or how that can be interpreted… and I find it very amusing that it is outside a state office building.

w00t! So, I’m back to where I was 2 weeks ago, which means from my original starting weight, I’ve lost 4 lbs and am about half way to my goal of 10 lbs by the first Saturday in August.

I did so much better with my food and walking this week. I had 3 to 4 servings of fruit/veggies per day (save for Friday…). I walked over 8000 steps a day (even hitting 10,000 once!) When I was following the program closely with my dietitian, at my best I was averaging over 12000 steps per day.

Right now, 8000 is good. It’s very doable. Next week, I will bump up another 500 and will do so every couple of weeks until I’m back to 10000 steps.

I did some dancing this week. “You and Me” by Lifehouse came on and I released my inner-Shalene and did a Viennese Waltz in my bedroom with Wesson. He was none too pleased at being whirled around. God is good; my body is getting better… for that I am very thankful.

I absolutely believe I can make it to my goal of 10 lbs by the first weekend of August… but I’ve gained back the 3 lbs I lost. My feet are swollen like water-filled balloons. So are my ankles. Alot of that weight is water.

So, to reach my goal, I have added some mini-challenges:

1. Walk 8000 steps a day (this is actually rather easy between walking at the bus and at work)
2. Eat 4 or more servings of fruit/veggies per day
3. Back to the 60 days of being in the Word (the reason I started this blog in the first place!). I believe that my lack of discipline in my spiritual life is reflected in my lack of discipline in my physical body. Gluttony is my middle name right now.
4. Eat at home. Bring my lunch. Stop eating at the Commons. It’s got to be loaded with too much sodium.
5. Go to bed early enough so I can get up early enough to fix breakfast.
6. Write it down.

Entire bags of cookies. Too much caffeine. I could beat myself up for days. Not going to. Starting over. Right now. I’ve got my neighbor Dino’s book and I’m going to bring it tomorrow and make copy of the journal pages and use them. I have other food journals (one from the Center for Human Nutrition… another from Body Works that I actually like)… but sometimes change is good. Try a new journal for a while. Staring at the fact that I wrote down that I ate a dozen oreos is ugly.

I’m going to make a separate page where I will put in brief log entries for accountability.

Do I go back to the gym? Do I work out at home for the short term? I don’t know yet. Will decide that one later.

(to the tune of “Turkey in the Straw” or as we probably know it “do your ears hang low?”)

Do they get in the way?  Can you not use an iPhone, no matter what they say?

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As someone with kind of long fingernails, I really don’t know what they are talking about.  My nails are about the same length as the one lady in the picture in that above article (notice, I said fingernails - not claws… yeesh.  There is such a thing as too long) and my iPhone and I get along swimmingly.

Again, Apple can’t help it if there is a problem with the end user who can’t really figure out a way to orient her hands to use the iPhone and keep her 10ft nails.  Steve Jobs designed a beautiful product meant to restore a sense of child-like wonder about technology and the universe as a whole where you have alot of your music, your email, a REAL web browser, and many other cool things at your fingertips any time you want them.

On my bus ride home, a woman named Lisa sat next to me.  When she got on, I could see she was exhausted and at the end of her rope.  She asked if it was alright to sit next to me.  I said ‘of course.’

I felt in my spirit that I should take out my earbuds and talk to her.

I didn’t.

About 5 minutes later, she asked me about where one of the routes went and what time it left.  I explained it to her and we continued to chat.  She had gotten sick and got off the other bus on that route to throw up (outside - not on the bus).  Turns out she only lives about a half mile from me.  She said she was going to have to walk from the bus stop to her apartment (which was mostly up hill and about 2 miles away).

I felt in my spirit that I should offer to give her a ride, but I didn’t.

When I told her that I did the park-n-ride thing and suggested she try that once they shut down the route that runs by her place, she asked if I would give her a ride home.

I immediately said yes and that I was happy that I could be a blessing to her.  But, I still feel a little pang of guilt that I knew I should have spoken first for the same result.  She was ecstatic and prayed a blessing over me for my kindness.

She was much happier when she got off the bus than when she got on.

I am thankful that I was obedient the second time around.

Pastor Pete linked to a Relevant magazine discussion about 7 Burning issues, one of them being homosexuality. My comment, which is the basis for this post is here.

1) Lack of Biblical literacy among professed Christians

This is something I’ve been convicted of. How can I say I’m a Christian but not know what God has to say? What are His promises? What does He say about wisdom? Marriage? Family? Finances? If I don’t know what He says, how in the world can I line my thoughts and actions up with Him? How can I pursue a relationship with Jesus if I don’t read what he said?

Too often, we don’t have Bible study. We have book studies with a Christian theme. We spend more time arguing about what the author said than comparing it to Scripture to see if it is true. This isn’t to say all books are bad, but when they become the focus of your spiritual life, then there can be a problem. There are good books out there written by Godly men and women which can illuminate specific points, inspire us to grow deeper in our faith, answer questions and dilemmas, make us laugh, spur us to action in our local community and globally, reveal areas where we fall short… but they are not a substitute for studying the Bible.

Because I don’t have a solid grasp on what God says, when I’m faced with a crisis (real or manufactured in my head), I panic. I don’t have the strength yet to fully rest in His promises and trust that He will take care of me.

The danger with this is that it can turn into oneupsmanship “I know more than you and therefore I’m more spiritual [said in that funny way that I can't quite figure out how to type phonetically] and God likes me better.” Nuh-huh. If that’s your attitude, check out what the word has to say on Pride because you are suffering from it. Understanding God’s word, spending time with Him is key to spiritual transformation… becoming more like Christ. Showing forgiveness when someone doesn’t deserve it (and being able to explain to people WHY you did it… because we were first forgiven).

2) Mixing of Christianity with non-Christian religions (Rob Bell recently gave a sermon on yoga-based meditative breathing and its use for the Christian. That bothered me alot.)

Something new readers to my writing may not know is that I spent several years practicing yoga. I did it without any real meditation and completely ignored teachers who said to ‘empty my mind.’ I was too busy trying to remember to breathe while feeling my arms wobble during an extended downward facing dog pose. I knew the roots of yoga, but I enjoyed it as an exercise - not a means for spiritual communication.

Way of the Master talk radio program (available on iTunes) had a snippet of a Rob Bell sermon where he talked about how gurus said we could connect to Christ by emptying our thoughts and performing meditative, yogic breathing. The more they played, the more I was disturbed by what I heard. It was like I was sitting in at a new age seminar - not a Christian church. Because it sounds ‘reasonable’ and

I used to have Mars Hill Bible Church on my podcast list but removed them after Mr. Bell went on for 20 minutes of a 40 minute sermon about being on a panel with Desmund Tutu and the Dalai Lama. I don’t think scripture was ever cited in that message.

3) Unwillingness to call sin ’sin’ for risk of offending/hurting people. This is within and outside of the church.

Pastor Mark has been teaching on this off and on. He talked about using nice words to cover up sin. “They had an affair.” No. They committed adultery. Now, your tone of voice shouldn’t be judgmental but what they did is a sin. To mask it behind pretty innocuous words doesn’t do them any favors. It is when we are made aware of our deep sin and separation from God that we can meet Christ and be reconciled to the Father.

As believers, we are supposed to sharpen iron with iron. How often do we tolerate anger, little white lies, anxiety (yes it is - because we aren’t trusting God), idolatry, and any number of other annoyances that are symptomatic of our sinful heart and areas where God needs to continue to purify and sanctify us so that we may grow closer to Him? How can you repent of something that is so widely tolerated that it isn’t even viewed as a sin?

I haven’t read the book yet but I’ve heard a snippet about it: Jerry Bridges has a book called Respectable Sins on this very topic.

4) Being culturally relevant. How to be in the world but not OF the world. In a lecture I listened to yesterday, the speaker said that the Church is the intersection of Culture and the Gospel. How do you accomplish that without being a giant dork?

I just finished listening to a two hour seminar from Mars Hill Church on this topic from last year. The speaker said that the church is the intersection of Culture and the Gospel. Paul speaks about becoming all things to all people, but he doesn’t lose himself before engaging the culture. He spent 3 years studying before venturing out on missionary work and preaching. That is - he spent 3 years in God’s word… not immersed in the latest reality TV shows.

He wasn’t a cultural couch potato. I also don’t think he would have performed a re-written version of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” renamed “Serving Back” complete with bad dancing and even worse lyrics. I hope hope hope it was an attempt to be funny and goofy, not serious. If so, they are a little behind the times as “Sexy Back” was popular 2 years ago. Things like that just make non-Christians think that we are stupid, backwards hicks… and that why would they want to hear the Gospel if THAT is their example? (I know - because I thought this way, even growing up in a Christian school and attending church. There was no depth to anything I heard. Nothing that made me say ‘wow… I really am messed up and need Christ.’)

I have a real problem with the Christian ghetto. People who ignore the world outside of their church and private school are fooling themselves into thinking they are living good Christian lives. Only God knows if they have accepted Christ or not, but their fruit doesn’t reflect much of a relationship with Him. When the only people you interact with are people from your church, you are missing the point of the Great Commission. You don’t have to tromp off the Africa to be a missionary. My mission field is my neighborhood and my office. And I’m probably not doing a very good job of talking to others about Christ.

Anyway, I don’t think golf balls are effective witnessing tools. They are lazy evangelism, because you know someone purchased them thinking that they are reaching the lost. It is about relationship. While I don’t want to limit God or how He can reach people, a verse on a golf ball isn’t likely to send someone (unless they were already questioning) to find out more about Christ.

How much TV do you watch? What websites can you visit? Should you want that movie? If you do, try to find ways to engage them with a Christian world view (i.e. The Matrix - ‘the one’/savior, baptism, etc.. the example is from the Mars Hill sermon). How do you talk to your kids about the Lion King and ‘the Circle of Life?’ Is that complimentary with Christianity?

(This one is a little disjointed. I have too much to say and the more I say the more judgmental I get because these people bother me… more personally than as a believer… so, there is some work God needs to do in me, too)

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I don’t have easy answers. I am still working on many of these issues. I give thanks to God for teaching me, showing me where I am weak so that He can make me strong and be glorified. He has been doing so with my anger management problem. As Pastor James MacDonald said “Just get over it!”

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What are the burning questions/issues facing Christianity that you see? Are they personal issues? Are they specific to your church or something you think is going on with the church as a whole body, globally (as best as can be identified, anyway)?

You know… I bet these people keep publishing the exact same article over and over… just changing the numbers.  The paragraph about the hedge against inflation I’ve seen about 2 dozen times… verbatim.

Lazy.

w00t! I lost another pound!  The exercise was meh this week but I didn’t eat much…. mainly because of the attack of the summer cold/flu/virus going around work.  Because of that, next week might be a gain or nothing, but I can live with that.

Overall, I feel really good about my progress.  I feel like I am regaining control and that I should be able to reach my goal of 10 lbs by the first week of August.