I spent 2 nights sleeping in the backseat of a Nissan Titan. Rain could have been a problem at Fall Creek Falls, had I been in my tent. I decided not to risk it and found comfort in the truck. The truck was liveable. I’m around 5’10” and the truck was just 5 inches too narrow. The same holds truck for the width of the backseat. I realize that Nissan didn’t design the backseat for sleeping, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.
Fall Creek Falls is a unique place and sometimes I wonder if we as Tennesseans aren’t taking it for granted. Half a dozen waterfalls. Cliffs. Outcrops. Certainly you would not find such a place elsewhere in the world exactly like the state park.
I was asked to give a short Biblical lesson on Sunday morning. I think I did a good job, although I wasn’t as prepared as before. I didn’t need to be.
My only regret this weekend was not being able to photograph, as I was not prepared with fresh batteries. I got 3 photos out of it and you’re looking at one of them.
Evangelizing
This week I asked the question, “How much evangelism is too much?” I only ask this in the sense that if you are too upfront about evangelizing, will it turn more people off than draw into your religion?
Case in point. Below is a billboard which is near where I work. I post it here with the question, “How many people has this billboard brought to Christ?” And “How many people has it pushed away from Christ?”
Thursday night I attended Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope at my own home congregation. I wasn’t expecting anything more than common sense; I already know all of Ramsey’s spoilers – those revolutionary ideas like “Don’t buy what you can’t afford.”
What I wasn’t sure about is how we would handle evangelizing the public within our own church walls. Something was said about the ultimate hope being in the resurrection of Jesus. I felt a bit uncomfortable in this, not because I’m ashamed of my faith, but because of the fear visitors looking for simple financial assistance would be turned off by this advertisement. And then during the simulcast I saw that Ramsey himself was evangelizing, mentioning Jesus during and at the very end of his broadcast. This put me at ease. After all those disciples of Ramsey were surely familiar with his message and wouldn’t necessarily be turned off by it. And these visitors were inside of a church and should expect to hear a message of hope found in Jesus.
I suppose I, like the sower, should let the seeds fall where they may and let God give the increase. And yet I realize that friendship evangelism is the most effective form of evangelism, not these brief passing moments where seeds are planted.
Is this It?
A World Without God?
The bumper sticker read “Imagine a World Without God in it.” An obvious thought provoking message by a vocal atheist.
Atheists and agnostics have been more vocal in recent years. As if it is popular not to believe in God. Whereas in the years of my youth the existence of the Christian God was not questioned. In the 1980s, it was a rarity to find a fellow student who did not attend church services somewhere. I would have to assume that atheists received some type of negative experience from someone(s) claiming to be Christian in their impressionable years. Vocal and blatent about their beliefs, these Christians probably do more harm than good. I’m not saying we as Christians shouldn’t be passionate about what we belief…the hope of heaven…salvation through God’s grace. What I am saying is that we should be mindful of how we portray ourselves to those of the world, and even to our fellow Christians. Young Christians, or those who have a potential of weak faith, are liable to blame God when they see fellow Christians actiing inappropriately.
Still I have imagine who or what caused my fellow motorist to stop believing in God and to be so vocal about it. Was it a hypocritic preacher? A disciplinarian nun? An abusive priest? We may never know. Or perhaps since we have generations of atheist parents raising atheist children, perhaps nothing happened. No child in that family was brought to church and taught the Bible. The gospel was never preached to the young.
Blue
I bought a car today. It was time. I had my old Beetle for almost 10 years. It had done me well. I am sorry to see it go. I can remember when i first got it. It was the latest new thing – the car that they’ve give away for radio stations promotions. Now it seems that Volkswagen Beetle aren’t very unique. Everyone who wants one is able to get one.
It’s a blue Beetle. I think the term is Heavenly Blue. Not girlish. Not Baby Blue. It’s a neutral color of blue. I had considered red, but it was a bit too flashy for me. I’d prefer to blend in.
The thing is I’m not terribly excited about my new car…yet. At this point I’m too tired to think much of it. I’m glad to have my radio back. It had been a while since I was able to listen to Lightning 100 in a Bug. I get a few months of satellite radio. I am unsure what I’ll do with it. My iPod connection in my car pretty much does the work for me. I think due to the presence of satellite radio and iPods, I can say that broadcast radio is dying.
I’m glad to have a car which doesn’t leak oil. A car which the fabric on the ceiling is intact. A car which doesn’t hesitate when I pull out of my subdivision. And yet basically as far as design and handling….it’s the same car. And maybe because of that I’m not all that excited.
Ipod
I’m experiencing somewhat of a musical renassance on old albums that I haven’t listened to in while. It was brought on by a purchase of my Ipod Touch. I can tell you that this is on the best gizmos I’ve had in a while.
I’m digging into old music and old mp3s. 500+ songs on my Ipod and it isn’t even a 1/3rd of the way full yet. Finally a useful mp3 player. I had tried everything – CD players which read data cds full of mp3s, but I found myself skipping multiple tracks. I paid $25 for a mp3 player shaped like a tape, which cosequentally could be used in my car’s tape player. And it worked about as well as what a $25 mp3 player would work (read not very well). No way to fast forward through songs. You were pretty much stuck with whatever songs were in your player.
The iTunes store is pretty much useless, in that you can’t easily convert music files to an mp3 file to play outside of iTunes. Apple is scared of lawsuits which caused them not to allow this and wireless song transfers between iPods (which I’m told MS Zunes have the ability to do). If I do buy mp3s, I’m sticking to Amazon.com, if only for being able to have more control on what program plays it.
It’s video podcasting ability is useful. I regularly watch last night’s Anderson Cooper 360 during my lunch break. It reminds me of how much “to the point” AC360 truly is. Somehow I wish there would be someway to watch last night’s Seinfeld episode, but anything outside of news (read entertainment) you have to pay for.
Tonight’s guest speaker at church mentioned that his church regularly does Podcasts and he didn’t know if we did the same thing. I wanted to flash on the big screen “WE DO HAVE PODCASTS!” – Something I have been doing for a few months before I got an iPod. I now know how useful this can be, especially to reach those who are unable or unwilling to attend worship services. Podcasts may only be popular with the younger than 40 crowd. The rest might not even understand the concept.
The college years
College is a time when friends are physically close to you. Across the hall, in the same room. Seemingly never before would friendship be as close as it was then.
I dreamt last night that I was back in college finishing my degree. I was sharing a house with 3 of my closer friends from college. Past dreams have focused on my inability to complete my class requirements. In this dream I was actually looking forward to college.
My freshmen and sophomore college years were some of the best years of my life. I’ve been out of college for 12 years now, yet I look back at those years positively for the most part.
My college friends have since scattered and went back to their own hometowns or wherever their jobs, career, spouse, or God took them. My high school friends have moved away. I’m left alone as one of the few left back in my hometown.
In a sense I believe my friendships have narrowed, not through anyone’s fault. It would be more in a sense of physical distance. I have friends across the country in various states. We are still good friends, but it is difficult to continue on a close friendship with the distance is so far away.
Also in a sense it is difficult for me to gain new friends, as I have found that I rarely have much in common with other thirtysomethings. I do need friends right now, but I’m unable or unwilling to go about gaining new friends.
Night Terror
The human mind is an amazing thing. To quote Contact “You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares.”
And such was the case last night when I distinctly heard someone knocking on my bedroom door…inside the house. Needless to say this scared me enough to where I thought I should call family or the police. I searched inside my house frantically. I’m convinced now that it the sound of the heat going off or coming on. I never got back to sleep peacefully after that. Living alone does have its drawbacks.
And so it goes. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t buy a gun for protection. There have been some home invasions in the area and I don’t want to be counted as a satistic. Still I’m hesitatant to get a weapon figuring I would accidentally injure someone I love (including myself) rather than a criminal.
Bunk Beds
Sometime in the mid 1980s my parents got me a bunk bed. (Photo of said bed is to the right with me and my cousin with an inflatable General Lee). In retrospect the bed provided good memories during my elementary age years. I slept on the bottom bunk mostly. I can remember watching Late Night with David Letterman on a Sony Watchman during the summer. I guess it had not dawned on me that I could have requested a television for my room like most other kids my age had at the time.
Eventually the bed was disassembled and put into storage. After many years of nonuse, the bed has been reassembled for my nephew to use. He’s 3 years old and oh so proud of his big boy bed. I don’t think he understands that it used to be his uncle’s bed. When you ask him who’s bed it is he shouts out “John’s Bed!”
In any case I’m glad it is being used again, giving my nephew good memories as it did for me.
The iPod Quandary
I am pondering if I should get an iPod Touch. My sister received one for Christmas, which then got me really interested in it.
I’ll admit I am not a big spender. I will mull over potential purchases for weeks before actually making the purchase. I’m now into my 2nd week of pondering an IPod.
The pluses are:
- Ability to listen to mp3s on the way to work. Nashville radio is tired and stale. Jack FM plays the same thing over and over. Morning radio shows leave much to be desired. The only good radio station – Lightning 100 – remains staticy prior to actually getting to downtown Nashville. Hence the need for listening to my own music.
- Podcasts. being able to watch a daily or weekly video Podcast when I’m out to eat would make it more entertaining.
- Internet Access at wifi locations. Web based email is blocked at work – not that I would have time check it anyways. However having the ability to check email at my favorite restaurant would be helpful.
Cons:
- iTunes. – I’ve heard iTunes has been locked down to prevent piracy, so much so that one has potential to loose mp3’s if backups are not made. I don’t care for this. The iPod itself should act as a secondary drive to copy mp3s to and copy back to ones hard drive. I’m not getting that warm fuzzy feeling for archiving my mp3s.
- The touch screen keyboard leaves much to be desired. I tried typing on my sister’s iPod and it was incredibily difficult. Sure, I don’t expect to type research papers on it, but just give me a decent keyboard!
- Price – It’s expensive. I am apprehensive about keeping in my car, dropping it, etc.
Visually the pros outweigh the cons. I’m still not convinced completely. It’s definitely alot to be spending and I’m not even sure I should be spending so much, even if it is meant to be a reward for myself. Many many people are living paycheck to paycheck nowadays. I’m not sure if it is the right time to be making a purchase.