Jonah And Which God?

I think one of the funniest verses in the Bible is Jonah 1:10b. Not for what it says, but for what it implies.

Here it is:

For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Because – When did he mention this? Was it when he came on board? Did the first mate ask him in his brief interview when Jonah came on board as a passenger?

First mate: Name.

Jonah: Jonah.

First mate: Occupation.

Jonah: Prophet.

First mate: Reason for travel.

Jonah: Running away from my God, because I don’t feel like doing what he commanded.

First mate: <shrugs> Whatevs*. Come on up.

I mean, who knows what kind of other weird motivations to cross a sea this sailor has heard from would be passengers.

Or did Jonah mention it in the galley after dinner during a game of cribbage?

Other Passenger: So what’s your story? What’s in Tarshish for you?

Jonah: Well, not my God’s presence, for one.

Other Passenger: Huh. Your deal, Ogden.

However the conversation went, the sailors apparently weren’t bothered by this. Nor did they ask for more details.

Until the storm.

Just as an aside, on the list of dos and don’ts for a passenger on a small ship – one of the ‘don’ts’ is “Relax and have a lie-down while the waves get so big that sea-hardened sailors are ‘crying out’ like babies”.

Which is, of course, what Jonah did. But they woke him up for the Casting Of Lots. One wonders if they often did this:

Alright, who muddied up the deck with his boots? Throw those dice, Milford. We’ll find out!

In any case, ‘the lot fell on Jonah’. Can you picture all heads turning to look at him? I can.

And then I picture the captain asking politely, but with some assertiveness, “Please tell us a little more about yourself.”

And Jonah swallows and (to his credit) decides to only mention the information pertinent to the situation at hand, “I serve … well, you know the god I said I was running away from? Well, He’s the”,  and he clears his throat, “…God who created the land and the sea.”

If I were writing a radio teleplay of this story, at this point I would:

SFX** – The Pulling-the-needle-off-a-record-player screechy noise. (yes, I know it’s oft-used and outdated but it still scores well with the young kids).

Then:

SFX – Silence. [I’d say crickets, but crickets is over done, and really, would this kind of insect be on a boat?]

And then the captain pauses and says, “The, um . . . the god who created the what now?”

And Jonah is not pleased that he has to repeat himself. But he does and this time he is more to the point: “The God who created the sea. Including this one.”

If I was writing a play or television screenplay of this story, I would have the Captain blink. Twice. And then calmly turn around and face his men. And then, not so calmly (in fact hysterically): Row! Row! For all you’re worth!

It’s recorded that about here in the story, some of the men also said, “What is this that you have done!”

It’s not recorded, but at this point, the First Mate might have had a few more words. Y’know, something like, “Really? You couldn’t have mentioned this before when we were initially speaking together? Wow. Just . . . Wow.”

All of this because this captain, the first mate and all the sailors are smart guys*** and they know that a god who created the sea your ship is on has the ability to wreck stuff on the sea your ship is on. Including your ship.

There are other messages in the book of Jonah, but this has to be one of them, right? And I think we can generalize: If you are somewhere that your God created, defying him is unwise.

If you believe this, I recommend you live like you believe this.

* What? You didn’t know that ‘whatevs’ is originally from an early common Mesopotamian tongue?  More interestingly, linguistic analysis shows that, unlike in our culture, it was used by the more masculine of speakers.

** Sound Effects

*** Although, I can imagine one newbie sailor who’s a little slow on the uptake, commenting loudly as he’s pulling on the main-mast ropes: What? What’s the big deal? Won’t anyone explain what’s going on?

[If you'd like to read other posts where I try to be funny, please see my Attempts category.]

John Piper Good Quotes: Part 5

As usual, 3 disclaimers:

1. All quotes taken from sermons – if you count the message given at our church’s 140th anniversary celebration. That’s what the first four are from.
2. All completely taken out of context.
3. None found in the Online Sermon Texts – but many are on the videos.

Please also notice that like the last list,  there are some sound effects in these quotes – I made my best guess at how to spell them based on how Pastor John spoke them.

31 Humorous Quotes from Pastor John

• One of the great things about getting old is you can see the patterns and things don’t make you panic.

• It’s hard to be sick when you’re excited.

• It was one o’clock in the morning. You’re crazier at one o’clock in the morning.

• That’s why we did the north stealth bomber building. I tell people, it’s the building that looks like a stealth bomber. With no sign. Yet.

• If you’re heading for a cliff and someone shouts a warning to you, you will never complain about the irraspable strident nature of the tone of their voice.

• Okay, Peter says, “You will never wash my feet.” Now Jesus could have simply said, ‘Look Peter, you’re wrecking the illustration. Just shut your mouth, sit down, let me wash your feet. I’m making a point. Don’t ruin the illustration!”

• I know I don’t know how many hundreds of verses by heart and I come up to a moment and I can forget ALL OF THEM in an hour of crisis! The Devil has an incredible – I mean these arrows – I don’t know what they are but I think one of them is ‘Bing!’ No memory!

• Which means you’ve gotta fight to learn these [verses] and memorize these things and have these verses tumbling around in your fore-frontal lobal brain part. Whatever that is.

• But [In the tense moment of fear] I wasn’t vaguely thinking “Oh I need help. O God, your kind. Uh, do something.” That’s better than nothing, but way better is to think of something specific, tailor made, blood bought that He said.

• The temptation of Covetousness or Greed: So you desire something, everybody deals with this – it’s why ‘Thou shall not covet’ is in the Bible. You desire something. And the desire starts to get really strong. Really powerful. You are starting to lose your contentment in Jesus. You are starting to feel: ‘If I don’t have this thing –’ might be a husband, might be an iPad . . .

• I’m scared out of my wits at being a millionaire. That’s a weakness. Some people can handle it. I don’t have that gift. Like I chew a whole pack of gum immediately. . . Why wouldn’t you?*

• You hardly ever make friends when you’re dealing with church discipline.

• (About the Holy Spirit) [Jesus] gave you a helper. Notice (I love this), he didn’t give you an observer. Like: “I’m watching. Right now I’m next to you. And I’m watching.” Well, that’s not what I need. Everybody’s watching me. I don’t need another person to watch me. . . I need a helper.

• You might be glad that there are copper pipes in your walls but you really like the water. Unless you’re weird.

• Hello, my name is John, I’ll be serving you tonight, would you like to begin with a drink? [Regarding Pastors as Waiters in 1 Cor 3.]

• What will we do that is greater than what Jesus did? You should be on the edge of your seat, because you don’t know the answer to that. I do! I think. You can get all these theologians to test me on it.

• I got two tickets in the mail. Not driving tickets – my branches are over the sidewalk. I’m going to be fined in twelve days. My branches are over the sidewalk of my hedge. So I clipped them! I obeyed the law. Then I got another one. I forgot to put the clippings in a compostable bag! And now, by Tuesday, I have to empty the big black sturdy bag into a wimpy little green bag. Now what’s the point of that little interlude? The point is, isn’t it amazing that there’s a cultural consensus about the good that puts the power of jail and fines into the hands of the police because of my branches.

• My branches are too long! I personally think that’s probably a good law. I don’t like messy neighborhoods.  I’d like to take some of the other houses in my neighborhood and say, “Why don’t you send them some letters?”

• The next week we’ll have a guest pastor, Ed …. Help me ….Stettser. That’s what happens when you’re sixty-six. Don’t laugh, it’s coming.

• Dads, I’m going to make this real easy. Even if you can’t read and your wife can, you can still lead in devotions. Just say, “C’mon, kids, come on”. Say that: “Come. On.” And then you say, “Honey, read John 1”. And you say, “Daughter, pray for us.” That’s leadership, Fella. You don’t need anything but guts to do that. Well, the Holy Spirit would help. You know what I mean.

• But we know it’s not the main point, because verse six begins with ‘For’. See that? I hope it’s there in your version; if it’s not, get another version.

• Mothers are you reading your kids bible stories before they can read? Are you playing tapes – you don’t use tapes – CDs?

• Does this look familiar to you? It shouldn’t. I never bring this Bible. Scofield Reference Edition. King James Version. “Happy Birthday, Son. January 11^th 1961. This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. Mother and Daddy.” This was my book for four years. I got another one when I was nineteen. I got an RSV. Then I got an NIV.  Used it for the next 40 years. Then I got an ESV. And I’m happy there ‘till I die.  But this was my book. And I love to turn in here and look at these blue and red marks. . . It says “Johnny S Piper” on the front. In gold.”

• [In 2 Timothy 4,] Correction is: zoop! Like it’s: zoop! Like: you’re going this way? Go this way!

• [Regarding: RT /WePreachChrist: Kempton Turner: A Christian cannot have a boring testimony. Being raised from the dead is not boring.] That’s amazing. I retweeted that ASAP. It can’t be boring. Unless you’re dead.

• So as I’ve tried to discern what I should say, It has seemed to me that perhaps fitting that a choppy text should have a choppy sermon.

• “When you come, bring the coat that I left with Carpus at Troas.” Seriously? You are the most famous, the most effective and the most authoritative Christian on the planet, Paul. Timothy is one thousand miles away. I googled it today. Rome to Ephesus. I don’t know if he’d take a boat, or walk. No cars, no planes, this is going to be a hard long journey and Timothy has a job. He’s the pastor in Ephesus and you want him to bring you your coat . . . Buy another coat! In Rome. They make coats! Ask Claudia to make you one. What’s going on here? I mean why is this in the Bible? What is going on? Bring me my coat. Well, I don’t know, but it has the ring of unbelievable wartime simplicity to me.

• I have a coat and winter is coming. Get the connection? Oh, it’s going to be cold. And you are writing this letter before the first winter of Rome hits, they’ve told you what it’s like. You left your coat not knowing what the temperatures would be like in Rome, now you’ve been told what Minnesota’s like and you send for your California coat, which won’t work anyway.

• Jesus never says, “Let those fickle, failing, finite, fallible friends go”

• My happy conviction is that pastors ought not to be experts on everything.

• Okay, close that parenthesis, that’s another sermon. Jason, you can do that one.

* I’ll just note that there is a 6 second pause before he says “Why wouldn’t you?” You can see it at 40:30 here.

By the way, as usual, I’d love to hear what your favorites are.

If you’d like see the other Piper Quotes posts . . .
Piper Quotes 1
Piper Quotes 2
Piper Quotes 3
Piper Quotes 4

And if you’d like to hear samples of Bible Verse memory songs for the memory plan used by John Piper’s Church, go the iTunes page.

Or check out the CD!

Great for families!

Tuesday Stand Alone Statement: What’s Your Big Sign Say?

For an adult, being sunburnt out in public is like walking around with a big sign that says,

“‘Yes, I’m an idiot.”

or

“As you can see, I’ve managed to make it to my forties without learning basic human physiology”

or

“Cause and Effect? What’s that? Sounds interesting!”

 

One Of The Many Cultural Tools Which Are Neither Inherently Good Nor Bad. It’s How We Use It: The Mark Tree

. . .Also known as the wind chime, You know, that multi-tone little-hanging-chime percussion instrument played with the percussionists finger to give an other-worldly fantasy feel to music or dramatic situations.

(Please don’t take this post too seriously)

There is a considerable degree of controversy surrounding this musical device and even among Evangelical circles there is often a great divide in different individual’s beliefs. I can’t count how many times a seemingly innocuous twitter comment about the Mark Tree from a well known evangelical leader has gone viral with thousands of agreeing/hating retweets.

And this is no surprise. On one end of the spectrum, there are those who would say that all usages of this instrument in a worship setting are ‘evil’, ‘following worldliness right into the sewer’, or even ‘digestionally-challenging-to-those-who-have-the-slightest-musical-taste’.

Others suggest that there is no bad time to employ this instrument; it should be ‘played’ at every event that happens in a church, right down to adult baptisms and/or funerals.

I say, can’t we find a middle road here? This ‘instrument’ is neither inherently good nor bad. The key factor is how it is used.

So here, for the Responsible Puppet Reader, is a handy pair of lists to be employed by thoughtful modern worship directors to determine what the appropriate times are for this instrument’s usage.

Good Times To Use The Mark Tree:
1. In a worship song – during a transition period when the song is getting softer and more introspective, particularly if it’s been at least a month since the last time you used it in a worship setting.

Okay, I guess that’s really the only good time to use this instrument.

Inappropriate Times To Use The Mark Tree:
1. As implied above, during baptism services and/or funerals.
2. During a sermon based on Hebrews or Malachi. Or any of the genealogies. Or elsewhere in the Old or New Testament.
3. As a part of an ‘organ only’ service.
4. Communion. So I guess pretty much all of the sacraments are out.
5. During announcements, unless the speaker presenting them is talking about the bussing schedule for the ‘Witness at the Renaissance Festival’ event.
6. In the middle of a ‘Pray silently’ moment.
7. During the “Visitors, Please Introduce Yourselves” portion of a service.
8. During an alter call.
9. As a part of a ‘saxophone only’ service.
10. Right after the benediction.

As you can see, there are plenty of potential pitfalls with Mark tree usage. It is understandable if you just want to avoid using it altogether. But a wise Music Director can navigate these ‘danger zones’ and avoid the horrific musical consequences that so many service leaders have fallen into, pulling all the congregants – kicking and screaming – down with them.

Has your church used the Mark Tree in worship services? Would you have suggestions/amendments for the ‘Good’ and ‘Inappropriate’ lists?

Good Quotes from Pastor Meyer

Now that the vote is in and Pastor Jason is being called to be our new pastor (with 99% affirming the call), I have compiled the amusing quotes from Pastor Meyer’s season of candidating and posted them here. I will note two things that are different from the quotes that I’ve previously posted for Pastor John:

1. Jason’s amusing quotes are longer.
2. Jason’s amusing quotes are actually in the posted manuscript – at least most of them. Pastor John’s quotes are almost always less planned.

The last quote on the list was spoken by Pastor Meyer about ten minutes before the vote.

Here are the quotes:

A lot of people approach the cross like the ABC’s of the Christian life.    What I mean by that is, it’s a good thing to start with but then as you mature you move beyond it. Right? The cross is like spiritual kindergarten and we don’t watch TV brought to us by the letter C anymore, thank you very much. Haven’t we moved beyond that? . . . And I’m never tired of saying, we never move beyond the cross. We only move further up, further in, to the very heart of God.

Any of us, with our pathetic pride, would not be able to handle this kind of mocking [from the other two criminals on the cross to his left and his right]. Really? You’re dying and you’re dying and you’re mocking me? I know that I wouldn’t be able to stay up on the cross, because I’ve experienced something like this. I had an eighth grade neighbor when I lived in Louisville and I found out that he loved basketball and I found out he wasn’t a Christian, and we decided to play together and I had played a little bit in college so we were going to play together and I was going to let him win, gonna let him beat me and build up some self esteem, and it was all going very well until he got ahead by ten points and started trash talking. “Oh you played in college – were they all girls? ha ha ha!”
And he didn’t win.
And he didn’t score another point.
Because I am pathetic.

Everyone knows instinctively knows that there is a vast difference between running over your neighbor’s mailbox and running over your neighbor.

. . . A distinction between a point and focal point. Something and the main thing. And we all know this if you’ve ever made potato soup, right? Who among us actually thinks potato soup only has potatoes in it? You have potatoes, you have milk, you have flour, you have basil and if you’re good you might actually add some bacon. But it’s not called bacon, milk, potato soup parsley whatever-you-put-in-it. The dominant ingredient becomes the defining element.

Who in this room actually gets what the incarnation is about? The whole fullness of deity . . . in a body. That’s like all of the oceans of the world . . . in a cup! We’re not talking about the difference between regular Dawn detergent dish soap and Ultra Dawn, super-concentrated, twice the cleaning power. We’re talking about fullness of deity in a body, infinite perfection in a human being – how can it be?

We say to God, “You are in another category than me” so what we do is we stop, our minds feel defeated and we adore the wisdom, celebrate the wisdom, and thank God for the Incarnation. There’s a TV show called ‘How It Works’, and sometimes while we’re flipping channels we’ll look at them take some common thing and goes into the inner workings of it. This will never be on that show.

In the first year of my marriage, my wife and I played kind of a funny game, where you don’t just say, “Happy Anniversary” every year, but every month. Sometimes it meant even waking the other person up at midnight to say, “Happy Third Anniversary! Beat you to it!”

We played another funny game, that we don’t do as much now that I’ve made it a sermon illustration, but, we used to say, “I love you” and then with that sparkle in the eye for the other person we’d say, “Oh I love you more” and then it’s like, “Okay, you want to play it that way? Game on, I love you ten times more””Oh, I love you a hundred times more.” “I love you a billion times more!””I love you infinity” And you had to stop. You can’t pull a Buzz Lightyear and say “Infinity and Beyond”. You can’t say, “I love you infinity times ten” It’s not romantic, it’s just bad math! So at this point, do you see? It’s bad theology to say, “We have Christ but we need something else.”

[about candidating for the Pastoral Position] Sometimes I think if you can make it through this process and not be dead then you’re fit for it and if you die then you weren’t called for the position.

==

 
If you’d like to see my other humorous posts, please head over to my Attempts category.

Our Kitchen Remodeling Project – Guidelines for the Remodeling Company

We’re redoing the kitchen in our home and much of the work is being done by Phil Carlson Custom Woodcraft. He (very reasonably) asked us to fill out a form describing our expectations for the work being done and any thoughts we had about how it should be done. We filled it out and rather than taking what we had written seriously, Phil seemed to be amused by what we wrote.  Please read what I wrote and see what you think!

===

Communication and Expectations

What hours of the day can we be at your house?  When can we start and when would you like us out of your home?  Can we work on Saturdays if necessary?

We’ve got a sort of odd schedule and what would be most helpful is if you are only in our house on even hours on odd days and odd hours on even days.

Please don’t work before 11:30 AM or after 2:30 PM

Saturdays won’t work as we have our weekly Porcupine Owners Round-Up Meeting (P.O.R.U.M) at our place all day on Saturdays.

What is the best mode of communication?  When is it appropriate to call you?

The homeschool curriculum we’re using encourages engaging in different kinds of communication tools. So while calling us on the phone is fine, it would be great if you would refrain from using your voice – rather, use some kind of implement to tap out morse code. I can send a link to a website of how to perform the dots and dashes, if that would help. Or you could perform the clicking communication used by ancient Aztecs circa 1400 A.D, although the documentation about that is less substantial.

How involved do you want to be in the project?  Will you be present on the job site?  How much of what is going on would you like to be informed about (ie – tomorrow we are doing xyz, and next Tuesday xyz will be here, etc).

We’ve never done this before, so we’d like to be very involved, if only for learning purposes. For example, if you could show all of our kids how to hang a cabinet, we’d appreciate it.

Will your kids be home alone with either myself or my workers there?  Are you ok with that?  Just want to make sure you’re comfortable.

Ever since the ‘Rotto Rooter Incident’ – in which Foster somehow inadvertently (but extremely cutely) destroyed our sections of the neighborhood’s sewage system – we’re not allowed to have workers alone with our kids, due to a Court order – for the “protection of the nearby block section and those entering [our home]”. You may have heard about this situation in the paper, but I can assure you, the local press overplayed the story. In any case, the RoRoo employee has almost nearly fully recovered, with minimal permanent loss of gross motor functionality in his legs.

Are there any parking restrictions I should know about, whether in your driveway or on the street?  Do you have any neighbors we need to be extra careful around or respectful toward?

Our city ordinance prohibit construction workers from parking within 300 feet of the home in which they are doing work (for marketing purposes, I don’t claim to understand it).

We’d actually request that you be DISrespectful to our neighbor to the north (Lyle Blortenmurhen).  He’s kind of a pain. Could you toss some kitchen remodeling waste on his roof, for example? Or yell disparaging words at his dogs?

Where can I set my dumpster?

What would be great is if you could put it at the far south west corner (a mere three minute walk) of our backyard. We don’t want junk being stored on our driveway, obviously! Adding a wrinkle to that request is our fervent wish to keep trucks off our lawn, so if you ask any of the neighbors for permission to drive through their lawn to position the dumpster, that would be great. Option 2: Keeping the dumpster at your place and simply hauling all of the refuse there each night. Either is fine with us.

Can I store materials in your garage?  Is your garage available as a workspace for cutting materials and making a minimal mess with dust?

Sure, but only on pleasant sunny days. During inclement weather, we’d appreciate it if you keep the gear and do the work somewhere else (anywhere outside is fine, esp. Mr, Blortenmurhen’s front lawn) so that muddy footprints don’t sully our pristine garage floor.

Which restroom should we use?

Whoah, whoah, whoah, who’s ‘we’? What do you think we are, some kind of free lavatory service for whoever you want to invite to our home?

How tidy do you want the jobsite to be left at the end of each day?

Just as long as you can hook up the kitchen sink before you leave each night, we don’t care. After all, we don’t stop eating (and that means preparing food, obviously) just because we’re making our kitchen nice.

Do you have any aversions, sensitivities, or things that annoy you I should be aware of?

Well, dangling participles, for one. That sentence should read, “. . . or things of which that annoy you I should be.” Also, some of our kids are afraid of power tools. And loud noises.

Anything else?

Please see our attached list of music we’d like you and your workers to be limited to. Don’t worry, it’s a pretty diverse set and includes music ranging from ‘Carmen’ to ‘Sandy Patty’. And everything in between.

Thank you,

Phil

Right back at you, The Jamisons

Nine Piper-Meyer Myths Dispelled

With the announcement of Jason Meyer as the new preaching pastor for Bethlehem Baptist Church, there have been many misconceptions, misunderstandings and misrepresentations about the Decision Process. In this document, I have codified them, quashed them and now present them to you.

But first, one might reasonably ask: Who are you and what makes you a reliable resource on the subject? I’m glad you asked. Here are just two qualifications (of many!) that I can give you.

1. I have personally spoken with Pastor John Piper recently. [Full disclosure - it was a ninety second conversation about a different subject, but honestly now, can you make that claim?]
2. I (along with my family) sat in the pew directly in front of the Meyer family last Sunday.

Nine Myth Dispellations About The Process To Determine The New Bethlehem Pastor

1. His name is Jason Meyer, not Jason Meyers, Jason Mayor, Jason MyErr (Ha ha, really funny), Jason Mraz, John Mayer or Mason Jeyer.

2. At no point was this question (regarding Twitter competency) asked of Jason: Let’s say that Pastor [name of popular but on-the-edge evangelical pastor] writes a new book espousing a happy-feely but heretical view. What would you tweet? In four syllables or less. Bonus points if it rhymes.

3. In the documentation about the decision, it was stated that at one point, the elders had narrowed the field down to two candidates. The other person was not Kirk Cameron.

4. Neither was this plan ever seriously considered: “In lieu of live sermons, Bethlehem elders will stand at the pulpit weekly and read Jonathan Edwards sermons.”

5. The congregational vote is coming in only two stages (Associate Pastor for Preaching and Vision then Pastor for Preaching and Vision), not seven stages (Associate Pastor for Preaching, Associate Pastor for Vision, Associate Pastor for Vision Preaching,  Associate Pastor for Vision Preaching,  Associate Vision Pastor for Preaching, Associate Preaching Pastor for Vision, THEN Pastor for Preaching and Vision).

6. No, Jason was not grilled for several hours on his view of “Theodical Cyclonistry*” (seminary fancy talk for Tornado Theology).

7. The book written by Jason is “The End of the Law – Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theory”, NOT “New Testament Cool Stuff”**

8. Jason doesn’t actually have “Bethlehem convictions and activities” literally written in his DNA. This was confirmed by blood test. But it was only a minor strike against him.

9. Pastor John will not “immediately” be starting a seven month leave to write “Don’t Waste Your Pastoral Transition”

* Apparently, the spell checker doesn’t think that Dispellations, Theodical, nor Cyclonistry are real words. It just goes to show how little it knows of these matters. Also ‘happy-feely’.

** Just checked in Wiki-Reformed-opedia. It turns out that New Testament Cool Stuff was at one point the working title for the book, so this myth was at least somewhat reasonable.

Star Trek, The Captains, Family Life and Glorious Incoherence

I don’t think I’ve publicly admitted it on this blog, but I’m a bit of a Star Trek fan. I’ve watched almost every episode of at least four of the shows and I’ve been to exactly one convention. Does that qualify me?

So recently my wife and I watched The Captains, (it’s instant viewing on Netflix) a documentary produced by William Shatner in which he interviewed all of the other Star Trek captains.

It was actually quite interesting.

The most intriguing part was a section in which he asked all of them about the personal cost of being cast in the role. In it we learned that four of the actors who played the Captains were divorced, two of the divorces were at least indirect results of being actors on science fiction television and one (Kate Mulgrew) said that her kids resented her role in Star Trek and were ‘dripping contempt’ for the show.

And then (at 58:55) Mr. Shatner asks Avery Brooks (Deep Space Nine – Benjamin Sisko) about his family life during the show and what follows is two minutes of . . . well, I would call it glorious incoherence.

How would you describe it? I’ve taken the time to transcribe it – here it is:

====

Shatner: Did you lose family time?
Brooks: Of course!
Shatner: Did it hurt?
Brooks: Of course!
Shatner: But how much harm was suffered -

Brooks: Well, you’d have to ask them, I mean, because the attendant, the attendant of – of the movement of time, y’know for us all, y’know, there-there it is, there – the one – the one hand or the other. I mean who knows, therefore, y’know, in retrospect, y’know. I mean, you can do it that way: say I should have done this as opposed, y’know, I mean, who knows? I mean so – so – so I hold fast to what I’ve chosen to do and I’m not apologizing for that. But the attendant toll taken on family and all of that is, that’s – that’s it.

Shatner: What do you mean, ‘that’s it’? That’s profound. That was terrible.

Brooks: It’s true, baby.

Shatner: That was terrible.

Brooks: Well, it’s not terrible or not terrible, it’s true. It’s true.

Shatner: Well, it’s true, you suffered.

Brooks: It’s true, they suffered.

Shatner: You suffered.

Brooks: It’s true-

Shatner: But you suffered as well.

Brooks: Well, watch -

Shatner: Well, if they suffered, you suffered.

Brooks: Watch what I’m saying to you.

Shatner: I’m listening.

Brooks: It’s true. It’s not terrible or not. It’s true. You know, the toll – the toll on people, you can’t get it back. I mean, no matter what. I mean, whether-whether the decision to make, y’know, to do the thing or not to do a thing – you know what I’m talking about?

Shatner: Yes, I do. Did you discuss this with Vicki like this or did you -

Brooks: She knows, of course! I’ll move. Whether we survive is still accident, isn’t it? Whether we survive all of the sum of who we are -

Shatner: The cumulative effects of life.

Brooks: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ve got to live it, baby. Like you. What’s different?

Shatner: The same.

Brooks: Hmmm.

========

Hmmm, indeed.

And for the record, Avery has been married to Vicki since 1976.

Online Advertisement: Another Curious Case

As the story goes the popularity of the movie “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” did not go unnoticed by the other Hollywood studios. The odd tale showed Benjamin throughout the course of his life growing backwards – from old to young.

One competing studio actually worked on a similar concept, this one where a man went through his whole life looking like he was a balding man of sixty three. But studio execs quashed the project saying there was “no character change” and that the protagonist was “too static”.

In the end the original concept photography was sold an used as another on-line education grant advertisement:

Disturbing Online Grant Advertisement

When I was quite young I used to watch the animated superhero show ‘Underdog’.

I will say that as a young child I found some of the scenes to be quite scary and sobering and none were more frightening to me than the episode called “The Phoney-Booths” in which the evil Simon Bar Sinister created phone booths that would transform normal people into slaves (with odd siren-like lights on their heads) who would do whatever evil he wanted them to.

And when Underdog fell into the trap and became (temporarily!) evil himself, the seven year old me found it very disturbing.

All that to say that when I see this internet add on the yahoo website:

. . . it kind of freaks me out a little bit. I’m pretty sure that’s not what the marketers were going for.

Seen At The Gas Station

So I was pumping gas on Friday and I saw this on the pump:

. . . and I thought to myself, “Those instructions, with it’s blue rectangle and red circle, may not be clear enough.”

So I thought I’d make a suggestion – in graphic format – as a service to those people reading this blog who design gas pumps:

What do you think?

John Piper Good Quotes: Part 4

As usual, 3 disclaimers:

1. All quotes taken from sermons
2. All completely taken out of context
3. None found in the Online Sermon Texts – but many are on the videos

27 Witticisms From John Piper

As I was compiling these quotes, I noticed a slight theme. This year, a few of the quotes include a nonstandard word. In fact, I couldn’t use one of the quotes, because I couldn’t figure out how to spell the utterance he used. In any case, that’s what these first four quotes are.

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• [On Pastor John’s Definition of being ‘Free’] You aren’t really fully free if you aren’t doing what you desire to. You say, “I can! I can muster up my will and I can do what I don’t want to do.” Yes, you can. You call that Freedom? I don’t. Bleah.

• The word ‘Alone’ is added in the ESV, The word ‘Deemed’ is added in the Study Bible, I’ve written those folks, all my friends who translated this verse and said “Don’t do this to me! I have to preach on this! The fact that he said it the way that he said it accounts for their objection in verse 13. If you take out the problem from Chapter 5 verse 30 you can’t explain the problem that the Pharisees in chapter 8 verse 13!” So forgive me for being little bit CLK here.
• I told Noel the other night how frustrating it is to preach through this gospel because when you’re starting verses like this you gotta slow down! And if I slow down I’ll never finish! So . . . we try to slow down a little and then Pssssh like this, y’know? So I’m doing a Pssssh tonight.
• Some pastors say “I don’t want to get into specifics. We’ll just have a hazy unity.” I don’t want to have a hazy unity. Hazy unity feels . . . bleah.

(We now return you to your regularly scheduled normal funny quotes from Pastor John)

• In fact, so much is here in verse 31, that I never got to verse 32, from which I took the title to the message.
• We want to fly away and be like angels. But we live here and we change diapers. Used to anyway. About 4000 of them, I figure.
• When we’re praying “forgive me”, we’re not just saying, “I hope you’re nice!”
• If you asked, “Show us the Father”, and I said, “as long as I have been with you and you don’t know me?” you wouldn’t come back to this church. And you shouldn’t.
• . . . So pretend like you’re in class for the next twenty minutes or so and we’ll close with preaching.
• [About our church’s location] Can you survive the fact that if you can see the church, you can’t get to it? Yes, you can. . . Try it sometime! Try driving down 35W. There it is! Twenty minutes later you’re at our church.
• I cannot imagine that it would be satisfying to become an itinerant conference speaker. Yuck.
• No one sins out of duty: “I don’t want to sin, but I really should, so I will.”
• For John, this was like he was writing in the 50’s. I’m 65. I remember the 50’s. I remember Elvis!
• When I read things like this in the Bible they jar me. I really love to be jarred by the Bible.
• If you haven’t been jarred when you’re reading the Bible, you’re not reading it.
• I’ve told that story a hundred time and people always laugh. You almost didn’t laugh.
• We’re talking about eternal life. It’s not eternal golf. I’m always picking on golf. Sorry David! No, it’s eternal Him!
• Some people are saying, when I think about Jesus’ love, I think about John 3:16. I don’t think about 11:5 [letting Lazarus die.]
• Human brains get us into trouble a lot.
• I listened to about 5 minutes of it. I couldn’t take it anymore.*
• If you’re dead, you’re dead. You can’t undead yourself.
• I think I get it [I can explain this complex text (John 9:40-41)]. But you’re going to have to help me. You’re going to have to not think about what you’re going to be doing in an hour. You will be lost.
• There’s only one kind of sheep. Mangy sheep.
• If you say ‘I don’t have anything to give [in a small group]’, that’s blasphemy. . . not to overstate it.
• I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. I don’t have any promises about ease, except: It gets worse. I DO have huge promises about joy.
• There are those who think, “I don’t give a rip about mixed metaphors. If you’re a door and a shepherd, tell me about it!”
• We are little children. Little children don’t know all they need to know, but they really sleep well.

* The newest contemporary Christian music song? No, he’s talking about the tape from the first time he preached from John 16:16-24

If you’d like more Piper Quotes
Piper Quotes 1
Piper Quotes 2
Piper Quotes 3

And if you’d like to hear songs for verses from Pastor Piper’s church’s Bible memory plan (and maybe buy the CD) look here:

By the way, as usual, I’d love to hear what your favorites are.

Disturbing Diet

Interested in learning about the new diet plan where you not only lose weight but your upper lip becomes your new nose?

Yes it will!

Why then, Click here!

Tuesday Stand Alone Statement: The Punctuation Mark I Use Too Much . . .

. . . is this: The Colon.

Also noted: The Ellipsis.

Because . . . I mean, they’re just so handy! And they make me look smart, don’t they?

Memo to the Star Tribune

Dear Star Tribune Headline Writer:

Regarding yesterday’s top headline:

1. While I applaud your bipartisan approach, I think it is disrespectful and inappropriate to call our national leaders ‘Creeps’.

2. The headline should include what they are closer to. An agreement? A solution? The reader doesn’t know.

And a belated Happy Pursed Lips Day, everybody!

What We Tend To Forget

I saw the comment on a blog – it said that people tend to forget an important point that had been mentioned. While I had not forgotten that particular factoid (I still remembered it – Whew!), I wondered how many other significant truths I had once known but had since allowed to become absent from my consciousness. I don’t want to be a typical person that doesn’t know this kind of crucial stuff.

So I did some online research (searching for “People tend to forget that”) and was shocked at how many things I had forgotten. I’m just like the typical American who is no longer aware of so many truths!

And then I thought “I wonder if my readers are aware of all this!”

So here, as a helpful gift to all of you, I present it to you.

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33 Things The Internet Says People “Tend To Forget”

People tend to forget that happiness is a state of mind, not a result of circumstance.

People tend to forget that ALL PSP Games Support Online Play

People tend to forget that Michael Caine knew a few gangsters, growing up in Rotherhithe.

People tend to forget that insulin is one of the most anabolic agents available.

People tend to forget that Obama is an attorney.

People tend to forget that the only Trump with a rags-to-riches story is his father.

People tend to forget that “this too shall pass” when they are flooded in pain

People tend to forget that play is serious

People tend to forget that Ronald Reagan often gave ground on policy substance — most notably, he ended up enacting multiple tax increases.

People tend to forget that the natural resources that the Earth provides us are not endless.

People tend to forget that, being human, they are never working with a complete set of data.

People tend to forget that retirement homes also offer other benefits that are often overlooked by people.

People tend to forget that Paul was a Jew whose teachings NEVER contradicted Torah (God’s original teachings/instructions).

People tend to forget that what separates Tim <Tebow> from the pack is his work ethic.

People tend to forget that they should never save their usernames and passwords on public computers.

People tend to forget that the iPhone’s software development kit has only been out about two months.

People tend to forget that hired, talented management personnel…are workers.

People tend to forget that before the Favre Era in Green Bay, they had “The Majik Man.”

People tend to forget that identity thieves can still operate in low key ways as well

People tend to forget that the education industry employs many people who aren’t teachers;

People tend to forget that when you are dealing with immigration issues bureaucracy plays a huge role as well as the human factor.

People tend to forget that the word “history” contains the word “story”

People tend to forget that the best way to fatten cattle is to raise their insulin levels by feeding them excessive amounts of low-fat grain

People tend to forget that most systems work from the inside-out.

People tend to forget that, beyond their inflated wallets, professional athletes are human beings – and in <Robin> Ventura’s case, a good human being.

People tend to forget that the universe cares not about our trivial worries and concerns.

People tend to forget that a lot of people use boats everyday for transportation.

People tend to forget that “America” was founded off a war.

People tend to forget that English is a living, evolving language.

People tend to forget that going “Green” has value!

People tend to forget that there are other things to take into consideration aside from the interest rates on loans and the monthly payment.

And Lastly:

“I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They’re sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.” ~ Jack Handy~

624 Thousand? That’s huge!

Really? I mean . . .Really???

(Yes, this is a companion piece to “Wow Just Wow”, which is, apparently, out of date)

Guest Post!

I thought I’d let you know that Jon Acuff, over at Stuff Christians Like, posted my article submission today.

Go read it!

A Vikings / Bethlehem Connection

Let’s Look at some facts, shall we?

1980 – John Piper starts his role as Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.
1982 – The Vikings start playing football at the Metrodome. About 170 feet from Bethlehem.

Just a coincidence, obviously!

But . . . consider -

2006 – Bethlehem moves into it’s new North Campus
2010 – The Vikings start to ‘seriously consider’ the old Arden Hills Ammunition Plant. At the closest point, about 170 feet from the Bethlehem north campus.

Still not convinced? – consider these words from Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley:

Speaking to reporters, Bagley said . . . “We love the site,” he said. “It’s 10 miles from the Metrodome. It’s about the same from downtown St. Paul. It’s right on three-lane I-35W. And I did the math – It’s less than a quarter mile from a certain famous reformed pastor’s church’s north campus!”*

Now if they announce another possible new vikings stadium site down in Lakeville, just off I35, then . . . well, let’s just say I’ll be very suspicious.

*Emphasis added. Also the words being emphasized.

Or maybe I just like using the word “unconscionable” in a post

At my place of work, they have put mailboxes in the hallways. The other day I had an envelope that I wanted to place into one of them and there were two ladies standing next to the box. I was forced, against my will, to walk several inches out of my way so I could get it in there.

One of the ladies looked up and said, as if she meant it, “Sorry”.

My first thought was “Too little, too late, lady! I’ve lost untold milliseconds because of your reckless action!”

But then I thought, “I should show a more gracious spirit.”

So I said “Dear woman, while what you did here today was horrific and unconscionable, I will nevertheless resolve to find it in my heart to forgive you. It may take years for me to consider myself healed of this great wound, but I have faith that it will one day be accomplished in my life.”

I feel a little guilty when people apologize to me for an action that caused me no harm, is what I’m saying.