Starting Afresh

I had a profound experience at church tonight. Decided to blog about it, and yes that picture has something to do with it. But, I thought this would be a good occasion to migrate over to a proper blog. One where I write more meaningful things. (That means I'll be writing less frequently.)

New Blog called, "What is the Kingdom?"

Fig Newtons

Comedian Louis C.K. (Writer, Pootie Tang) talks about his 3-year-old daughter on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

Now I know it's comedy. It's embellishment. Self-deprecating humor.

But, watch this 2-minute clip and you can glean some insights into human nature:

That despite mainstream culture's wholesale abandonment of the biblical world-view, there is evidence in us, that we were made to live out our design. God designed us, intended for us, to live rightly. And many of us hunger for Paradise still.

...shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Isaiah 29:16

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah 1:18

The White Bus

This episode blew me away.





"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."

- Jesus of Nazareth (in the Gospel of John)

If what Jesus said is true, then this means there is a way for human beings to literally live forever.

Not Of This World

A couple days ago I finished The WB + UPN's Roswell. The complete series. All three seasons. What an awesome ride. The show suffered from a lack of budget, hence the corny cinematography and some low-grade actors, but it was a great journey.

Strange how I never watched it while it was on the air. Strange how as a kid in high school I never understood the appeal of the show. Now that I'm learning to walk in the freedom Christ bled and died for, I'm rediscovering that sense of yearning-for-adventure, that I never fully gave myself to when I was a teen.

Roswell is a part of that journey. I get it now. The appeal of this show. I can identify now with the characters. (Yes, even their sloppy moral compass with their promiscuity. It's simply a picture of unredeemed humanity. Either that, or it's a picture of network suits craving for Nielson's ratings demanding that the show up the ante.)

Sure, in the end, not all the themes that were set up in the pilot got played out in any consistent manner. But there was that initial appeal: the sense that, because these kids are aliens, their lives have a bigger significance beyond their day-to-day high school existence.

As a follower of Christ, who describes Himself as being "not of this world," I live in that reality of knowing that my life has greater significance than just what meets the eye. In fact everyone regardless is part of a larger-than-life drama that began in the Garden of Eden, eons ago.

And this "not of this world" concept is a line that Max Evans, the lead alien echoes in the show:

LIZ
So you're an alien?

MAX
I prefer the term, "not of this earth."

And finally, there's a slim correlation (again, this quickly falls apart after the first couple episodes) between "Max + Liz" and "Christ + His Bride (everyone who believes in Him)".

There's a very poignant scene where Liz makes a supernatural connection with Max and she says, "For the first time I saw myself as he sees me; through his eyes I was beautiful."

"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3.17 TNIV).

So, to Jesus I more than tip my hat, who at this moment is delicately conducting to a perfect pitch, the orchestra of the universe, in which I am privileged to play my part. (I was first chair tenor sax in band.)

Currently...

...on my screen:


...in my CD changer:


...on my bookshelf:

Kingdom Triangle AUDIO

For those who just don't got the time to read...

Here's an audio interview with Dr. J.P. Moreland himself about his latest book, Kingdom Triangle.

ReclaimingTheMind.org presents Conversing with Scholars (click me!)

Battlestar Galactica Last Supper Wallpaper

Was trying to upload some new pics I took at the beach the other day, but my camera isn't cooperating today.

Enjoy this wallpaper I made, instead.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season four returns to SciFi, Friday, April 4 at 10/9c.



Click on the picture for full resolution (1024x768).

David Crowder Band, Illuminated & Ned Flanders-ism

Was at the Felix Event Center (Azusa Pacific University) last Saturday for the David Crowder Band concert. Took the church kids. Hung out all day. A game of Letter Line Up by Cranium, 디비디비딥, 아이 앰 그라운드 자기 소개 하기..., P'soy (is that how it's spelled) and Jack In The Box. Yum.

In between I wandered into the on campus bookstore. Snagged a brand new hardback copy of ILLUMINATED, the debut novel from music producer Matt Bronleewe (Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St. James, Leeland) for only $5!!!



It was a great read.

One pet peeve: Christian publishers aren't shy about violence in the novels they publish. (Violence as in, serial killers cutting up bodies and putting them in trash bags.) Yet, they insist on NOT printing curse words. So Christian authors get around this by having their book read, "She hit him in the teeth and he swore spitting out a bloody tooth."

But for some reason, ILLUMINATED has one instance where the author resorts to a Ned Flanders-ism (the guy from The Simpsons that always says, "Okily dokily, neighborino!" Which was diagnosed by Dr. Hibert as being Flanders' way of cussing without really cussing.) Bronleewe has one of his characters saying, "sonofagun" instead of "sonofab*tch."

Weird.

My Journey Through the 'Kingdom Triangle'

I've just closed the book. I'm done reading Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland. It's a lot to digest. But for now it's basically saying that the balanced well-lived life will consist of a balance proportion of these three things in your life:

1. Mind - do you have a clear understanding of reality and rational reasons behind why you believe the Christian worldview?
2. Soul - are you cultivating a healthy emotional life; an intimate relationship with God?
3. The Spirit - are you growing in living in the power of the Kingdom of God; is the power of the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Triune God) a reality in your life?

Already, I watch the news differently. (I'll discuss this later.) Which means I'm becoming a better thinker.

But even before that, my own life journey almost seems to outline this book. In middle school and high school, I read up on the scientific and philosophical reasons for believing in Jesus. Then in college I was introduced to the notion that one must attend to the care of one's inner life in a more purposeful way through a class I took in seminary. And finally, toward the end of my college career I discovered a church that seemed to satisfy my life-long search: "Why can't there be a church today, that experiences God the way the church did in the first century, as recorded in the book of Acts?" And I'm just barely learning how to wade. I know one day I will swim in this new dimension of living in the Kingdom.

So anyway, in reading this book I was introduced to an organization called the Sentinel Group that does global research on what the Holy Spirit is doing with his church.

And here's a video. Remember Acts chapter 2 and what happened as the believers gathered to pray?

Greetings, Nerrrrds!!

(Picture Conan pushing up imaginary glasses.)

Three things motivated me to start this blog:

1. I'm reading Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland.
2. I'm able to watch Conan again, now that it's available online. (I can't stay up too late in the hour. I'm not a college kid no more.)
3. I just got the call yesterday from the AFI Conservatory. I'm scheduled for an interview. I've passed phase one of the acceptance process.

So, a new phase of life begins for me.

I can't really say where this blog will go, or who will read it. This will be sometimes zany, sometimes deeply philosophical. Who knows...

Life is full of the unexpected. So expect it!