Superhua

Adam to Jesus

I recently listened to a great message by Andy Stanley on greed in which he indicted our culture for its vastly different responses to spending money and giving money. That is, we will readily drop $3,000 (and go into debt while doing so) for something we want, but will say, “Oh, I can’t really give $1,000 to that charity because I just don’t have the means.”

Somewhat related is this quote by Bono that I found on Hosive’s blog:

Bono commenting on the current financial crisis facing the United States:

“I am not qualified to comment on what has happened in the last week where this city has changed shape, certainly psychologically, and in terms of some people’s wallets. And I’m not qualified to comment on the interventions that have been put forth. I presume these people know what they’re doing. But it is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable, treatable disease and hunger.”

Video: Traveller Sue

can birds have a dog fight?, originally uploaded by threecee.

On Sunday I mentioned that the Christian life continually encounters challenges to faith. That is, the Christian life does not get easier even as one matures in the faith because the challenges proportionately grow.

Do you resonate with this reality? I certainly do. I have found that everyday is a fight for faith! Just because I am in ministry does not–by any means–exempt me from the fight for faith. I struggle to read the Word and pray at times. I wrestle with difficulties in the Christian faith.

Sometimes I will sign emails “Serving with you” or “Journeying together with you”–and I mean it.

Everyday is a fight for faith!

ps – here is a great and convicting resource for you. i encourage you to take time to read a/o listen to it.

The indefatigable optimism of the American pscyhe is seen most evidently in the motto of Bob the Builder: “Can we build it?  Yes we can!”

However unlike the rugged individualism that characterizes so much of the American landscape, Bob the Builder has a unique emphasis on teamwork.

Hence, Bob the Builder represents an interesting mixture of core Western and Eastern beliefs.

[is it scary or motivating that i'm analyzing the fundmental worldviews of an animated character?]

In studying Genesis 12:10 the phrase, “a famine in the land” caught my attention due its importance in the book of Ruth.  A quick-and-dirty search for the Hebrew behind the phrase yields 11 hits.

Paper idea: trace the motif and importance of “a famine in the land” throughout the Old Testament.

Search of (translated to English) "a famine in the land"

We have a number of retreats each year which require attendees to register and pay.  Back in the day forms and checks were the way to go.  However, recently I’ve been exploring online registration and payment.

Here are my thoughts on three services I’ve explored.

Google Spreadsheet is a great way to collect information; I only wish it could send an email confirmation once the form is completed as well as easily redirect to Google Checkout for online payment.

Wufoo can do all of that at their entry-level plan ($10/month); if one upgrades to the second-tier plan ($25/month), one can make it even slicker as payment is integrated directly into Wufoo (however, there is no way to registrants to pay by check).

EventBrite is slickest of all with a complete event site (complete with calendar and map integration) and timed tickets (for example, and early bird tickets which is only available until 10 days before the event).  In addition, because everything is integrated, it keeps track of how much everyone has paid.  IOW, all of their information is kept together.  However, EventBrite would be the most costly of the three surveyed here.

In sum, here are my requirements and wants:

Requirements

• Gather custom information from registrant
• Allow registrant to pay by credit card (via Google Checkout) or check (offline)

Wants

• Timed tickets which expire (e.g. – “early bird”)
• Email confirmation sent to registrant
• Graphs of data (like grade or payment vehicle)
• Free or inexpensive

On that last note, if we have ~50 people, here is the cost breakdown (per person) of the registration system (not counting Google fees):

• Google Spreadsheet and Checkout: $0.00
• Wufoo entry-level: $0.40
• EventBrite: ~$2.50

Currently, I’m thinking of staying with the Google Spreadsheet and Checkout route, but we’ve used Wufoo in the past with good success.

Here are some topics we have covered in past Sunday schools:

• Spiritual Disciplines using Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney (there is also a study guide) [sample of my teaching notes]
• Evangelism using More Ready Than You Realize by Brian McLaren [sample of my teaching notes]
• Church History using Christian History Made Easy by Timothy Paul Jones [sample of my teaching notes]
• Systematic Theology (we called it “Big Issues”) using a variety of resources [sample of my teaching notes]
• Missions and World Religions using Bruce & Stan’s Guide to Cults, Religions, and Spiritual Beliefs [sample of my teaching notes]
• Biblical Theology using God’s Big Picture: Tracing the storyline of the Bible and Life’s Big Questions: Six major themes traced through the Bible both by Vaughan Roberts. [sample of my teaching notes]
• Encountering God in the Ordinary using An Ordinary Day with Jesus
• Evangelism using Becoming a Contagious Christian
• Parables using Modern Parables

Future ideas include:

• Connecting with Muslims using Bridges
• The Seven Deadly Sins
• Abortion
• Bioethics
• Asian-Christian issues

The rapid and fleeting nature of time has been foremost on my mind for the last 2 years.  Hence with great delight did I hear the following yesterday:

C. S. Lewis said that one of the reasons we constantly make comments about how fast time flies and how strange time is is because we weren’t made for time. We were made for eternity. You can’t imagine a fish saying in water, “Oh, this is so wet!” because a fish is made for water. And we were made for eternity. We were made for God. [source]

O Lord!  “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psa 90:12)

Tonight in Senior High Bible Study we talked about the move by some college presidents to lower the drinking age.  Though it was a smaller group because of homecoming, we had a great discussion (at least I thought so ).  Here are the notes.