Ellen: No, but those whose identity is based more on theological distinctives- as Clark says- are prone to what he describes.

Michael, are you thinking that this is a problem that is unique to Calvinists?

This is a serious inside attempt at answering the question. You can decide how truthful this is.

Sometimes our defensiveness causes us to lose focus on the rest of the faith. Certainly, relative to broad evangelicalism, we confess things that set us apart in theology, piety, and practice and those distinctives are to be treasured. We tend to focus on one or two of these things and sometimes forget the rest of what we confess. Sometimes the jerks in our midst are obsessed with one or two doctrines while ignoring the ethical or moral teaching of the confessions. In so doing they are not actually being very confessional. Let’s say our jerks lack humility.

Bill, I took your Twilight Zone marathon advice last year and freaked out every time one of my daughter’s dolls would talk after that.

“I’m going to kill you.”

Also, the toilet seats at our house have the name “Bemis” on them and I always think of Burgess Meredith when I see that.

I trust you are all wasting your time by watching the Twilight Zone marathon.

Sharon:  Stay away from the organ meats, I know how you southerners are.

Snow: We had a green Christmas, but have about 4 inches now.  Rain this week should erase it.

So what if the spiritual watchdogs at Slice got ahold of the Monk’s recommended book list for 2007? What would that post be like?

Travel with me into the minds of the Slice o’ Bot, where “no one is saved but me and thee….and I’m not so sure about thee.”

“Slice readers are aware of the anti-Christian blog known as the Internet Monk, a person who presents himself as a minister but who endorses and defends the worst degenerate misbehavior of the emerging church. The apostate monk recently published a list of recommended books. This deceiver of God’s people showed why evangelicalism is in the grips of a Satanic emerging denial of the truth. A look at his book list and recommended authors demonstrates that this is the path to contemplative apostasy and emerging ecumenistic heresy. More »« Less

People who say the term “missional church” is just a vague mumbling of people trying to be cool…please read this.

Sharon: It happened to me two years ago. Also at Christmastime. Painful in ways one simply cannot explain. One home remedy that afforded me some relief was eating lots of canned cherries, brought to me by a kind elderly neighbour. That and sleeping as much as possible. Keeping the bedsheets off your foot. Hope preaching goes well for you tomorrow.

One ugly Word:

gout

I will be preaching atop a stool in the morning.

2006 Darwin Awards

My review of Apocalypto is up at IM.

Leonard Sweet.com. Visit, just to irritate someone out there.

It irritated me greatly.  The letters are too small and too gray.  That’s all.
Back on the oatmeal topic – instant oatmeal; fast.  Can be yummy.  The biggest advantage to the “real” oatmeal is the fiber (back to that older body again).

I wish I had the Piper book.  I was not even aware of it.  I do not understand why more people aren’t honest about depression.  At a church (a great church, IMO) that we were a part of the pastor began a series on battling depression.  He was talking about how Jesus must have battled depression.  Psalm 22 and other Passion passages were unpacked.  I thought it was great stuff.  He said over and over that Jesus didn’t sin but that he was fighting what we would call depression.  He was also careful to say that all depression in people need not be considered a direct result from personal sin.  Some can be but all isn’t.  Even with these qualifiers and honesty, the response from many in the congregation was so negative that he actually stopped the series.  He did it in a humble way.  But I was amazed.  So many people in the congregation were likely right in the battle and wanting to hear from God’s word.  Oh well.

From Lurker Clay:

Idealistically, I would prefer purist oatmeals, too. Occasionally, I will roil up a boiling pot of the real meal, or get a bowl at Cracker Barrel (quite good, really), but most days I eat my meal with a dash of reality. Frankly, too much talk of “steel cut Irish whole rolled oats” starts sounding a bit TRish, to me. Do only the elect eat “real” oatmeal? Funny thing is, I’m very intuitive and idealistic, but the sensate reality of purist oatmeal takes too much out of me (I really dislike cleaning stove-brewed oatmeal pans). So even though I know my version will be greatly ridiculed and derided, I offer it on behalf of all the others like me who eschew the chewy oat groats in favor of the modern version:
—Quaker 1-Minute Oats (no generics, no single-serve packages), 1/2 cup tightly packed and generously rounded.—Bottled water (no tap), 1 cup with slight spill-over allowed.—Wide-rimmed bowl (not narrow, not deep).—Microwave (yep, nuke it), 1:50 on Hi (additional 10 seconds if the meal still moves in the bowl upon jiggling)—Brown Sugar (dark brown, not light), two very heaping tablespoons (or, for dieters, substitute 2 packs of Splenda)—Frozen Blueberries (Dole are the best), up to 1/2 cup depending on preference, 30 seconds in microwave, then mixed into hot oatmeal to thaw rest of way.—Milk to taste (1% for me).

Now you can taunt and ridicule. But let me add this. I’ve eaten my oatmeal and blueberries with great satisfaction twice a day for about six months now (it’s now a comfort food). It has helped me lose 45 pounds (260 to 215), has contributed to a precipitous drop in cholesterol (190 to about 130), and simplified my life (no more big choices for breakfast and lunch, and prepared easily). So there.

PS: No reply necessary. Just couldn’t resist offering a contrarian view.

TSK likes Piper’s When The Darkness Will Not Lift. I believe this material is in another book, but I’ll have to read this…in violation of my resolution. (I told you this would be difficult.) I’ll say this: I appreciate that Piper will at least talk about depression, because many reformed type will only talk about sin or demons. I’m sure Piper talks about that, and he should. It’s pertinent. But when you have lived with this upclose you know that you are often dealing with something wrong and dysfunctional in the brain and the body.

Alastair feels the pressure.

Eric Reed has a short piece at CT on Jonathan Edward’s resolutions.

Rich Copley names his Top Ten films of ‘06.

I’m going back on Sirius radio Tuesday at 5 on The Catholic Guy program on The Catholic Channel. This is a fun show. We talked as much about egg nog as about serious topics last time. Some readers caught the show, which was cool.

Bill could be down here in the south, doing some good. But Noooo.

Does your Bible blame the innkeeper? Clay and I are now using the NLT2, and I was pleased to see it lets the innkeeper off the hook.

A review of Johnson and the English Language.

Leonard Sweet.com. Visit, just to irritate someone out there.

Justin T is reporting that D. James Kennedy is seriously ill with cardiac arrest yesterday.

Dr. Mohler has also had surgery and is recovering well.

I don’t think there’s any correlation between religion and job performance

Do I need that new book? The flow chart answer.

There are now reports out of Iraq that Hussein has been hanged.

I’ve got one wonderful Christmas gift this year: My friend and relation David Head, former member of the BHT in years gone by, has taken a pastorate in Lexington at Victory Baptist Church. David is a great writer and speaker, and a good friend. I am going to be inviting him, and another good brother, back to the BHT. I’m sure he’ll be busy, but I hope he can join us.

David’s mom was my half-sister that died in August, and he also sent his kid to college this year. Denise and I will be glad to see him and Paula again and spend some time together. Hopefully, he can avoid meeting Joel and Leif, but it may happen anyway.

The imradio podcast 38 is now up, and I have included a lot of material for Matthew. Pray for him.

Those of you who hate my TR fascination can keep praying. I’m about as uninterested in those guys right now as it’s possible to be.

Here’s the beta of Mars Hills new web page.

And I close with these words of wisdom from Scott Adams:

When it comes to discrimination against people’s choices, the only exception is a person’s choice of religion. You can’t discriminate because someone picked the wrong religion. And here I’m only talking about the big name religions. You can still pick on the little religions.

If a guy shows up for a job interview and tells you his religion requires him to wear a stuffed rhino penis as a hat, you can show him the door. But if he says his prophet walked on water, or rode to heaven on a flying horse, you slap a name tag on his cubicle and hope for the best. If he thinks he might have reincarnated from a caterpillar, sign him up. If he says he’s wearing special underpants to ward off evil, put him on the fast track.

In all fairness, I don’t think there’s any correlation between religion and job performance, so it wouldn’t make sense to allow religious discrimination. I just want to feel safe when I walk down the street in my rhino penis hat.

Thanks to Michael’s apostolate I have become a Moleskine devotee. It feels a bit like I’ve joined a cult. I’ve got three different ones going right now. I love these little, perfectly designed notebooks. But here’s a guy who really loves his Moleskine. Enough to serenade it. Listen – Little Black Book (The Moleskine Song)

Michael, I use the batch processing functions of Photoshop Elements to downsize and down-save image files for later web publication. Picassa (free from Google) can do the same but I don’t think it’s available for OSX.

Was Apocalypto highly detailed in it’s evisceration scenes or more inferential? All we get for TV is CBS and we’re totally gored out with all of the CSIesque programming.

Finally, I’ve been listening to the EWTN-The Journey Home podcasts per the request of a dear Catholic brother who hopes for a similar story from me. I’ve enjoyed the stories, but frankly (and I’ll tell him this) they confirm my ‘why nots’ regarding RCC involvement. I was listening to an interview this morning with an Anglican Priest who became RCC. A major incongruency; “At some point I simply needed to put aside such issues as ‘justification by faith’ and simply trust in the authority of the Church” vs. a later statement “Protestants right now are more devoted to the charisma of their pastors than they are to the Church”. More »« Less

I think I like Cream of Wheat better.

Me too.  As I said, try oat bran.  Rolled oats are the devil.  Leave them to the horses.

David Fitch wrote this list at his blog, Reclaiming the Mission. It’s an interesting look at how missional thinking differs from the typical “seeker” oriented church-growth thinking. Fitch’s church is “Life on the Vine.”

TEN THINGS ANYONE WHO JOINS IN A TWENTY FIRST CENTURY MISSIONAL CHURCH PLANT SHOULD NOT EXPECT More »« Less

Hutchens keeps making his point. I guess he doesn’t like the picture.

Mr. Hutchens is starting to sound a bit like [name deleted] who used his Christmas posts to ridicule the preaching or Ergun Caner. Get a grip.

Matthew just wrote me and said he needs our prayers as he goes to be pastor to a family whose daughter just committed suicide.

“O Lord, strengthen your servant Matthew in the difficult work of standing in the midst of grief and loss as a sign of the comfort of Christ in a broken world. Humble his heart, mind and words with the peace that comes from the Holy Spirit. Measure his words with the compassion of Jesus. May he be silent, or weep, or embrace, or proclaim the comforting Gospel as you lead.

Father of mercies, we pray for a family in confusion and loss. May your own Father’s heart surround them. There is no sense to be made and no answers that will ease pain, but there will be anger and despair, blame and shame. Pour the presence of your suffering and resurrected son into this family in their moments of unimaginable pain and darkness. May your son be the final Word to all that is spoken, felt and experienced.

In Jesus name and power we pray these things. Amen.”

I think we are already creating our own gods. Consider the vast and varied nature of scriptural extrapolations that are currently wafting around pop Protestantism. To me, very idea of a god who is not as completely omniscient as the scripture says that he is, is a false god. The god that is held at bay by our measly little Richard craniums is the anti-Christ, as, technically – by making his gift of salvation subject to our ability reason – we are placing the onus of control on us. Man = God, therefore, man is god. We get to be spirit brothers with Christ right here in temporal land.

Concerning oatmeal: you have to use a water glass full. Ets no Scottish ef ets less than that, Irish – maybe – but no Scottish. And, ef ets no Scottish, et’s CRAP.

Oatmeal:  in coookies.

Seriously – McCann’s steel-cut Irish oatmeal is the best, but if you don’t cook it long enough, it’s like eating gravel.  I use the slow cooker, like Lurker Derek.

Additives:

• brown sugar, apples, cinnamon


• honey, milk


• bananas, brown sugar


• blueberries

A Will Willimon gem : His Dec 18th Christmas meditation. More »« Less

From Lurker Derek, who has me going to class smelling of oats and a famous Kentucky product.

The place to start is steel-cut oats. My favorite is the McCann’s steel-cut Irish oatmeal, but I usually use to the bulk version, which is basically just as good. Steel-cut is more filling, better tasting, and, if I remember right, even more packed with soluble fiber.

However, making it the traditional way is problematic. It takes half an hour every morning and requires supervision and stirring. Fine for Saturday morning, but lousy for weekdays, especially if, like me, you’re more of an evening person (also called “a person who spends upwards of half an hour some mornings waiting for the toaster to make a pot of coffee.”) Also, the traditional way, if not done perfectly, tastes burned and gives your jaw a killer workout.

So forget the traditional way. Slow cookers are the way to go. Spray down the sides with oil and gently pour in the water and oatmeal (and always a pinch of salt, natch.) Be sure to add a little extra water to account for evaporation. The next morning you get oatmeal that is not only easier to figure out than the Bodum pot, but is creamy, beautifully textured, and flavorful all on its own.

But not flavorful enough, at least compared to pork products. So let’s talk additives. To me, it doesn’t get better than bourbon. Whiskey is the traditional thing, but I’ve been sold on bourbon ever since I added a teaspoon or so of Woodford Reserve and discovered exquisite banana flavors emerging. Hey, you were going to add vanilla anyway, right? This is supporting Kentucky industry.

And if you’re going to add a sweetener, go with sucanat. It’s also called evaporated cane juice, available anywhere hemp sandals are sold. It’s along the lines of a very molasses-laden brown sugar, but with fantastic complexity. It’s not a lot healthier, but you can use a lot less and get better flavor.

Fruit is a good way to go, too. As far as health goes, strawberries are hard to beat, since they have maybe 20 calories for a cup and they’re loaded with good stuff. Personally, I prefer farm raspberries and blueberries.

Best of whole-grain breakfasts for the new year.

Just finished a bowl with cinnamon, some faux butter and some sweetener. Tolerable. Doubt I’ll be hungry till dinner. I think I like Cream of Wheat better.

Bible Belt Blogger- who is the Lexington Herald Leader’s religion reporter- carried this post featuring some remarkable anti-Christian rhetoric. I try to temper the typical response of “What if they said this is print about about Jews or Muslims?” but really, my main thought is that this is a great apologetic opportunity. I love to built sermons off of these kinds of things. Here’s a juicy portion:

“Why have a god who needs and wants to be loved so much that he makes loving him the first law for humanity? Why have a god who cooks up the unlikely plan of tearing his substance apart to create a son who is man and god all in one?

Why make the gruesome sacrifice of that son into the key evidence of the god’s love for humanity and belief in that sacrifice humankind’s only hope for escaping an eternity of suffering? Just as there’s a big element of masochism in God’s sending his son to suffer as evidence of his love, there is a great deal of sadism in God’s throwing into the flames of hell anybody who doesn’t return his love by believing the whole implausible story. We have a right to hope for better in our gods.”

It’s his last sentence that really makes an impression. We should, apparently, self-consciously create our “gods,” i.e. religions, in the image of our own values. So this fellow would probably like to worship Hillary Clinton. Or at least her thighs.

Personally, I’d like for Yahweh to step aside and make room for someone like Donald Trump. Everyone deserves a second chance, especially if you’re a hottie.

What do you think of this open call to return to the gods of Olympus redux and improved? Any nominations for a deity?

Arrgh! I missed the obvious Alton Brown haggis recipe.

Good on ya, Bill.

Oatmeal:  Eat it with a pinch of salt and stir it with a spurtle.

Mix it with sheep’s liver, lungs, heart, and kidneys and boil it in a sheep’s stomach.  Cut it with sword before serving.

Actually, if you happen to prefer something like cream of wheat, I suggest you eat oat bran, rather than oatmeal.  A nicer consistency in my opinion, and calorie and cholesterol wise, much healthier than oatmeal.  More fiber also.

You could try steel cut or pinhead oats.  More natural and healthy than rolled oats.  If you start boiling a batch now, they’ll just be ready for  New Year’s breakfast.

There isn’t a lot that can be done with oatmeal. But…

I like mine with vanilla (a little bit of the real stuff goes a long way), cinnamon, nutmeg if you have it (or you could just use apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice), and brown sugar.

Other sweets could include plain sugar (meh), molasses (better), or – if you’re trying to cut calories – you could go for something like Splenda. Personally, I’ll take a few extra calories and give just enough dark brown sugar to make it taste good.

Now here’s the thing about vanilla. Never, and I mean NEVER, use imitation vanilla. It tastes like @%#$. Real vanilla extract is the stuff to go for, but don’t buy it. Make your own.

Order up some good quality vanilla beans online. (I’m sure FoodTV still has sources on their web site) Get yourself a good quality bottle of vodka. (Don’t go crazy with Grey Goose, just get something that doesn’t taste like turpentine.)

Cut a slit down the length of each bean and drop them in the vodka. 6-9 months later, you’ve got a LOT of vanilla extract.

Lauren Winner writes in Opinion Journal on the why so many detective stories are set in churches with religious characters.

Any oatmeal eaters out there willing to share how you prepare your oatmeal? Basic steps, seasonings, special touches, add-ins, whatever. Post it here or send it to me.

How to mix in link sausage and scrambled eggs probably isn’t what I need to know.

Does anyone know of an easy way to reduce the size of my photos down to about 150-180k using the tools in iPhoto? Or is there a small, uncomplicated, program somewhere that can do this?

I get the nicest mail from RCC readers at IM. Especially the ones who are sure I’m going to become a catholic. They read “Yo Ho Ho! A Papists Life for Me?” and always tell me my objections are no big deal.

You should be listening to Ravi Z over at The Kindlings Muse.

My wife got a best of Stevie Nicks CD for Christmas. Is she a witch or a Christian?

My New Year’s resolutions so far:

1) Oatmeal (argh)
2) Read non-religious books of all kinds. Or, stop reading religious books. I don’t know if I can actually do the second and do my job, but you get the idea. Right now I’m finishing Wheat That Springeth Green by J.F. Powers.
3) Try to start thinking like a 50 year old and not a 30 year old. We do have to keep growing up, don’t we.
4) Go to Michigan this year to visit my uncles and aunts, see Heikkinen’s church, get a new Calvin College hat, etc.
5) Repent of my Calvinism. Big time.

Clay and I saw Apocalypto. Hands down the best movie of the year and one of the best movies I have ever seen. Go see it in the theater. It’s profound and simple at the same time. I will write a review at IM later, but I can’t say enough good about it. Riveting story-telling with a very significant message.

Anyway, when the high priest was giving the speech to the crowd just before cutting out hearts and cutting off heads, his talk sounded almost just like Joel Osteen. Seriously.

Sonia posted about a brain bender gender test.

Here’s a take on brain gender from Sheik Jassem Al-Mutawah on Iqraa TV, 4 May 2004

http://youtube.com/watch?v=z0mpMVuRmgs

Thanks to Brian for the help. You’ve doomed a group of people this spring to my guitar playing and singing that song :-)

Leif, thanks to God, indeed.

Ellen, online reflex test plus wireless keyboard equals crummy score every time. 8-(

I seriously don’t know what I’d do with Top Hat Guy if I had him. But, I want him. Really.

They were made locally, but no more. Some were very large. A particular restaurant owner had one made of himself and put on a rotating stand outside the restaurant. 10 feet high easy. Today these are real collectors items.

Our home town has a lot of large ceramic figures in front of businesses, and this one welcomed all the patrons of the Top Hat.

Michael, that’s really interesting. Are those figures made locally? I love Top Hat guy.

Well, I’m back from a brief trip to my home town. Hadn’t been back since my half-sister’s funeral in August. Had a good time with Denise’s family. Heard about an oatmeal diet that sounds really good right now :-)

One of my goals for this trip was to take a lot of pictures of the key places in Owensboro that were part of my early life. I hope to get them into a slide show with recorded narration. Much of what was my childhood is disappearing or is gone entirely, so I’m glad I took the time to get some pictures. I want to share two of them with you.

This is where I lived from age 3.5 till age 12, 1960-1968. It is 1502 Pearl St, a four room house in an eastside neighborhood. I can still see this house- every room- in my mind. I can remember the dog that lived under the porch and the smells from the kitchen. I remember the bathtub with big feet. There’s a big tree in the yard that has outlasted many a storm, and that tree was a big feature of growing up. I rode my bike all over our neighborhood from this house, and walked 4 blocks to school for 6 years. My dad was still healthy enough to work when we lived here, and so I remember mom staying at home, taking in laundry, doing babysitting, etc to make money. Dad was working as a tool and die maker, and trying to get enough money for a better house, which he did right at the time he lost his health and couldn’t work. Memories, memories. I’m so glad this house is still there.

That house was one block from a major street- Triplet Street- and the back of our yard met an alley that we shared with a bar on Triplet St.: The Top Hat. I never went in the Top Hat, of course, but I could go to the back yard and watch people coming and going, see the lights burning late, and wonder what was so special about that place.

I really wanted to get a picture of the Top Hat. It has been closed for years, but the building was still there. When I arrived, however, the building had just been torn down…leaving only the remnants of a sign and this old gentlemen. Our home town has a lot of large ceramic figures in front of businesses, and this one welcomed all the patrons of the Top Hat. At least I got his picture while he was still around.

I may post some other pics at flickr or here.

Will someone who owns the Passion CD “Hymns Ancient and Modern” please E-mail me the pdf chord sheet for “Praise to the Lord the Almighty”? I cannot for the life of me find my CD and I’ve been through everything at the house.

E-mail address is on the sidebar. Yes, I own the CD so you’re not sending me anything I don’t already have. You’re sending me something that I can’t find :-)

Leif, I’m thankful that you’re so thoughtful. Thanks so much for the Fodor’s. I’m really looking forward to getting to use it.

Leif – thank God for His mercy.

Ummm; as far as tests...how do you all score?

not a beer.

By the by, PayPal will not accept my password, and I have sent multiple requests for them to email it to me (in case maybe I’m just entering the wrong one), with no luck.  Anybody had any experience with this sort of thing?  What should I do?  Any suggestions at all?

Things I am thankful for:

That even though my father-in-law almost died a few days before Christmas because some stupid lady ran a red light and broke his sternum and bruised his heart, and even though something as simple as coughing now makes him scream in pain, he is expected to make a full recovery;

That a local BHT fellow took a harried call from me Friday before Christmas and agreed to be our back-up dog sitter while we went to be with my father-in-law in Ohio (turns out we didn’t need you after all, but thank you so much for being there anyway);

That I was NOT hit by a red light-runner;

That my family, headed up by my wife and sister, both of whom are way better to me than I deserve, chipped in and got me an iPod to replace the one that was stolen;

That it is an 80 gig, kicking the pants off the 30 gig someone stole;

That I know now to never never never lay it down anywhere, even when my glasses break and I can’t see a bloody thing.  First pick up the iPod, THEN find a way to see so you can teach;

That I will never ever see Rocky Balboa or Eragon.

This is an interesting test to take – more than your average left vs. right brain test.

These are probably a little basic for most of us (at least they’d better be), but worth passing on. Real Live Preacher is doing a series of short videos on how to read the Bible. So far, they’re not too bad. They might be good to refer to someone asking about the Bible, or you might like to use them as a starting point to make your own teaching material. So far, he has an intro and four parts:

Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

BW3 posts about The Pursuit of Happyness that nicely compliments Michael’s post about the movie.

Raja: Alas, I cannot claim originality for the phrase buck nutty. I picked it up from a good friend a few years ago. It was usually used in the context of youth ministry, i.e. “let’s get buck nutty for Jesus”, but it grew to be used for any number of situations.

I use that from time to time, or I change it up with a Homestar Runner favorite: “crazy-go-nuts.”

BTW, thanks for the Exiles post. I think that may become a piece of end-of-year content for my ministry web site.

A good way to start posting more substantively is to post the thoughts of other people – here’s a list of ways to build community from the Church of the Exiles – I thought it was pretty good! More »« Less

Jason: “Buck nutty” sounds like the name of an obscene candy bar.  Congratulations on coining a phrase that made me swallow my gum!

This is a little old by now, but here’s a link (via resonate) to the audio of N.T. Wright at empire remixed in Toronto. It’s got the bishop singing Dylan, and a very nice summary of why he follows Jesus.

Matthew, you sound like you’ve worked with me for all these years. Which server room have you been hiding in?

Raja, posting more good thoughts are … well … good, but never underestimate the power of a little inanity to keep everyone from going buck nutty.

Every day I begin to hate Microsoft more and more. Someday, when I am in charge, I will never, EVAR, use a MS server.

That is all.

. . . whoever directed this video. An amazing song (one of many), but the video ranks pretty high on my “what the hell?” of the year list.

You know, I think one of my New Year’s resolutions will be to post less of this kind of inanity (both here and at Soylent Green) and to post more more substantively, more often. I’ve noticed a definitive link between my sanity/sense of well-being and the frequency of written reflection. I still can’t get the hang of this Moleskine thing, though.

http://satansrapture.com/index.htm

So Gerald Ford really is dead today?

I am a bad person for posting this.

Gerald Ford is dead at 93.

Matthew, just reading that makes my mouth water.

My apologies to Bill and Michael for not posting more often. I have not dropped off the face of the earth.  Just been extremely busy.

However, I am not too busy this week.  I am currently on vacation, spending the Christmas holidays on Holiday Island, near Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

I will try to visit the Tavern more frequently in the new year. 

I hope all had a wonderful Christmas, and enjoyed spending time with family. 

All right, where’s the post on Spencer’s Christmas Haul? Inquiring minds want to know since last year’s stuff was so cool.

I got stuck in Colorado in the Great Blizzard of 2006, and didn’t make it home until last night at 11:00pm. This morning, I was going through boxes that accumulated over the 10 days I was gone and what should I find but a jammin’ box of pipe tobacco goodness from Dale.  Many thanks, my brother. I had run outta the weed and needed a good excuse to fire up my pipe for the smoking ban kicks in here in Az.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtI2pa2m5cg

OK, you’re going to say that I’ve deserted last year’s list. I haven’t. I still love those sites, but I want this list to move on a bit. So here’s my “Top Ten” list of web sites that have really helped me this year. Feel free to add your own list

10. I have a new appreciation for Relevant Magazine and its ever evolving website. It’s the place this 50 year old gets a dose of what’s hip. I’ll forgive some occasionally naive theological banter because they are committed Christians exploring the intersection of God and culture without being tied to one of the dominant teams in theological UFC. Always worth some time in your week. More »« Less

A good Christmas was had by all. We performed two culinary experiments with decidedly different results.

Turkey: Brined overnight, cooked on the rotisserie, apple chipolte glaze. Five stars.

North Carolina Country Ham: Soaked overnight, slow roasted with a honey and brown sugar glaze. phhttttthhhhht I’m not a fan of ham at the best of times and this was a disaster. Smelled disgusting, outrageously expensive, and salty beyond reason.

Excerpts from the B16 Midnight Mass homily. Great stuff, especially compared to what you’d hear among many evangelicals. irony alert

We did Lessons and Carols + Midnight Mass with the papists at St. William RCC in London, Ky. Wow. Just great in every way. We didn’t get to bed till after 3, but it was very much worth it. No better way to spend Christmas night than in a big RCC with a Charismatic priest and a lot of lapsed Catholics.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Even to the annoying know it alls.

I am aggrieved and need to get this off my chest:
I am offended with Angus for not breaking any furniture lately, with Josh for getting himself kicked out, with Joel for making me think, and most of all with Kent, Michael and Jim for not living next door to me.
Happy Decemberween.