Legalism explained well

Now I'm not voting for him, but Mike Huckabee does make a great summary on legalism:

Legalism is the reduction of the whole of the Bible to a rather limited system of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ that the one espousing already lives. By carefully limiting ‘right and wrong’ to those beliefs or practices one already adheres to, the legalist is able to always be right and never wrong. Convenient system to be sure. It requires no struggle of conscience, no agonizing soul-searching, no brokenness. Others aren’t judged by the character of Christ, but by the behavior of the legalist.

Legalism is not limited to the theological camp of the conservatives, moderates or anyone in between or beyond. Like a worthless weed, it grows in whatever soil it is planted and is capable of choking out anything that gets in its way without ever producing fruit of value.

Biblical faith is sure about God, but never so sure about self. Legalistic faith is sure of self, and may or may not be as sure of God and His Word. A legalist questions everyone else’s motives and mission, but never sees a need to question his own. A strong Christian is not only interested in believing right, but living right. A strong Christian should want others to be more like Jesus, not more ‘like me.’

We do not live under ‘Lord Law,’ ‘Lord Tradition,’ ‘Lord Religion’ or even ‘Lord Belief.’ We are saved when we confess ‘Lord Jesus.’ When He is Lord, we learn a new ‘L’ word – love. Jesus said that the world would know we belonged to Him not because we worship the same, believe the same or even live the same, but because we love one another.”

Henri Nouwen

When we are ready to die at any moment, we also are ready to live at any moment." - Henry Nouwen

Doctrine or law....what do you want?

clipped from www.theocentricpreaching.com What pastors need to understand, we are told, is that we live in a complex, fast-paced, ever-changing culture. It is naïve to think that preaching the gospel is sufficient for life and godliness. To be sure, the high priests of Christian therapy will say the Gospel is important. But, what one also needs to know is the secret of the Christian life, the secret to prayer, the secret to happier marriages, the secret for successful parenting, the secret for financial freedom, the secret of the abundant and overcoming life. In other words, what the culture of therapy is really saying (albeit not always consciously) is, “Don’t give us gospel (i.e., doctrine) give us law (i.e., tips, principles, action steps, takeaways, secrets, etc…). However, a life based on legal principles rather than upon gospel principles will never lead to obedience. Such a life will ultimately fail in obeying God because law of any kind never stirs up one’s heart to obedience (cf., Rom. 7; Gal. 3:3).

More on doubt with another Newbigin quote

How does God speak to humanity? A blog commenter offers this quote from Leslie Newbigin's "Truth and Authority in Modernity".

clipped from commongroundsonline.typepad.com "The other possibility is that divine revelation should be a matter of public history. In that case it can be only in events that are limited to a particular time, place, culture. But the whole ongoing course of human history cannot be frozen forever at a particular point. Revelation takes place only if...it is internalized, made part of a living human consciousness that must necessarily be the consciousness of a human being living in a particular time, place, and culture. It is therefore hard to imagine how there could be any other divine revelation authoritative for the whole of human history except one that embraced the three elements we have noted above: a living community, a tradition of teaching, and the continuing work of the divine Spirit illuminating the tradition in each new generation and each new situation, so that it becomes the living speech of God for that time, place, and culture." (30-31)

Dependence and doubt

clipped from commongroundsonline.typepad.com Does it not follow then that the only way a deceived person begins the process of seeing the world aright is by a bold admission of his self-deception. In other words, a confession of his emptiness must come before the spell can be broken and he begins to listen to the words of the all-seeing, all-conditioning, and never-deceiving God. This, I suggest, is the definition of faith. Faith cannot be a “work.” It can only be an admission of an inability to work. In our evangelical world, we have raised a generation of young people who have been told that faith is “asking Jesus in your heart” or “accepting him as your personal Lord and Savior.” Therefore, they are a fickle, doubting crew, at best; and, at worst, they have raced right past the first step of true Christian experience: utter dependence.

Where does division begin?

clipped from gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com Okay, a final thought: I recall an old blogosphere friend named Robert Williams saying, about the accusation of divisiveness against the critics of homosexual ordination in the Episcopal Church, that it was not the critics who were being divisive, but the proponents of homosexual ordination. I use the same logic. There is the Gospel, and there is the not-Gospel. To criticize and name those who preach and profit from the not-Gospel is not being divisive; the division began with the deception. The unity is broken not at the point of criticism, but at the point of departure from the Gospel. I and others rebuke works religion and self-help gospelism not to break unity, but to preserve it. To preserve it not around everyone's protected feelings, but around the glory of Jesus Christ.

Ha. Ha.

Just ask them back

Another article on why people are leaving church, but this one includes some things that are bringing people back. One is simple....

clipped from www.outreachmagazine.com The power of the invitation Perhaps one of the most underestimated reasons people return to the Church is that someone simply invited them back. Overall, 41% of the formerly churched said that they would return to the local church if a friend or acquaintance invited them. Younger adults are even more influenced by the power of the invitation. Approximately 60% of those 18–35 would consider returning to church if someone they knew asked them to come back. A simple, yet powerful invitation is all it may take to prompt a homecoming for the dechurched. Is your church equipping people to invite others back? When someone strays from the church, friends and family should be there to encourage him or her to return.

Can you really argue with success?

This is a great parable told by the Internet Monk about church growth and the "new" church that is modeled by the likes of Joel Osteen and co.:

“A Parable for our Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose-Driven, Church Growth Oriented Friends”
Make sure you read the comments after the parable as well, they are just as interesting.

News about Ted Haggard (immorality), Randy and Paula White (divorce), and Juanita Bynum (domestic abuse in her 3rd marriage) have got the blogosphere talking again about the prosperity gospel-- more importantly, the failures and dangers of the message.

It's hard to argue with success. It's hard to argue to people that Joel Osteen has issues when his membership is above 15,000. It's hard to argue with Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland when they own multiple luxury cars, personal aircraft, and STILL have large followings. It's not like these guys are like Robert Tilton or Peter Popoff. The only difference to me is that the others haven't been caught yet......

UPDATE: I'm not saying Osteen and Hinn use radio transmissions or have committed physical fraud. I'm just saying that nothing has happened to critically injure their efforts as has happened to Tilton and Co.

I guess I am just tired with the idea that God is an investment strategy with a guaranteed return on investment and that material and physical success is guaranteed to me when Scripture is so clear that storms and troubles will come. On top of that, why do we teach people to strive for riches when Jesus makes it clear that rich people will have a VERY difficult time getting to heaven?

I saw an anonymous commenter say that the prosperity message is primarily broadcast through the power of "The Balaam Network". I googled the phrase, wondering if this was some wacked-out group. Then it finally hit me......

He was referring to TBN.

That's a conversation starter if I ever heard one.

Data on the Exodus (from church)

clipped from blog.christianitytoday.com A new study reported by USAToday finds that a high percentage of young adults who attended church while in high school stop attending by age 23. 70% of young adults drop out of Protestant churches, and 34% do not attend even sporadically after age 30. That means at least one in four young people who leave the church never return. "This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer who directed the study. "It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says the associate director Scott McConnell. "Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There's no life transformation taking place," he says. "People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world." It seems spiritual formation, not just spiritual entertainment, may be what young people are seeking from a church.

The front fell off!

http://view.break.com/352629 - Watch more free videos

The theatre is losing it's luster

I am getting close to a year without darkening a movie theater. Shocking for a guy that is a movie geek like I am. Part of it is that I have a baby, and well, babies don't work well in theaters. Second, movies are just not what they used to be.

4 years ago, if you said that in ONE summer, an Ocean's Twelve sequel, a Fantastic Four sequel, Spidey 3, Shrek 3, a Transformers movie, and a Pixar movie were coming out, I would have been at opening night for 4 of those at least. I would have seen them and been pretty satisfied. But I don't know if I will see any of them in the theater. I didn't even mention Pirates 3.

Why? Several reasons:

1. Sequels are getting worse. Bottom line: it's nearly impossible to catch lightning in a bottle twice and thrice, but studios keep trying. Spidey 3 is so awful that even die hard fans I know told me to avoid it. The others I just don't care enough to drop $15 for me ans the wifey to see.

2. Visual effects don't matter as much as they used to. I'll take story over visuals any day now.

3. Netfix: watch 30 movies in a month for the price of 2 tickets. This is where quantity wins out. Plus, no one gets mad at home if the baby starts crying. I have almost 100 DVD's in my queue right now-- in other words, more to watch than I could in a year. Don't forget TV shows and online viewing.

4. Television is getting better. Battlestar Galactica. Heroes. Lost. Not to mention CSI, Scrubs, Monk, 24. I haven't even mentioned Rome. Heck, I left out alot of good TV.

The bottom line? I may be moving into a phase of life where movies just don't matter much to me anymore...and it's kind of comforting. Am I still a geek?

Microsoft Designs the Ipod

Barna on struggles- not good news

clipped from www.ministrytodaymag.com "Many of the same people who claim that their faith is very important to them and that they are absolutely committed to Christianity also say that they face no spiritual challenges in life,” Barna says. "Americans focus on what they consider to be the most important matters; faith maturity is not one of them.” So how do we avoid fostering a faith that only knows how to drive one way down Easy Street? It's beginning to sound like a broken record (check out our previous blog), but it's as simple as relationship. Person-to-person ministry that challenges an individual and, at times, even gets in his or her face with biblical truth. "Ministry is most effective when it addresses the specific needs of each person on a one-to-one or few-to-one basis," Barna says, echoing the point. "The data underscore the importance of people knowing and ministering to each other in a very direct and personal way, recognizing the uniqueness of every person and their journey."

What if the Internet crashed?

A Thomas Merton Prayer

clipped from nextreformation.com MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude” Abbey of Gethsemani

C.S. Lewis and conceit

Quote provided by inwardoutward.org....

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org By C. S. Lewis When I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and wouldn�t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; I disliked very much their hymns which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren�t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. Source: Surprised By Joy

More questions...are we in trouble?

Another "Letters to Emerging Christians" from Scot Mcknight's blog....go to the page and read the comments as well.......

clipped from www.jesuscreed.org I’ve been struggling with some similarities that I have seen with several Hebrew Scripture passages and our current church culture. My struggle is that I read Isaiah 58 or Amos 5:21-24 (among others) and I see a people that is obsessed with worship, traditions, going through the motions. I then see God’s displeasure with outward displays of worship and His urgent desire for us to seek justice. What I cannot shake is this feeling that God views many of our American churches today in this way. With the obsession with musical worship, programs, churches run as businesses and so on, I get this sense that we are in danger of looking like the ancient, unfaithful Israelites (with the exception that we are not being threatened with imminent doom).

Looking for answers again......an old problem

Scot McKnight quoted an author that stated something that sounds like it was written last week:

“Hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ.” These words describe large numbers of people, especially young people, today. They are opposed to anything which savors of institutionalism. They detest the establishment and its entrenched privileges. And they reject the church — not without some justification — because they regard it as impossibly corrupted by such evils.

That sounds very 2005ish; but it's older. How old?
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Try 1958!

The author? John Stott, Basic Christianity.

But here's the questions I have:

1. Is the church impossibly corrupted?
2. Does the church deserve another chance?
3. If we abandon the institutional church, will the thing we create in it's place get institutionalized as well?

Hmm..

Looking for answers...Nooma series with Rob Bell

Henri Nouwen on substituting love

I am beginning to think that every new Christian should read Nouwen....he is climbing up there with C.S. Lewis in my opinion as essential Christian thinkers. This Nouwen quote is courtesy of inward/outward.

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life…. The long painful history of the Church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led…. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.

You want to see a butterfly? A poke on tract evangelism

I used to own tracts, but I never liked them. Even as a kid, I though they were cheesy. As I grew older, and several complete strangers gave me a tract on the street, I got a very sour taste when I encountered them, because it felt so impersonal and cold. Most people that gave me a tract didn't even ask me my name- it was as if they were filling a quota over actually connecting with me. Here's a little humor on the the topic from The Core Blog...

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com Here... I've got one smashed in this book somewhere... aha! Here it is! A pipevine swallowtail... very rare. Yes, I realize the colors are a little dull... it is dead after all. But this way you can look closely at it... study it. You can turn it over in your fingers and catalog its parts and know everything you need to know about a butterfly, with none of that silly running around in a meadow to worry about! You wanna see Jesus? Hmm... oh yes! Here's a tract.

Today is Windows 3.0 Day

Today is the 17th anniversary of Windows 3.0. For all the griping I hear about XP, this makes me thankful that we've gotten a little better since 3.0.......or have we?

Windows 3.0 memories

Where have I been?

Civil War Chaplain
Originally uploaded by leestudent.

I have been switching to a new job in a new town and went almost 10 days without internet access. Mix in a sick baby, visiting in-laws, and regular life, and you get no blog. We'll be back soon. Here's a pic of what I'm doing now.....sort of.

Emerging Wednesday- motives for evangelism?

clipped from www.jesuscreed.org First motive: evangelism; secondary and apparent motive: helping out. Some see through the thin skin of that secondary motive and think they’ve been used or had. There are two possibilities here as I see them: either one does everything for a chance to evangelize or one sees all acts of kindness “a new kind of evangelism” or “the goodness of the gospel itself.” Let’s add a third: do all things with the hope that one can evangelize but waiting patiently for that chance. Let me suggest something and it comes from this Christian conviction: God redeems in Christ and our vocation is to live in that story of Jesus by performance and proclamation.

Too cool to pass up- chairs!

This is just to cool to pass up....

Photo Monday- Mark Twain sign

Mark Twain
Originally uploaded by cinemafia.

I'm part of a group called Falling Apart on Flickr that Jason started......this is one pic from the group that I liked. Go to the flickr page (just click on the picture) to see my comments and more info on the group.

Where is Nerdy Thursday?

As you may have noticed, Nerdy Thursday has disappeared. To be honest, I felt like all I was doing was linking, and while linking is ok, I realized that most of my posts I bookmark on my del.icio.us. So for awhile Nerdy Thursday is on hiatus while I rethink the strategy. You can check my del.icio.us links on the left for a plethora of all things nerdy.

Emerging Wednesday- Christianity and social justice in a postmodern world

Vanguard Church discusses some of the issues facing the church in the field of social justice-- specifically, how should the church converse with postmodern people in regards to social justice? Here a few snippets that grabbed me.

clipped from vanguardchurch.blogspot.com Ministry that is properly situated to reach postmoderns embraces postmodern ideas about evil. We affirm the “will to power” that points out that we human beings (both individually and in our institutions) consistently abuse power in order to oppress others and to further our own agendas. We affirm that we should be careful not to trust others too far. We affirm that Auschwitz and brutal World Wars and even current empirical power grabs by the governments of the West prove that our supposed morality is questionable at best. We affirm that even those who are religious are not immune to the bent human need for power A Christian movement that displays the grace of Jesus Christ in righting injustices speaks to the postmodern heart and mind. It says that God knows that the world is not the way it should be. It says that God is indeed doing something about it. It says that the ultimate solution to these problems is God…God hanging on a cross.

Photo Monday- Tree in the Clouds

Tree in the Clouds
Originally uploaded by Pencils and Pixels.

Emerging Wednesday- Christ's strategy

A portion of a great series from Signs of Emergence about Christ's "strategy" in regards to how he carried out his mission and vision. I thought this would be something a little Easter-y but something different.

clipped from kester.typepad.com what Christ is doing when he stays silent at his trial is refusing to even enter the game that the strategists plotting against him have set up. It is as if he deliberately loses, because by losing he is totally subverting the very idea of the game. And this is where Paul and Judas go terribly wrong. Presented with amazing opportunities to 'do something for Jesus', they fall into strategy, they throw their chips in and enter the game. Why didn't Paul imitate Christ and keep his mouth shut? Because his strategy was always to get taken to Rome, and to take part in a 'power play' with Caesar. On the cross the religious leaders taunted Jesus - if he's so powerful, why doesn't he save himself? This was the final temptation Jesus faced, the same one the devil ended with in the desert: take part in the power play. Jesus emptied himself of all that power, emptied himself of strategies, because he had to be emptied of the Self - the Self that pretends that it is powerful and influential.

How often do we go with Jesus' strategy, and how often do we follow Paul and Judas? I shudder at the thought of what we would find if we polled it.....

Photo Monday extra

kaffee.satz.lesen
Originally uploaded by besides.

I'm making up for the lack of recent posting, and I'm on a Shure SM-55 kick. I wish I had never gotten rid of the one I had.

Photo Monday- jazz

Look Sharp
Originally uploaded by Rod Monkey.

I love Flickr, if I haven't said that before.

I love jazz.
I also love Shure SM-55 microphones, like the one in the picture.
What else here? The angle, the tones, the LOOK of the subject is just great. Maybe one day I can strike a cool pose like that.

Emerging Wednesday- burnout

I have never been a big fan of the "Superman Pastor." While attending college preparing for ministry, I vowed I would never let myself experience burnout and would never try to run my own show and do everything. While I think a little age and maturity have shown me that avoiding that may be harder than you think (passionate people have a hard time holding themselves back), I still think that if you as a pastor can remember a few key points, you're well on your way:

1. The pastor isn't supposed to do it all. I'm not a C. Peter Wagner follower, but one book he wrote, Pastors & Prophets, makes a really good point: pastors shouldn't and can't wear all the spiritual hats in a body. He/she is not supposed to be the pastor/teacher/apostle/prophet/elder/evangelist/caregiver. It will kill them to try to do it all.

2. Some pastors are bad at doing anything other than pastoring. Let's be clear: a pastor is someone that fosters relationships and communes with others in fellowship through life. They comfort, guide, and share with others and serve them. That doesn't make them a good preacher or speaker, though, and that's part of the problem. Some pastors need to get out of the pulpit, and some preachers need to just teach and let someone else run the church. We have titled people as "pastor" when they aren't, and we have asked pastors to be things they are not.

The paradigm problem is that the "pastor" is in charge, and only he can be the mouthpiece of what God wants to say on Sunday, and that's not healthy. Why? Because I don't think the pastor can hear EVERYTHING God is saying and I don't think one man can convey that message to the right people at the right time.

I was fortunate in 2005-2006 to work in a church where the head man was willing to share his pulpit, and all the leaders rotated and shared the pulpit. Some were better than others, and sometimes I wished someone would skip their turn, and sometimes I thought someone had something going and should go a few weeks in a row. But the overall beauty was that the congregation got to see the hearts of their entire leadership, and the church experienced the Word of God and the heart of God from different perspectives, different voices, and different styles. It was refreshing!

The problem is that if the "pastor" is relieved of the majority of preaching, then what are you paying him for? The idea would be that he is more free to pursue community development, counseling, relationship building and visitation. But how can you measure that? Will logs have to be kept? Would he have to report his minutes? The reason I bring this up is because tithers will want to know where there money is going. I don't like that, but it's going to be an issue.

I'm going to ramble more on this later....

In other news, the Cubs are 0-1. Surprised?

Photo Monday- U.S.S. Enterprise

Originally uploaded by jbwest.

An A-6 Intruder getting in position for takeoff on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, CVN-65. There is nothing extraordinary about the shot, but I love the color texture- very brown, almost reminiscent of WWII era photos- but not so brown as to be antique. A very nice mixture of modern imagery with a retro look and feel.

An atheist's experience

This is a quote from an atheist that visited 30 churches to study what impressions they would leave him with. Look at what he was left with....

clipped from www.internetmonk.com Clearly, most churches have aligned themselves against non-religious people. By adopting this stance, Christians have turned off the people I would think they want to connect with. The combative stance I’ve observed is an approach that causes people to become apathetic—and even antagonistic—toward religion as a whole. Many evangelical pastors seem to perceive just about everything to be a threat against Christianity. Evolution is a threat. Gay marriage is a threat. A swear word uttered accidentally on television is a threat. Democrats are a threat. I don’t see how any of these things pose a threat against Christianity. If someone disagrees with you about politics or social issues or the matter of origins, isn’t that just democracy and free speech in action? Why do Christians feel so threatened? You need to spread the message of Christianity—the message being what Christianity stands for—loving each other, helping the people around you. Those are things everyone can get on board with.

Nerdy Thursday- Adobe alternatives part 1

If you use the internet to any degree, or work at a company that has standardized documents, then you have used Adobe Acrobat or the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Acrobat files, commonly known as .pdf files, are becoming a standard that usually trumps Word, mainly because you can create the .pdf file, and anyone in the world can see it because the Reader is free.

I love Adobe, I really do (I am getting into Photoshop now). But the Adobe Reader is one bloated piece of software. It commonly occupies 20-30mb of RAM while running, not to mention the long load times, especially if you are trying to open a pdf through your web browser.

But if the internet has taught us anything, it's this: Give a nerd bloated and slow software, and he will get with other nerds, do their nerdy-thing, and make a new program that's less bloated and faster. The Nerds of the world have done just that for .pdf files.

The first thing is the .pdf reader, Foxit Reader. This is your replacement for Adobe Reader. It loads literally twice as fast as Adobe did on my home computer and my work computer. What's better, Foxit Reader only used 8mb of RAM-- less than half of what Adobe uses. So, if you're a multitasking person when you're on the computer, you will have better performance because more RAM is free to be used elsewhere.

Next week, we'll talk about a free program to make .pdf files yourself.

Emerging Wednesday- a sad definition

What is a Christian? This clip is from Ryan Wiksell's blog, asking not what we Christians would define ourselves as, but what we may have allowed the world to define us as. Read on....

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com Christian: (n) An adherent to the western religious paradigm known as Christianity, identified by numerous cultural indicators, including: mandatory attendance at weekly religious performances, neat and tidy appearance, chipper attitude, straight-ticket Republican loyalty, big house less than 25 years old in an excellent school district, well-dressed and well-behaved children, homogenous circle of friends, SUV or minivan ownership, abstention from alcohol, tobacco and crude speech, upwardly mobile, and others of the like. Common usage: “I can’t let my family find out that my boyfriend got me pregnant; they’re Christians.” “I don’t want to work Sundays anymore; Christians are the worst tippers.” “Christians think that they can start a war, and God is always on their side.” (Source: The Non-Christian Worldview Dictionary.)

Photo Monday- yellow baby

Two pictures to make up for the lateness:

First, my little girl sitting in the La-z-boy:


Secondly, my friend Jason is going through his Ireland trip photos on his blog, Typing With Light.
Today he featured a very yellow building, and it is in fact deliciously yellow:


Rental Bike
Originally uploaded by Jason Leslie Rogers.

Nerdy Thursday- Desktop Tower Defense

Nothing is as exciting and terrifying to a nerd as the ADDICTING GAME. Sometimes it's Civilization I-IV, or another complex strategy tale. Others, it's a game like Puzzle Pirates.
You kind of expect to get addicted to games like these, because they are built for extended play and you can micromanage your nerdy brain out. Customization, managing, and creativity is the name of the game, and the more the merrier.

Then the VERY ADDICTING GAME comes along. This is the game that addicts you so fast and so hard you are addicted before you know you are addicted. This is the short, simple, yet challenging minigame I am talking about, my friends, and the new king of the VERY ADDICTING GAME is Desktop Tower Defense. In order to keep from addicting you, I won't describe it too much except to say it's a mesh of Centipede-Rampart-and any other build walls and stop the bad guys game. Basically, you build gun towers to stop baddies from making it across the screen. I can't say anymore-- it's too addicting to even discuss. Don't click on the link, if you know what's best for you. It's partly why I haven't blogged in a few days...

Credit card woes- Chase ending chronic fees

One way credit cards get you is that if your interest and late fees push you over your limit, they slap you with an over the limit fee. Say you have a $1000 limit but owe $975. You miss a payment, so interest and the late fee pushes you to $1005. Guess what? Add a $30 over the limit fee. Now you owe $1035. But the minimum payment is only $25. If that's all you can afford, that means you still are over your limit. So guess what? You get another over the limit fee. The clip I have here shows a man that had $1500 in late fees. Fortunately, it got Congress' attention, and Chase is vowing to stop the chronic late fees. If so, kudos to Chase for doing something right.
The question is whether other creditors will follow.

clipped from news.yahoo.com

Srednicki said the company has decided it no longer will charge over-the-credit-limit fees to customers who have been in a chronic over-limit position for 90 days.

Wannemacher used a new Chase card in 2001 and 2002 to pay for expenses mostly related to his wedding. He had $3,200 in purchases, interest charges of $4,900, 47 over-limit charges totaling $1,500, late fees of $1,100, for total charges of $10,700 as of February. He paid $6,300, leaving a $4,400 balance — which Chase agreed to waive after he contacted the subcommittee staff.

"Debt seems to invoke a feeling of hopelessness unlike any other problem I've encountered," Wannemacher testified at the hearing. "When a debtor calls you on the phone and you make a minimum payment, you know that you've made no real progress and that in a month, they will be calling again."

Emerging Wednesday- theology by Bono

Bono from U2 recevied an award from the NAACP for his Red campaign, and had this to say about God and the poor:

"Whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble of the cries that we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us, if we are with them."

The quote is even more striking because he pointed it directly at the church, specifically "those in the church who sit in judgment". Ouch. What does it say to the world when Bono is making more sense to them than the church is?

Photo Monday- water displacement

My friend Nathan VO captured this while his brother threw a rock into the Ocoee River. I am fascinated by water pics, so it was an instant Photo Monday pick.