Yesterday I went to the store - the comic book store - and I purchased a few issues of Batman.

I paid with my debit card and when the clerk handed me the receipt he said, “I’ll just need your John Hancock.”

In my best Chris Farley voice I said, “It’s Herbie Hancock.”

He just stared at me with a blank look on his face.

Me: “Haven’t you see “Tommy Boy” with Chris Farley?”
Clerk: “No.”

I scooped up my Batman comics and promptly left.

Yes, that’s right. I out nerded the clerk working at the comic book store.

I hope that my humiliation can bring a smile to your face. Have a great weekend everyone.

I had lunch with a friend of mine the other day and we began discussing the importance of story in the Bible. The conversation turned from the standard “What is the story of the Bible?” or “What is the story of the Gospel?” to a much more philosophical question.

My friend asked me about the specific stories that we’ve been given in Scripture.

I believe that we were given the Bible, the epic love story of Almighty God for his people, for a reason. God wanted us to know what he did, why he did it, and how we are invited into this story (See Ephesians).

It goes to follow that everything we are given points us to this end. Everything in scripture - talking donkeys, kings, prophets, miracles, widows, shepherds, everything - give us insight into Almighty God and his story. However, we are given larger glimpses into some stories rather than others. We began to ask Why?

Why do we know more about Moses than we do about Job? We know almost everything about Moses’ life yet we only get a small glimpse in Job’s life, focused primarily on his suffering. Many scholars believe Job was the first OT book written. There must be a reason we are told what we are told.

What can you tell me about Thaddeus or Bartholomew? Out of the twelve apostles we really only know about half and we really only know half of those. Don’t even get me started on Matthias.

Why do we understand more about Paul than Barnabus? My friend said that if you was going to throw a party you would send an invitation to both men but that you would really hope Barnabus showed up. What little we know about Banabus is that he was the type of Christian you’d want to be- encouraging, strong, faithful. Why are we given more about the life of Paul?

In the whole of Scripture, 6 stories stand out over and above everything else:

Abraham
Moses
Joseph
David
Jesus and Pals
Paul and the Church

I believe that the stories we have in Scripture are not put there by chance. There is a bigger reason to study these stories. These overarching stories must connect us to something much deeper than the average Bible lesson (if there is such a thing as an average Bible story).

Why do you think we’ve been given a larger glimpse into some of these stories rather than others? What story would you like to know more about? Who would you like to know more about?

Many of you know that I have a fear of 2 things- clowns and self-aware robots. Having typed that sentence now I’m just thinking about Self-aware Robot Clowns. That would be terrifying!!! I digress.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a good week for Micheal according to this article entitled, Automated Killer Robots ‘Threat to Humanity’.

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.

“They pose a threat to humanity,” said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.

Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world — from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones — can already identify and lock onto targets without human help.

There are more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, as well as unmanned aircraft that have clocked hundreds of thousands of flight hours.

The first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns deployed to Iraq last summer, manufactured by US arms maker Foster-Miller, proved so successful that 80 more are on order, said Sharkey.

But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

It we are not careful, he said, that could change.

Military leaders “are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war,” he said.

Several countries, led by the United States, have already invested heavily in robot warriors developed for use on the battlefield.

South Korea and Israel both deploy armed robot border guards, while China, India, Russia and Britain have all increased the use of military robots.

Washington plans to spend four billion dollars by 2010 on unmanned technology systems, with total spending expected rise to 24 billion, according to the Department of Defense’s Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007-2032, released in December.

James Canton, an expert on technology innovation and CEO of the Institute for Global Futures, predicts that deployment within a decade of detachments that will include 150 soldiers and 2,000 robots.

The use of such devices by terrorists should be a serious concern, said Sharkey.

Captured robots would not be difficult to reverse engineer, and could easily replace suicide bombers as the weapon-of-choice. “I don’t know why that has not happened already,” he said.

But even more worrisome, he continued, is the subtle progression from the semi-autonomous military robots deployed today to fully independent killing machines.

“I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me,” Sharkey said.

Do these scientist not watch TV?!?! It is only a matter of time before my iPhone, my stereo, my car, and the T1000 unite together to destroy us all.

I’d write more but some guy just walked in my office. He’s some muscle-head with a leather jacket and sunglasses. He wants me to come with him… oh snap! Gotta run!

link

Hey guys! Since it’s just us dudes today I want to recommend to you a great book for your man journey.

Last night I read, cover to cover, Samson and the Pirate Monks by Nate Larkin. The tagline for the book reads “Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood” and it chronicles Nate’s journey from individual Christian to Brother in Christ.

Nate details his personal struggle with addiction with brutal honesty. This is a life that was devastated by hidden sins. His life was a lot like a whitewashed tomb- beautiful on the outside yet full of death and decay. His life was just like most men I know. His life was a lot like mine.

The book unfolds, much like Blue Like Jazz, beginning with short essays about growing up, watching baseball from football seats, and about life as a preacher’s son. He talks about how he isolated his true self from even his best friends and lived multiple lives, all the while longing for true integrity.

At one point he says that every man longs to be more that just good but something thwarts our desires. He tells a story about his childhood dog, Boaz. Boaz was a good dog but he had a drinking problem. Men in town would provide Boaz with beer and he would stagger home blitzed. Nate’s dad would scold Boaz out of love for the dog and “for months Boaz would stay around the house, docile and obedient- until the next time.” Nate’s thoughts echo my own:

When I was a kid, it seemed to me that God liked me for the same reasons-and in the ways- that dad liked dogs. I was God’s pet. He brought me home with the expectation that I would be loyal, obedient, and useful. All God wanted from me was to be a good dog.

I wanted to be good dog, I really did. There was a part of me that sincerly loved God. But there was another part of me, a cat part. The cat in me was defiant and wild and unpredictable, and it didn’t care about God in the least. When it sinned, it sinned with impunity.

At every revival, youth rally, and campfire service, I laid that cat on the alter and did my best to kill it. Still, as everbody knows, cats have multiple lives. Sometimes the cat would go away for a while, but eventually, after the music had died away and all the Christians had gone home, he would come strolling back in, looking for lunch.

I desperately wanted the dog to be the real me, but my inability to behave like a good dog for very long led me to suspect, in moments of despair that I was really a cat.

Of course, we are called to be more than just good. We are a “new creation” but for some of us, we believe that maybe we can attain good if we really try at it. That’s what Nate believed and being merely good elusively evaded him.

After years of living in isolation, after refusing to truly deal with his addiction, his life began to unravel. He longed to live life in authentic community with brothers who held him accountable and who he held in accountability. That’s when he created The Samson Society. Borrowing from 12-step programs, the Samson Society cultivates authentic living between brothers in Christ at a level not offered by most churches. It’s more than a men’s group or guy’s class. It is broken me submitting to one another and to God, carrying one another’s burdens, and dealing with life lived in community. To me the whole idea of a Samson Society is a breath of fresh air in a world of stagnation and isolation.

I want to encourage each of you to read Samson and the Pirate Monks and see if you would do well to help to create an avenue for authentic living within your community of faith. If you can’t afford a copy, contact me and I make sure you get one.

This is a great resource and I believe it has the potential to make a difference in each of your lives.

Blessing on your man journey, Brother!

I have been sick for the last 3 days. I spent most of yesterday holed up in bed and today I plan to do more of the same.

I hate being sick. I feel like I’m wasting precious minutes and hours doing nothing. Being sick isn’t productive. It’s anti-productive.

It is tough to understand but taking time to just stop and catch my breath (between bouts of hacking my head off) is what brings health and healing.

I’m heading back to sleep now. I’ve got my cough-drops, I’ve taken my Robitussin (yummy), and that Tylenol is about to kick in.

Have a great weekend everyone. Get some rest and stay healthy.

Peace.

I preached from Ephesians 4:1-16 yesterday. The passage begins with reminding us that our differences, the things that normally tear people apart, pale in comparison the things that unite us. Paul says that the mystery of the gospel is that we’ve been united to God through adoption in Christ Jesus (ch 1), we’ve been united to a new life (Ch 2), and that different cultures have been united into one body, the church (Ch 3).

He says,

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6 TNIV)

Beginning in verse 11, Paul even states that Jesus gave his body “gifts of grace.” These gifts are to be used to glorify God and to build up the church body. When members of the body embrace these gifts and use them to God’s glory and the benefit of everyone else, then the whole church begins to look like Christ, there is a measure of spiritual growth, and the church matures.

As I was wrapping everything up this morning I came across a great quote from one of the early church fathers. I wish I had used it yesterday.

Clement of Rome asks this:

Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ and raise up strife against our own body, and why have we reached such a height of madness as to forget that “we are members one of another?”

That is the $64,000 question isn’t it. If we are called to live as one body with Christ as the head, if we have been united as Paul says, and if walking in this unity brings only good things, the why do we tear each other to pieces?

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards are this Sunday. As any good music fan and observer, I have my own ideas about who will take home awards and who will leave empty handed. Below I’ve listed the big award categories and my picks. I’ve added a little color commentary as well. Let me know what you think. Am I right or wrong? Who do you think will win?

Album Of The Year
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace- Foo Fighters

These Days- Vince Gill

River: The Joni Letters- Herbie Hancock

Graduation- Kanye West

Back To Black- Amy Winehouse


Who Should Win: Personally, I am pulling for the Foo Fighters on this one. The album starts off strong with The Pretender and then rides off into the sunset with Seda. The best Foo Fighters album since The Colour and the Shape.

Who Will Win: The only thing that I would bet on is that (It’s)Herrbie Hancock and Vince Gill will not win. Other than that the field is wide open. Kanye has received a Best Album nomination for each of his albums. Bono even gave him the old “chin-up-man-we’ve-all-been-overlooked-before” speech from the Grammy stage when HTDAAB beat out Late Registration for Best Album 2 years ago. Of course, Graduation is no Late Registration. There are some stand out tracks like Stronger, Homecoming, and The Good Life but I didn’t feel like West took it to another level. It just seemed more of the same. It could be his year though. He has, however, whined about losing about 40 times too many. The Grammy voters might not look too kindly on whiners. They also might not look too kindly on crack. That is the cross Amy Winehouse has to bear in her quest for Grammy Gold. Some have suggested that voters might pass over Winehouse in this category in order to avoid glamorizing her substance abuse problem. One way to avoid that criticism would be for them to award her the Best Album and then show a recent picture of her. Nothing glamorous there. Out of those three (Foo Fighters, Kanye, Winehouse) I have probably listened to Winehouse’s Back to Black the most. I would like to see her win this but I’m not sure that will happen.

Update - Who Did Win: Who would have thunk it? (It’s)Herbie Hancock won Album of the Year… in 2008. Wow.

Record Of The Year

Record of the Year goes to the artist and to the producer(s) of a particular track.

Irreplaceable- Beyoncé

The Pretender- Foo Fighters
Umbrella- Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z

What Goes Around…Comes Around- Justin Timberlake

Rehab- Amy Winehouse


Who Should Win: The deep, cinematic, heavy beats from Timbaland and the angst ridden, tortured voice of Justin Timberlake make What Goes Around my pick for Record of the Year.

Who Will Win: Probably Umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh by Rihanna-ah-ah.

Update - Who Did Win: Rehab- Amy Winehouse


Song Of The Year 

Song of the Year is a songwriter’s award

Before He Cheats- Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
Hey There Delilah- Tom Higgenson, songwriter (Plain White T’s)
Like A Star- Corinne Bailey Rae, songwriter (Corinne Bailey Rae)
Rehab- Amy Winehouse, songwriter (Amy Winehouse)
Umbrella- Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius “Dream” Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z)


Who Should Win: What makes a song great? The music or the lyrics? For me the two are often inseparable so I might not be on the same page as the voters. Each of these songs tell a story. Whether it’s a revenge seeking girlfriend or an aspiring rock star writing to his beloved the words meld into the music and should create a kaleidoscope of pictures and feelings in the mind and in the heart. My vote is for Hey There Delilah.

Who Will Win:Probably Umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh by Rihanna-ah-ah.

Update - Who Did Win: Rehab- Amy Winehouse

Best New Artist
Feist
Ledisi
Paramore
Taylor Swift
Amy Winehouse


Who Should Win: Amy Winehouse
Who Will Win: Amy Winehouse
Update - Who Did Win: Amy Winehouse


So these are the 4 big awards that everybody cares about. I am no expert so I expect to wake up Monday morning only to find that I was way off on my predictions. Last year’s predictions were completely off. Will this year be the same? We shall see.

I want hear from you. Who are your picks? Did your favorite song or album get snubbed?

As time ticked down to the summer before my freshman year in high school I got this idea stuck in my head.

“I want to experience it all!” I would say.

That idea has never really left me even to this day. In fact I would say that one of the foundational tenets of my life is that Life Is About Collecting Experiences.

My desire to collect experiences has led me all over the earth and into some pretty surreal situations.

Some of these experiences include:

Watching the sunrise over Jerusalem
Exploring an ancient drainage system in Turkey
Searching a crawl-space in a Roman amphitheater
Backpacking Europe in my cowboy boots
Walking nearly 8 miles down the highway during a traffic standstill visiting with strangers
Traveling to NO for the re-opening of the Superdome
Sharing lunch with a homeless man in downtown Nashville
Helping hang curtains at big-time rock show (as people were arriving!)

While these are just a handful of the “biggie” experiences, I have collected my fair share of smaller ones. I have had my fill of odd jobs (working at a cheerleading competition), met a few minor celebrities (Henry Rollins and I had a nice conversation in a Houston hotel lobby), and stumbled in to places I didn’t belong (painted Notre Dame helmets).

Today I can add another experience to my list. Today I fixed a watch (sort of).

I, like most everyone, have stopped wearing a watch. Who needs a watch when there is a clock on our cell phones, right? However, there are often times when I have needed a watch but my cell phone was either stowed away or out of reach.

While organizing our closets, my wife uncovered a watch that she had given me while we were dating. It was the first Valentine’s Day gift she gave me 8 years ago this week.

I resolved, then and there, to wear a watch again or at least try to wear a watch again.

With the battery dead long ago, I strolled over to the jewelry counter at the local Wal-Mart. The lady behind the counter politely told me that she wouldn’t be able to change the battery because it was not a watch that Wal-Mart carried. Understandable, I thought. But what is my next option? Without hesitation, she offered me all the watch tools I would need to crack open gingerly remove the back of my watch.

After a few false starts and with plenty of encouragement from Rose, the lady behind the counter, I successfully removed the back. The battery was secured my a thin metal clasp that I gently unhooked with a small tool. The battery fell right out. I replaced the dead battery with a fresh one, re-secured the clasp, and gave the mechanism a good once over before replacing the back of the watch. I returned the tools to Rose and paid for the battery. As I type this my old/new watch is ticking along just perfectly. I feel very accomplished.

Sure, all I did was replace a battery but I had never done that before. It was a new experience for me. Now I know how to open up a watch. I was able to see how it moved and how things worked together. It was definitely a sight I had never seen before. Who knows, maybe I’ll buy an old watch and see what I can do with it. Anythings possible.

When you collect experiences everyday is a chance to learn something new, see something different, and to make the unfamiliar a part of your life.