Books, Videos, Resources, Websites... things I've run across that are really cool. These are my plugs.
1) Ask Me Anything: Provocative Answers for College Students (J. Budziszewski)
[From Amazon.com]
Dear Professor Theophilus... Go ahead, ask.
A professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Dr. J. Budziszewski (aka Professor Theophilus) answers your piercing, real life questions—the same urgent questions he receives from students on campus or through his regular column on the webzine, boundless.org. Resolve the questions central to your identity and worldview. Ask Me Anything will help you achieve personal insight about controversial topics and defend your point of view to a skeptical world.
2) The Lamb and the Fuhrer: Great Conversations (Ravi Zacharias)
[From Amazon.com]
Destruction and Evil Meet Life and Peace Adolf Hitler spilled the blood of millions for his own sake. Jesus Christ shed his own blood for the sake of millions. Hitler set himself up as a god and the masses succumbed. Jesus Christ was God in the form of lowly man. Hitler created a living hell for the masses. Jesus endured hell to save the masses. Hitler's name is synonymous with power, evil, and genocide. Jesus' name with love, peace, and life. Put the two in a room together and you won't believe your ears. The third compelling book in Ravi Zacharias' Great Conversations series addresses fundamental issues of life and death, the evil of violence in light of the value of human life, and other tough issues in modern society.
3) NOOMA (Rob Bell)
We can get anything we want, from anywhere in the world, whenever we want it. That's how it is and that's how we want it to be. Still, our lives aren't any different than other generations before us. Our time is.
We want spiritual direction, but it has to be real for us and available when we need it. We want a new format for getting Christian perspectives.
NOOMA is the new format.
It's short films with communicators that really speak to us. Compact, portable, and concise. Each NOOMA touches onissues that we care about, that we want to talk about,
and it comes in a way that fits our world. It's a format that's there for us when we need it, as we need it, how we need it.
That's it for now... more next week.
11.29.2006
11.28.2006
Rambling thoughts for the day...
I'm terrible at blogging, I think. Most of my posts, well all really, are sporadic and disconnected from the last. There is no real order, no priority, mostly no point. Its just something I do if I happen to think about it. For the most part, I go about my daily life, to class, to work, to dinner, to bed, and I don't ever think about blogging. It's not that I don't enjoy it. It's not that I feel like I have something to say. Simply, it just slips my mind. One of those things that I just don't get around to.
Even as I write this "confession", I sense a parallel. Replace "blogging" with "prayer", and the truth remains. My real confession is my lack of real conversation, not with the internet, not with anyone who may read this, but with my Father. Prayer is one of those things I tend to sweep under the rug. And with absence, it becomes easier and easier to forget. That is not to say that forgetting it is not my fault, of course it is. But I imagine it similar to conversation with an old friend who has moved away. Certainly God has not moved, that's not my point at all. Rather, its me who has created the distance, left His presence. And just like that friend I fail to call daily, then weekly, then only on holidays, then not at all, I talk with my Father if not daily, then not weekly, then when I need something, then nearly not at all.
In absence, I miss that friend. I can't know what he thinks, how he feels, how he needs me to be there if we don't talk. When I think of him and the friendship we built, I mourn the loss. I wonder what it would take to bring it back, if in fact we could ever return to where we were. I wonder if he has moved on and pushed my memory back as well.
In absence from God's presence, my questions are the same. I feel an emptiness, a loneliness, a disconnect. The questions are the same. I mourn the lost conversation, my failings, and I wonder if He has forgotten me as well. I feel a bit prodigal. But then as quickly as I ask, He answers. The answer is "no, I'm still here". Should this make me feel better? Probably. But I don't. Instead I realize that my Father has feelings, too. I've been hurting as I push Him from my mind. How much more does He hurt as I remain at the front of His?
Even as I write this "confession", I sense a parallel. Replace "blogging" with "prayer", and the truth remains. My real confession is my lack of real conversation, not with the internet, not with anyone who may read this, but with my Father. Prayer is one of those things I tend to sweep under the rug. And with absence, it becomes easier and easier to forget. That is not to say that forgetting it is not my fault, of course it is. But I imagine it similar to conversation with an old friend who has moved away. Certainly God has not moved, that's not my point at all. Rather, its me who has created the distance, left His presence. And just like that friend I fail to call daily, then weekly, then only on holidays, then not at all, I talk with my Father if not daily, then not weekly, then when I need something, then nearly not at all.
In absence, I miss that friend. I can't know what he thinks, how he feels, how he needs me to be there if we don't talk. When I think of him and the friendship we built, I mourn the loss. I wonder what it would take to bring it back, if in fact we could ever return to where we were. I wonder if he has moved on and pushed my memory back as well.
In absence from God's presence, my questions are the same. I feel an emptiness, a loneliness, a disconnect. The questions are the same. I mourn the lost conversation, my failings, and I wonder if He has forgotten me as well. I feel a bit prodigal. But then as quickly as I ask, He answers. The answer is "no, I'm still here". Should this make me feel better? Probably. But I don't. Instead I realize that my Father has feelings, too. I've been hurting as I push Him from my mind. How much more does He hurt as I remain at the front of His?
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