Nuttin' better than some good ol' gospel music!

There isn't much more indicative of the diversity in the American church than a congregation's use of and appreciation of music.  For those of you familiar with the unpolished church music 'special', I give you this....
The best part of the video is the end, but not for the obvious reason.    After "Looking for that City" for a painful 3 minutes, the performer steps back and in a quick moment of reflection, thinks to himself... 'Nailed it!'.

This is Great... "What God Thinks of the Theology Books We Write"

From Peter Enns blog, who by the way has a new book that I'm looking forward to reading.

What we think of the theology books we write:

Well, I’ve worked for years on this, and I have to say I think I nailed it. It’s not perfect, but I am sure this will be a lasting contribution to thinking Christians everywhere. It’s a thoughtful piece that raises many pressing, indeed, perennial issues, that have not been addressed quite as clearly as I do here.

You’re welcome.

What God thinks (as told through dramatic metaphor):

Five year old: Daddy, do you like my picture?

Father: [Dear God, if there is a God, have mercy on me and tell me what this random series--if series is even the right word--of lines and squiggles is supposed to be. Please. Help. Me.] Ah….woooooow! That’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Five Year Old: Can you tell what it is? [no clue what's happening]

Father: [Merciful and Almighty God. I do not know what this is. Either tell me or make it stop. I will promise you anything.] Of COURSE.  Yeah.  It’s a cccaaaa….

Five Year Old: [slightly puzzled but not discouraged] It’s a reindeer in a boat.

Father: [Capricious God, was I asking too much? A little help. Still, not too bad. Damage control time.] Sure. Here are the antlers…and look…it’s nose…and there is the outboard motor…..and that’s the water, right?

Five Year Old: That’s the sail.

Father: [A sail? Why didn't you warn me to leave well enough alone?] Oh, riiiight. The sail.

Five Year Old: Isn’t that a great picture, Dad.

Father: It’s beAUTiful. I love it. And everyone else who sees it will love it, too. Let’s hang it up on the fridge to make sure everyone sees it. Everyone needs to see this picture of a …reindeer…in a boat….

Five Year Old: ….with a sail.

To the Island of Misfit Blogs?

I can be indecisive.  At the store, I tend to ponder more than I purchase.  Yeah, I'm the guy who carries stuff around the store for a good 30 minutes before putting it back on my way to the door.  My wife knows not to send me to the grocery store unless absolutely necessary.  What she could do in 20 minutes takes me 2 hours 13 minutes.  So as I sit in a rambling internal debate on whether or not to finally bury this failure of blog, I'm trying to remember why I thought it would be a good idea in the first place and maybe, just maybe, find reason for its continuance.  Sure, along with the millions of other blog owners out there, it's nice to think that I have a voice, albeit insignificant, but I'm not so far disillusioned to think that I've got anything important to say or even worth reading.  There are a lot of good blogs out there, but this isn't one of them.  Thus the moniker "Fool".  No, the blog is not very good and hardly worth reading to the casual passerby.   Maybe it's time to just let it go.

But that's never been its intent.  The League's inception was supposed to be about community and  was started as an effort to share ideas, questions, and observations on life and church with friends in a private setting, since getting together for discussion proved to be difficult.  After a year or so struggling to keep the conversation going we decided to take the site public with hopes of adding some accountability to the posts.  And here we are again, a year or so later, still struggling to keep the conversation going.   Like the new exciting toy that now sits in the closet with the other crap, the League has lost its luster.  Yeah, I should just let it go.

The thing is, I need the conversation ... I don't get it at work.  I don't get it at church.  I don't get it at home (unless you consider the near constant repetition of  "Hey Daddy, watch this" a conversation).  Without it, I trend towards idleness.  Let's face it, life gets wearisome.  After investing so much of your day into your family, and kids, and work, and the general maintenance of living, it is so easy to just want to shut down and turn it off... and for me at least, waste away intellectually and spiritually.  It would certainly be easier to just let it go.  Free time for me usually starts around 8:30pm and ends a couple short hours later.  To be honest, I'd rather lose myself in the television or fling birds at smiling green pigs than force myself to think.  As pleasurable as learning can be there is something to be said for unhindered slothfulness .... But then there is that wasting away tendency.  Now I'm not so sure.

So I suppose I'll try to keep it going.  For my own mind's sake.  Though the League of Profound Fools may be down to a single fool, I'm not sure at this point, but the Island of Misfit Blogs will have to wait... For now at least. 

Happy New Year!!!

2011 is minutes from over and it's just about time to reset the calendar.  I like resets.  Sure, I realize that it's just another day, that the run of events that make up this life don't pause, skip, or reset. But this fool can convince himself that it does.  It's a fresh start, and for some reason this year is going to be different.  This is the year I'm going to get back into shape, read more, learn more, listen more, spend more time with my neighbors, and daggonit, finally learn to play that stupid guitar. This year I'm going to be better at keeping in touch with family and friends.  Maybe even make a friend. (maybe that's a little too optimistic...)   

New Year's Day is for resolutions and predictions, so here is my bold 2012 prediction.  Exactly 1 year from now, Dick Clark, well-tanned and timeless, will lead us into 2013, and I'll be able to reset once again and look ahead into a new year with a fresh look at these worn out expectations.

Happy foolish New Year!