The Hobbit: First Look

After a few delays, production has begun on quite possibly the most anticipated film of all time.

A Hobby

I haven't blogged in quite a while. This semester has been nuts.

But I did get a hobby: photography.

It's an expensive hobby, so I'm starting slow. I've been saving for some time and bought a Canon Rebel EOS T2i. Nothing crazy.

I am very excited. Here are a few pics I snapped within the last week:

Only Your Blood is Enough

From Sojourn Music, Over the Grave, "Only Your Blood is Enough"

No bleeding bird, no bleeding beast
No hyssop branch, no priest;
No running brook, no flood, no sea
Can wash away this stain from me.

For only your blood is enough to cover my sin;
For only your blood is enough to cover me.

Beacuase the Voices Where Pretty Good

That's not a genuine typo in the title. Just watch the video. You'll see.

Swagbucks

So you should all check out Swagbucks. No joke.

Click this banner, sign up, and start earning Swagbucks. It's totally free!



You can do as much or as little as you want. You can simply use the search engine to win Swagbucks, but you can also take a daily poll, take surveys, send in old electronics, clip coupons, and lots more.

Seriously, it's pretty awesome. I just redeemed my Swagbucks for a $5 Amazon gift card.

I know this all sounds like a infomercial dorkfest, but I can see no legitimate reason why you wouldn't sign up for Swagbucks. Do it.

Keep Calm and Check This Out

No doubt you've seen the "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters like this:

Well, here are some fun variations:

There are lots more out there like here and here.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye

(Via)

Buy Your Competitors

We received this fax at the seminary today:

(Click to enlarge)

 Yeah. No thanks. Who are we going to buy anyway? The Presbyterians?

Resolved: Never Own a Moleskine

Canada.com reports on the Moleskine cult:

"What we're finding is that once people buy one, they get hooked so they keep coming back to buy more in different styles," says Suzan Roerich, the category director for paper at Indigo. "We introduced agendas this fall, and we sold out very quickly. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any more."

It sounds like a narcotic. Seriously.

You can read the whole article here.

iPad Light Painting

A very creative way to use an iPad:

Slooooooow Mooooooootion

Mini NYC

I can't even conceive of how one would do something like this:

Where a Fool Looks for Logic

Taken from O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Pete: You miserable little snake! You stole from my kin!
Ulysses Everett McGill: Who was fixin' to betray us.
Pete: You didn't know that at the time.
Ulysses Everett McGill: So I borrowed it until I did know.
Pete: That don't make no sense!
Ulysses Everett McGill: Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart.

Amazing Timelapse Videos

Great Shot, Kid

Created, Bought, Indwelled

Our body has not only been created by God and will one day be resurrected by him, but it has been bought by Christ's blood and is indwelled by his Spirit. Thus it belongs to God three times over, by creation, redemption and indwelling. How then, since it does not belong to us, can we misuse it? Instead, we honor God with it, by obedience and self-control. Bought by Christ, we have no business to become the slave of anybody or anything else. Once we were the slaves of sin; now we are the slaves of Christ, and his service is the true freedom.

-John Stott, The Cross of Christ

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Fail

Well, I don't know if this qualifies as and epic fail or just your everyday, run-of-the-mill fail, but I'm not going to reach my goal. I'm not too sad. Actually, I'm not sad at all. I am utterly emotionless.

I did get through a few more books and might read a couple more by the first of the year. Here are the books that I completed (sort of) since the last update:

• Shift: What it Takes to Finally Reach Families Today by Brian Haynes
• ApParent Privilege by Steve Wright
• ReThink by Steve Wright
• Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America by Martin Marty
• Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
• God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitches [portion]
• According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy [portion]
• The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Shift, ApParent Privilege, and ReThink are all essentially the same book (I had to read them for a class). The only real difference is the intended audience: ApParent Privilege is for parents, ReThink is for youth/family pastors, and Shift is for both. All focus on the "family-equipping" model of family ministry in which parents are viewed as the primary disciple-makers of their children and the church is an equipping agent. The books are good, but if you read one, you read them all.

Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America was dry. Good information. Boring. If you are really interested in religion in America, check it out. Otherwise skip it.

Machen's Christianity and Liberalism is one of the best books I read this year. Although it was written over eighty years ago, it's incredibly relevant for today. You would benefit greatly from reading this book.

The next two books I did not read thoroughly, but I'm going to count them regardless. That's how I roll. God is Not Great is nothing more than a list of atrocities committed by religion wrapped up in delicious Christopher Hitchens verbiage.

According to Plan is masterfully written by Graeme Goldsworthy and is a simple introduction to biblical theology. Worth a look.

Finally, The Subtle Knife is the second book the Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series. The first book is The Golden Compass. Honestly I'm not quite done, but I only have a few pages left. Pullman is a great writer although his agenda is pretty bogus. Look him up if you want to know more.

With the titles listed above, the count stands at forty-three. And I am not going to read nine books by the end of the year. Fail.

Here are the others books I read this year:

• Bill Wallace of China by Jesse C. Fletcher
• Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton
• The Story of Christianity: Volume 2 by Justo Gonzalez
• Perspectives on Family Ministry by Timothy Paul Jones et al. 
• Humility by C.J. Mahaney
• Peacemaking for Families by Ken Sande
  The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
• The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
• The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
• The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
• A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper 
• Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff 
• The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges 
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis 
• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Biblical Interpretation by Gerald Bray
• How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
• The How and Why of Love by Michael Hill
• Evangelical Ethics by John Jefferson Davis
• Desiring God by John Piper
• Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
• Jesus the Messiah by Bob Stein
• Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
• George Mueller: Delighted in God by Roger Steer
• A Quest for Godliness by J.I. Packer
• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Lifeby Donald Whitney
• Deep Exegesis by Peter Leithart

Happy reading this holiday season!

Leave This Game Behind

Is this a Christian video game or a trailer for the latest Tenacious D movie?

More Like Whatever

So there's this song on the radio. I don't get it.

The song is "More Like Falling in Love" by Jason Gray.

Here's the chorus:

Its gotta be
More like falling in love
Than something to believe in.
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance.
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now.
Its like I'm falling, Ohhhh.
Its like I'm falling in love.

Um. What?

Is the song really saying that knowing Christ (or maybe a conversion experience?) is more like falling in love than believing in something?

What about, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12)? Or, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31)? And what about, like, the rest of the Bible?

I'm having a hard time finding a text that says, "Engage in a Twilight-like romantic experience with a middle-eastern dude who lived two-thousand years ago who may or may not have performed some miracles and you will be saved, you and your household."

Believe in the name of Jesus. Then you have the right to be called a child of God. And when you belong to God, then comes the command to love him. And how do you love the Lord your God?

The song is confusing:

Give me rules, I will break them.
Show me lines, I will cross them.
I need more than a truth to believe.
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet.

Hmmm. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). The song seems to be indicating that some dramatic experience needs to take place and then rules won't be broken and lines won't be crossed. But the biblical portrait of the Christian life is like this: repentance of sin, faith in Christ, obedience of commands.

But that formula is just too religiony.

Love, Love.
Deeper and deeper.
It was love that made me a believer.
In more than a name, a faith, a creed,
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me.

I guess this experience deal is more than the name that will incite the bowing of every knee and bring every tongue to confess "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11). Yeah. Definitely. More than that.

Atop the Christian music charts, Christian radio is playing "More Like Falling in Love" every fifteen minutes. But I guess Christian radio doesn't claim to be anything more than inspirational, encouraging, and positive.

I just thought that it might try and play songs that are--I don't know--Christian.

I'm Still Here