I've been getting a lot of positive feedback on our current message series, 'Friends on Facebook.' If you don't attend True North, we've been talking about how our online interactions and behaviors are changing how we think and act in real life.
The NY Times has been publishing some great stuff on this topic lately. Here's another article REALLY worth reading if you suspect your internet activity might be compulsive.
How are you doing with this? Are you justifying the amount of time you spend online? Are you telling yourself (and others) things like "I can quit any time." ?
Read on. And ...
A Better Job than Jobs
I've been doing a little ruminating on the life and death of Steve Jobs and it's only just now occurring to me how much this guy's work has impacted my life. Driving to work today, I listened to a podcast - a word added to our lexicon to describe spoken word content placed on iTunes to be downloaded to and played back on iPods. My iPhone is like an appendage to me. It keeps my contacts, my calendar and innumerable other apps and digital helpers. And when I write a sermon or an email, or a blog post like this ...
Hurricanes and Power Loss
I recall an instance from several years ago while Jen and I were still living in our first home. I was in my kitchen and I heard a loud 'bang' followed by what appeared to be flashes of light seen through the front window. It was daytime so I knew it had to be a significant light source.
I walked out of my house and saw a full size tractor-trailor about 4 doors down from me. The roof of the container had snagged an electrical wire which had snapped and now lay beneath the truck, sparking on the ...
Sunrise
I was woken up this morning at around 4:15 by the sound of my daughter gently crying as she entering my bedroom. She’s basically been in the pool non-stop since school got out and her dedication has yielded a painful case of swimmer’s ear.
A couple of children’s Tylenol and a quick prayer got her settled back down, but I had an unusually hard time falling back asleep. It could have been that I was thirsty, or that my back was sore, or that I was hot and feeling angry at myself for not pushing my wife harder on ...
My hope is that each and every one of you will live up to that moniker, as my uncle, Richard Crabbe is about to release his third novel. It's a historical novel about a detective named Mike Braddock, set in Civil War era Manhattan. Think 'Gangs of New York' era stuff.
I've not read it yet, but if it's as good as his last two, thou shalt dig it.
This little gem drops on June 10th, and he's doing a book signing at a bookstore in Manhattan on the evening of Wednesday, June 11th.
I am there. Anyone want to come check it out? Might be a good excuse to grab some chow and a beverage.
It would be really amazing if a whole posse showed up at this thing. Email me or comment here if you think you might be interested.
And if you can't make it or are just too plain wimpy to take a trip in the city, do the Right Thing and get a copy on Amazon here.
Of course, it won't have my uncle's signature on it, but that's what you get for bein' wimpy. Peace.
So this past Thursday evening, theater #1 at the Stonybrook Lowes was where I could be found, along with 329 of my closest friends, for a private screening of Prince Caspian, the latest in the Narnia movies.
We'd spent the previous three sundays moving through the story in our sermons and I, for one, was very excited to check out the film. On the whole, I was a bit disappointed. The movie was worth seeing, and on the whole I enjoyed it, but the original was MUCH better. There were significant deviations from the story line, which is to be expected. But there were also glaring omissions of some key moments in the story. No doubt the filmmakers are aware that very few members of the movie going public have read the book, and fewer still are coming into the movie having completed a three week sermon series on it.
One significant question I had: How did the Telmaries end up with Cuban accents? I kept waiting for Miraz to step out and shout "Say hello to my little friend".
Anyway, the bottom line on Caspian – worth watching but wait for the DVD.
This, however, was not the end of my evening. I, along with a few other night owls, stuck around for the 10:45 showing of the new Indiana Jones movie – the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
It was everything you could want in an Indiana Jones movie: sound effects with every punch, gratuitous chase scenes containing impossible coincidences, some great one-liners and of course, some creepy-crawly things to make you squirm. In a word, it rocked. Ok, that's two words, but go see it.
And, I don't think I'll be revealing too much when I note that Steven Spielberg finally got to make his fourth alien movie. Anyone remember the first three? Holla back if you know the Spielberg alien trilogy.
OK, so here's the deal. Our neighbors are losing patience
with us due to the amount of noise coming from the building on Sundays.
And the truth is, they're absolutely right. We can be a loud bunch.
So, we're asking if each of you would kindly make a concerted
effort to be really really quiet upon exiting the building on Sunday evenings
after the Elevate services.
What I mean by that is, from this point forward, anyone observed
to shout, scream, laugh obnoxiously, crank their stereo, peel out of the
parking lot, belch, snort, chortle, or breathe heavily outside the building
will be shot.
Think I'm kidding? We've got a couple of sharp shooters with
paintball guns who are all too happy to wait on the roof and light you up.
Seriously though, we need to do a better job of being good
neighbors and we'd really appreciate your help. Please try to get in the habit
of speaking in softer tones and exiting the building and the neighborhood
quietly.
