Praise Habit

In honor of my last day at my current job, I thought I would post the Dilbert that reminds me of it:

So Erin and I were on our way to utilize a common commodity at a local gas station……air. Yes, a simple thing that keeps our tires inflated and what we breath.

So I pull into the parking lot and I see a couple people near the air dispenser talking. I figured, they know each other and are talking. WRONG! I get out of the car to fill up the tire, and I get attacked! They are yelling at me! Apparently there was a line to get air. Was anyone getting the air, or pulling forward? No! They were arguing! They were fighting over air! Didn’t we learn this lesson in kindergarten? I think its called sharing.

Moral of the story…….don’t fight over something thats free. It makes you look like a fool. And if you are fighting over the free thing, don’t yell at the person who is utilizing the free thing while you are arguing with someone about it, nothing good can come from that.

I got this from Kurt. 

What’s your theological worldview?created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Emergent/PostmodernYou are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this. Emergent/Postmodern 71% Neo orthodox 57% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 54% Roman Catholic 50% Modern Liberal 39% Classical Liberal 32% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% Reformed Evangelical 25% Fundamentalist 4%

Tomorrow I start a new phase of my academic life. I am enrolled as a graduate student at Kennesaw State University. I will take me approximately 5 semesters to attain my M.S. in Computer Science.

Am I crazy? I may be. I’m even taking the thesis option! That is a huge freakin research project that I have to defend! However, I think I’ve narrowed down my field of study to something that interests me quite a bit. Who knows, I might discover something that changes something in the world of Computer Science. I’m excited to start this and then ponder where I will go to work on my Ph. D. or Sc. D.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Tomorrow will also be the 6 month anniversary of being married to my wonderful wife Its also my parent’s 25 year anniversary. Wow, a lot of stuff is happening tomorrow.

Well, its off to Petsmart and to the grocery store soon.

Brandon

Mewwy Chwismas to all!

In the morning I am off to Kansas for Christmas with Erin’s family.

This also means I get to go to Springfield on Sunday!!!  I get to *hopefully* see some friends I haven’t talked to in a while.

Well, back to Numb3rs Season 3 (thanks Erin )

I came across this gem tonight and I thought I would pass it on to all my readers. If you don’t like poo jokes, then let this pass.
http://diarrheasong.blogspot.com/

Oh and you might recognize this from Parenthood.

There seems to be a lot of boycotts going on. From the AFA (American Family Association) boycotting Ford and Target to the boycott of the upcoming film The Golden Compass the church has been getting a lot of publicity around this. Note that when I say “church” I mean the Christianity that is portrayed in the media.

Lets look at these boycotts.

First I mentioned the boycott of Ford and Target by the AFA. These boycotts are about basically the same thing. The AFA has called Ford out for supporting the “homosexual agenda.” Target has added benefits packages for domestic partnerships. Its obvious that they don’t like supporting homosexuals at all.

The other boycott is about The Golden Compass. Kurt has posted about this in depth so I will defer to his take on this boycott. To put it in one sentence: The movie is an adaptation of a series of books that support an atheistic worldview.

While these are boycotts of completely different things, they are similar in that they are pushing their own agenda. These groups see something they don’t like and want to cut it out of culture all together. This is something that mainstream Christianity is doing well. If we don’t like something, lets make the same thing and throw Jesus in to Christianize it.

I’m exaggerating of course.

Actually, I’m quite surprised that The Chronicles of Narnia isn’t a response to The Golden Compass.

In a culture where we can listen to a Christian radio station, go to Christian school or a Christian job and then come home to Christian television and read our Christian books and newspapers, we have completely isolated ourselves from society. We now see it fit to tell others to live the same lifestyle of shelter and imprisonment. I think we have taken Paul’s instruction to the Philippians too literally (Philippians 4:8).

Why do we feel the need to tell others how to live? Am I doing the same thing by asking and suggesting that we don’t?

We are all born with the ability to think and discern. Why don’t we encourage that?

Questions are hard; answers are easy. I guess if we can’t get an answer quickly, we should cast lots or wait for someone to come off a mountain with a new law for us to blindly obey.

Next time something is boycotted or a cause is formed, please think about what it represents.