What In Tarnation?!?!?

Day three of the Charleston mission trip is coming to an end. Today was our first day at our track sites. I have been asssigned to the children’s ministry (surprise, surprise!) that is located in an apartment complex about an hour outside of Charleston.

Today I got to send quite a bit of time getting to know Cleo. Cleo is about 5 years old and loves to hunt for crickets, grasshoppers, little frogs and other creepy crawlies. When found, the insects are captured and examined closely by Cleo and anyone who will listen. Unfortunately for the bug, the examination usually end with its death. Cleo picked me to be his assistant on his quest and we set out about the yard to find our test subjects. One problem, Cleo forgot to mention that he was deathly afraid of crickets, grasshoppers, and other creepy crawlies (but not the frogs). Our first encounter went something like this:

Me: Oh look over there, I saw a grasshopper!

Cleo: Where?

Me: Over there! (I sweep my foot over the area that the grasshopper landed in, causing the grasshopper to jump. Cleo spots the grasshopper and begins to scream bloody murder, much to my surprise and displeasure.)

Each encounter was the same without variation. We I caught about 20 little hopping creatures and endured about 1,983 screams.

Later Cleo saw my shirt, which had a frog on it and soon his attention was drawn to the power cross that I was wearing around my neck. He asked me what it was and I told him that it was a cross and each color stood for something different. He asked me about each color and I explained the meaning behind each. He had the colors and meanings down pretty well when I left, though the concept of sin is still a question mark for him.

The weather has been hot and muggy with occasion rain storms. Tropical Storm Bill is causing the frequent rainfall but so far it has not interfered with any ministry track.

I also have three more pictures posted for you to view.

That’s all from Charleston for right now.

Class dismissed!

Not really a jetplane, more like a fifteen passenger van. I will leave tomorrow morning for Charleston, SC for a week. The trip is actually a mission trip with the youth of my church.

Hopefully, we will find an internet connection while there. We will be staying in college dorms so it will be likely that we will be able to access the internet. If so, we will be posting updates from our youth webpage. Drop by there sometime next week and see if we have any reports up.

I have been busy with other things that have interfered with read Harry Potter, but that is okay. I have been able to help out some folks who needed a hand. As a result, I’m not sure when I will finish the book.

Tonight, I plan on packing and attending the farewell party for my former principal.

I will see all of you back here on the other side of this week.

In other news, WIT?!?!? was recently mentioned at Edublog News (June 22 entry). Cool!

Class dismissed!

And not the musical.

1. Is your hair naturally curly, wavy, or straight? Long or short?
Short, when it gets long it can get wavy but I don’t let that happen. It it takes more than 2 minutes to do in the morning, it is too long.

2. How has your hair changed over your lifetime?
Not much. I guess if my hair was software, this would be version 3.0

3. How do your normally wear your hair?
Brushed forward (well not brushed, I use my fingers) with it spiked up in the front.

4. If you could change your hair this minute, what would it look like?
I’ve always wondered what I look like black hair.

5. Ever had a hair disaster? What happened?
Not really, though I had an opportunity to have a disaster but avoided it. I promised my class that if everyone would get 100% on their spelling test I would die my hair black (why? see answer 4) but then I thought better of it so I played music real loud durning the test to help ensure that not everyone would get 100% (poor little guy had ADD.) It worked but they came real close.

Class dismissed!

We are hours away from the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and now my only problem: how long am I going to stay up tonight to read the book. Needless to say, I am looking forward to it. I have drawn detailed plans of the Walmart floor plan, I have marked likely spots on the map where Harry Potter displays might be set up and I have mapped out my plan of attack… No not really. No I’m not going to any of these parties that are being done, it would really take too much time to get around to reading it. Tomorrow, while I’m at the baseball game (St. Louis Cardinals against the Kansas City Royals) I will probably be reading it. Or maybe not.

Harry sure has everyone in a stir. MeanDean took a quick survey of the blogs4God blogosphere to see what folks were saying. He even found the first part of my own defense of Mr. Potter. Seems that Darren’s entry entitled Gary Kotter and the Theologian’s Drone got that started.

To help celabrate tomorrow’s release please look back with me to the second part of my essay on Harry Potter:

Harry Potter is Evil and the Chamber of Fear
Original post date: December 12, 2002

There continues to be several comments on the Harry Potter is Evil post, so I thought I would continue the discussion here in the sequel to that post. I really haven’t commented on some of the comments because I thought the comments where either a) made without even reading what I said or b) completely uniformed. However I think that the discussion can continue.

Recently the following comment was made:

WHAT WOULD YOU ACCCEPT AS EVIDENCE THAT HARRY POTTER IS EVIL? (I’m not sure if the flaming was needed.)

Hmm, well I think I would suspect something if Satan sprang from the book and did a little Irish Jig in my apartment, then I would wonder.

I think, however, people are fixating on just one element of these very dense stories. People suggesting that the Potter books are a primer for Witchcraft 101, are missing all the other cool stuff that the stories have to offer.

I think I fall in the group of people who think that maybe Christians shouldn’t be promoting and facilitating fear, but educating people in the spiritual part of life. People are ignorant of spiritual matters and whose fault is that? Those who don’t know about it or those who do? What if we use the Harry Potter books to open a discussion about spiritual matters? I gave a suggestion for doing this here.

On the other hand, the “witchcraft” seen in the books is not based in reality. One of my favorite comments from that entry makes fun of this very fact:

The magic in Harry Potter doesn’t work. I know this. I have tried removing the ugly tree/shrub/bush (whatever the heck it is) in my neighbors yard at the end of my driveway. It is an eyesore and an obstruction to my view when backing out and I’ve yelled a many “treeis removis” spells, but it just won’t go away!

The magic in Harry Potter is of the fairy tale variety. It is like the magic found in the stories that we grew up with as kids. No one is decrying these stories. According to the folks that think that Harry is evil should find the stories just as threatening and evil, but evidently the magic in such stories is viewed as… I don’t know… harmless? Being viewed as hypocritical certainly isn’t going to help the cause.

Having said all that, I want to bring this back to the whole reason that I started this conversation. Parents need to be involved and aware if their children are going to be reading these books. Parents need to be able to take advantage of the teachable moment on spiritual matters. Instead of hiding the books from kids, making it more enticing, let’s have an open dialogue with them.

To round out my trilogy on entries on topics like this, please be looking for the third and final entry entitled: “SpongeBob SquarePants is Evil.” (He runs around in his underwear you know.)

P.S. Again, just to reemphasize, I don’t mind comments on either end of the topic, but if you are going to comment you need to be informed and please don’t use this as a forum to slander others simply because they have a different opinion than you.

Class dismissed!

P.S. Entries may be even more rare while reading tOotP.

Thy mercy, my god is the theme of my song
The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue
Thy free grace alone from the first to the last
Hath won my affection and bound my soul fast

Without thy sweet mercy I could not live here
Sin would reduce me to utter despair
But through thy free goodness my spirit’s revived
And he that first made me still keeps me alive
Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart
Dissolved by thy goodness I fall to the ground
And weep to the praise of the mercy I?ve found

Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Great father of mercies thy goodness I own
And the covenant love of thy crucified son
All praise to the spirit whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine

All praise to the spirit whose whisper divine
Seals mercy and pardon and righteousness mine

Written by: music by Sandra McCracken words by John Stocker (1776)
Album: In the Company of Angels
Performed by: Caedmon’s Call

Class dismissed!

I am! Ganns of Meremaddness, soon to be SuperBlessed (and I can’t wait) has bestowed me as his blogger of the month (June 12 entry). Eeek! I can hardly contain the excitement. He even wrote a few kind things:

thursday, june 12
SUBJECT: Blogger of the Month

Some say that he’s a teacher, the very bestest kind.
Some say that he should rest a bit, find some way to unwind.
Some say that He’s a Christian; some say that he’s a spy.
Some say that he’s a regular, potatoes and meat guy.

Some say that he is married; some say he’s all alone.
Some say he has a heart of gold, some say a heart of stone.
Some say that he has values. Some say that he has none.
Some say that he’s the last in line; some say he’s number one.

I say that he’s a blogger who’s charming and unique.
He gives off so much happiness, in God, he’s never weak.
I say that he won’t flatter, genuine is he.
I’ve never seen him give off hate or animosity.

So for his disposition, and the friendship of this man.
We give the only honor which this humble Christian can.
The blogger of the month, without further adulation,
is Christopher Wright of the fun blog What in Tarnation!

To answer some of the questions:

Line 3: Both Christian and spy.

Line 4: Yes, meat and potatos, but generally I will eat most anything you put in front of me, unless it involves mustard or horseradish.
Line 5: Single

Line 6: Depends if it is before my shower or after.

Thanks again Ganns.

Class dismissed!

1. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do, but never have?
Direct a movie, write a song, write a screenplay, learn computer programing, etc.

2. When someone asks your opinion about a new haircut/outfit/etc, are you always honest?
If it is good, yes! Bad, well then I get pretty vague with my responces.

3. Have you ever found out something about a friend and then wished you hadn’t? What happened?
Yes I have. You know what they say ignorance is bliss, and after finding out I wish I was a little more blissful. Result, I was miserable, and relationships faded away for one reason or another. Sometimes that was my fault, others, it was the other person’s fault.

4. If you could live in any fictional world (from a book/movie/game/etc.) which would it be and why?
Star Trek the Next Generation. Captian of the Enterprise baby!

5. What’s one talent/skill you don’t have but always wanted?
Playing an intrument without any effort on my part, particularly the piano.

Class dismissed!

The logo for my church was recently redesigned so that means it is time for a website redesign so everything will have the basic look. I have been looking at all kinds of church websites for ideas. I’ve looked at the Missouri Baptist directory of churches with websites, I have done a Google search looking for ideas.

After looking at a ton of websites I still don’t really have an idea that I like, but it did help me to define some things that I don’t like.

1. Animated GIFs. One think that can be readily found on church and personal websites are those annoying and cheesy animated GIFs. This was a rule that I learned the hard way. I’ve used a few cheesy animated GIFs in my time. I have since asked for forgiveness.

2. Scrolling text. It makes me dizzy. There seems to be a large number of church sites that use scrolling text.

3. Huge pictures a the church’s pastor. There seems to be a trend among larger churches who have money to spend on websites (and some smaller ones), is to have a rather larget pictures of the senior pastor on front page. Usually the pastor is in some dressy-casual clothes on. The image seems to me to be the focal point of the page giving undue attention to the pastor. It gives me the impression that the church may have some priority issues, but that is a personal opinion.

4. FrontPage sites. FrontPage websites have a certain look and feel to it. They always feel… cheap to me, even though that may not be the case. Now when I see a FrontPage website that is not a church website I don’t have near the aversion than if it is a church webpage. Don’t ask me why, that’s just the way I feel.

5. Church sites with the weather. What’s up with that? I don’t think that really belongs there.

6. Finally to thing that I hate the most, and if you know me, you probably know what it is: background music! It doesn’t matter whether it is wav or midi (though midi is particularly horrible). The quickest way to get me to leave a website is to plop some background music on there.

There is a delicate balance between getting a webpage out there and making it presentable. Some folk get over zealous with a page, but that may be because they have a passion for the church, so I try to be careful when critiqueing a church webpage.

The current page for my church needs alot of work. I don’t know what the deal with the PHP pages but they haver error messages on there that I don’t know how to get rid of or how they got there since they were all working at one time. Does anyone have a suggestion for a calendaring application for webpages? I would like to set one up. I am also considering using MovableType for the front page to allow for easy posting of announcements.

I’ll figure something out.

Just as a side note, my favorite site about church websites is Dean’s Heal Your Church Website. Good stuff.

Class dismissed!