Noel Heikkinen shares about a couple of experiences he had yesterday. These experiences circle around the homosexual community and the Church community.  Go read it, ponder it, and please pray for the church.

.:hay’kin’en:. » Two Experiences 

Shirts for Limbs – This Site Bought Tarver A Leg

Tarver is a guy at Evergreen. The little bit of interaction I have had with him tells me he is a rad guy.

So, help Him buy a leg (and hopefully help others buy legs and arms in the future).

If a)you read this blog at all and b) have a blog or personal web page of some kind, then c)please add me to your blog roll, if you haven’t already.

I am putting forth this shameless plea for the following reasons

1. At some level, I want people to read what I write, inter act with it, and in doing so help me develop and grow as a thinker, a writer, and as a human.
2. This seems to me to be a much healthier way of dealing with my own insecurities and fear of being un-liked than the alternatives (IE becoming a hipster of some sort).
3. Knowing that people are reading what I write, seeing the pictures I take, etc… is a motivation for me to produce more but also to produce better work.

Thanks for your indulgence.

In the event of a fire, hostage situation, and/or personal crises, would you save either your _________ or your Bible?

1.  shoes
2. self
3. wife/girlfriend
4. child/children
5. reputation
6. laptop
7. beer
8. other books
9. car
10. music collection
11. guitar
12. house/apartment
13. job

bob.blog: The New in the Old and the Old in the New

Bob Hyatt has a great post about what lens he reads scripture through, or how he understands the meaning of any and all texts in the Bible. To sum it up in one word: Jesus.

I’m with Bob on this one. Whole heartedly. The whole point of the Bible is Jesus, and we need to be able to see how God is pointing us to the full revelation of Himself (Jesus) in every story, poem, and letter.

If it’s not about Jesus, then what the heck am I reading it for?

Here are some shots from My trip back to Utah last weekend.

A shot of the bouquet on the tables at Rebecca’s wedding reception.

I have a ton more shots in my photo stream, and be sure to check out the other Friday Photo bloggers.

Since moving to Portland three-ish months ago, I have gotten back into the habit of reading. It’s been good to be amid pages of characters, paragraphs exploring ideas, and feeling accomplished at the end of the last page. It has been good to love reading again.

The past year or two have been full of books, but they were by in large books I felt I needed to read: books about the emerging church, about pop culture, Theology, philosophy, and anything else that would make sure people knew that I was a smart “hip” Christian.

Ok, so that might be a bit of a hyperbole, but you get the idea.

I’m just stoked to be looking for new books that I might enjoy simply because they are good books. Most of the reading I have done on these three months has been fiction (and reading a good story is just so much fun, something I have forgotten), but I can feel my brain once more yearning for all sorts of books on all sorts of topics, maybe even some theology tomes once again… maybe.

Reading is a discipline that I believe is healthy, wholesome, and important for my heart. This is a discipline I want to re-cultivate in my life, keep till I die, and pass on to as many minds as I can. 

Books from the past three months:

Fiction:

• “Interview with the Vampire”, Anne Rice
• “Tale of the Body Thief”, Anne Rice
• “Memnoch the Devil”, Anne Rice
• “Mariette in Ecstasy”, Ron Hansen
• “Hunters of Dune”, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
• “Lullaby”, Chuck Palahniuk
• “The Electric Michelangelo”, Sarah Hall
• “A wrinkle in Time” Madeleine L’Engle (reread)
• “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, J.K. Rowling (reread)
• “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”, J.K. Rowling (reread)
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, J.K. Rowling
• “Hocus Pocus”, Kurt Vonnegut (finished)

Non-fiction

• “Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs” Chuck Klosterman
• “Story”, Steven James (finished)
• “On Writing”, Stephen King (finished)
• “Pornified”, Pamela Paul (currently reading)

On Deck

• “The Idiot”,  Fyodor Dostievsky
• “The Brothers Karamazov”, Fyodor Dostievsky
• “Touched with Fire”, Kay Redfield Jamison (to finish)

Maybe I should start doing reviews on some of these…