Oct
22
Superstar quarterback Brett Favre has been leading sports headlines over the past few years for his inability to make up his mind on whether to retire from the NFL or play one more year. But recently he's been in the headlines for a different reason. Allegedly he sent some nude photos of him in crocs to a girl working for the NY Jets.
I find it interesting in all these scandalous sex stories how the wife of the man in trouble is rarely talked about. Well, other than "is she or isn't she going to stand by him." She is never talked about as being harmed, it's always the "public" or the "team" who are harmed. Which is why I think it's cool Deanna Favre has been on Good Morning America and recently did an interview with Christianity today.
I really enjoyed the Q&A Deanna had with Christianity Today, she talked about her book, her breast cancer and her faith.
Deanna Favre learned she had breast cancer four days after she buried her brother. She was distraught and having trouble dealing with all the heartache. In the interview she recalls her attitude sharply turned around when someone told her "you have cancer inside your body, but you also have Christ."
Most women are in love with Brett Favre regardless of their taste for the NFL and would count themselves lucky to marry him (especially given the spelling of his last name). But the more I read about Deanna the more I think Brett is lucky to have her. Here's some snippets of her wisdom:
"I basically handle every struggle, every day of my life, when I get up in the morning, there's devotion, when I go to bed at night, there's prayer. When I eat, there's prayer. Everything I do is centered on faith. Every struggle I face is handled that way. The many struggles we face don't stop, I'm sure something else will come. Your faith just gets stronger and stronger, and it gets easier to deal with things."
"I don't really relate my relationship with Christ to religion. Christ is the church. I'm sure we all deal the same way. We pray and look for guidance and answers [come] through Christ and God through our faith."
If you're looking for more Deanna wisdom check out her new book The Cure for the Chronic Life.
I find it interesting in all these scandalous sex stories how the wife of the man in trouble is rarely talked about. Well, other than "is she or isn't she going to stand by him." She is never talked about as being harmed, it's always the "public" or the "team" who are harmed. Which is why I think it's cool Deanna Favre has been on Good Morning America and recently did an interview with Christianity today.
I really enjoyed the Q&A Deanna had with Christianity Today, she talked about her book, her breast cancer and her faith.
Deanna Favre learned she had breast cancer four days after she buried her brother. She was distraught and having trouble dealing with all the heartache. In the interview she recalls her attitude sharply turned around when someone told her "you have cancer inside your body, but you also have Christ."
Most women are in love with Brett Favre regardless of their taste for the NFL and would count themselves lucky to marry him (especially given the spelling of his last name). But the more I read about Deanna the more I think Brett is lucky to have her. Here's some snippets of her wisdom:
"I basically handle every struggle, every day of my life, when I get up in the morning, there's devotion, when I go to bed at night, there's prayer. When I eat, there's prayer. Everything I do is centered on faith. Every struggle I face is handled that way. The many struggles we face don't stop, I'm sure something else will come. Your faith just gets stronger and stronger, and it gets easier to deal with things."
"I don't really relate my relationship with Christ to religion. Christ is the church. I'm sure we all deal the same way. We pray and look for guidance and answers [come] through Christ and God through our faith."
If you're looking for more Deanna wisdom check out her new book The Cure for the Chronic Life.
Oct
20
In a recent article on Oct 17th the Vatican praised Homer Jay Simpson as a "true Catholic." The Vatican writer L'Osservatore Romano went on to say how The Simpsons is one of the few cartoons for children in which God and faith are recurring themes.
When I was a child my parents didn't let me watch the Simpsons thinking it was too rude and crude. If only the Vatican had this stance years ago I would've had some fodder to argue with. Fortunately, as I got older my parents rules became more relaxed and I was able to enjoy the full hilarity of the greatest cartoon ever made (prior to 2000).
There's no doubt Homer doesn't pay much attention to his faith but the family does pray before meals, go to church and is constantly loved on by their neighbor Ned Flanders. Even though they might be lukewarm Christians at least they're getting the word out that God exists, and isn't some character religious organizations use to control the people!
When I was a child my parents didn't let me watch the Simpsons thinking it was too rude and crude. If only the Vatican had this stance years ago I would've had some fodder to argue with. Fortunately, as I got older my parents rules became more relaxed and I was able to enjoy the full hilarity of the greatest cartoon ever made (prior to 2000).
There's no doubt Homer doesn't pay much attention to his faith but the family does pray before meals, go to church and is constantly loved on by their neighbor Ned Flanders. Even though they might be lukewarm Christians at least they're getting the word out that God exists, and isn't some character religious organizations use to control the people!
Oct
11
The Christian research company Barna just released the results of their study examining faith in different cities across America.
In their survey people in various cities were asked about their belief in the bible, church attendance and identification as a Christian among other things. To no one's surprise the South came out as having the most percentage of people identifying themselves as Christians. They also participated more in church and had a stronger belief in the bible.
Birmingham, Charlotte and Nashville ranked near the top in most areas of the study including volunteering and Christian population (roughly 95% in the top cities).
The West and Northeast ended up as the least Christian. However even among the cities (San Fran, Portland, LA, Seattle, NYC) with the least amount of Christians still had 75% of the population claiming to love Jesus.
While there's only a 20% difference in the Christian population among most cities, the difference in the number of people who believe the bible is accurate in all its principles is strikingly more dramatic. Among the "heathen" cities only 28% believe the bible is accurate, verses 73% in the "saintly" cities.
The volunteering rate follows a similar pattern of 14% among low Christian cities compared to 64% in high Christian cities.
Unfortunately this study didn't really find any new or interesting information. It more or less confirmed what we already know. American culture has been shifting away from Jesus for a long time, some cities are just farther ahead than others. It's up to us as Christians to decide how to act.
In their survey people in various cities were asked about their belief in the bible, church attendance and identification as a Christian among other things. To no one's surprise the South came out as having the most percentage of people identifying themselves as Christians. They also participated more in church and had a stronger belief in the bible.
Birmingham, Charlotte and Nashville ranked near the top in most areas of the study including volunteering and Christian population (roughly 95% in the top cities).
The West and Northeast ended up as the least Christian. However even among the cities (San Fran, Portland, LA, Seattle, NYC) with the least amount of Christians still had 75% of the population claiming to love Jesus.
While there's only a 20% difference in the Christian population among most cities, the difference in the number of people who believe the bible is accurate in all its principles is strikingly more dramatic. Among the "heathen" cities only 28% believe the bible is accurate, verses 73% in the "saintly" cities.
The volunteering rate follows a similar pattern of 14% among low Christian cities compared to 64% in high Christian cities.
Unfortunately this study didn't really find any new or interesting information. It more or less confirmed what we already know. American culture has been shifting away from Jesus for a long time, some cities are just farther ahead than others. It's up to us as Christians to decide how to act.
Oct
01
ESPN's Bill Simmons article about Michael Vick and whether he should be allowed to play struck me today.
In his article Bill debates his wife over whether or no Vick should be allowed to return. Bill argues he should because he's paid his debt and has been playing lights out. His wife refuses to forgive Vick for his atrocious actions and believes he's not truly sorry for what he did but is just doing a big PR ploy. She is a big animal lover and thinks Vick is more or less the devil.
That reminded me of a verse in the Bible:
Matthew 9:1-8
1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The correlation I made in Matt 9:5 is the difficulty of forgiveness. Physically healing from a crime requires less effort than mental and emotional healing.
But more than that the idea of a person changing without the holy spirit seems to be engrained in our being. If a person without a supernatural force claims to be different than they were the last 27 years of life we are skeptical. And rightly so. Without God we are all lost.
In his article Bill debates his wife over whether or no Vick should be allowed to return. Bill argues he should because he's paid his debt and has been playing lights out. His wife refuses to forgive Vick for his atrocious actions and believes he's not truly sorry for what he did but is just doing a big PR ploy. She is a big animal lover and thinks Vick is more or less the devil.
That reminded me of a verse in the Bible:
Matthew 9:1-8
1Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
3At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!"
4Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.
The correlation I made in Matt 9:5 is the difficulty of forgiveness. Physically healing from a crime requires less effort than mental and emotional healing.
But more than that the idea of a person changing without the holy spirit seems to be engrained in our being. If a person without a supernatural force claims to be different than they were the last 27 years of life we are skeptical. And rightly so. Without God we are all lost.
Sep
23
Just came across this cool heat map of where people live in American cities based on their race. The most diverse city is New York City. All the other cities are very segregated. I suppose the old saying "birds of a feather flock together" are true.
New York City
Austin, TX
San Francisco, CA
Nashville, TN
Los Angeles, CA
New York City
Austin, TX
San Francisco, CA
Nashville, TN
Los Angeles, CA
Sep
10
The last few days a crazy guy in south Florida claiming to be a Christ-follower has gotten a ton of press over his planned event to burn a boat load of Qurans. Every news outlet has made this their lead story and almost everyone knows about it at this point.
What I find particularly funny is how this story parallels the sports drama this summer with Brett Favre and LeBron James. In the case of Favre the news (ESPN) made a mountain out of a mole hill. Favre is old, he hurts and he clearly hates training camp. Instead of just letting him sit quietly and figure out his life, ESPN sends their journalists down to Mississippi to harass Favre in his pickup truck.
With LeBron, ESPN injected itself into a situation to create a news story when there wasn't one, so they could make money. ESPN gave LeBron a time slot to look a jerk instead of allowing him to quietly sign with Miami.
In the same way all these news outlets are giving airtime to the Quran burning and making a mountain out of a mole hill. Just like LeBron and Favre, if the news outlets decide not to cover it then no one in the world cares, no one gets hurt and life goes on.
The guy doing the burning is off his rocker, let's let him live in crazy land by himself. Don't drag my sanity down by spreading his nonsense with a bullhorn.
But, we're dealing with an industry who's slogan is "if it bleeds, it leads." Clearly not the most rational people in the world.
A few other oddities with this story:
PS - I really hope South Park lampoons everyone in this story.
What I find particularly funny is how this story parallels the sports drama this summer with Brett Favre and LeBron James. In the case of Favre the news (ESPN) made a mountain out of a mole hill. Favre is old, he hurts and he clearly hates training camp. Instead of just letting him sit quietly and figure out his life, ESPN sends their journalists down to Mississippi to harass Favre in his pickup truck.
With LeBron, ESPN injected itself into a situation to create a news story when there wasn't one, so they could make money. ESPN gave LeBron a time slot to look a jerk instead of allowing him to quietly sign with Miami.
In the same way all these news outlets are giving airtime to the Quran burning and making a mountain out of a mole hill. Just like LeBron and Favre, if the news outlets decide not to cover it then no one in the world cares, no one gets hurt and life goes on.
The guy doing the burning is off his rocker, let's let him live in crazy land by himself. Don't drag my sanity down by spreading his nonsense with a bullhorn.
But, we're dealing with an industry who's slogan is "if it bleeds, it leads." Clearly not the most rational people in the world.
A few other oddities with this story:
- The Associated Press is willing to cover the drama leading up to the Quran burning, but won't cover the actual event or publish any photos.
- The US military burned a bunch of bibles in Afghanistan a few years back and it didn't get mass media attention.
- Some crazy Muslims burned bibles and crosses a few years back in Gaza and it didn't get mass media attention.
- Hosting provider Rackspace shutdown service to the crazy guy's Website because they said it had "hate speech" on it. Talk about fanatical censorship.
- Interpol released a warning to a 100+ countries letting them know a violent backlash from crazy Muslims is probable if the Quran burning goes forward.
PS - I really hope South Park lampoons everyone in this story.
Aug
13
When you reach the end of the road, you look around and start to think. Where have you been, how far did you go and where will you go next?
That's how I feel now with this final blog posting as Zetify's summer intern.
Over the summer I have roamed the internet for Christian communities and talked with the people who work on the front lines of evangelism and dicipleship. These people have inspired me to be a better person. Along the way I've met to many self-less souls who donate their time to causes they love and places they love to serve.
I just want to thank every person who has made this opportunity immensly rewarding and have left a huge impression on how I will walk out the rest of my days.
If you've just stumbled on Zetify, I encourage you to stay on the site for a little bit and just look around. It's a gem and I can tell you personally that this website is a true product of a passion to unite communities with a heart for Christ.
I've enjoyed this time with Zetify very, very much!
Melissa
Aug
12
Earlier while on Twitter, I found someone retweet a Washington Post on article about prayer. Honestly, I wondered to myself "what have they said this time?"
But, I was surprised because I found that it actually gave prayer credit for making marriages stronger.
The findings are based on marriages where both partners pray together. The idea is that when the couples believe in prayer and do so regularly together they form a stronger bond in their faith in it. The study does not site that religion is necessary, but the simply action of both people coming together to seek prayer for resolution or comfort creates a different level of bond.
The study also states that often when one person does not believe in prayer, it may create adverse effects due to the fact that they are not united in the belief.
However, many participant stated that they seek prayer in times of disagreement or discussion which helps ease tension in the marriage and create stronger unity.
I am a strong believer in prayer and I think this study will open many people's eyes to prayer and how it can effect people.
Couples who share religious practices tend to be happier than those who don't, study says
By Donna St. George
Thursday, August 12, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/11/AR2010081101961.html
Aug
11
Often times you come across large life decisions. Is it time to sell your home, should you buy a new car, are you going into the right career? These are things we all will encounter along our days.
It's easy to jump into a decision to these questions, or any other and think that it is the right way to go.
But, when you take a step back, have you really thought out all of your options? The pros and cons of where it could lead you? Most importantly have you taken the time to listen to people around you?
For me the decision hinges a lot on prayer and trying to take the path that leads closest to what God wants in my life. It doesn't make finding the answer any easier, but it dose help from making a rash decision that I could possibly regret in the long run.
So what can you do? Take your time and look down the road. You have time to think it through and weigh out the possibilities.
It's easy to jump into a decision to these questions, or any other and think that it is the right way to go.
But, when you take a step back, have you really thought out all of your options? The pros and cons of where it could lead you? Most importantly have you taken the time to listen to people around you?
For me the decision hinges a lot on prayer and trying to take the path that leads closest to what God wants in my life. It doesn't make finding the answer any easier, but it dose help from making a rash decision that I could possibly regret in the long run.
So what can you do? Take your time and look down the road. You have time to think it through and weigh out the possibilities.
Aug
05
I recently stumbled upon the website: Letters of Note
The latest entry: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/tiger-oil-memos.html
It's a compilation of Tiger Oil Company Memos that were leaked and now roaming the internet. I found it interesting because of what the boss wrote in the 30-year-old papers.
The first memo: "Effective now, employees will be docked for the time they are off sick, unless I authorize you to pay them. This is for Tiger Oil - Houston Office - employees. (Signed) EDWARD MIKE DAVIS."
The 20 memos capture the mindset and tone of a company head that has clearly let the power overcome him. If you're not convinced read this memo excerpt: "In case anyone does not know who owns Tiger Oil Company or Tiger Drilling Co., Inc., it is me - Edward Mike Davis. Do not let anyone think they are the owner but me. "
I'm glad I didn't work here. Some of these are funny, covering topics maybe you and I would find irrelevant.
But, I find it interesting how he inflates his personal perception but puts down many of his workers through these memos. How do we treat others? The same, do we know, do you ever think about it?
"On days you have to work, and you think you should be off, you wear slouchy dress attire. That will not occur in the future. You will wear proper dress attire to work always. Also, all employees should have the proper attitude to coincide with proper dress, especially on those days when you're working and think you should be off."
The latest entry: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/tiger-oil-memos.html
It's a compilation of Tiger Oil Company Memos that were leaked and now roaming the internet. I found it interesting because of what the boss wrote in the 30-year-old papers.
The first memo: "Effective now, employees will be docked for the time they are off sick, unless I authorize you to pay them. This is for Tiger Oil - Houston Office - employees. (Signed) EDWARD MIKE DAVIS."
The 20 memos capture the mindset and tone of a company head that has clearly let the power overcome him. If you're not convinced read this memo excerpt: "In case anyone does not know who owns Tiger Oil Company or Tiger Drilling Co., Inc., it is me - Edward Mike Davis. Do not let anyone think they are the owner but me. "
I'm glad I didn't work here. Some of these are funny, covering topics maybe you and I would find irrelevant.
But, I find it interesting how he inflates his personal perception but puts down many of his workers through these memos. How do we treat others? The same, do we know, do you ever think about it?
"On days you have to work, and you think you should be off, you wear slouchy dress attire. That will not occur in the future. You will wear proper dress attire to work always. Also, all employees should have the proper attitude to coincide with proper dress, especially on those days when you're working and think you should be off."