yes, i have a cold or allergies or both or neither or more… pretty annoying indeed… and i blame it all on the cat… i don’t have a cat, but we were in the presence of a cat the other day… the day before i woke up feeling like this…

anyway, i don’t have much of an update in me today… i need to save my energy for the first of my two fantasy football drafts (one tonight and one tomorrow night) but i wanted to talk a little bit about a little bit… maybe just books today…

SNAKES, SNAILS, AND PUPPY-DOG TAILS
-to the tune of Let’s Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams

Boys Should Be Boys
by Meg Meeker

Now, this perhaps isn’t a book that would jump out at me as something i would read, but i do have two little boys at home - have i mentioned them ever? they’re pretty much awesome - and i have always had something of a bent towards the field of psychology if for no reason other than i’ve found that the discoveries we make about other humans often line up with what we believe about God…

Anyway, this book was really enjoyable in that it reminded me of what makes me tick and heightened my senses to the development of said boys… there was a lot of insight to the text and it was somewhat therapeutic in some senses… I have to admit though, there were a number of typos throughout the book that really distracted me as i made my way through the pages… that’s kind of a pet peeve for me…

DREAM ON
-to the tune of Wake Up - Leeland

Wide Awake
by Erwin McManus

I’ve enjoyed some of McMcanus’s previous efforts - The Barbarian Way and Soul Cravings - as well as his plain talks available via the Mosaic podcast available on iTunes… and i was really drawn into this book, not just by the creepy eye on the cover, but also by the DVD and the general subject matter… i’m generally considered a dreamer… and, much to my own disgust, i don’t see a lot of those dreams play out into fruition, so i was hoping that this book would be more than just another in a series of motivational tools that i digested, agreed with and then resumed my normal life…

Time will tell, but a lot of what McManus says in the book, and what we talked about in our interview (which i’m not at all ashamed to advertise for again) really resonated within me and it makes a lot of sense… of course, i don’t believe everything that McManus believes or preaches, but hey, this book really reaches out and reminds us that we’re given dreams with the intention that we’ll live them out… and that’s not at all bad…

THE READING ROOM
-to the tune of Saint and Sinner - Derek Webb

So, i have a few more to do still… one from The Donald and one from Rob Bell at least… and it seems like i’m stalling a bit, but i’ll get there… i keep getting more books i want to read and i think that even after the summer closes, i’ll keep updating and chugging along… but for now, here’s the latest, updated and perhaps final list for Mark Lee hosted summer reading club

Completed…

Working through…
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder) [about 250 pages left]
- Quiet Strength (Dungy) [about 270 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- FlashBang (Steele)
- Sinner (Dekker)

FULL LIST HERE…

TH-TH-THAT’S ALL FOLKS

this post is as over as the Olympics… and i’m on my way… more great stuff to come here and on the front page… in fact, i’m doing an interview tomorrow that will make the front page soon… and i’ve got some super secret projects that are coming to pass… i’m sure that i’ll talk about the upcoming TV season, more books, football, and so much more… soon… and very soon…

peace… love… bdg….

anyway… it’s been a busy week and i’ve frittered away way too much of my time, but alas, i’m here and i have a few minutes to talk about a few things… today, i’m going to talk about the recent presidential showdown at the Saddleback Corral, the emergency hunger crisis, and two books that i’ve finished, but not yet reviewed… i’m told that summer is almost over and thus, the Mark Lee hosted summer reading club is on its last legs… i’ll also tell you about some new stuff from the front page… let’s get it on…

HIGH NOON

to the tune of Rodeo - Manafest

Rick Warren invited both presidential candidates into his church for a faith forum… two discussions of policies and faith followed, each about an hour in length with the candidates taking turns on the “hotseat”… i didn’t get to see it live, but it’s currently available to watch on CNN.com… i can’t obviously comment on each point that was brought up, but i will talk about a little bit that stood out…

First off, i thought both Obama and McCain started off shaky, Obama fumbling for his words (which actually lasted the entire interview) and misinterpreting the first question (”I wouldn’t limit myself to three” - no one asked you to) and McCain falling into stump mode, but they both also relaxed a bit, McCain, in my opinion proving to be more comfortable on the stage, in the church and within his own identity…. in fact, identity came up as an issue for me as well, and i think that will be obvious as we go along…

The second question, “What is your greatest moral failure?” really hit the mark and, for me, exposed something important about the character of these two men… i’ll take them out of order and praise McCain for his response… “I’m not a perfect man, but the failure of my first marriage was my greatest moral failure”… this response was met with silence and really struck my own heart’s chord, stirring within me empathy for McCain… Obama’s response on the other hand, seemed to be fine, but the more i let it sink in, the more i found myself a little bit disgusted by it…

“I had a difficult youth.”… “My father wasn’t in the house.”… “I experimented with drugs and I drank”… “[there's] a certain selfishness on my part”… fine… here’s the thing that bothers me… selfishness is fine as an answer at face value… selfishness is common to us all and certainly qualifies as a moral condition… however, i had two problems with this response… first, he prefaces it with excuses… three excuses that pass the blame on to people (or substances) other than himself… it’s as if he’s saying, because i was preconditioned to fail morally, i became selfish and made selfish choices…

the second thing that bothered me was that it’s a very genaric answer… it’s like saying “i have ten fingers… and because of that i had to learn how to use them all”… well, we all have ten fingers (well, ideally) and we all had to learn to use them… it doesn’t tell me anything specifically about you… it seems rather disingenuous and more of a tactic to avoid revealing anything personal than an actual answer… it’s the equivalent of “my greatest weakness is that I try too hard” answer at a job interview…

Next up is a biggie… and even though it’s a question about a specific issue - in this case abortion - but the responses again reveal far more about character and identity… again, i’ll do this in out of order… Question: “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?”… McCain, without hesistation responses, “From the moment of conception.”… simple as that… he then states that he’s always been pro-life and he’ll always be pro-life… very clear cut and straight forward…

Obama’s answer, on the other hand, was full of stammering and revealed yet again, a lack of character and substance within this presidential hopeful… “To answer this question theologically or scientifically with any specificity is something that’s above my pay grade”… excuse me? above your pay grade? are you not running for the position of the most powerful person in the country and at times, the world?… nothing is above your pay grade…

but more generally speaking… “One thing that I’m conviced of is that there is a moral and an ethical question to this issue”… um, thanks, Captain Obvious… “I am pro-choice… not because I’m pro-abortion, but because I don’t think that women make these decisions casually”… i’m sorry, but… SO WHAT?… if i choose to rob a bank, it’s a decision that i’m sure to wrestle with and struggle with and not something that i would do “casually” but it’s STILL WRONG OF ME TO DO…

He then goes on to explain that the real concern is how to reduce the number of abortions, which makes sense and i agree with him on that, there do need to be programs in place to help expectant mothers and parents who don’t know how they’ll raise their children once they arrive… support systems and all that… but education? i think everybody knows that having sex may result in pregnancy even if you’re not married or not out of high school… we don’t need more education, we need less escape clauses…

More brief things that stood out to me throughout the interview, besides the constant struggling to put words together, was what seems like an inconsistancy between preventative actions for abortions and later for orphans (”We need to reduce the number of orphans in the world”)… but a hesitation for preventative actions in defense of the nation militarily…

Also, it seems inconsistent to me that Obama keeps driving home “Whatever you do to the least of these”… as an important concept for America to embrace… providing for the least of these… but ignoring the unborn children… and another minor thing that i caught that raised my eyebrow is that Obama mentioned that his faith in God meant that “hopefully” his sins will be washed away…

McCain dabbled a little in the stump speeches, but he also told a lot of stories which resonate very well and, i think he further defined himself as a man and a candidate which is something that Obama continually shifts away from… in trying to be all things for everyone, i think he’s making himself a tin man with no heart or substance…

MY TIME IS UP

so that took longer than i expected and now i must go… you can check out the Brandon Heath Interview and this week’s album reviews in 25 Words or Less on the main page and i’ll be back with more later…

peace… love… bdg….

this morning, i started working through a devotional with little boy… he had gotten this devotional at backyard Bible club last week… and the first lesson was about Martha inviting Jesus and his disciples over to her house and all that went with it… and, being a devotional, it asks questions of the reader… and one of the questions was, “If Jesus came to your house, what would be the first thing you would say to Him?”… and, i kid you not, but i was floored by little boy’s answer… the first thing he would say? “I love you, God”… theology from the mouth of a five year old…

now, to be fair, i’m pretty sure he’d follow that up with “What did you bring me?”, but hey, it’s still an awesome bit of child-like faith…

HOWLING AT THE MOON
to the tune of Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog) - Iron & Wine

House of Wolves
by Matt Bronleewe

You may be shocked to learn that i’ve finished this book already… that’s right, the whole 315 pages or so only took me about a week… and that’s mainly because i could hardly put the thing down… the binding is laced with super glue so, it sticks to your hands… seriously, though, Matt Bronleewe spins a fantastic tale of adventure and intrigue, suspense and action that i was anticipating each new chapter… now, i’m anticipating the next few promised books in the August Adams series…

I don’t want to give away the plot or anything, but House of Wolves deals with an ancient book with powerful mysteries, a secret society seeking world domination, riddles, mysteries and spear… i did have a minor gripe with the story in that it seemed to abandon a plot line that i thought it would continue, but it doesn’t really detract from the story at all… i’d say that it’s along the same genre lines as the National Treasure franchise, the Indiana Jones franchise (at least the original trilogy) and the like… but don’t think for one instant that being in a similar genre makes the August Adams series a ripoff by any means… this is a great, original book and it’s clear that a lot of research went into it…

in fact, i was reminded of when The Da Vinci Code was hot on the market and spurring on boycotts and such and i couldn’t help but think that this was the appropriate response to such a book/movie… rather than more Christians coordinating protests, we need more folks like Matt Bronleewe creating media that rivals whatever the latest controversy is…

House of Wolves hit the shelves yesterday and it’s got a full-force recommendation from me…

THESE FIVE RINGS
to the tune of Olympic Fanfare and Theme - Boston Pops Orchestra & John Williams

okay, i have to talk a little bit about the Olympics since it’s pretty much everywhere you look… i heard something ridiculous like NBC and company are broadcasting five times the amount of coverage as hours in the day… i suppose that includes commercials and commentary and such, but yowsas… that’s a lot of coverage… and it’s still unbelievably frustrating in my opinion…

anyway, before i get started with any specifics, is it just me or does anyone else expect a TIE Fighter fly-over whenever you hear the Olympic theme song… just reminds me so much of the Star Wars theme… okay, so, i’ve watched my share of the Olympic events thus far and it’s enjoyable as ever… i don’t think there’s ever any other time that i could actually enjoy watching things like gymnastics or kayaking… the swimming has been really fun to watch as well - some incredibly close races and, of course, lots of golds for Mr. Phelps… hmm… i wonder why no one’s played on the Mission Impossible theme with him and his quest for the most medals ever…

which brings me to my point… what the heck is wrong with the Olympics these days?… i remember when it was about nations coming together, laying down arms as it may be and celebrating atheletic achievement in various disciplines… maybe i’m naive, but i don’t think it even mattered so much as to which country won, but it was a time when our common interest - that of bettering ourselves as humankind… the five rings of the emblem stand for passion, faith, victory, work ethic, and sportsmanship… the design represents a unity, a joining together of all nations…

Somewhere along the lines, it all became about the medal count… one more chance for “my” country to be better than “your” country… one more way to exert some sort of power over someone else… certainly those competing still have a sense of comradery, but it’s really just resolved down to one thing… did “we” win more than “you”… and i think that’s a large part of why i have a hard time getting excited about the Olympics these days… why i think people don’t really care as much any more… it’s not quite as exciting as it used to be… it’s not quite what it used to be…

THE READING ROOM
to the tune of Saint and Sinner - Derek Webb

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

So, i’m getting to a point where i may have a dry spell from finishing any books for a week or so… hopefully, i can get caught up on the reviews… (i still have three to do, i think)… Also, i just today got a copy of Sinner by Ted Dekker… i’ve never read a Ted Dekker book… and this is why… they’re all tied into each other and i have to start back at the beginning, but i haven’t gotten the Circle Trilogy yet… this book is like the ninth in the Book of History series, apparently and Ted says that it stands on its own… perhaps we’ll see…

Completed…

Working through…
- Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Bell / Golden) [about 50 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Quiet Strength (Dungy) [about 280 pages left]
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder) [about 280 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- FlashBang (Steele)
- Sinner (Dekker)

FULL LIST HERE…

TH-TH-THAT’S ALL FOLKS

okay, my time is up… i’m sure there’s Olympics on or something… coming soon are some new features, new tweaks and my list of the songs that changed the church… i’m still waiting for some of your lists… come on now, people… let’s get cracking…

peace… love… bdg….

Anyway… Phil Wickham just released a live CD available as a FREE DOWNLOAD on his website… it’s called SingAlong and i’ve downloaded it but i haven’t listened to it yet…

The catch, of course is that they want your email to add you to their mailing list… so, if you cry about that sort of thing, you may not want to check it out… for the brave, though, the ones who understand the delete button… check it out at http://philwickham.com/singalong/… and have a super duper weekend…

peace… love… bdg…

today, though, there’s some new content on the front page, a conversation in the making, some movie thoughts, book thoughts, and… are you ready for some football?… and more… so let’s get going…

FAVRE AND AWAY
to the tune of Trade Winds - Frank Sinatra

Stop me if you’ve heard this before… an athelete retires after one of his best seasons ever and then… wait a minute nope… heeeeee’s BACK…. okay, this time it’s football and this time it’s Brett Favre… after much speculation immediately following his retirement at the end of last season, Favre is back, ready to suit up in the familiar green jersey… as excited teammate Donald Driver said, “He’s back in business”

but wait… something’s different… there’s more to the story… in fact, that green looks like it’s a different shade… oh… Favre’s a Jet… didn’t see that coming…

THE FATE OF THE DANCEFLOOR
to the tune of Dance or Die - Family Force 5)

i meant to do a quick look at this album earlier, but now that it’s only a couple weeks away from releasing, time is even more of the essence… well, i’ve been listening to this one for a while now and the most obvious thing to say about it is that it’s totally different from their last album… different label, different style, different everything…

Well, that’s the easy button… and i’ll pass on that… remember that time that Family Force 5 kept saying over and over how they wanted to bring the party back into the music scene?… well, their last album really rocked out and gave plenty of people fits as they tried to categorize the group and this time around… well, it’s just a non-stop party… you’ve got much less classic, southern rock, much more synth, much more euro-pop, much more volume and they’ve cranked the crunk way past eleven… it’s certainly a fun ride, but i’m sure that it’s not for everyone…

THE PEARL
to the tune of Love’s Done Something - Casting Pearls

So we watched a rather odd movie last night called Girl With a Pearl Earring… i did not pick the movie, it picked me… well, enough of that… but here’s the thing… Colin Firth of Pride and Prejudice fame stars as Johannes Vermeer, the famous Dutch artist and Scarlett Johansson stars as one of his house maids, Griet… as the story unfolds, it was interesting to see how the two interacted with each other… Scarlett is obviously an attractive gal and has gained the notice of some nefarious characters in the film and Vermeer takes her in and allows her to assist him with painting… it seems that he’s actually protected her from rape by agreeing to paint her and then, by the end, Vermeer’s wife who has a rather creepy countenance about her finds out about the painting and throws Griet out of the house…

Afterwards, we were talking about the movie, because it wasn’t perhaps the best film we’d seen, but a question about the relationship between Vermeer and Griet came up… whether or not he liked her inappropriately or not… and there’s a scene when the wife is yelling at Vermeer, asking why he would paint Griet and not her which is pivotal to the movie… his response was that she understood… and in that moment, i got a picture of Jesus responding to the guests at a certain banquet who were pretty ticked off about Mary washing His feet with expensive perfume…

“Why would you let her do this Master? It’s seems like such a waste!”

“She gets it. She understands what’s going on while the rest of you - even my closest companions - are clueless.”

i don’t know, it was just an interesting picture of an artist preserving beauty and innocence and rewarding someone who honestly tried to follow and understand art… i don’t know that i’d recommend the movie, but it was interesting in that way at least…

PRINCE CHARMING
to the tune of The Kings and Queens of Old - Harry Gregson-Williams (from Prince Caspian)

Prince Caspian
by CS Lewis

Okay, it’s about time that i start catching up on these reviews, right?… first up is Prince Caspian, which continues the Narnian saga… and it’s easy to see why they chose this book to continue the big screen adventures of these zany kids and their wild escapades… seriously though, it was better than i remember from the days of my youth and it’s got all kinds of intrigue and adventure… tweaks the farthest reaches of your imagination and finds the right moments to poke you back to reality…

The standout jab for me came from Lucy, i believe, as she was talking with Susan as they trudged through the thick woods… she asks a rather poignant question about what might happen if humankind resolved themselves to the basest of existence over time as the animals of Narnia had given up talking and acting appropriately… it’s a stark glimpse at what the world might look like as our collective conscience continues to erode… great book though… i wish i had gone to see the film while it was in theaters, but now i can’t wait for the DVD to come out…

THE READING ROOM
to the tune of Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog) - Iron & Wine

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

Okay, so i still have two more reviews to go to catch up… well, scratch that… i just finished another book today… that’s right… i’m on FIRE… Searching for God Knows What has officially been added to the completed pile… i have so many thoughts about that book that i’m going to let it stew for a bit before i offer any formalized thoughts on it… anyway, this is the updated list… i fully expect to be finished with House of Wolves this weekend as i can’t hardly bear to put it down…

On a somewhat related note… Mark Lee recently celebrated the birth of his new daughter, Katherine Marlow Lee, so between that and touring the new Third Day album, he’s been a bit tied up… Congrats to him and his family…

Completed…

Working through…
- Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Bell / Golden) [about 130 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- House of Wolves (Bronleewe) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder)

FULL LIST HERE…

DON’T GO AWAY MAD
to the tune of Moving On - Needtobreathe

Oh, jeepers… i just realized i forgot something… one second… ah, never mind, i’ll do it here… on the front page… we have a pretty interesting interview with Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic and author of such books as, Wide Awake, which is on my completed pile… we talked largely about the book and dreams and things of such nature, but we also had a few laughs and veered off topic now and again… i felt like it was one of my better interviews though, so, you can say yay or nay after you’ve read it…

Also littering the front page is a brand new Walk TRu… but it’s unlike any other walk TRu i’ve ever done… i think… it’s based on this new album that Starsong put out this week that names what they considered to be the thirteen CCM songs that most changed the church… now, i know “change” is vague and “church” is vague and “CCM” is kind of vague, for that matter… but i’m asking you to get involved… tell me what 13 CCM songs YOU think have had the biggest impact on the Church… hopefully that rewording has made it clearer… but, yeah, tell me why you agree or disagree with their choices and tell me what should’ve made it… you can leave your thoughts here in the comments or email them to TRuMoments [at] GMail.com…

my thoughts are coming soon… let the discussion begin…

peace… love… bdg….

i managed to do an interview with Erwin McManus last week and hopefully i’ll have that ready to go soon… i also had the pleasure of an enjoyable office mate yesterday when little boy came into work with me… (littler boy gets to come in tomorrow)… and the most curious thing for me was that he kept requesting soundtracks to listen to… and by soundtracks i mean original motion picture scores… so, with that in mind, the songs today will all be from various movie soundtracks…

BI-POLAR DISORDER
to the tune of Why So Serious? - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard (from The Dark Knight)

well, i have to start this out with The Dark Knight… went to see it last night with a few guys with stomachs full of Five Guys and anticipation eating away at us… i’m going to try to talk about it without giving anything away, though based on the box office records, everyone’s already seen it… it was phenomenal nothing less than everything advertised plus some… easily the most intense villainy in a superhero movie that i’ve seen and so many ideas and one-liners to chew on and really think about…

i’ll finish by mentioning what was my favorite aspect of the movie which was the mind-bending blurring of lines between good and evil… the clearly defined black and white life that i’m used to seeing presented is fine for younger audiences, but the line they came back to a few times, “you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain” is rather thought provoking as well as the exploration of whether or not everyone is capable of corruption… another key line - “You have these rules that you think will save you…” - had me immediately thinking of the Pharisees and realizing the depth of the human experience that is presented in the Bible…

anyway… very good movie… very intense… if you’re of age, i recommend it…

NO MAS
to the tune of Ants! - John Williams (from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

i don’t complain much… okay, maybe i do, but today, i’m going to complain a little bit about things that have been really driving me nuts lately… besides the ants that refuse to give up on my house as a source of food, shelter or whatever the heck they’re looking for…

1. CAPTCHA: Seriously, it’s a shame that we’ve gotten to the point on the web that just about every form needs to have a CAPTCHA box… if you don’t know what that is, it’s those silly images that have sets of letters or numbers that you have to read and type in order to compete your order, post a comment, or whatever… half the time i can’t even read the stinkin things… and i’m not a machine

2. ACLJ: i used to listen to Jay Sekulow Live every day when i was in a big talk radio stage and just let the Christian talk radio station play in the background all day… and i’m supportive of Christians doing important legal work and all that, but the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has been calling my house at least three times a day and as early as 8 in the morning… they need to get off my case and work on their case load… they’re DRIVING ME CRAZY…

3. TYPOS nothing distracts me when i’m reading a book - a final, retail copy of a book - more than typos… i can understand one or two but when i was reading through Boys Should Be Boys, i was interrupted by no less than FIFTY… i just have to wonder why i should trust the authority of someone who doesn’t know the difference between their, they’re and there… and the next gripe is big enough for it’s own category…

PROFITS OR PRAISE
to the tune of The Sales Pitch - Danny Elfman from The Kingdom

Okay, so everyone already knows about the whole Testa-mints thing and we can all see the tee-shirt slogans that mimic beer tee shirts and stuff like that… and just when you think the “money changers” have reached their limits, they push the envelope a little bit further… the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) was a few weeks ago and as always, it served as the epicenter of “Jesus Junk”… i didn’t attend the show, but i’ve been hearing about some of the items heading to market…

not surprisingly, one of the items showcased at ICRS was Guitar Praise which is a Christian music only version of Guitar Hero that’s due out in September… it plays on your computer, independent of any video game systems and plans to feature 52 songs from all over the map… i don’t particularly have a problem with this to be honest, since it makes sense on some level… i do have a problem with the tag line there…. “Spirit-Filled Guitar Game for PCs Lets Anyone Live Their Rock Dreams” since no game can be spirit-filled, but hey, why not rock out to your favorite CCM tracks, right?

and then it got ugly… allow me to introduce you to 1 in 3 Trinity Energy Drink… that’s right, a Christian energy drink… one that vows to “Energize your mind and your body”… it could be the flavor of your life since it’s “fused with Fruit of the Spirit”… one thing i’m pretty sure of is that it probably tastes better than the puke that just bubbled up into the back of my throat as i read that…

THE READING ROOM
to the tune of The Kings and Queens of Old - Harry Gregson-Williams (from Prince Caspian)

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

so i’ve got three books finished and waiting for reviews, but i don’t particularly have time to write those up just yet… i also updated the Amazon store with reviews and such, re-ordered the items to put the ones that i finished up front, and added some new books to reflect some of the latest additions… i was overjoyed to receive a pre-release of Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell and Don Golden and i also got a copy of Matt Brownleewe’s new book which hopefully won’t leave me confused for having not read Illuminated yet… i was going to ask for advice in that regard, but it turns out that House of Wolves isn’t out yet either… oh well, i’m probably going to start that one tonight…

I also requested a copy of The Shack, since it’s such a hot topic book it seems, but i haven’t heard back from them yet… i suppose if i find it cheap enough sometime next year or something, i may pick it up… otherwise i guess i’ll just miss that boat…

Completed…

Working through…
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller) [about 125 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Bell / Golden) [about 160 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- House of Wolves (Bronleewe)
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder)

FULL LIST HERE…

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE
to the tune of Wish We Had More Time - Trevor Rabin (from Get Smart)

i am working on a few things, but nothing’s quite made it to press yet so i don’t have any special links to throw in here at the end with an obligatory plea for you to peep them… perhaps another day, but you can start dreaming about stuff i’m writing including some interviews (Erwin McManus, Warren Barfield, Chris Sligh), reviews, Left to Write and more… also next time out, i’ll talk about purpose, family force five, one or two or three books and eventually, i’ll get back to that whole best in the world thing… thanks for playing!

peace… love… bdg….

anyway, i’m watching The Italian Job (love those minis)… since i’ve already burned through this week’s Burn Notice, Monk, and Psych (so glad they’re all back)… and my neighbors seem to be having quite the shindig… i should do a post about my neighborhood drama… not today though… today, we’ll be quick… i’ve just about finished the fourth book for the week, but i’m only going to talk about two, because it may take me a while to finish more and i don’t want to appear unproductive next week… on we go with the program…

THE PIED PIPER

to the tune of Lead Me On - Amy Grant

You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader
by Mark Sanborn

So, this little book about leadership pretty much states the obvious, but in an interesting way… it seems like a boiled-down version of a bonafide book about leadership that perhaps lacks the details i was hoping for… as someone who’s never really had a title worth mentioning, the title of the book grabbed my attention right away… and the six steps of leadership that the book discusses are certainly appropriate, but, again, it’s just common sense… it’s perhaps not so much a guide to leadership as it is a guide to taking control of your own life in a sense… but hey, sometimes we all need to have things stated and re-stated to us in the simplest ways and, at just over 120 pages, it’s not like it’s a huge investment…

DIP DE DIP DE DIP

to the tune of Who Put the Bomp? - Jan & Dean

The Dip
by Seth Godin

i’m really torn by this book… i’m wrestling with it as they say… having heard good things about it and noticing it on my boss’s bookshelf, i thought i’d take a shot at it… what happened from there was an 80 page assault on my job and alarms ringing over and over telling me that i should’ve quit years ago… i get that… but what i really struggle with is this concept of “Best in the World”… it’s the whole basis of the book… if you can’t be the best in the world at what you’re doing right now, then you need to quit and find something you can be the best in the world at… well, what if i can only be the best in the world at things that don’t pay the bills? what if really, i can only be the best dad in the world to my boys? the best husband in the world to my wife?

i write code, but i’ll never be the best coder in the world… i fix technical bugs, but i’ll never be the best at that… i write blogs and run a website, but clearly, based on the responses i get, i’m not the best in the world at any of that… i don’t know… i think i could go on for hours about that, but it wouldn’t be the best rant in the world so i think i’ll stop it here… if nothing else, the book gave me some mental cud to chew on…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of Fun Fun Fun - The Beach Boys

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

running out of time here, but this is my latest updates…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon)
- You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader (Sanborn)
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker)
- The Dip (Godin)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis) [about 10 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus) [about 210 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE…

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE

to the tune of Na Na Hey Hey - The Hit Crew

hey… there’s actually new stuff over on the main page… specifically a feature called I Know What TRu Read [last summer] which gives a rundown of eleven books i read last year… and a new iTRu-nes Playlist… check them out and keep it locked…

peace… love… bdg….

STAY-CATION

to the tune of Permanent Vacation - Aerosmith

oh how nice it would be if i could just check out from the corporate world and just live… no dealing with the demons of the office… no headaches… no stress… well, the problem with that is that it would take me a long time before i got to a place where i would be able to effectively produce anything… as evidenced by the last six days when i took a vacation that became a “stay”-cation when we decided to center our efforts at the house…

oh, we did lots of things… we took the boys to the movies, went bowling, visited Monticello, went to a water park, hung out, went swimming and littler boy even graduated from wearing pull-ups to bed to wearing “bigga-boy undawears” (without accident so far even)… it was all great fun, but on the production front… writing here or anywhere, i did SQUAT!… of course, it’s good to unplug and just kick back for a time and i do get the sense that i’m trying to do too much most of the time, but as restful (and tiring) as the time off was, i couldn’t help waking up this morning and thinking about all that i had hoped to accomplish… and all that i didn’t…

no biggie… i guess… i’ll just take it for what it is… we’ll figure it all out another day…

REALITY BITES

to the tune of Wipe Out - The Surfaris

‘Tis the season for reality television and the networks have pulled out all the stops… and we all wish they would just simply stop… i tell you, if it wasn’t for cable, netflix, and hulu, i don’t know what i would watch… there are a few of the reality/game shows that i haven’t been able to avoid though and here are the top three of maybe three…

03. The Mole: i was pretty excited when i heard that this show was coming back and it hasn’t really let me down too much… i do remember liking Anderson Cooper a lot better as a host, but this new guy, Jon Kelley, is alright, but i tend to get annoyed with him now and again… didn’t watch the celebrity version of it, but i think it’s been long enough between the original season and this year’s for it to be fresh again… if i have to guess today, i’d say that Craig is the mole, but i think if i were playing, i would’ve taken the $30,000 bribe money in week three as well…

02. Last Comic Standing i can’t believe that this is the sixth season of this, but it’s the first season that i’ve watched and i think that it’s unfortunately already suffered from the same talent-leak that Idol has experienced… Some of the comics have good material tough… i think that the funniest one was voted off back in Vegas though… talking about a billboard that read “Pregnant? You’re not alone” she mused, “You’re not going to be alone for a long time…” Anyway, i’m mostly glad that God’s Pottery was voted off… they were annoying… if i had to pick a winner, i’d say it’ll be either Iliza, Jim, or Marcus…

01. Wipeout this one certainly falls under the category of guilty pleasure, but i’ve enjoyed watching these episodes on ABC.com… it’s perhaps the lowest form of humor, but i really crack up at the bravado and the constant reminder that pride goes before destruction and a haughty (aka braggadocious) spirit before (several) great fall(s)…

honorable mention goes to Celebrity Family Feud but that’s mainly because the cast of My Name is Earl was absolutely hilarious as they stayed in character to deliver some of the most ridiculous answers imaginable…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of Summer Again - The Afters

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

running out of time here, but this is my latest updates…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon)
- You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader (Sanborn)
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker) [about 20 pages left]
- The Dip (Godin) [about 35 pages left]
- Prince Caspian (Lewis) [about 100 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus)
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE…

peace… love… bdg….

anyway, there are of course a number of things that i hope to get accomplished during this time away, but most of all, i want to relax and see what happens… thought i’d kick it off with an update though…

DONE?

to the tune of Wonder - delirious?

after fourteen albums and many many years… delirious? is planning on calling it quits… sort of… they recently announced that at the end of 2009, they will be taking “a break from recording and playing as a band.” It seems that Martin (lead singer) wants to see other people… i mean, pursue other projects and spend more time with his family… and it’s okay, because they will be “ON A BREAK!!!”… anyway, i wish them well…

WAKE UP?

to the tune of Wake Up! Wake Up! - Everyday Sunday

i went ahead and watched the new DVD from Erwin McManus called Wide Awake… based on the video, i think i’m gonna love the book and it may just change my life… who knows… looks good though…

SIMPLY PUT

to the tune of You Make It Look So Easy - Stavesacre

Simplicity
by Mark Salomon

So i finally finished this one… it took me a little longer than i expected, but it was well worth the read… it’s a very honest look at the often blurred line between ministry and industry when it comes to Christian music and entertainment… also the importance of working your faith into your personal life rather than just tacking it on to your business pursuits, regardless of the industry… i loved how Mark refused to pull punches or shelter himself from possible embarrassment or whatever by being completely open as he explained the struggles he has dealt with as he’s walked through a life of faith… very interesting read, thought-provoking, and engaging… i’ll recommend it…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of Summer Again - The Afters

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

Only finished the one this week, but looks like at the end of this week, i’ll be overloaded with finished books…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon)
- You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader (Sanborn) [about 20 pages left]
- The Dip (Godin) [about 60 pages left]
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker) [about 80 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- Prince Caspian (Lewis) [about 190 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus)
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE…

peace… love… bdg….

That doesn’t mean much to most of you, since the album’s not out and all, but i think i’ve made it pretty clear that work has been a continual frustration… and, well, i’ve been weighing my options, praying and wondering what to do next… kind of like asking myself what i want to be when i grow up and realizing that i already have the responsibilities of a grown up… anyway, driving into work, Brandon smacks me across the head with the following lyrics…

Amazing… anyway, this is a short work week which also helps make it go down smoother… let’s talk about a few other things, shall we?

MR ROBOTO

to the tune of Mr. Roboto - Styx

We went to see the new Pixar/Disney film Wall-e on opening day… my wife managed to get us admission for four for about six bucks which was good because she fell asleep a few times during the movie… i enjoyed it quite a bit and the boys were cracking up on and off throughout the whole film… the first thirty minutes don’t include any dialogue, but that didn’t seem to bother either of them as they enjoyed the physical humor of a robot discovering various items in the trash piles…

Certainly there was a strong hint of the whole global warming issue which i’m sure will cause someone to scream about liberals in the media, but i mean really, it was more of a social commentary about our own laziness… too lazy to clean up after ourselves, leaving piles of trash everywhere so that we need to escape the world to a cruise where no one has to do anything for themselves and we become the floppy beings who can’t even stand on their own two feet…

the real message was about finding purpose in life, breaking out of the routine and standing for something… nothing wrong with that…

CRAZY CHRISTIANS

to the tune of Drive It Home - Paul Alan

So, i came across two different articles about the “Conservative leaders” secretly meeting last week and deciding to support John McCain for president… this doesn’t surprise me at all, since any exploration into the character of Obama hasn’t led me to put any trust in this man… I’m not saying that McCain is perfect, but for what it’s worth, i’m more confident in his leadership than i am in Obama’s… (besides, i’ve been told that Obama is, in fact, the anti-Christ and that once he’s elected, we have seven years until Heaven)… (actually, that leads me to a different topic, but i’ll have to come back to it later)…

The Charisma article has an interesting quote that kind of echoes what i think will be the main thrust of the campaign… “‘The alternative is so bad we must support John McCain,’ said Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum”… this, folks is what they call a lose-lose situation… this is where they say to keep your chin up and make the best of a bad situation, knowing that it could be worse… in situations like that, there’s honestly no winner…

Of course, the truth of the matter is that Obama is an absolutely terrible alternative… Mike Janke goes into great detail about Obama’s stand on abortion, pointing out that his support extends to partial birth abortions and even the killing of infants who have managed to survive such procedures after they’re out of the womb… not at all consistent with his emphasis on the youth of the nation, though i suppose… well, never mind… Furthermore, Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of George Bush and soon to be author of The Faith of Barack Obama, talks on and on about the sincerity of Obama’s Christianity, stating that he is both unapologetically Christian and unapologetically liberal… but most interesting is the final line of the article… “Mansfield said he will vote against Obama in November for a single reason: ‘Because I’m pro-life.’”…

I think the biggest danger is the defeatist attitude that may keep voters on their couches instead of voting in November…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of Summer Again - The Afters

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

I wasn’t sure that i’d get any finished this week, but it looks like i will… maybe even two… gonna have to make some adjustments to avoid the oh-fer next week though… and i think i need to pick some lighter books… i’m imbalanced in the non-fiction side of things…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon) [about 10 pages left]
- You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader (Sanborn) [about 75 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker) [about 180 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus)
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE…

MOVING ON

Hey, everyone, have a great fourth of July weekend… really… don’t blow off any fingers or toes or burn down any houses or whatever… just have fun… celebrate the establishment of this great nation… we can work on keeping it that way starting on Monday…

peace… love… bdg….