Bone of Contention

Suzanne may blog about it more, but the trip to Ohio was a resounding success. An almost unqualified success. I met Suzanne's family, hung with some of mine and generally had a wonderful time!

Almost unqualified only because Suzanne's dad and I were not able agree in every area. We found that two well meaning, good natured, reasonable people could still completely disagree on an issue of utmost vitality:

Country music.

I'm not a fan. I hesitate to even call it "Country music" because calling it music is too generous.

To clarify, what I hate is mainstream "Pop-Country". The lyrics are too clever and cutesy and formulaic. The music is bland and lifeless.

Bluegrass and Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers and rockabilly on the other hand are tasty. Twangy Tasty.


Anybody with me on this one?

LOLCATS

My addiction to LOLCATS* only grows stronger with each new iteration.


*Cats with humorous captions to make you laugh.

Out loud, naturally...

Chocolate Desert

For the editors in the crowd :)

Why I've been gone for so long

Yeah, I've been lax. But I have a good defense: internet at my home was down for a good long time and has only now been brought back up. Now that it has, I will post regularly again ;)

Twenty Nine

I am now 29. As Suzanne reminds me, I am entering my 30th year. How incredibly depressing.

And yet, this was one of the better birthdays in memory... How so? Innumerable ways, but I'll lay some bullets on you just the same:

1. My nephew Zach told me "Happy Birthday" at least four times. How can you help but enjoy that?
2. I got to see some great theater (theatre?) with some of my favorite people on Earth.
3. Incredible fish, spectacular Cabernet and a desert that was 99% chocolate by volume.
4. I walk into this year holding the hand of a beautiful and godly woman.

Thanks for making it special, everyone.

Welcome to the Jungle

I'm not saying I have a death wish, I'm just saying I want to do this.

A letter from Josue Ernesto

I just got a letter from my Compassion sponsored child in Ecuador, and wanted to share...

Dear Joshua Bennett, It is beautiful to communicate through these lines and know us a little better. I want to share with you that something had happened in my family, a new brother was born. It is the second son of my dad and his name is Matias. We are so happy and take much care of the baby. I was a little bit sick, but I am fine now, thanks God. Do you like the babies? Thank you for the good support you are giving me. I ask you to pray for my brother to be in good health always. I say goodbye with much love, Josue.

Great news. Say a prayer for the new baby, Matias, before you leave...

Rating Systems

I went to see Spiderman 3 last night. This post really isn't about the movie, but I will just say that the series definitely feels long in the tooth. There were far too many parts where the filmakers got too cute or too clever with the cameos and tongue in cheek references.

Here's the real point:

As I drove home from the theater, I thought about what my rating for the movie would be. I had two thoughts:

3 out of 5
or
6 out 10.

Those of you who are quick on the draw will notice that these two numbers are the same.

But they feel different! Three out of five seems to be a substantially more positive rating than six out of ten.

Why is that?

Hilton Head

Suz already posted a great commentary on Hilton Head. I agree completely with her, it was the perfect vacation.

Here's some shots from another camera for everyone.


Suz looking like a movie star


Zach and Chase playing in the pool


Zach with a mohawk


The other definition of a toothless grin ;)

I can't decide if this cat actually likes being vacuumed, or if it's just too fat and apathetic to do anything about it.

My cat would have removed my arm with her teeth.

The evil that is MySpace

has sucked me in.

A very talented family

My cousin Katie Hatch, full member of the secret cousin's club (i'm still waiting on your dues check, btw), is the inventor of the "fuzzy telescope", an innovative device involving donuts and monsters. I'm so proud of my family.

Top Ten Movies

Top ten lists are unnatural, arbitrary, and usually reflect the mindset of the creator only for a brief window of time.

That said, here is a list of my top ten most favoritest movies of all time, ever... At this particular moment... With a little bit of padding:

1. Gattaca
   
• "I never saved anything for the swim back." Watch this movie. Now.
2. Emperor's New Groove
• Kronk. HA!
  
3. Kung Fu Hustle
4. Life is Beautiful
• The DVD's special features really ought to include Roberto Benigni jumping up and down on the seats at the Oscars.
  
5. Count of Monte Cristo
   
• I'm aware that the movie bears no more than a passing resemblance to the book. I don't care. I enjoy both for different reasons. Also, the book is depressing, and unnecessarily so.
  
6. The Island
• Light and fluffy, like a 3 Musketeers.
  
7. Mirrormask
8. Fiddler on the Roof
• leHayim!
  
9. Solaris
• Two too many shots of Clooney's butt, but a great movie to make you think.
10. Frequency
11. Serendipity
    
• A perfectly tolerable Chick Flick with John Cusack, who is always easy to relate to.
  
12. The Empire Strikes Back
• Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader is his father and Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. All "Jedi" had was a bunch of Muppets.

Newt Gingrich

I used to have a bad taste in my mouth when it came to Newt Gingrich.

I have a dim recollection from the Clinton days of being disgusted with both sides. Clinton for his moral laxity and the Right for dressing the entire affair in bangles and making a circus out of it.

In those days, Gingrich was hounded by various ethics charges, and took a good beating in the media.

In the past few years, though, my respect for Gingrich has grown significantly. When I hear him speak, I’m usually nodding in agreement.

Yesterday on NPR, he spoke about 2008 presidential hopefuls and campaigns that are already in full swing (although the election isn’t until next November). The major problem, says Gingrich, is political consultants that start the whole process earlier and earlier with each go around. These consultants encourage candidates to poll-test every decision and statement.

Narrowly-focused, consultant-led campaigns are no way to see how a candidate would lead if elected. It bears almost no relation to the job in office. And it actually shrinks the candidates — who are remarkable men and women — in the process.

I’m in full agreement, Newt. I don’t care to have a country run by focus groups and polls.

Poignant

Not long ago, my friend Tony and I went to see Glen Phillips in Denver. After months of hard touring, Glen and his wife came close to divorcing. They mended their marriage, but during the difficult time, he wrote this song. As I listened to this live recording, I thought about how it would have been 'easier' just to leave the remnants of the relationship there in the park... But Glen and his wife decided that 'easy' was not their prime value.

It's a sad, slow ballad and it broke my heart the first time I heard it, even with the comic relief at the end.

It's Over Now

You take the house
You take the car
I'll take a microphone
and my guitar

We'll meet in the park
watch the kid's playing
and silently guess
what the other's not saying

It's over now
You've had enough.

Now you're climbing trees
like that girl in the song
and I haven't seen you
so bright in so long

Who could have known
that it was so easy
that all that you needed
was simply to leave me

It's over now
You've had enough.
You've had enough.

Maybe there's hope for us
I don't want to doubt you
but I've got my work to do
with or without you

But what will it mean,
if many years later
you are still Padme
but I am Darth Vader?

It's over now
You've had enough.
You've had enough.

California Dreamin'

A little less than a year ago, I went to San Diego.

One of my favorite moments was walking among the citrus groves about 2 hours northeast of the city.



Colorado is beautiful, but on windy days like today, I pine for sundrenched paths lined with fresh fruit.

Hmm.

I think I can fit a sleeping bag under that fifth tree.

Satisfaction

One of Life's underrated pleasures is being satisfied with your purchase.

I love to research a purchase until I have enough information to make a decision, but not enough to make me second guess myself.

I used that process when buying a bike three weeks ago. I decided on a type, price and frame. Here's what I got:


I could have gone with the $3000+ Trek, with a handsome frame forged by master craftsmen from exotic alien alloys, precision diamond cut rims, self greasing - auto repairing chain and dérailleur, and the entire assembly prayed over by Trappist Monks... But I'm very happy with the Globe.

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

Christianity Today posted this about 'one of the most dangerous cases to religious freedom in the last decade'.

Why are Christian groups jumping to support this student? Is it because the student incorporated Jesus into his public statement?

Or do we support this student's right to free speech because not doing so would set a dangerous precedent that would find students unable to express any kind of 'counter educational' viewpoint?

Scientific perspective

My sister wrote and commented the following on "Darwin's God," the article I mentioned a few weeks ago. Nicole is brilliant. She has a degree in biology and worked for a time at a forensics lab in DC. These days, she runs her own home science experiment: she has two young boys. One is learning to walk and one is learning how to burn down the house.

Here are her thoughts on the relationship between science and faith.

Interesting article. I really enjoyed Justin Barret's thoughts and unique perspective. As a scientist I am routinely frustrated by both sides (religion and science) separating the issue and I agree with Justin that you need to consider both science and religion together.

Personal example - two weeks ago my 2 1/2 yr old stuck a pair of tweezers in a light socket. Zachary received a little shock but nothing like the cartoons depict, with his hair standing straight up and black all over his face. Right after this happened someone commented that he must have angels watching over him. Well, yes, but we are told not to worry about our life because God cares for those He has created (Matthew 6:25-34) so technically everyone has guardian angels watching over them and as much as I think my munchkin is special, God loves all of us and protects us how He sees fit.

Onto the science portion - most homes these days have GFCI outlets, or ground-fault circuit interrupter, that detects any imbalance in the flow of electrical current and trips the circuit. These are installed to protect us from faulty appliances or from situations as listed above. As a scientist I would say that the GFCI is why Zachary was not electrocuted. However, I would also say that the GFCI is possible because our loving God created us with incredible minds capable of designing and inventing such a device and creating electricians capable of wiring our house correctly for the device to work properly. I simply cannot divorce scientific logic and reason from my knowledge of God. As mentioned - to nonbelievers this is foolishness, but to a believing scientist it makes all the sense in the world.

Thanks, sis :)

Leporidae

I will preface this post by saying that the story isn’t for the faint of heart. Avid fans of Watership Down may want to take a pass.

My roommate shot a bunny.

Not a hare. Not a jackrabbit. A fluffy, big eared cottontail.

Steve happened to have a pellet gun, and the bunny happened to be out at the wrong time. Not one to waste anything, Steve brought his catch back to our place and cleaned it. Thankfully, I missed this entire process, or what we did last night would have been near impossible.

Steve called me as I was pulling up to the house and asked me to look up recipes for rabbit. We don’t typically stock rabbit, being a beef or buffalo shop, but I played along.

“Do we have a rabbit?”
“It’s in the fridge right now. You don’t have a weak stomach do you?”
“No”
“Good!”

I checked the fridge. On the shelf was a nondescript plastic bag with something solid yet disturbingly spongy. Rabbit, check.

When Steve arrived, he went to work on finding the edible parts of the rabbit. Anything deemed inedible went into the ‘rabbit discard pile’. Same concept as in Canasta, but messier.

We ended up going with something similar to this recipe, minus the egg. Our mixture for the breading was flour, cornmeal, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper.

I can’t really say what rabbit tastes like. We seasoned liberally, so ours tasted like fried Cajun spices.

Rabbit frying.


Steve sampling the result.

The effect of Coconuts

Countries really need to stop sending us coconuts. Also, does it strike anyone else as odd that Canada exports coconuts to the US?

Math

My friend Nathan sent me a sample of answers given to complex math problems.

Why did the student recieve a zero? It seems reasonable enough that an elephant will block the object's movement.

A Creative Exercise

I've been feeling a little creatively drained today, and ran across a creative exercise that I had done back in January. I need to do this again, and thought I would share...



Here is the idea. My creativity comes not from inventing things from whole cloth, but from adjusting and adding to the world I see.

I found this story in the New York Times from January 13 1907:

TRAMP WAS A NOBLEMAN

Swedish Judge Identifies Old Man Found Dead--Fortune Awaited Him.

I won't quote the whole article, but here are the essentials: A Swedish noble, who had a massive estate waiting for him in Europe, dies in the middle of Ohio. He had been wandering around the United States for years. The story gave just enough detail to make me curious, but not enough to answer all of my questions.

Here is the exercise. Find a minor little story like this. First, write down all the details you can find, including the random ones...

Then, start asking questions. What part of the story is incomplete? What else would you like to know? When you have a good batch of questions, start answering them. Any idea works here, just jot it down.

Finally, circle the most entertaining answers. Et Voila! You have a much more entertaining story, now complete with conspiracies, spurned loves and family feuds.

Polyptych

My cousin Katie sends this image of her and my nephew Zach, doing the Warhol thing.

Hardwired for belief

There is a lengthy article in the New York Times about the 'evolutionary benefit' of belief in God. Many of the scientists interviewed for the article are puzzled at belief in things that do not correspond to the physical world, saying that such faith “does not appear to be a reasonable evolutionary strategy.” On a small scale, this could be an abberation, but the worldwide belief in some form of god is problematic for them.

'When a trait is universal, evolutionary biologists look for a genetic explanation and wonder how that gene or genes might enhance survival or reproductive success ... So many aspects of religious belief involve misattribution and misunderstanding of the real world. Wouldn’t this be a liability in the survival-of-the-fittest competition?'

Some scientists take the position that religious belief is a kind of security blanket, a delusion developed to shield ourselves from stress and fear. This is the view that religious belief survives because it is a beneficial evolutionary adaptation.

Others in the field poke holes in this thinking, saying "The human mind does not produce adequate comforting delusions against all situations of stress or fear." This opposing position holds that religious belief is simply a byproduct of having large, complex brains.

Those in the scientific realm can't decide if our faith is a blessing or a fluke.

The Bible is clear about our nature, clear that we are made with both body and spirit, and that both have needs. In Amos, the Lord speaks about the 400 'silent years' that were to come before Christ, and how we would react.

'Behold the days are coming' says the Lord God, 'that I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east. They shall run to and fro seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it.' Amos 8:11-12

Though we seek purpose and run after belief, any effort to find meaning on our own is useless. Paul is clear that even our knowledge of God is a gift.

'Now we have recieved, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.' ... 'But the natural man does not recieve the things of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' 1 Cor 2:12 & 14

Faith is foolishness to the natural man. It does not appear to be a reasonable evolutionary strategy.

It is not. Our ability and propensity to believe in God are part of his strategy for redeeming us.

You would think...

You would think that a person with a college education could figure out how to tie a pleasant looking knot in a little bit of fabric. Apparently not.

When I wear a tie, which is becoming more frequent, I invariably spend 15 minutes in front of my computer, poring through Windsor and Double Windsor tutorials on the Internet. The problem with every tutorial I've found is that they are composed of static images. I find myself at Step 3, looking at the image for Step 4 and completely unable to imagine the step in between. Where is Step 3.5? How in the world did he get his tie to look so trim when mine looks like a massive goiter?

You can imagine my joy then, at finding this video as I tooled around YouTube.

Better living through Internet edification!

Credit where credit is due

A brief note on credit. The young man in the banner pic above is my cousin, Justin. pictured here gazing into a dust cloud in our grandparent's shed.

Conversation with a 2 year old

My sister Nicole relays this conversation she had with her 2 and half year old son, Zach.

Nicole, "Zach, what kind of airplane does Papa Bennett fly?"
Zach, "Papa Bennett flies jets."
Nicole, "How many airplanes does he fly?"
Zach, "Too many."
Nicole, "Zach, does Uncle Josh fly airplanes?"
Zach, "Yeah...

... But only cropdusters. "

a little
later...

Zach, "Uncle Josh has a friend in his stomach..."

I'm going to go get checked for tapeworms tommorow.

Psalm 2

I’m in a small group right now that is going through the Psalms. I’m also obsessed with the concept of Mind Mapping. (If an obsession lasts for more than 6 months, does it become a fixation?)

Regardless, something interesting happens when your pursuits intersect.

Last Thursday night, I mapped out my thoughts around Psalm 2. One of the things that I love about this process is that it captures the state of your mind as you moved towards understanding. So, as I read this Psalm, I asked questions. My map started in the lower right hand corner.

I asked myself who the term “Anointed” refers to. My initial assumption was that it refers to Christ, but I’m trying to ruthlessly eliminate assumptions from my life. So I dug.

Work counterclockwise from the bottom right. The word for anointed is here mâshîyach, ‘messiah’. It was a revelation to me that this same word is used liberally in the Old Testament, referring variously to priests, prophets, and King Saul.

More digging revealed references in Hebrews and Acts that shed light on this Psalm, and that explicitly name Christ as the fulfillment of the prophecies in it.

More reading in verse twelve showed elements of Christ’s character that are not our typical view of him, but which shown up in Matthew 21:12.

I enjoy looking back and seeing the path I took to a better picture of the Word and I’d recommend the process. Grab a sheet of paper and map whatever passage you happen to be reading right now. Write down questions as they come to you, and when you find answers or references link them back. If a certain theme keeps popping up, highlight that, and tie those themes together...

Recall

I am bringing this blog back from wherever dead blogs go.

In February of 2005, it seemed liked a good idea to catalogue my thoughts and experiences. In February of 2007, it seems like a better idea still.

The intent of the blog is the same: to be a spur that will clear creative cobwebs and help me to hold on to these moments as they pass.

Let the posting begin in earnest.