YouTube Video of the Week - 08.28.07

This is a new weekly installment, at least until I forget about it like I do with all the rest of my posts.

I bring you - a Finnish cover of the song YMCA by The Village People.

Wonderful.

What's Wrong With This Country, #27,701

This is from an internet sports news article by Michael Silver:

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If you're looking for a complete dufus, check out Lubbock, Texas Little League manager Ed Thorne, who set a fine example for his kids after Saturday's 5-2 defeat to Warner Robins, Ga., in the Little League World Series semifinals. Asked by a reporter if he was convinced that the better team lost, Thorne answered, "Yes sir, I am." He said of Warner Robins's upcoming matchup in the championship game, "Japan will win that ballgame. Every ball we hit went right at people. You hate to lose games like that, but that's baseball." Hey, Ed, did you happen to catch Dalton Carriker's walkoff homer for Warner Robins in extra innings Sunday – and the wild celebration that followed, along with some excellent sportsmanship by both teams in the mound area? Great moment, huh?

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Hyper-competitive jerks pushing kids to value winning over everything else, including courtesy, decency, and humility. Awesome.

I don't know why this news is such a big deal...

that there were times in Mother Theresa's life where she doubted her faith. I think that I would be much more worried if she took a good look at the hard ministry she endured in the slums of Calcutta for all those years, and never doubted her faith.

Arm Wrestle A Chihuahua - Break Your Arm In The Process.

Another weird news story (for Rochelle):

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[b]Arm-wrestling game recalled in Japan[/b]

TOKYO (AP) - Lose a game of chess to a computer, and you could bruise your ego.

Lose an arm-wrestling match to a Japanese arcade machine, and you could break your arm.

Distributor Atlus Co. said Tuesday it will remove all 150 "Arm Spirit" arm wrestling machines from Japanese arcades after three players broke their arms grappling with the machine's mechanized appendage.

"The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it," said Atlus spokeswoman Ayano Sakiyama, calling the recall "a precaution."

"We think that maybe some players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way," she said. The company was investigating the incidents and checking the machines for any signs of malfunction.

Players of "Arm Spirit" advance through 10 levels, battling a French maid, drunken martial arts master and a Chihuahua before reaching the final showdown with a professional wrestler.

The arcade machine is not distributed overseas.

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Which level is the Chihuahua? Sounds like a later level. Who knew arm wrestling the smallest dog ever could cause arm breakage. You learn something new every day. And I'm sure that the men with the broken arms felt even better about themselves after the spokeswoman's comment.

Rocky Balboa idol brings good luck to hopeful Serbian village

From the "Strange But True" files:

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ELGRADE — A Serbian village is hoping to channel some of Rocky Balboa's fighting spirit with a 10-foot-tall statue of the fictional boxer portrayed by actor Sylvester Stallone.

Zitiste, a village about 35 miles north of Belgrade that has been beset in recent years by flooding and landslides, unveiled the Rocky statue in the village square late Saturday.

The monument, unveiled as part of a music festival, is made of bronze and concrete. It was created by Croatian artist Boris Staparac.

Zitiste has repeatedly suffered flooding and landslides, gaining a disaster-prone reputation. Fed up, the locals contemplated how to change that image and revive the village — one of the poorest in northern Serbia — and came up with the idea of a statue of the tenacious fictional fighter.

"Our idea has really stirred the public," said local official Zoran Kasalovic. "Now, no one in Serbia can say they don't know about Zitiste."

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No one knows why 2 large chickens danced around the statue during the unveiling ceremony (see pic), except I guess the Serbian village people.

Element - Re:Unite Song #1

New Eisley

If you've never heard the band Eisley, you need to become familiar with them.

Their new CD came out today - I'm listening to it on their myspace page and will hopefully get it later today.

I thought that their description of what their music sounds like was humorous:

Sounds like: a kind woods troll who was kicked out of his evil hovel (insubordination)... and, while wandering about the forest floor, he stumbled upon the one and only, very Keebler Elf tree. He knocked and knocked, but only heard a shout from above:"hey...don't you know there are grizzly's out there?" and just threw him a mint chocolate cookie. Afer eating the cookie, he felt safe...so he sojourned on - deep, deep into the forest where he wallowed out a beautiful little home (a pine bed for slumbering); but rest assured, he always kept his GrizBlade 6000 zirconium coated machette blade beside him...just in case ole Grizz came a paw-flashin' in the night. "with lightbulbs in our pockets, we light the darkened forest".

Word.

Letter To A Christian Nation

I picked up a rather interesting book from the library today. It's called Letter To A Christian Nation.

I was reading through Christianity Today magazine, which I don't normally read - but they had a couple of interesting articles, and then I saw that there was a book that came out by an atheist, and then a subsequent book as a response to the criticism and threats that he received from Christians. I knew right then that I had to read it. Thankfully the library had one out of three copies available, and I picked it up.

I've only read the first chapter so far, and it certainly makes for interesting reading. The author, Sam Harris, exhibits some of the same snobbish, eltist type of characteristics as another atheist, Richard Dawkins, (I was not surprised to find out that Dawkins wrote the foreword to the second edition of this book that came out this year) but he does have some good points so far. I think it's important for Christians to: (1) read, first and foremost. Too many Christians and people I know don't read anything, and I think that's a shame; and (2) read books and literature that present other, even opposing, points of view. I would recommend that for every "Darwin's Black Box" and "The Case For Christ" that you read, that you would also read "The End Of Faith" and "The God Delusion".

Here is the very interesting first paragraph from "Letter To A Christian Nation":

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Since the publication of my first book, The End of Faith, thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.


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Wow.

Billy Graham Faces A New Challenge: Overcoming Sorrow

Time.com has a great article (I get the magazine, and every week they send me a list of their top ten stories) today about Billy and Ruth Graham and what has happened in Billy's life since her death. It is a heartbreaking story, especially when the article describes what took place right before and during her death (the whole family was there). I dare you to read this article and not get a little choked up by it. Whatever you may think of Billy Graham, his evangelism efforts and his Crusades (which I always thought was a poor choice of words), he truly is a man of God. I will always respect the man, because my mom started her journey as a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade.

I need to get this t-shirt for all of those...

indie music snobs out there that I know.

I can be included in that list I guess, although I'm not as bad as some.

Viral Dis-Marketing

After a quick visit to John's blog, I became intrigued by a book he was reviewing called Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, and on the amazon page for this book, there is a collection of some posts by the author to those who I guess bought the book off of Amazon? A little confusing, but I really enjoyed the following post of his.

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I was delighted to learn recently that my local Borders converted its coffee shop area into a Seattle’s Best, one of my favorite caffeineries.

But my first visit was a tragedy. The tall drip (no-room) I ordered was two-third’s fresh and one-third dregs from a container that had only 10 minutes left on its digital timer, lending it the flavor of burning tires.

In a conversation with Paul Martinez, our seminary’s director of development, the disturbing feelings generated by such disappoints began to acquire some vocabulary. (Good friends, and good sermons, help us articulate what we’ve been sensing, but may not have ever expressed.)

What is really bothering me about the declining quality of my visits to ‘Bucks (and now SB) is not the brew, but the baristas. There was a time when the best part of a coffee stop was watching the brilliant people behind the counter, people who could be doing lots of other things, doing this. I often wondered about their personal stories: what brought them to ‘Bucks, why did they seem to treat their job as a calling, what were their dreams of the future?

These over-achievers sold me on the brew, not the other way around. It was viral marketing at its best: a good impression formed one person at a time. They made every visit a form of theater, starring the evangelists of caffeine, coffee missionaries commanding attention and respect. Watching baristas in the “zone” became the most important part of the trip to their store, making it worth going inside when the drive-through would have been more convenient.

Things have changed. This is not to say that the staffer who handed me the bad cup of Seattle’s Best (who also had to check a price list before using the register) is a loser. It’s just that she did not have the same high level of ownership in the experience as did the old-school barista.

A couple of conclusions that Paul and I kicked around about some things that seem to be forgotten in the “viral un-marketing” that now plagues Starbucks:

1. People are crucial to the value of product: There is no coffee good enough to replace an outstanding barista show. Watching someone who probably ought to be in medical school concoct a world class cappuccino and then call your name right out loud is the best two minutes in the business. Without this little immersion in Starbuck’s culture, I might as well grind their beans at home.
I am reminded of ministries that spend so much time on the “production” side of bringing the message to their community that they assume the quality of their people will just take care of itself as long as the show goes on Sunday morning. A well-trained, fully-invested person of integrity is the ultimate message and the ultimate production value.

2. Quality is crucial to the meaning of growth: Starbuck’s astronomical expansion in the last few years seems to have outstripped the pool of suitable talent. Are there only so many folks on the planet who have the temperament to become a coffee missionary, or is ‘Bucks now lacking some key trait needed to attract these people? I once overheard one of their store managers interviewing (and being interviewed by) a prospective employee. It was clear that the manager was not looking for a worker, but for a certain kind of person. Is that interview still happening?

I recall the many unenthusiastic greeters I have met in my church travels, and the sermons delivered by people who do not have a primary communication gift, and the deacons elected mainly because they manage a hardware store, and the mania for growth at almost any price. In a recent email, for example, one minister confessed that his rapidly expanding ministry is being almost completely driven by transfers from other churches, but this fact is off-limits among the leadership. So what does that kind of “growth” really mean?

While the new Reduced-Fat Orange Crème Coffee Cake does cover a multitude of sins, Starbucks better start paying attention to its people again. Are they still the kind of organization to which great people want to belong?

That’s an important question for Christian organizations, too. It’s not about being better or worse, ordinary or extraordinary, but about discipleship, personal investment, and accountability. In other words, featuring gifted people doing things in a way so compelling that others would not only want to be where they are, but might even consider putting on the green apron themselves.

Fix You.

Normally, if someone would tell me that there is a YouTube video of some senior citizens singing a Coldplay song, I would probably laugh like crazy at something that sounds so idiotic. However, if you go here, you will get the opportunity to see such a thing. There's a group out there called Young At Heart, and they learn all kinds of rather "modern" songs, from Sonic Youth to the Ramones, to...Coldplay.

The man who sings the song suffers from congestive heart failure. It was supposed to be a duet, but the man who was supposed to sing it with him passed away before this performance. The deceased man's family is in the audience. The words to the song take a somewhat different meaning for me now that I've experienced this.

I think it might be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Today.

Another Nooma video is coming out this week - if you go to nooma's myspace today, tomorrow, or Wednesday, you can preview it for free.

Of course, it's really good. As if any of them haven't been.

My favorite quote from this one:

"When we're still holding on to how things were, our arms aren't free to embrace today."

By the way, it's called Today. Hence the blog title, also called Today.

Perhaps The Most Bizarre Video I've Ever Seen...

And here you have it.

This is a video of inmates of a Phllipine prison reenacting Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. They did a great job in my opinion. Now if I can only reclaim the minutes I spent watching it...

"Thriller" as performed by inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center


p.s. - the girl is not a girl. :^)

The Risk Taker

On July 29th, I will be preaching my first message since Palm Sunday of last year. I've decided to preach on the life of Peter, because it's someone who I've been reading about (I'm reading through the book of Acts) and someone I haven't really focused on. I think it's because he has always reminded me of a manly man type of man, and I'm not sure I really relate to that. But the more I study Peter, the more I'm amazed at how gutsy he was and how he took risks, even looking like a fool at times. I'm excited to study more about him and to talk about him as the risk taker.

A Peaceful Night

I've been under a lot of stress in my life in the past six months or so, so a night like tonight was exactly what I needed.

First, a neighbor of mine let us borrow her Jeep Rubicon for the night and tomorrow. We've built a pretty good friendship with her, and tonight I guess she was feeling charitable! It looks like the below picture except it's black.



Then, as we were getting ready to go get ice cream in her Jeep, a young deer came through our back yard, through our side yard, walked about six feet by us, and then saw us and ran off. Unfortunately, I had no camera so this one will have to do.



Then, after our ice cream adventure in our borrowed Jeep with the top off (a beautiful night to do this by the way), my daughter and I went out looking for fireflies (or lightning bugs, as you will see makes more sense), and we caught one. Noelle named him "McQueen" after Lightning McQueen from the movie cars. (I'm letting him go after she goes to sleep).

A very peaceful night. Thanks, God!

Re:Unite - July 29th

The Shame Of Widows In India

I read this article on the CNN website today, and it really disturbed me. I knew about the oppressive caste system in India, where 250 million people live as "untouchables", but I had no idea that the Indian culture treats the widows of their society in this way.

It breaks my heart to think of all these mothers who are shunned by their children because they are considered bad luck. After all these women have done for their children, you would think that some compassion would come into play.

I don't know what else to say, other than a few verses:

Deuteronomy 27:19
19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow."
Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Psalm 68:5
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.

Isaiah 1:17
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

1 Timothy 5:4
4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

James 1:27
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Walk On

I read on Yahoo News today that the U.S. is starting to pressure the Myanmar (Burma) government to release Aung San Suu Kyi from what seems to be permanent house arrest. She is the Myanmar leader who won the general election in the early '90's, yet the military of Myanmar, who was (and still is) governing, refused to accept the election results.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the subject of the U2 song, Walk On. Here are some of the lyrics:

And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for one second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can't steal it
No, they can't even feel it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can't sell it or buy it
Walk on, walk on
You stay safe tonight

And I know it aches, how your heart it breaks
You can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Home, hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home, I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is

And I know it aches and your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on


I hope the U.S. continues to do things like this, to seek justice for wrongdoings. The Darfur situation would be another great place to start.

Here is the full article.

Trust In Organized Religion At Near Record Low

Americans trust the military and the police force significantly more than the church and organized religion, a new Gallup Poll says.

Only 46 percent of respondents said they had either a "great deal"
or "quite a lot" of confidence in the church, compared with 69 percent who said they trusted the military and 54 percent who trust police officers.

The figures are among the lowest for institutionalized religion in the three and a half decades that Gallup has conducted the poll. Peaking at 68 percent in May 1975, the numbers bottomed out at 45 percent in June of 2003.

But while confidence is waning for organized religion, the numbers are even bleaker for other American institutions. Just 25 percent expressed confidence in the presidency, while a mere 14 percent say they trust Congress.

Other findings suggest the nation is focused more on political issues than morality issues.

In the monthly pulse-check poll, Gallup asked Americans what they believed was the most important problem facing the country. An overwhelming 34 percent cited the war in Iraq, followed by illegal immigration at 15 percent. The nation's religious and moral decline was fifth among the concerns, with 6 percent.

The poll was conducted by telephone from June 14-17. The margin of error is three percentage points.

(Here's the link to the actual story.)