Trolls

You remember this video I posted here on Monday? It has about 400 views since It went up on Sunday night.  And already 2 comments by trolls.  (Per Wikipedia - a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community)  I do not understand the phenomenon that causes people to think it's okay to be insulting to others or to be outrageously inflammatory just because they are anonymous.

Really I am seeking your opinion, should I close the comments on the video, or let the trolls troll.  I am definitely not going to respond, that just encourages them.

<update> I closed comments.  </update>

[polldaddy poll=2399055]

The Story of My Christmas Tree 2009

You may remember this story from last year so I won't rehash the whole thing.  But I add one ornament to my Christmas tree each year.  This year I am in a quandary about something maybe you can help me out. I got both ornaments #3 and #4 last year, so I have to make a decision.  Do I break with tradition and  keep them both, or do I choose only 1?  If I keep them both then I would be getting closer to the number I should have, (remember I am a couple of ornaments shy of 1 per year) but if I begin compromising here, then why stay on my 1 per year path at all?  just for the record, I'm not throwing anything away.  The one I demote will go to my small Christmas tree.  Read the tree key then vote in the poll at the end of this post.

1. This is the famous tin-foil ball. I added a couple of layers to it when I moved up to the full sized tree.  Also I stuck a nail with a red ribbon in it.  We got the nail/ribbon at church a few years back to remind us about Christ’s sacrifice.
2. A University of Kentucky Wildcats ornament. I bought this at wal-mart, can’t remember when, but probably like ‘03 since I was new to North Carolina and felt an extra need to represent my team in hostile territory
3. *This is a ball from the LPBC Lottie Moon Fundraiser 2008.  It was given in my honor by my Pastor and his wife.  It is made of actual glass
4. *This is a University of Kentucky candy cane.  It is one of a set of 4 (But I couldn’t stand to put all 4 of them on the tree that was just too much ornament adding) given to me by Wes & Kristi who said that their son, Carson  picked it out.
5. This is a glittery snowflake.  I’m not sure who, but somebody at Mexico Baptist Church gave me this. I lean towards thinking it is from Sandra Belt and it came in a card or something.
6. The original blue ball. (made of actual glass) This would have been 1996.
7. This is the tassel from my college graduation in ‘01. I was really proud of this since it took me 13 semesters to actually graduate from college.
8. A little wooden snowman with my name on it. A Couple of my former students, Kristen and Melissa, gave this to me I’m guessing it was ‘01.
9. This is a ball from the LaGrange Park RAs. It was part of a Lottie Moon fundraiser in ‘05. The RAs were placing these in honor or memory of someone for $4. Mine says “In honor of Jesus,” I thought it fitting since it was Christmas
10. This is a slightly used fishing bobber, complete with weights and an actual hook to hang it. It says 80¢ on the side.  I added this one myself in ‘04.
11. This is the tassel from my seminary graduation cap. I got this in December ‘06 when I graduated seminary. This is all that remains from my regalia rental fee of $80, so I’m definitely going to hang on to it.
12. 3 This is a snowman with a jingle bell built in.  Holding a sign that says, “Jesus loves you snow much.”  I got it at the Cumberland Beatitude house on our work day December 2007.
13. This is the ornament that started my one ornament per year method.  The one Kristi gave me in Christmas 1996 but it made the tree the next year, so we’ll call it ‘97

Now it's time for your input What do I do?

[polldaddy poll=2395566]

When Life Falls Apart

About once every 6-8 months my life falls apart. Nothing actually falls apart, but periodically it seems like circumstances in life conspire to make me feel like an unspeakable loser. For some of you that may happen more often and some of you may think I’m a freak because I deal with it that often. It always passes, and when the hard times are over, I wonder why I was so freaked out. I am very recently coming out of one of these times. One of the things I learned a very long time ago was not to worry. I don’t mean it in a clichéd way; “don’t worry, be happy.” I mean that I very rarely worry about anything.  I learned as a child to obey Jesus in  Matt 6.  I understand that my worry is sinful and destructive.  Mostly this has served me well in life. It makes me healthier. Though there are times it has not been such a great thing. I am sometimes so stress free that I fail to even be concerned about things that I really should be concerned about. For example, in college I often was not nearly as concerned with my grades as I should have been.  That's why it took me 13 semesters to graduate.

Part of the reason my recent “life falling apart” incident was so terrible this time was because the circumstances not only combined to make me feel like a complete loser, but they also were attached to a sense of dread that hung like a shadow over me for a few days.

Yesterday it is no exaggeration to say that I was physically ill because of worry.   I never worry.  And now I remember why I never worry.  It’s miserable. It absolutely does nothing to help the issue I’m worried about, and it makes me a wreck.

I’m feeling better now. I just thought I’d get that off my chest.

Does your life ever fall apart like mine?

7 Days with Windows 7

I’ve been using Windows 7 for one week now. Before that I was a long-time user of Vista. I actually thought that Vista had gotten sort of a bad rap. It worked fine for me for a few years with only little niggling problems. However, now that I have been using Windows 7, I realize that there were a lot of those minor problems. More than anything else, Win 7 has made me hate Vista. Here is a brief review.

First and foremost, everything is easily customizable. It is not hard to figure out how to edit any part of the interface. If you want to customize something on the start menu, right click on it. To pin an item to the task bar, right click on it. One thing that has annoyed me since win 95 is the bottom right corner of the screen.

Those icons get out of control quickly. It seems like every program you want to install feels need to take up residence in that corner, all of them flashing and trying to communicate. In Win 7 the customize button lets you chose which ones show and when they show

I love the indexing of files that began in Vista and has continued in Win 7. For someone like me, who has written hundreds of outlines, papers, and articles over the years, (there are about 1000 items in my documents) this indexing is invaluable. I can look up a word like “baptize” and find the lesson I am looking for even though I can’t remember the title of that document. It also searches tags on photos and mp3s. It is simply wonderful and not too hard on system resources.

I like and use a few of the sidebar gadgets. Actually I use 4, system monitor, calculator, Weather, and Pandora. In Win 7 gadgets look and work better. Plus that shaded area sidebar is gone. Good riddance.

It seems to me that even though I’m using the same monitor at the same resolution I get much better use of screen real estate. The icons are smaller and I think the fonts are too, but they seem clearer than Vista. Everything is easier to read, text just appears clearer.

It boots quicker. I can open a program in a minute and a half from pressing power. That includes login time. Once the desktop loads, the programs are just seconds behind. It really is quite a lot faster

There are a few things I don’t like.

I do not like the change made to windows media player.

The controls will not minimize to the taskbar, and although a mouseover brings up play/pause and skip, I don’t like the delay. There is also not volume in that control. Also, even when maximized, the “now playing” view doesn’t show the timecodes. I really do not like these changes and I am on the verge of finding a new media player or trying to discover some hack to bring back that old functionality.

The built-in windows photo screen saver is not as good, it has way less options.

This last criticism is not really a Win7 issue, but it is worth mentioning.   Zone Alarm isn’t compatible. I know what you are thinking, you have the built in windows firewall, and your router serves as a firewall so you don’t need Zone Alarm. But Zone alarm has a feature I love. It gives a notification whenever a program wants to access the internet. This is better than any anti-spyware program could ever be. Every single process that wants to access the web has to ask, and I’m not likely to allow “I hakz ur sy5t3m” to go online.

There’s my review. I think Windows 7 is a necessary upgrade if you are using Vista.

The beginning

Here is part one of this year's story.  Have fun adding to it, it's in a tab at the top -

It was November and William was out for his daily walk through the neighborhood.  It was cold this morning but walking through the neighborhood was better than a treadmill and looking at the same wall for an hour.  As he arrived back at his house he checked the mail and found a package.

There was no return address on the package and he didn't remember ordering anything so he opened it as he was going into the house.

The package contained a t-shirt that said, "I'm with stupid," a note that read "wear this on your trip," and a plane ticket to Brazil.

"At least it's not a train ticket," he thought, recalling a frightening dream he had about a year ago.  He began to debate in his mind whether he wanted to be a part of another mysterious adventure.  The ticket was for a flight tomorrow at 7 a.m. so he had a while to make up his mind.

I haven't blogged in a week

I even forgot to post last week's best web junk (so you get a double dose this week) I have almost never skipped an entire week.

It's a weird occurrence, but not as weird as this

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG2mFfgaHyo]

Youth Sunday 09

Apparently this has become an annual post for me, but it is important enough to be said regularly. Yesterday was youth Sunday at LaGrange Park Baptist Church.  The one Sunday a year where our youth are in charge of every aspect of the church day.  They teach the adult Sunday School classes and then lead in worship.

I spend my life in ministry working with students.  Working with students can be a very frustrating undertaking at times.  Sometimes it seem like all I ever do is say "put your chair on the floor" about a hundred times a week.  But at other times I am so proud of them I can hardly express it.  We have a small youth group, but each of them was willing to serve in some capacity yesterday.  I am proud of them for their willingness.  Also I am proud of them for listening to God's voice in their lives.

If you follow my twitter feed you know that we videotaped a skit for use in yesterday's worship service.  It is hilarious in its badness, but I still want to share it with my blog readers.  The acting is not bad, they did fine, but the editing is funny.  Feel free to laugh and consider that the battery on our camera was dying toward the end of the shoot, so we didn't get multiple takes.  (The students didn't want the video put up on Youtube so I uploaded it to myspace where it's not fully public.  Hopefully it will embed successfully)

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.859328&w=425&h=350&fv=m%3D61776164%26type%3Dvideo%26a%3D0]

Also, yesterday marked the second time ever that I filled the pulpit.  If you are a fan of the word "uh" or "umm" then I did a great job.  I'm putting it here so you can hear it if you are interested.  It is also available on our church website.

[audio=http://lagrangeparkbc.org/audio/08.09.09.mp3] Jeremy Mathis - Youth Sunday 09

Help me name my Fantasy Football team

Here are my finalists: [polldaddy poll=1844627]

Vote please

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

You may have noticed that I have been blogging less lately.  It's because I've been busy.  Since traditional-calendar students got out of school for the summer, we have been very busy. June 15-19 was Teen College.  Teen College is a week of Bible study and activities that I have been doing since I was a student.  I have continued it ever since I have been in Youth ministry.  This year we had lessons about following God's directions, from salvation and repentance to using the gifts He has blessed us with. Our activities this year were:

• Lazer Tag
• Bowling (which actually turned into a night at a local arcade because we couldn't reserve any bowling lanes)
• Game Night - We played Rock band with a  projector and more traditional games like blindfolded musical chairs
• Scavenger Hunt
• Mini-Golf

The day after Teen College ended I left for the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville.  The way I went was pretty stupid.  I flew to Nashville and borrowed a car in Hoptown.  then I stayed in Lexington for the convention in Louisville.  I'll not be doing such a ridiculous thing again.

The week after the SBC was a normal week for me.  Although it involved getting ready for camp.

The week of July 6-11 we went to youth camp.  We went to centrifuge/m-fuge at North Greenville University.  It was a great week. The students enjoyed it and at least some of them were revived.

Came back from Camp on Saturday and began VBS on Sunday.  It was a good week of VBS, attendance for the youth class was excellent, Lifeway did a particularly good job with this year's lessons and for the first time in a couple of years one of my students came to faith in Christ.  That's why I do ministry.  It is hard to describe the feeling that comes with that after such a long drought.  I actually felt somewhat vindicated since I feel that salvations are a sign that God has in some way endorsed my ministry.

Then, last week was my vacation and I had a great trip.  I went home to Kentucky where virtually my entire family lives.  And everyone's garden was coming in.

• Fished 4 times (but only caught 10 bass)
• Ate tomatoes every day
• Went to Ferrell's
• Stopped at the Bass Pro Shop
• Saw my entire family.  My brother even came in from Indiana
• Shot stuff
• Went to Mexico KY to see friends
• Worship at the church I grew up in

And that's how I spent my summer vacation

Dear Fire Ants Get Out of My Life: A Rant

Writing a rant is fun.  And the most fun way to write a rant is as a letter to the object of your rant.  So I present to you, my rant against fire ants.  I hope you enjoy. Dear Fire Ants

Get out of my life!

There are so many things to not like about you.

It takes absolutely no provocation whatsoever to make you bite.  Just because you are walking across my foot doesn’t mean you need to bite my foot.  Other insects can crawl across me without biting, what is your problem?  It’s not like you are drinking blood or have some real reason for the attack.  In fact, the attack merely gets you killed because upon being bitten anyone will smash you.  You are very small, fire ants.  Trust me when I tell you  biting me or anyone else does nothing to protect you or your nest from destruction.  On many occasions it merely points out your location while simultaneously angering your victim.

When you bite it hurts like crazy so you get killed, but even 2 minutes after being smashed into a stain, the bite still hurts just as bad as when you first did it.  What sort of special evil is that?  It’s the reason why people hate you.

You have stolen my footwear options.  It's impossible to wear sandals whenever you are around.  If you take a notion to bite my tennis shoes then that’s your problem, but if you bite my bare feet, now it’s a problem for both of us.  So I elect to just not wear sandals.

There is also no more itchy bite that the one from you.  As soon as the stinging sensation ends, it starts itching.  Then after a couple of days the bite becomes a disgusting, puss-filled mound of itch.   It’s completely gross.  I imagine it’s what leprosy looks like.  Why would you want to do this to people?

Also, there are way too many of you.  How can you be so ubiquitous in the south?  I ceded my back yard to you a long time ago, there are more mounds back there that I can count, but now you want the front as well.  It's not happening.  I'll break out every kind of poison I can find to keep you confined to the back.  You are not welcome there.

You work way too fast.  Between occasions of mowing the yard you build at least a dozen mounds.  Slow down, it should be obvious that you are going to get everything.  So what’s the rush?

It doesn’t help that poison is futile.  Most every kind of poison that promises to destroy you only moves you a few feet.  You’ve been poisoned, why won’t you just die?

In conclusion, GET OUT OF MY LIFE, fire ants.  I hope you all get fly eggs in your head and become zombies, you deserve it.

The Drought is Over

I have written a couple of posts about how I recently have had the first year of my ministry (all in small churches) when none of my students came to Christ even though I have been faithful with the gospel.  Well, that drought is over.  Just thought I'd praise God here on my blog for that and say that He is always faithful. w00t!

Also, here's my current favorite song.  It's called "You Know My Name" by Detour 180 (I'd link to it on amazon but I live in NC and they canceled my associates account so I refuse to link there)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJbw4kfu32I]

A very quick question

I just wrote an email and I put most of it in a bracket like this <rant>   message goes here </rant>

Here is the question - Is that just too geeky?  How many of you would get it?

[polldaddy poll=1651149]

Milestones

Today is my 34th birthday.  Birthdays always make me take stock of my life.  Last year I posted a fun list of stuff I had accomplished over the course of my entire life and you may remember my pseudo bucket list.  I thought I would do a hybridized version of those two this year.  I like to do things I've never done before, so here is a list of stuff just from the last year that I have accomplished.

• Visited the Korean War Memorial (My grandfather is a veteran of that war)
• Visited the WWII Memorial
• Saw an MLB game that went into extra innings
• Fished every open lake on Ft. Bragg
• Live-Blogged a tropical storm
• Became an uncle for the 3rd time
• Went to an ACC football game
• Spoke at a city council meeting
• Won my church's Fantasy football league
• Filled the pulpit on a Sunday Morning
• Went 40 days with no sugar
• Went to 2 MLB ballparks for the first time
• Got in early on an internet meme
• Drove in New York City
• Ate a real cheesesteak in South Philly (Geno's)
• Made a LOLcat
• Taught a college class
• Biggest mistake of the year - Got confused and had all my youth show up at an event one week early

What I will do in light of the SBC's declining numbers

Yesterday I put together a list of things I would not do in light of the declining numbers in the Southern Baptist Convention.  Today, a list of things I will do. I will witness

I will be faithful those whom God has given me to minister to

I will be proud of my convention

I will affirm the Baptist Faith and Message

I will be a proud signatory to the Great Commission Resurgence statement

I will realize that my message is being pushed further into the fringes of society

I will be willing to speak the truth in love even if it hurts a bit

I will be willing to speak the truth in love even if it hurts a lot

I will attend the SBC as long as my church allows and I can afford it (anybody need to share a hotel in Louisville?)

I will pray before I vote for convention leadership rather than simply voting for the pastor from the largest church

I will share my faith

I will honor those who helped bring the convention to where it is

I will continue believe that the Bible is true in all that it declares

I will pray for the convention leadership

I will listen to those who are wiser than me

I will remember that the gospel is not just about the afterlife but that it instantly makes life better

I will tell others about what Christ did for me

I will encourage other under-40s to participate in denominational life

I will encourage my state convention to pass as much money on to the SBC as possible

I will continue to support the CP

I will remember that God is in control

I will make the gospel central to my message

I don't have any plans to make any further comments beyond this list, but if you want something clarified just ask.  Also feel free to add to this list in the comments

What I will not do in light of the SBC's declining numbers

As I was thinking about what I can do to improve my declining denomination I also thought about the reactions that I would probably read and hear from others.  So I decided to put together this list of things I will not do because of the bad news of last week. I will not panic

I will not abandon the convention (unless it abandons me)

I will not change the message of the gospel for the sake of growth

I will not assume that my gospel presentation is the only successful method

I will not look to secular gurus of business growth to learn how to grow the church

I will not teach a lesson in which I do not include a gospel presentation

I will not blame the Calvinists

I will not deny one word of Scripture even if it becomes very unpopular

I will not think that becoming more worldly makes me a more effective evangelist

I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that there is no problem

I will not take joy in the shrinking denomination

I will not assume that a shrinking SBC is a sign of the end times

I will not give more credit to Satan than he deserves

I will not blame everything on Johnny Hunt or Frank Page or Al Mohler

I will not stop giving to the Cooperative Program

I will not go to Catalyst or any other conference in place of the Southern Baptist Convention (I may go, but not instead of the SBC)

I will not assume that my way is the only way to do church

I will not lead my church by surveys or popularity contests but with Christian discernment and the Scriptures

I will not strive for a greater "voice" within the convention.  I will be faithful to those God has called me to minister to

I will not heap undue criticism on those leaders of another generation (older or younger than me)

I will not be hopeless

Feel free to add to this list in the comments.

Tomorrow - What I will do in light of the SBC's declining numbers.

Hugo and the Platypus: A Mad-Lib

On Wednesday nights in youth I am teaching on the minor prophets.  Tonight I was in the book of Jonah.  Since every student knows the story of Jonah so well, I decided to make it into a mad-lib.  I cheated a bit for the purpose of having it make sense.  (Instead of just a noun I would ask for a mode of transportation for example.)    It turned out very fun.  Feel free to use this for your own youth group, all I ask is if you do, post it in the comments so we can all enjoy.  Without further ado, here is how mine turned out: 1. Name: ___Hugo____________

2. Place: ___Tokyo_____________

3. Verb: ____Eat_____________

4. Mode of Transport:___wheelchair____________

5. Adjective: _____unique_____________

6. Place: _____Wal-mart______________

7. Adjective: __Fluffy_______________

8. Disaster: ____Ice Age_____________

9. Noun: _____Ramen_____________

10. Animal: ___Platypus______________

11. P T verb: ___Picked______________

12. Noun: ____Fleas________________

13. Adverb: ____Extremely________________

14. Verb: _____Drive________________

15. Verb: _____Roll________________

This is the story of a man named (1)___Hugo__.   (1)____Hugo___ was very close to God, in fact, he could (3)___Eat____ to God directly.  One day God said, "(1)___Hugo_, go to (2)__Tokyo__."  But he was (5)___unique__ and didn't want to go to (2) ___Tokyo__.  So instead, he got on board a (4)___wheelchair_ bound for (6)___Wal-mart__.

Once (1)__Hugo__ began his journey, he became even more (7)__Fluffy__ because God caused a (8)__Ice Age___.  The (8)__Ice Age___ was so bad that those around him were frightened and decided to kick him off his (4)____wheelchair__ and into a (9)__Ramen____.  Once in the (9)__Ramen___ God caused a(n) (10)__Platypus__ to attack him.  After a bit of a struggle, the (10)___Platypus___ swallowed (1)___Hugo__.

From inside the belly of the (10)___Platypus____. He (11)___Picked__ and asked God to show him (12)___Fleas____.

God made the (10)___Platypus__ vomit (1)___Hugo____ up.  He landed on the ground (13)__Extremely__, and went directly to (2)___Tokyo___.  To preach this message, "(14)____Drive____ or you will (15)____Roll___."

An Observation About Life

There is a phenomenon in my life that I would guess everyone has experienced at one time or another.  I'm pretty sure it started when I was 16 and got my drivers license.  The phenomenon is this; I often don't feel old enough to be as old as I am.  What I mean is that on a lot of occasions, usually firsts, it seems like I am too young to be doing whatever task it has fallen to me to do.  I know it is ridiculous, I'm in my 30s, but it is real. Although I remember the first time I ever had the conscious thought that, "Now I am an adult."  I still occasionally get this feeling.  I feel like this on tax day, any time I am about to take a church trip, and whenever I have particularly heavy responsibilities.

I think one contributing factor for this for me is that I am behind the curve in many ways.  I am 33 years old and still single.  I have very few friends who are single.  Most of my friends have been married for a number of years and have children.  So I feel like I am younger than them, even if I am actually older.  This would have been worse a generation ago.  For example, when my dad was 33 he had ten and 12 year old sons.   (By the way, I can pretty much guarantee I feel like this if I ever get to have children.  Who could feel prepared for that?)

Another contributing factor for this is that I teach teenagers and spend much more time with teens than others my age.  So when I have to teach or lead adults, I feel a bit unqualified to do so.

There is no question that the older I get, the less I experience this.  However, I do still experience it.  I just thought I would share my freakish insecurity with the world.  (Because what else is a blog for?)

Here's two questions for my commentors.  Am I the only one who ever feels this way?  If you are over it, when does it fade?

How Things Work Out

In 1992 I was 17 years old and a member of Concord Baptist Church in Hopkinsville KY.  One evening our pastor invited in a guest speaker named Fred Overton.  During the PM service he gave a lecture called "Is the Bible Reliable?"  This was my first ever exposure to something called apologetics, and I was fascinated. The lecture was 2 days long, so I invited my mom to come along with me to the Monday night session.  Normally, Mom went to another church, that's why I remember this story.

After the session we bought the workbook and I recall on the ride home saying that the seminar was completely fascinating and that I would like to do apologetics for a living, but, "Nobody could make a living doing that."  Smart, I know.

Mom's reply was predictable.  "He does."

This was long before I really had any idea what I wanted to do with my life and long before God called me into ministry.  At that point I was just concerned with where I would go to college. (Even though I never seriously considered any school other than UK.)  In fact, at that time I was fascinated with chemistry, and began college as a chemistry major.

Then in 1997, God called me into the ministry, and I answered.  (Just an aside here - I hate the term "surrendered" to the ministry.  That sounds like I lost some fight.  I just agreed.  There was no battle needed.)  My calling was clear, I was called to youth ministry, but that doesn't mean I have no other interests.  I was convicted further that in order to be the best youth minister I could be, to the glory of God, I needed to attend seminary.  I went to Southeastern Seminary and began in the youth ministry program.  During my second year, President Akin came on board and his administration began some curriculum changes.  When the M.Div. in Christian apologetics was added, I didn't even need to pray about it.  I changed my major within the week.

So what's the point of all this?

Yesterday I began teaching a course in Christian Apologetics at Carolina Bible College.  Though it is a very small class at a very small college, it felt like a dream realized.  It is amazing how God can work the circumstances of our lives to bring things about.  The ramblings of a very silly 17 year-old become reality 16 years later.   I for one, am excited about the future and to see where God will lead me next.

p.s.  I have shared with this blog before my dream of becoming a NAMB Certified Apologetics Instructor.  Fee free to click here to see how close I am financially.  (You'll probably need to use my gmail address)

Rant about my Phone

Every so often I enjoy writing a rant.  It is a good way to take out some anger against some person,  thing, or circumstance.  Back in the fall I wrote a rant about fire ants but I never posted it.  When I'm feeling angry about them later, I will.  The fire ants will never read it, so it doesn't help anyone but me.  Today the object of my ire is my wireless phone.  The LG CU720.  This rant may be slightly tongue in cheek, but the complaints are all very real. Dear LG Shine,

I cannot wait until my contract with you is finished.

I chose you as my current phone because my previous phone, a Sony Erickson,  quit working after 3 years of use.  I was drawn in by the allure  of your shininess.  And you are very shiny. That shine is diminished significantly by a phenomenon that is not your fault, smudges  I should have known that any polished silver phone with a flat glass front would be easy to smudge with fingerprints and face grease, but I guess I was too impressed by the look and your slick sliding format.

I know what you are thinking, CU720, I could greatly reduce the amount of  smudges if I would just use your built in bluetooth and pair it with a headset.  Good thinking, I wish I had thought of that myself.  Oh, I did.  Your bluetooth doesn't work at all.  Maybe once every 75 tries you will pair with a device, but you are too finicky to be useful and I just gave away my headset so that someone would get some use out of it.  Thanks for helping me throw away that $50.

Your lack of bluetooth is made into an even more awesome feature because your speakerphone functionality is so excruciating.  So loud and warped is the sound, that I can hardly understand anybody, and you have such a weak microphone that everyone asks me to repeat everything when you get more than a foot from my mouth.

At least once a day, you turn off when I slide you open.  Do you know how frustrating it is to race to the phone and open it up just in time to find out nobody is there because the phone shut down?  It doesn't matter if I open you gently or with force, it's the same thing.  Regularly you just decide that I apparently don't need to talk to the caller at this time.  Maybe you just need a rest.

Another feature I particularly enjoy is the way your battery goes from fully charged to empty with no warning whatsoever.  I'm sure something like this is going on in your little phone mind.  "What?  I know you just charged me last night, but I'm jonesing for some more of that sweet, sweet electricity.  Come on, if you don't plug me up right now, I will bleep at you every 15 seconds until the battery is fully discharged even quicker.  I know I said I had a full battery just 10 minutes ago, but I NEED that electricity."  Unfortunately I have no choice but to indulge your addiction.

Any time I'm in a different part of the country the internet is hit and miss.  I suspect this is actually AT&Ts fault, but when you say you are on 3G, I should at least be able to check my gmail.

Finally, your camera is an utter piece of garbage.  Just thought your should know.

Sincerely, An unhappy customer

Why I Observe Lent

You don't have to know much about me at all to know that I am not a Catholic. I am an ordained Southern Baptist Minster, but for the last few years I have been in the practice of observing Lent. For the benefit of my uninformed protestant readers, Lent is a 40 day fast leading up to ressurrection day.  (Remember my ban on the word Easter?)  Actually according to this wikipedia article it is 46 days.  Why is it 40 days?  Because it recalls the 40 days of fasting that Jesus endured in the desert prior to his temptation.

As a protestant, I observe Lent  because, for the most part, western Christians have abandoned the fast all together.  I fast periodically from food for a day, but not with regularity, and Lent is the only prolonged fast I participate in.  I do not believe that it earns me more of God's favor, or that more grace comes to me as I participate in the fast.  But I do believe that it is worth the effort.

Many people have written well on the spiritual discipline of fasting, (I particularly reccommend Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and The Spirit of the Disciplines) so I won't waste your time here.  I will say however, that I use the time and pain that occurs in in a fast to remind me to pray and to meditate on God.  For example, if I am fasting for revival I use the hunger pains as a reminder to ask God to bring revival to my life and to my church.

In the case of a prolonged fast like Lent, I use the desire to participate in the forbidden activity as a reminder that suffering is a part of the Christian life.  This is made more important because of the fact that I live in the US, where we have true religious freedom.

I have narrowed down my Lenten choices to 3.

1. Give up Facebook - Mostly because of Scrabble, and lately the geography challenge, I have a mild addiction to Facebook.  This would not be easy for me
2. Give up sugar - I will still allow myself a Mello Yello each day, but otherwise, no sugar.  This means no pancakes at the Baptist Men's breakfast, no fruity Pebbles, no ice cream, etc.  This also would not be easy for me
3. Commit to ride my exercise bike every day - This one is pretty self explanatory.  My only real problem with this option is that it is not a fast.  I certainly will not be able to read my Bible as I ride, and it therefore unlikely to bring me closer to God and His will for me.

Which do you think I should do?

[polldaddy poll=1396425]

This year Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) is February 25th.  I'm putting up this poll for your input before fat Tuesday so I can gorge on sugar or Facebook or non exercise tomorrow.