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Thoughts about a loss from a UK fan

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There is only one problem with caring about things – the pain that comes when things don’t go how you wish they would. I have to say that I am somewhat ashamed about how I react when Kentucky loses in the NCAA tournament.  It pretty much ruins my weekend.

Oddly though, I prefer this feeling, being somewhat crushed by a loss, to the feeling I have had the last few years as a UK fan.  When we lost in the first round of the NCAAs or the second round of the NIT it was expected.  And rather than ruining my day, it was just one more loss.  That is especially difficult when you consider the state of the program during my time at UK.  Those years saw 2 national championships and 3 consecutive trips to the final. Last year’s NIT was painful.

They program is back now.  This year, UK should have won the tournament, but one bad game is all it takes.

So I am crushed by a loss, but I am already looking forward to next season.  I obviously have no idea what to expect from the football team but I feel that the basketball team is back where it belongs.  And if it means more pain caused by a loss, I’ll take it.  It’s a lot better than being numb.

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A lesson about life from a recent Sunday school class

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On March 14, the Explore the Bible Sunday School lesson was from Exodus chapters 5-11. The point of this post can be found in Chapter 5. In that passage Moses is obedient to God really for the first time. As you will recall, Moses was quite reluctant to obey God at all. In fact in Exodus 4 he says "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." But he is eventually obedient, and we first read of that in Exodus 5.

In Chapter 5, Moses goes before the Pharaoh as God commanded. And we all know how this goes, right? Moses obeys God, everything becomes wonderful and Moses and his people prosper.

If you read the passage you see that that is not the case at all. Once Moses is obedient, everything falls apart for him and for his people. Immediately their workload is increased greatly and they are in great pain. Pain, I might add, that appears to be a direct result of Moses’ obedience to God. Maybe I should state that differently, Moses’ obedience to God brought about pain.

There is no shortage of people telling us in the U.S. that if we are faithful then God will bless us, and that those blessings will come in the form of material desires. However, this passage shows something very different.

That is not even the lesson I want to take away from this passage. Recently in my life there has been an abundance of difficulties. I am not suggesting that my difficulties are a result of my obedience to God. I am, however, suggesting that those difficulties do not mean that I am outside His will and they do not make me question his faithfulnes. When their lives became more painful, the Hebrews complained bitterly to Moses and questioned his motives. They falsely tied their ease in life to the blessing of God. Here is why this passage speaks to me; God is in control even thought the people can only see pain. In fact it appears that the pain was a part of His plan.

Sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged. I have had a lot of melancholy days lately. But the lesson I see in Exodus 5 is that even though things look bleak, God is ultimately in control.

As I write this, I cannot see his plan. But I know that He is in control.

Lessons from a Funeral

Two weeks ago for the first time in my life I had to come to terms with grief.  Believe it or not, until then, at the age of 34 I still had all four of my grandparents and until about a month ago all of them were of sound mind and body. (for their ages)  On the 8th my grandfather died and I had to learn to deal with genuine grief. As I’m sure you can imagine, when you are in the ministry, or you work at a church, as I have for the last 12 years, you deal with many people in the midst of grief.    I have been to more funerals than I can count.  Always for me I have been there as a show of support.  I can’t say how many times I have been through a visitation line wondering what I would say when I get to the strangers who have lost a loved one.  Usually I wind up with some form of “I’m sorry for your loss” or “I really liked and appreciated your loved one.”  Many times I have walked away from that brief meeting thinking that I have wasted my time.  Or worse, I wasted their time.  I felt as if I offered no comfort to the family whatsoever.

However, the death of my grandfather was my first time on that side of a funeral and I learned a lot.  Here are the most significant things I learned.

-          Kind words mean a lot.  I know that saying “I’m sorry” seems like a small thing.  But what I learned is that it is not a small thing.  Those words are significant.

-          The food is a ministry.  Several people brought food by the house, My Gramma’s church fed us a meal, and that food is a genuine ministry.  Much more so than I ever realized.  There is a strange comfort in eating.  I guess that’s why there is a whole category of food called comfort food.  Also there is a lot to be done in planning and carrying out a funeral, and lots of people coming around.  Having plenty of good food on hand is one less thing to worry about.  (The only observation I would make here is that there needs to be food brought to the funeral home during visitation.  Five hours is a long time and some food for the family would be appreciated.  I literally never thought about that until this time.)

- Grief comes in waves.  I would be fine for a while, then overcome with sadness.  I'm told those waves come back for a long time.

-          The kindness of people is overwhelming.  I was surprised at how touching it was when people pulled over for the funeral procession.  The same for when people left a facebook message, or a text message, or sent a flower, or a card, or if they donated Gideon Bibles.  Those things are nice acts that people don’t have to do.  When they go out of their way to do them, overwhelming is the only word I can use.

To all of you who were kind to me during this period.  Thank you.  I mean it when I say the kindness is overwhelming.

(And a final note to the person who jumped into the procession until you made it to the YMCA, I’m so glad we could expedite your trip with a police escort.  I hope you got a good workout that day.)

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Best Web Junk (March 19)

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UFOs over Paris? The only thing on TIWYF I have ever wanted to attempt to make

I think more businesses should have this requirement.

Once again researchers learn something in a study that the Bible already told us

If you read my post on Wednesday you know I am unhappy with the greed of Delta Airlines.  Well, apparently I am not he only one with an airline horror story

In light of that airline rant earlier this week I'll post the third in the series of United Breaks Guitars videos.  I posted the previous two here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45E0uGVyeg]

Delta Airlines - I am done with you

I am not a heavy flier.  Over the past 5 years I have flown an average of 3 times a year.  So I’m not winning any frequent flier awards.  But I do fly often enough that my business and loyalty have value. In my life I have chosen Delta Airlines three times.  The first time was my second flight ever, 1995, when I went to Washington and Oregon for my missionary summer.  I didn’t buy that ticket.  And my experience was fine.

The last two flights I have booked were on Delta also, and they were a different experience.

In June I flew to the Southern Baptist Convention.   How was that experience you ask?  Well, for starters they charge $25 to check one bag.  That means $25 more for the return flight.  So I was feeling ripped off already merely because I wanted to have some clothes to wear on that six-day trip.  It got even better when I arrived at my final destination only to realize that my $25 bag never made the trip from RDU.  I was told, “We have no record of it on any of our flights.” Then I was told that it would be delivered to the door before 10 p.m. or between 8 and 3 the next day.  You can imagine my surprise when there was a knock at my door at 3 a.m.  I was not refunded the $25 or given a voucher for a free checked bag on a future flight.  Nobody said thanks for flying Delta or for not throwing a fit.  Nobody smiled at me or was appreciative in any way.  I was obviously unhappy, but didn’t get overly excited about it because I understand things happen sometimes.

Then two weeks ago I got a piece of bad news.  My grandfather was dying and I wanted to see him one last time.  So I booked a rather last minute flight.  Again I chose Delta, even though I was unsatisfied the previous time, and even though after the baggage fee it was only going to save me 20 bucks.  I wound up regretting that decision.

While I was home my grandfather died.  He died on Monday and my flight was scheduled for a Tuesday. So I called Delta to reschedule my return flight.  They waived a $150 rescheduling fee when I gave them the funeral home info.  “Good,” I thought, “this will be a simple process.”  I could not have been more wrong.

After about 20 minutes on the phone with the first rep I was transferred to a booking rep.  The first thing I learned is that I would be charged a $50 fee because I booked using an agent. (Travelocity, who I had a perfectly good experience with.) Then I was told that the remaining portion of my fare was about 39% and that I would have to pay the difference.  I thought the $50 fee was ridiculous because they still had the entire fare from that booking.  I didn’t cancel, I wasn’t getting a refund.  I merely wanted to take a later flight. But I was going to tolerate that ridiculous fee.  Then the bombshell; the best they could do for me was to rebook for $252.

Now, I was already having a bad day, but there is never going to be a time when this would not anger me. In addition to the high-priced fare I already paid, it was going to cost nearly the same amount to return home.

I asked the agent again, thinking I had somehow misunderstood.  “Are you telling me that in order to take a later flight it is going to cost me $252?  Almost any flight on any airline would be cheaper than that.” His answer, “That’s the best we can do.” (I should add, it was a 6:30 a.m. flight on a Saturday…ugh)

Not good enough.

To be clear, Delta had some options.

They could have looked at the fare I paid, which was very high for such a short flight, and said, “He’s already paid a lot, let’s give him a deal.” (It was over 70% more than that flight normally is. I usually fly Southwest for about $160, this flight was $277.)

They could have said sorry about your loss, we’ll be happy to reschedule.

They could have given me a voucher for the remaining portion of my fare, and allowed me to find a cheaper Delta flight through an agent. (I definitely could have)

Instead they chose to take a different option.  They decided to keep remaining portion of my fare, force me to purchase a different ticket on a different airline, (because nobody is stupid enough to actually take what they offered me) and never sell me another ticket.

So I will be certain to give them exactly the option they chose for me. They got my money for the return flight, and probably resold the seat. I will never give another cent to Delta Airlines.

I feel like I should restate that - Delta Kept my money but lost my business

BTW, I chose Southwest, an airline that has never let me down.  I am blogging about this because It's obvious they are not concerned about my business or my opinion, so this should not bother them in the slightest.

Blogging

I started blogging 2 years and 2 weeks ago and in that period I have posted 397 posts.  That's about 3.7 posts per week.  That represents a significant investment of my time and effort.  And I have posted on a wide variety of topics.  Basically, if I can formulate a clear thought and think I can make it interesting, I'll blog about it, whether it is fishing, the Southern Baptist Convention, my life, theology, basketball, or whatever. However, in the last 2 weeks I have posted nothing except best web junk.

To say that a lot has been going on in that time would be an understatement.  And in the next few weeks many changes are coming to my life.  So consider this post as an explanation and a warning. I am not giving up the blog, a few of you actually enjoy it and read it regularly.  I am, however, going to be blogging less for the foreseeable future.  I have 3 posts planned. ( Two of them are even outlined, which is as many as usual.)

I'm not going anywhere, just slowing down a bit. And one day I'll be back blogging at the same clip.

If you feel like I need more content, feel free to submit a guest blog

Thanks for reading

Best Web Junk (March 5)

I made a 60 on this quiz. I missed #3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 (Even after seeing the answer I still don't know who #8 is, and with 100 tries I would not have gotten #5) I love fishing, I'm not a great fisherman but even if I was, this would be amazing.  Call them down from the sky

This might be the most brilliant marketing plan ever.  I totally want this, even though I know I would hardly ever watch it

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w]

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Internet Thwarts My Plan

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For today's blog post, I was going to write an open letter to NBC about their Olympic coverage.

I would have complained about how ludicrous it is that ESPN or even local NBC affiliates cannot show highlights, and the stupidity of suing everyone who refers to an olympian or who dares to promote the games in any way.  But Stephen Colbert already beat me to it here in this clip (Which I cannot embed because wordpress.com doesn't play nicely with Hulu)

I would have talked about how unspeakably angry I would be if I lived on the West coast and had to wait 3 hours to see an event that is happening in my timezone.  But that has been done already.

I would have asked NBC if they have actually seen their website for the olympics. Because surely if they had they would be too ashamed of it and just take it down.  I won't link to forums about that because of the trolls.  But let's just say the internet has already got that covered.  i think this Alyssa Milano twitter is about the website.  I would have wondered aloud if they think we live in an age without the internet.

I would have complained about all the figure skating coverage and the lack of Hockey.  But that is just preference and I can deal with that.

I cannot find an article about the volume of commercials so I'll just say this.  Any non-live event has a volume of commercials that makes it not worth watching.  I cannot tolerate 1 bobsled run, followed by 7 minutes of commercials followed by 1 bobsled run, followed by 6 minutes of commercials, followed by 1 interview, followed by 9 more minutes of commercials.  It's simply unacceptable.

Since the rest of the internet has already ranted on my topic for today, this is all you get

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Tiger Woods, Buddhism, and Atonement

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Unless you live under a rock, you know about Tiger Woods’ apology last Friday.  Many people have said many things about this apology and about his well-publicized dalliances.  I want to focus on only two portions and point out what I believe to be an inconsistency.  I am not critiquing his sincerity or even the quality of his apology.  I am only looking at the logic behind a couple of his statements. First, let’s look at a quote regarding Tiger’s Buddhist faith.

I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don't realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.

Tiger has accurately stated the point of his faith.  Buddhism teaches that the major problem with the world is suffering, suffering comes as a result of desiring, and the way to end suffering is to stop desiring.  I will only point out briefly here that if Tiger ends his desire to be the greatest golfer of all time it would do major damage to his career.  So I doubt that he will end all desire.  Desire is where ambition comes from and ambition has made him a truly great golfer.

The greater inconsistency in the speech came earlier when Tiger said the following:

“For all that I have done, I am so sorry. I have a lot to atone for”

Atonement means making up for the wrong a person has done.

Here is why I see a great inconsistency with Tiger’s statement.  According to Buddhism, there is no need for atonement.  That is what karma and reincarnation are for.  If what you have done is wrong, the universe will handle it.  There is no need to try to make up for bad deeds and no point in trying.  Also, the universe, or the oneness of Buddhism is impersonal and therefore cannot be wronged, again making atonement unnecessary..

This is one of the many reasons that Christianity is beautiful.  When we do wrong, we know innately that we have wronged God.  The message of Christianity is not that God will “get even” that way that karma will, but rather that, through faith in Christ, all the work of atonement has been done already.  We cannot atone for our wrong actions, but Christ already has.

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Christians and the Old Testament Law pt. 4

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All week long I have been trying to answer the following question: What do Christians do with the Old Testament law?  Today I will try to answer the hardest related question; What is the point of all the law? We all understand the reason behind some of the laws, for example, don’t worship other gods, but why are some others so obscure?  E.g. Don’t eat lobster, or catfish.  Build a fence around your roof.  Don’t cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.   If you kill someone on accident their relatives can come after you, unless you flee to a city of refuge.

Depending on who you ask, you get different answers about the nature of the Pentateuch.α These views fall basically into 4 camps.

  • Some say the point is to relay the law and give moral guidance. – In other words, the main purpose for the Pentateuch is to give the laws.  Which is understandable view since so much of it is made up of laws.  But that ignores some extremely important narrative.
  • Some say that the point is to offer a simple history – Plain enough right.  The laws are basically extraneous
  • Some say that the point is a biography of Moses – I would like to dismiss this out of hand because it ignores Creation, and everything about Abraham.
  • Some say that the point is to offer specific commands to specific people. (e.g. Build an ark)  This also seems silly.

Having dismissed all these views, how will we arrive at an answer to the question at hand?  let’s turn to Old Testament theology genius, and my Hebrew professor, John Sailhamer.β

He will say that main idea of the Pentateuch is to contrast 2 people; Abraham as seen in Gen 26:5, and Moses in Num 20:12.

Follow those links and read the 2 passages closely.  I’ll bet you see something you have never seen before that will transform the way you look at these passages.

What is so transformative about this view?

First, Abraham is said to have kept the law even though he lived and died before it was given.  Do you see it?

Then compare that praise to the sin of Moses.  Which according to Num 20 is a lack of faith, not disobedience to the law.

Have you ever seen this?  Abraham is praised for his faith, Moses (the bringer of the law) is condemned by his lack of faith.

So what conclusion do we draw from this contrast?  How does it help answer the question I have spent all week on?  It means that the point of the OT law is just as Paul says in Rom 10 “the righteous live by faith.”

I hope this series has been helpful.  I enjoyed writing it.  Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

α I’m not sure where I got this from.  I think from lecture notes by Robert L. Cole, Old Testament Survey 1,  Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

β John Sailhamer, “The Mosaic Law and the Theology of the Pentateuch,” Westminster Theological Journal, 53 (1991) 241-261.

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Christians and the Old Testament Law pt. 3

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So why did I choose to spend a whole week writing on this topic?  Because it seems like every Christian struggles to some degree with the answer.  They don’t often ask the question “Am I responsible for keeping the Old Testament law?”  But they do wonder “why can’t I get a tattoo?” or, “Is it okay to mow my yard on Sunday?” or “Is it okay to go to a restaurant on Sunday after church?”  These questions revolve around issues that are not addressed specifically in the New Testament but are clearly addressed in the Old.

I wrote a while back on the morality of tattoos and that post is one of the most popular of all time on my blog.  (Tattoo is a top 5 word in search referrals every month) So let’s take that issue and look at it from the different approaches I laid out yesterday.

So to clarify, Tattoos are not addressed at all in the New Testament, but they are clearly forbidden in the Old Testament. (Lev 19:28)  How does our approach to OT law affect our answer to the question “are tattoos morally acceptable?”

View 1 – The law-gospel divide.  If we approach our question from this view then we are left to conclude nothing.  This view which says that the OT law is of no consequence to NT believers tells us nothing.  We are left to judge the morality of tattoos from a strictly New Testament perspective.

View 2 – Theonomy.  This view says that the OT law is binding on Christians would offer a clear answer to the question.  According to this view, tattoos are morally unacceptable because they are forbidden by Lev 19:28.  I will add here that according to this view, sausage, and clothes of mixed fabric are immoral as well.

View 3 – Principlism. This view, which says that Christians are bound only by the moral law and not the civil or ceremonial law, would also not help us to answer our question.  This command is in the category of ceremonial law, so it is no consequence to the Christian.

We could do this same illustration with any number of common moral questions and find a similar result; it depends on your view.  So maybe this isn’t the most helpful post of all time, but it should help in making the questions contextual.  At least you have a way to think about these sort of moral questions when they arise in your life.

Tomorrow I will try to answer a harder question; What is the point of the Pentateuch and all this law?

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Christians and the Old Testament Law pt. 2

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Don’t eat eagles or geckos (Lev 11:13,30) If you marry a foreign slave woman, shave her head and wait a month to consummate the marriage (Deut 21:10-14)

Don’t cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.  (Ex. 23:19) (That one is there 3 times.)

Build a fence around your roof (Deut 22:8)

These are just a few of the 613 laws of the Pentateuch.  New Testament believers have always had a precarious relationship with the law of the Old Testament.  There are many we keep and many more that we do not.  However for the vast majority of Christians, there is no reason why we keep some laws and not others.  They seem to us either random or culturally-driven.  Today I will attempt to show how Christians throughout the ages have viewed the Old Testament laws throughout time?

Most views of the law fall into these three categories:

1.         The Law-Gospel divide – This view says that the law of the OT is useful, (because it is scripture after all) but it does not help Christians make moral decisions.  NT believers live by the law of Christ not the law of Moses.  In other words, Christians are not bound at all by the law of the Old Testament.

What are some problems with this view?  Most significantly, it reduces the OT to a mere book of history.  If the law does not apply, how do we know the narrative passages are relevant to New Testament believers.   Secondly, Christ quoted much of the OT law. The majority of 10 commandments are explicitly repeated in NT.  If this is the case and Jesus thought it was important enough to reference, then maybe it should speak to His followers

2.         Theonomy – This view says that OT law is binding on the lives of Christians.  Ceremonial law (festivals, temple rules) was fulfilled in Christ so we are off the hook for that.  But the moral and civil law applies unless nullified by architecture or sanitation.    In other words, Christians need to keep as much of the Old Testament law as possible.  Most who hold this view would also say that it is the job of government to bring about adherence to this law as much as possible.

This view has a host of problems as well.  Most significantly, there is no longer a theocracy to implement these laws.  Also, the New Testament seems to clearly do away with OT civil law.

3.         Principlism – Among people who have thought about this question and know what view they hold, this view is the most common.  It divides the OT law into moral, civil, and ceremonial and says that Christians are only responsible for keeping the moral laws.  What exactly are these categories?

  • Ceremonial law, which was given to make the temple/sacrificial system function, was fulfilled in Christ. (Matt 5:17-18)  This was illustrated perfectly when the veil of the temple was torn. (Matt 27:51)
  • Civil law was given to order the Hebrew theocracy and it passed away with the theocracy.
  • Moral law is best summarized in the Ten Commandments is based on the character of God.  These laws are timeless.

These categories are generally pretty to see as we look at the law.  This view helps reconcile the reasons why we keep some but feel no need to keep others.

Tomorrow -  How these views function in real life situations.

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Christians and the Old Testament Law

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One of the difficult questions for Christians is, what do we do with the Old Testament law? We all feel bound by the 10 Commandments and we know inherently that they are meant to guide us today. We do not, however, feel bound by many other laws found in the Pentateuch. I do not personally know a single Christian who feels any guilt whatsoever about wearing clothes made from mixed fabrics. Nor do I know any Christians who have built a fence around their roof in order to keep the law. So why is it that we can only keep a portion of the 613 laws, rules and regulations found in the OT? I will attempt to answer that question in a series of posts this week. Today will be a bit of an introduction to the Pentateuch, Tuesday I will offer some answers that people have given throughout church history, Wednesday I will take a quick look at how these views work out in real-life situations, and Thursday I will share with you what I believe to be the best answer to the question, “what is the point of the law.”

So now let’s get started with an introduction to the Pentateuch.

The word “Pentateuch” means five-fold book and refers to the first five books of the Old Testament. The narrative of the Pentateuch begins with creation and goes through the life of Moses. The narrative flows smoothly through Genesis and most of Exodous, however the rest of it is broken in order to insert hundreds of commands. These commands regulate everything from how to build the temple to what foods are acceptable.

There are so many laws, in fact, that the Pentateuch is often called the “Torah” which means instruction or law. This is where our question arises. As New Testament believers we believe that Jesus came to “fulfill the law.” (Matt 5:17) So does that mean that we do not have to keep any of it? That doesn’t seem to be the case. Every Christian I know feels that murder is wrong, and Jesus himself said that the most important command was to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Matt 12:20)

With this tension laid out, we will look tomorrow at how Christians have chosen to deal with it.

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Best Web Junk (Feb 12)

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This passive aggressive note is the best thing I've seen in a long time Have 10 minutes and want to play a fun flash game - Then you are welcome 1-button Bob (My best is 388 I'm sure I could trim off at least 30 clicks)

Amen

I can't imagine you made it through the week on the interwebs without seeing this vid, but it is awesome.  Also it must be hard to play guitar with only 4 fingers

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAtBki0PsC0]

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Review: Barnes & Noble Nook (Guest Blog)

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This is my first ever guest blog post.  Ben Caldwell is a friend from college and a regular commenter on this blog.  After my post about why I'm not buying an e-book reader he said that he was getting a Nook.  I've never even seen a Nook, and only once have I seen a Kindle in real life, but the idea of an e-reader intrigues me, so I asked him to write a review. Enjoy

I just received a B&N nook for Valentine's Day from my lovely wife, who probably just wanted to me to quit talking about how I was going to buy one "someday." I've wanted an ebook reader for a while now. My only real hobby these days is reading. Over the last three years, I've probably averaged about 85 books a year. However, I don't buy a lot of books. I'm a big library user and visit the used book store once every couple of weeks, but buying new books is pretty rare for me. This makes the idea of an ebook reader less attractive because library support for ebooks is pretty limited. However, I still wanted one because of the convenience and other advantages they offer.

I had settled on the nook for a few reasons. The first is that it is based on the Android platform, which opens up a wide range of future possibilities. The hardware is also nicer than the other offerings, and more attractive. Features like "LendMe" caught my attention, too, though I believe it sounds better than it actually is. The Kindle is the leader and normally, with new technology, it makes sense to go with the leader but I like the nook and think it has a decent future ahead of it.

I've now used my nook for about three days. I am very pleased with the reading experience it offers. The text is very sharp and does indeed look almost exactly like paper. This is one of the big advantages of the E-Ink technology over something like an LCD screen (like the iPad, your phone, or your computer screen). It is not backlit, so you do need an external light source. This is a good thing, though, as it reduces eyestrain and allows for longer reading sessions. Another advantage of E-Ink is that once the screen is painted with the text, it takes no power to continue displaying that page. This greatly increases battery life and should make charging a once-a-week occurrence, at most.

Books can be obtained from various sources thanks to the multiple formats supported by the nook. The main place, of course, is the B&N Ebook store, which is the only one you can buy from directly from the nook. You should be able to buy from other large vendors, like eReader.com and Fictionwise, though I haven't tried it.

The nook isn't perfect, though. Navigation is done via a small LCD touch screen at the bottom of the device. This is attractive and all, but it is very sluggish. Thankfully, not much of your time will be spent on the LCD. Once you choose your book, you are just flipping pages. However, if you want to look up a word in your book, you still have to use the LCD to navigate down the page to the word and hit the define button, which is just painful enough to make it a rare occurrence. Also, the LendMe feature, though it sounds great, is sort of lame. The feature allows you to lend a book to someone for 14 days. That's good, but the further limitations cripple it. You can only lend a particular book once, ever. Also, the ability to lend a book is up to the publisher and support for this right now appears to be pretty low.

Hopefully B&N can address some of these issues in future updates. However, as it is today, I am enjoying reading on it.