Pretty Cold...At Least for Seattle

I realize that cold weather is all subjective and that some areas of the country are bitterly cold right now, but it's been pretty chilly here lately. I saw this photo today and thought it was a sweet representation of the cold weather we have had here in Seattle of late.

HT: mynorthwest.com

Finally Done...Bring on Pete Rollins

I just got home from my second-to-last class of the semester and now am done with all of my work for this term. What a relief. This semester has been a bear for some reason. It should not have been that bad because I only had 3 ongoing classes throughout this fall, but I never quite found my rhythm and really struggled my way through the past few months of finishing up procrastinated projects and papers.

Now I can finally get excited about Peter Rollins coming to Seattle tomorrow. Pete is an Irish theologian/philosopher whose writings I have come to love. My friends and I have been in contact with him on Facebook for a few months and asked him if he would be willing to come out to Seattle and hang out with us and lecture at my seminary, Mars Hill Graduate School. So tomorrow afternoon he is flying in and my friends and I will be hanging out with Peter all evening. Thursday afternoon he will be having a conversation with the M.Div. students at the school and Thursday night he will be lecturing to anyone who comes to see him. The title of his lecture is "When God Doubts God: some thoughts on belief, metabelief, and doubt." I have no idea what he is going to talk about, but I am sure it will be brilliant, provocative, and challenging of normal theology and spiritual thought. I can't wait! Click HERE to see the Facebook event for his Thursday night lecture.

The Truth of Christmas

A Must Win

I make an effort to not talk much about sports on this site (because I am obsessive and most people don't care that much about sports) but I couldn't avoid a brief post about an upcoming game. I am as die-hard of a Denver Bronco fan as you can imagine, and this season has provided a roller coaster of emotions for me. The off-season was rough, as Denver fired their hall-of-fame coach, traded their pro-bowl quarterback, nearly traded their pro-bowl receiver, and had a terrible draft day.

All seemed well, however, when the regular season began with six straight wins, including tough victories against Cincinnati, San Diego, Dallas, and New England. But now, three weeks later, my Broncos find themselves at 6-3 after three straight losses. And they haven't been the kind of losses that you can still feel good about, but rather, 2 blowouts and an embarrassing loss to the dreadful Washington Redskins.

With all this in mind, this Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers has become THE pivotal game for the Broncos' season. The Chargers started slow this season but have won the last 3 games and find themselves tied with the Broncos for the division lead. If the Broncos win this game, I believe they will go on to win the division and make the playoffs. If the Broncos lose, though, I think they will continue this backslide and miss the playoffs altogether. Needless to say, I'm a bit anxious about this upcoming match-up. Go Broncos!!

A Second Date with Bono

Most of you know that I saw U2 in concert in Vancouver, British Columbia a few weeks ago. The concert was phenomenal, by far the best show I've ever been to, and I was already looking forward to the next time I would see them live. Well, a few days after that concert U2 announced that they would be coming to Seattle during the 2010 leg of their "360 Degree Tour."

The tickets just went on sale this morning so my friends and I quickly gobbled up 10 tickets and are incredibly excited for the concert this summer. Seeing U2 in Vancouver was amazing, but it was still lacking because I was all by myself at the concert. By the time I went to get tickets to that show, there were no 2 seats available together in the entire arena. This time I got tickets early and get to see the show with some of my best friends in the world. Even our great friends Nate and Brittny from Sioux Falls, SD are flying out for the show.

The concert is on a Sunday night in late June of this coming summer, so I'm going to have to wait a while between my first and second dates with Bono. I'm already praying for good weather that evening, since the show is in Qwest Field where the Seahawks play, a uncovered field. Please NO rain!

The (Anti)Evangelism Project

"To invite a world that we would wish to critique and dismiss to be a mirror into our own world is a difficult thing to do. It requires both bravery and humility."

For those who frequent this site, you know that I am a huge fan of Peter Rollins, a philosopher from Northern Ireland, who never ceases to challenge my thinking and inspire me to action. In his first book, How (Not) to Speak of God, he talks about something his church does called "The Evangelism Project." Actually, the project is more of an anti-evangelism project, as the group meets with different political and religious organizations, not to have an inter-faith dialogue, but to simply be evangelized by that group. I was originally skeptical of this idea, but it is actually quite beautiful. As they listen and learn they are allowed to see their own beliefs with fresh vision and new eyes, greatly impacting their faith and the way it is acted out in the world.

Peter recently fleshed this idea out in much more detail on his blog. I highly recommend you check out his post called "Evangelism Will Change the World." Click HERE.

The Bible as Protection

Now don't get me wrong...the Bible is incredibly important to me. But for far too long it was a tool to be used for safety and protection, to ward off any dangerous thoughts, a weapon to defend my own beliefs and opinions from opposing ones. Instead, I desire for the Scriptures to once again be the beautiful, ancient text it really is, to use it as a sword that cuts deep into my own heart rather than into the heart of others in judgment and condemnation. This cartoon from ASBO Jesus was a helpful way of thinking about the role Scripture does and ought to play in my life.

HT: The Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Stinkin' Amazing

In July I was privileged to attend a preaching conference in Grand Rapids, MI sponsored by Rob Bell. Along with an incredible amount of interesting and helpful information, we also got to see a number of sweet videos before the sessions. One of the videos was an amazing clip of bike stunts. I tracked it down on Google today and thought I would share it with you today. Enjoy!

Inspired. Danny MacAskill from dave on Vimeo.