Resource Alert

Currently I am taking my students through The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity by Alex McFarland during our Wednesday night discipleship time. This week we are on Objection No. 8 People Are Basically Good. This is a great book for youth groups, individuals that want to strengthen their faith, or for seekers. I have developed each chapter into a discussion oriented Bible study (In the back Alex has already put down some discussion questions for group use) so our students can digest the myths and understand the truth. It is very deep, but my students love it. One student likes to engage in online chat boards with atheist and she is using a lot the material from this book. Our student need to know this stuff, because they will face this stuff in college and when they get out on their own. Teach apologetics to your children and students. The myths that the book covers are:

1. God is Not Real

2. Creation is a Myth

3. The Bible is Not Completely Authentic

4. The Bible is Not Completely Accurate

5. Jesus Was Just a Man

6. Jesus is Not the Only Way to Heaven

7. A Loving God Wouldn't Send People to Hell

8. People Are Basically Good

9. Christians Are All Hypocrites

10. A Merciful God Wouldn't Allow Suffering



The second Resource Alert is BSafe Online. I am currently teaching my students about Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Sunday nights during our student worship. I am teaching them about boundaries and accountability and it hits me that I am being hypocritically. I am teaching them to be accountable, but my life if wide open to temptation online. So, I am trying this out for my own accountability and also to be a model for other parents. All of us need this software. It is great, you can set different users to have more or less security. You can also get email reports about the online activity. You can monitor chat and IM. It definitely is one of the best filters I have seen. Check it out today.

Lost Season 4 Episode 5 "The Constant" Reaction

I took me while to break down this episode (I had to watch it twice). I have read some other reviews and they thought the same thing I did; that this episode was something straight out of the Back to the Future Trilogy. I did not see the whole time travel thing coming. They eluded to the whole time gap last week and Daniel was so adamant that the helicopter pilot stay on course that I new something was going to happen. I didn't expect Des to freak out and forget who everyone was and really didn't expect him to start jumping through time.

I was very excited to to see the boat this week. I wasn't quite what I expected, it resembled a broke down junker rather than the Q. E. II. The crew members on the boat and doctor on the boat give me the creeps. It seems everyone knows what is going on expect for us and the people for the plane crash. I am getting sick of all the weird glances. I am glad that back on the beach Jack finally took control and got some information out of them. They new about the time problem. That must be why the island is so hard to find. We still don't know why time is messed up.

The whole time warp thing was very interesting and gave us some more information on Des. By the way he has become one of my favorite characters, I really want him and Penny to get together. Is it just me or this show going even more Sci-fi than ever before. Anyway, I liked the whole interplay between Des and Daniel in the present and in the past. But one thing bugs me, Daniel says you can't change the future, but why didn't he remember Des from 1996. Does he have problem or is memory messed up (Remember they were doing a memory test on the beach in the last episode)? I also remember the doctor says that Daniel "...can't even help himself." All of this leads me to believe that Daniel has a problem, maybe a time problem of his own or maybe from all that radiation he was exposed to in 1996 (Des commented that he didn't wear anything to protect his head), it doesn't seem to be affecting his brain function. However, if you allow me to skip to the end, Daniel found that he wrote that Des was his constant (The constant being that anchor that helps one trapped in the time warp to have a source that brings them to reality).

All that is interesting, but not near as interesting as why Penny's dad wanted the first mates journal to the boat of the Black Rock. If you remember the boat was found inland on the island a couple of seasons ago. I think it is the boat that the science teacher was blown up by the dynamite. Mr. Whitmore must be trying to find the island in 1996. My own personal theory is that the boat that the "rescue team" is from is Mr. Whitmore's boat. Mr. Whitmore must have hired that guy that visited Hurly in the loony bin to find the island, so he asembled a team to find it. Why does he want to find the island? The communication officer, George, said before he died that Penny called the boat a lot but they did not anwser the call because they were instructed not to, like whoever told them not answer the call new who she was and what she wanted.

One random thought, who is the captain? Why didn't the captain know that the communications equipment had be sabotaged? Well, at least we know that Penny know that Des is alive and that she is going to intensify he search. Does he get rescued? I hope so. This is getting rather long and confusing, I am sure I left something out, but oh well all will be revealed eventually. By the way, this season so far is the best since the first season.

Next week, I hope we find out more about the boat people, I also want to know what happened to the others and where is this temple. I think we get to see a new Dharma station, oh joy.

Resource Alert!

I remember reading Understanding Today's Youth Culture by Walt Mueller when I was in school, it is a great book but now is very outdated. I was surprised to find an updated version of the book now called Youth Culture 101 by Mueller in my local Christian book store. I am just now diving into the book, but it looks good and I would recomend it to all parents and youth workers.

I also went only to find that Mueller also has a website devoted to youth culture: http://www.cpyu.org/ which stands for Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. I found a lot of media articles and a lot of youth culture articles among other things on the site. It is a very good site and seems to be updated several times a day. Check it out to find out about current youth culture trends. This site will also produces a journal on youth culutre. I am awaiting my first issue and will report about it when I get it.

What I Am Listening To

I like to pass on what I am listening to so others can enjoy it. Here is what I am listening to right now:

Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static

I am a huge Jack Johnson fan. I especially liked his last album, but this album is very different from. Don't expect as many catchy tunes, this album has fun parts but is much deeper. It took me several listens to really like it, but now I feel this is his best album yet. Favorite songs: Monsoon, They Do, They Don't, and Hope.

Skillet - Comatose

I took the students from my church to Winter Jam Tour here in Evansville and we all agreed Skillet was definitely the highlight. I remember them from back in the day, but don't remember them rocking out like they did. I bought the album, which is from 2006, and have loved it. It definitely rocks. Favorite songs: Rebirthing, The Last Night, and Whispers in the Dark.

Ingrid Michaelson - Girls and Boys

I, like many people, loved the song on the Old Navy commercial about "giving you my sweater". I looked up the artist and was very surprised by the album. The sweater song (The Way I Am) is not like the rest of the album, each track for the most part is very different. This is probably the best indie album I have heard. The songs are well written, performed, and produced. I love this album. She also got a lot of play on Grey's Anatomy last season, but don't hold that against her. Favorite songs: Die Alone, Starting Now, The Way I Am, and Overboard.

Sanctus Real - We Need Each Other

I bought this album not knowing much about the band, but I was looking for some good music to give away as prizes. I went the Christian book store to listen and was very surprised. It seems this band has been very subdued in the past (I found the album in the soft rock section), but on this album they rock. There are several slower more worshipful songs, but a couple really rock. I like this album very much, definitely worth checking out. Favorite songs: Turn on the Lights, We Need Each Other, and Legacy.

Lost Season 4 Episode 4 "Eggtown" Reaction

This weeks lost was good, however it didn't answer my primary questions about Sayid and Desmond on the copter or anything about the boat, but it did answer a question about who Kate was refering to in last episode last season. It turns out that it is Aaron, Claire's son. So Claire must have died at some point on the island, it is unlikely that Kate would take the baby or Claire would give it up. Claire must die as some point.

The rest of the episode was nothing to spectacular. These people from the boat are getting annoying with there looks back and forth everytime someone says something about rescue. I think it is time we know why there are really there. I hope next week will show us the boat, but from the preview it looks like they have helicopter problems, so they probably all crash and die. Who knows?

The one questions that doesn't look like it going to get answered anytime soon, but is driving me crazy is what happened to "the others". They left for some temple and have not shown their faces, why don't they attack the people from the boat and kill them. Unless they are acting out a plan with Ben being captured and so forth. I don't know, I hope next week is more imformative.

Strike Over

Before I go to bed I wanted to let you know how excited I am that the writer's strike is over. I am excited that the Office is coming back, but not until April. I am really excited that SNL is coming back this Sat. I am bummed that 24 is postponed until next Jan. Oh, well we still have Lost. I can't wait until tommorrow night. I hope all of my questions will be answered, but I don't expect much it is supposed to be a Kate-centric with the flash forwards. I hope we will learn who the mystery person she was talking about in the season finale last season. Also, I am intersted in how she avoids going to jail. Anyway I can't wait, I have a lot of questions that I sure will be answered only to get more questions in return.

Dead or Not Dead?

Is this blog dead, probably! Should I try to revive it? Probably not because I usually get excited about these things once in a while then I get to busy and forget about them. However, I would like to continue it, I think I need to get some sort of focus. Maybe I will make it focused on ministry or maybe on just personal junk, I dunno? I am going to think about it over the next few days and try to reinvent it and keep it going. If you read this, congrats you are probably the only one, so THANKS.

I did buy the new Sanctus Real Album today and it is awesome. The first song rocks, and the rest is really good. Check it out.

Anyway, check back again because you might find something useful. And, by the way for all you perfectionist, I am not going to proof read this, I just posting it because I hate proof reading. If there are mistakes then deal with it.