[Hat Tip: The Rabbit Room]

Has anyone else seen the Avengers movie? Saw it tonight - loved it.

Did you like it?

Does anyone else beside me think that Loki looks like a malevolent 1980's Bono?

Our in-house emoticons are a hat tip to our classic Gatorade post, since they feature a bottle of green Gatorade next to each smiley. Now, for no other reason than to simply waste time, I'll post all of our emoticons along with a little explanation. . . .

This is a basic smile. Sure beats :-)

Not much cause for using this one around here. We're always happy!

I think of this as the Jared emoticon, though I think he's off tabacky now.

This is me. I'm not sure anyone else has ever used it.

This is, um, a little too flamboyant for me.

An emoticon for our oldest fan.

A happy version of the previous smiley.

This is how we feel about all you egalitarians out there.

Ahoy, matey!

This is our very own Blo, a mythical, elusive sasquatch.

This is what I want to be when I grow up.

This is who you all love and blindly follow.

This is my new favorite emoticon.

This is our "Wild at Heart" smiley. Since WAH dudes have a tendency to fly off the handle, we thought this was apropos.

Our very own pastor Phil.

This was an emoticon for a one-time honorary Thinkling.

That's it. Go back to your busy lives now.

About 48 hours ago I installed Ubuntu on my five-year-old laptop. It was slow. Very slow.

After doing a bit more research, I came across Xubuntu, which was supposed to be faster for older systems. At first blush, it appeared quite spry. After the first date, though, I realized Xubuntu and I weren't going to work out. Dang it.

Alas, I have discovered Lubuntu. It is, I think, the most scaled down Ubuntu version you can get (perhaps with the exception of mobile versions?), and it's fast and furious. I'm talking to you via Lubuntu right now. :-)

I mentioned this foray into open source OS software to my wife a couple of days ago and she asked me why I'd want to use something like Ubuntu over Windows. I mumbled something about stability, virus immunity, etc., but I failed to mention the number one reason -- stickin' it to The Man. Ultimately she said it's because I'm "really a geek."

Yeah, right. If I were really a geek I'd be able to get my wifi working with this thing.

Not a joke. Watch this.

There's so much right with this picture, I don't know where to begin.



[HT to Becky.]

So this made my Monday. A follower on Twitter hipped me to this clip from a recent Graham Norton show where Norton interviews actor Mark Ruffalo, one of my all-time faves. The clip begins with Norton referencing Ruffalo's legendary niceness and then brings up an old blog post of mine. They then reenact the script of the conversation I wish Mark and I had had, lo, those seven years ago.



The Jody mentioned is Becky's sister. Amazing that Mark remembered her name! But Jody is a memorable person.

If you're interested in my original post, which also includes a re-creation of how I remember the conversation actually going, you can go here.

That was before gospel wakefulness corrected my fear of man, by the way. ;-)

But I've had the signed boarding pass he gave Jody to give me on my office bulletin board for the last 7 years.

... though I've never met them.

1. C.S. Lewis. I feel like the man is my brother. When I read his work, I'm mentally transferred to the man's family room, pipe in hand, shoes kicked off, ready to bask in his intelligent warmth. I truly feel love for Lewis -- a strange, beautiful feeling.

2. John Piper. Here's another man who I love dearly, though I've only known him through his sermons and writings. If Lewis is like a brother to me, Piper is like a father. His wisdom resonates through my soul, and his prophetic voice convicts me and forces me to cheer, because the world -- especially the Christian world -- needs prophets like John Piper.

3. Bono. I dare say he's the greatest poet of his generation. His voice, mind, and pen have provided the soundtrack for my life. He's not a moral giant and he's not a preacher, but in his own realm his voice is prophetic. I love him like a brother, and hope to meet him one day.

For all of the men mentioned above, the feeling I have for them really is love. That's what makes them more than just, in my mind, good writers, preachers, or musicians. They're like dear friends.

He will be great
and will be called
the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David,
and he will reign
over the house of Jacob
forever,
and of his kingdom
there will be
no
end.

Luke 1:32-33

It has arrived. And I'm glad.

If a documentary is what it takes to get people (especially parents, teachers, coaches and administrators) to take notice, then so be it.

Me? I don't need to see the movie. Unless you want to see me weep for 90 minutes straight, don't show it to me. I think the movie is really for people who don't realize how bad bullying really is, which, in my biased perspective, is almost everyone. I had trouble watching the trailer without crying. If you have seen the movie, please comment here and let me know what you thought. The filmmakers seem to want to encourage bullied kids too, but I don't know that it would do that. It's the response from parents and teachers and maybe even other kids that would encourage a bullied child. They know how bad it is already. They just want others to know. And by the way, it's not so simple as just telling someone one. Believe me. That's why I think this movie is so important. The evil of bullying really has to be seen to be believed.

I've been reading the reviews ...and the reviews consistently point out two things:

1- "Eye-Opening" - the movie only shows one child actually being bullied on camera. They followed this kid, Alex Libby, around for a year (the child you see in the trailer) and the students got so used to the cameras, they bullied him on camera. At one point, the filmmakers couldn't be passive observers anymore, so they showed the footage to the parents and administrators. The 4 other kids talked about are:
-an eleven year old boy who killed himself because of bullying.
-A seventeen year old boy who killed himself because of bullying
-a girl who threatened people on a bus with a gun because of bullying
-a lesbian teenager who is interviewed on camera about her experiences being bullied for being gay.

You do get to see an administrator tell two kids to apologize to each other and shake hands. You know how to spot the bully? The one who apologizes with a smile. the administrator then lets the bully walk away and chews out the bullied child for not similarly apologizing and shaking hands.

So I think it's good that this movie shows the utter cluelessness of so many adults about what's really going on.

2- "The Rating Controversy" - Of the reviews I read, most of them spent half or more of their space talking about Harvey Weinstein's stupid battle with the MPAA. The MPAA rated it "R" because of 5 swear words spoken to Alex by the bullys. The Weinstein company is mad about it because they are saying that means kids won't see it. So they appealed and lost the appeal by one vote. Weinstein's response? He released it without a rating. This means that many theaters won't show it due to policies about showing unrated films. Wrong choice, Harv. Let it be rated "R". Do you think that's going to stop kids from seeing it? Really? It may limit it a little while at the theater, but once it goes to DVD and HBO and Netflix, you really don't need to worry. Today's parents are going to let their 7 year olds see it. (either through permission or inatttention)

It bothered me that so much press was spent griping out the rating. The point of the movie is to draw attention to a great evil. Let's just focus on that.

This theme of parental difficulty in getting satisfactory responses from those in authority positions in schools is one of "Bully's" constant refrains. Adults are portrayed as clueless and ineffectual, reduced to either "kids will be kids" platitudes or hand-wringing sentiments such as, "This is an awfully complicated and difficult situation."

When it comes to showing what some kids go through on a daily basis, "Bully" concentrates on the situation of 12-year-old Alex Libby of Sioux City, Iowa. Ironically, precisely because the Sioux City school board takes the bullying problem seriously, it allowed filmmaker Hirsch broad access to East Middle School and to the buses where much of the bullying of Alex takes place.

Since the kids on the bus were used to treating Alex with impunity and because Hirsch shot with a small Canon 5D Mark II, no one held back from hitting and cursing Alex just because a camera was present, which is where the footage that gave "Bully" its R-rating comes from.

Hirsch clearly developed a strong rapport with Alex, a bright, aware kid with an awkward manner who seems to confide in the filmmaker more than in his own parents. Alex is desperate for friends, and he doesn't want to make waves, so he spends quite a bit of time trying to downplay the extent of his bullying, until Hirsch takes the unusual step of showing adults some of the footage he has shot. LINK

I am glad that the filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, who was himself bullied, is on a crusade with this film to get the message out.

“You have an inherent human right to not be bullied and to be safe at school,” Hirsch said during a pre-screening in Chicago. “Keep knocking on doors until you find someone who will fight for you. That is your right. The film is intended to create a whole lot more empathy and awareness. ”">LINK

The following quote ends on a positive note, so read on.

“It’s a very personal film,” Hirsch told NBC News. “I was bullied when I was a kid. So it’s like that project that you carry with you in your pocket and you say ‘One day I’m gonna make this film when I have the guts and I have the courage.’”

One of the stars of the film is Alex Libby, who was 12 at the time of the filming. He is pretty courageous too. Alex is seen being punched, poked and ridiculed on the bus. “They push me so far that I want to become the bully,” he said in the film. At one point during filming, Hirsch was so worried about Libby’s safety, he decided to stop shooting and give copies of his tape to the school and Libby’s parents.

When Libby’s parents confronted school officials they were essentially told not to worry. But they were right to worry, just as so many of us parents do. “I didn’t tell them what was going on, which was my mistake,” Alex told NBC News the other night at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie. “I should have told someone. I wish I would have told someone. But I didn’t until Lee came along.”

Alex Libby’s parents were with him on the red carpet in LA and all three attended the screening I was at in New York. I told Alex’s dad how much he reminds me of my own young son. Philip Libby told us the film had brought Alex out of his shell. “Before it started he was in a deep place that we just couldn’t reach him – and Lee and the film and the whole process has just kind of brought him out of that darkness and broke him out of his shell and gave us our son back,” he said.

Indeed, Alex himself says his life is much better now, thanks to a new school in a new state. And he’s proud to be a part of a film that might help other kids. “I’m glad I’m actually making a difference. It’s amazing. I mean, I was always the shy kid, back when I was in middle school. I would never thought I’d be this kid who’s out there trying to change something. But breaking from my shell has been an awesome experience. I realized how awesome I am,” he said.

Yeah, Alex. You are awesome. :-)

I wish every bullied child would be able to finally figure that out.

Russell over at Telos Xelot posts about using our gifts faithfully and joyfully. The Last Letters video he references and an excerpt from his post are below:

I want to show up for my own life. Well, I want to want to show up for my own life. Sometimes I just want to get by. I want to do enough to not get in trouble; enough to have time and money to do what I want to do, and not much more. But whenever I live like that, for very long at all, I find it deeply unsatisfying. The most satisfying times in my life have been when I have taken what God has equipped me to do and done it. I need to show up for my own life.

The movie Saving Private Ryan expresses a picture of this. A squad of 8 men are dispatched to find James Francis Ryan and send him safely home. In the process of saving him, the squad along with Ryan, heroically battle overwhelming odds to defend a key bridge. The leader, Capt. Miller, speaks haunting last words to Ryan: "earn this".
The final scene has an elderly Ryan with his wife, kids and grandkids visiting a graveyard in Normandy. He finds the grave marker of Capt. Miller, begins to weep, and then turns to his wife pleading: "Tell me I've lived a good life; tell me I've been a good man".

How can anyone earn the gift of life? It can't be done. But the question of the effort put into enjoying the gift, that is legitimate. The gift that has been given freely is opposed to earning, but it is not opposed to effort (Dallas Willard). God gifts us with life, with the gospel, with new life from the gospel, with his body, the church, and with particular qualities and strengths for us to utilize as part of his body. We are people defined by gifts, graciously given, not able to be earned, but worthy of effort.

For Timothy this means preaching the Logos. God in Christ is who gifted him this vocation, and Christ will judge whether the investment was handled well. Like the parables in Matthew and Luke, investments are worth checking on. Where much is given, much is expected. Timothy is expected to use his gifts in season and out of season. This requires some degree of mastery. As Paul told Timothy in an earlier letter, spiritual training is like physical training, just with more significance. You take what is given and you shape it with effort.

This idea of spiritual effort is vital. Philippians 2 we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Timothy is then used as an example of someone who does this. Hebrews 4 tells us to make every effort to enter into God's rest. James says that trust without work is dead. Again Paul tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, as a gift, so we can be do good works.

Specifically Paul challenges Tim to correct, rebuke and encourage. To correct is to show a map of how things are vs. how they are perceived. To rebuke is to tell someone not to go the wrong way, and to encourage is to show them the right way. Our gifts, even if not in teaching, should have a similar effect. We should give a positive example that contrasts, and even conflicts, with wrong ways. But this is vital: our goal is redemption. The pharisees may be content to be an example and to point out where other's are wrong, it is in the aspect of hopeful expectation, of looking to being able to encourage someone who has been redirected that our highest virtue is experienced.

Even if I show up for my own life using my gifts, a concern is that I will not keep up. I will grow weary, drift, harden my heart and waste away. It is a proper fear; it happens. Paul warns about it and says it is a common problem. Human desires, in conflict with the change process of maturity, find an alternative route. By replacing teachers of truth with teachers of myths, we can find ways to rationalize whatever we want. Sound doctrine is reality, myths are an alternative reality.

"We are people defined by gifts, graciously given, not able to be earned, but worthy of effort." Amen.

This post by Ray Ortlund is inspiring and rare. I'm reprinting it in its entirety below.

"[G]ospel eyes choose to observe the many excellencies divinely invested in another Christian." Amen x infinity.

Gosh, this is refreshing.

“As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:3

As for the saints in the land. They are in Christ. That is what distinguishes them. It is all they need to be distinguished. Not their own talents or attainments, but what God has done. God has set them apart to himself. It changes everything.

They are the excellent ones. There is much to admire in every Christian. Just start asking questions. About thirty seconds into the conversation, the excellence will become obvious. Rather than rate them, grade them, scrutinize them, to see if they are up at our level, rather than say, “Well, they aren’t perfect,” which is condescending and insulting and irrelevant, gospel eyes choose to observe the many excellencies divinely invested in another Christian.

In whom is all my delight. This the final step. It is personal. It is emotional. It is wholehearted. It is so bold that it might be misconstrued as idolatry (“all my delight”). But the gospel allows for no aloofness, no “wait and see” attitude, no standoffishness. We move toward one another with intense joy.

The world doesn’t think this way. We must think this way. The gospel demands it and provides it.

If we will rejoice in one another for the Lord’s sake, we might live down Anne Rice’s assessment that “Christians have lost credibility in America as people who know how to love.”

Nothing is more urgently needed, in my opinion.

Rev. Harrison stands firm against our Government's meddling in the consciences of people of faith. Well done - respectful, clear, and eloquently plain-spoken.



[H/T Ray Ortlund]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this turns out to be one of those "it's funny because it's true" things.

Another reason to retreat from meta-life and spend more time living real life.

Favorite quote: "400 billion tweets and not one useful bit of data was ever transmitted."

[H/T: Forward Progress]

Engineer captures video footage of what appears to be a woolly mammoth crossing a Siberian river. These creatures have been thought to be extinct since about 2,000 B.C.



This is a large animal thought extinct for thousands of years, now spotted. Along with historical notes like that mountain gorillas weren't discovered until the early 1900's, this gives more hope for some day discovering definitive evidence of the existence of Sasquatch.

In a recurring Groundhog Day tribute of their own, the editors of National Review annually post Jonah Goldberg's excellent 2005 paean to the classic Harold Ramis movie, Groundhog Day. Here are the closing paragraphs of Goldberg's article, A Movie for All Time.

Ultimately, the story is one of redemption, so it should surprise no one that it speaks to those in search of the same. But there is also a secular, even conservative, point to be made here. Connors’s metamorphosis contradicts almost everything postmodernity teaches. He doesn’t find paradise or liberation by becoming more “authentic,” by acting on his whims and urges and listening to his inner voices. That behavior is soul-killing. He does exactly the opposite: He learns to appreciate the crowd, the community, even the bourgeois hicks and their values. He determines to make himself better by reading poetry and the classics and by learning to sculpt ice and make music, and most of all by shedding his ironic detachment from the world.

Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin, the writers of the original story, are not philosophers. Ramis was born Jewish and is now a lackadaisical Buddhist. He wears meditation beads on his wrist, he told the New York Times, “because I’m on a Buddhist diet. They’re supposed to remind me not to eat, but actually just get in the way when I’m cutting my steak.” Rubin’s original script was apparently much more complex and philosophical — it opened in the middle of Connors’s sentence to purgatory and ended with the revelation that Rita was caught in a cycle of her own. Murray wanted the film to be more philosophical (indeed, the film is surely the best sign of his reincarnation as a great actor), but Ramis constantly insisted that the film be funny first and philosophical second.

And this is the film’s true triumph. It is a very, very funny movie, in which all of the themes are invisible to people who just want to have a good time. There’s no violence, no strong language, and the sexual content is about as tame as it gets. (Some e-mailers complained that Connors is only liberated when he has sex with Rita. Not true: They merely fall asleep together.) If this were a French film dealing with the same themes, it would be in black and white, the sex would be constant and depraved, and it would end in cold death. My only criticism is that Andie MacDowell isn’t nearly charming enough to warrant all the fuss (she says a prayer for world peace every time she orders a drink!). And yet for all the opportunities the film presents for self-importance and sentimentality, it almost never falls for either. The best example: When the two lovebirds emerge from the B&B to embrace a happy new life together in what Connors considers a paradisiacal Punxsutawney, Connors declares, “Let’s live here!” They kiss, the music builds, and then in the film’s last line he adds: “We’ll rent to start.”

Read the whole thing.

I think Groundhog Day is one of the best movies ever made. I remember watching it on VHS with my wife, years ago; though it does not have an explicitly Christian message, the movie is brimming with redemption. Watching it for the first time surfaced in me an exquisite sense of joy. (And, in my one beef with Goldberg over this article, I thought Andie MacDowell was plenty charming).

If you haven't already watched Groundhog Day, I highly recommend it. If you have, get with the spirit of things and watch it again (and again, and again, and . . .)

Seen on long-time blog friend Jennifer's facebook page:

Every day is Christmas - God With Us. Every day is New Year's - Mercies New. Every day is Easter - He is Risen! Every, every, EVERY day is Thanksgiving.

Amen x infinity.

Now to live like that . . .