Raising Young Men

"From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future - that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, disorder - most particularly the furious, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure - that is not only to be expected; it is very near to inevitable. And it is richly deserved."

The late Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Calling All Men

My Dad

The Pew Research Center just released a new study titled, A Tale of Two Fathers. In 1960, only 11% of children in the U.S. lived apart from their fathers. By 2010, that number had risen to 27%.

Fathers’ living arrangements are strongly correlated with race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status as measured by educational attainment. Black fathers are more than twice as likely as white fathers to live apart from their children (44% vs. 21%).























69% of Americans believe having a father in the home is essential for a child to grow up happily. Yet one out of four children in the US are growing up without a father in their home.

Fatherlessness is a growing crisis in America, one that under girds many of the challenges that families are facing. When dads aren't around, young people are more likely to drop out of school, use drugs, be involved in the criminal justice system, and become young parents themselves.

President Obama grew up without his dad, and has said that being a father is the most important job he has. That's why the President is joining dads from across the nation in a fatherhood pledge – a pledge that we'll do everything we can to be there for our children and for young people whose fathers are not around.

I'm thankful for a dad who was there for me as a child. A dad who loved me, provided for our family, taught me valuable life lessons, loved my mother and sacrificed so that I could have opportunities that he didn't have.

Growing up, my dad was my hero. And 60 years later I still admire and respect him. I've been given a rich heritage. And I've also had the privilege of passing the Pagel name and family reputation on to my four sons.

Me and Deshawn, my Lunch Buddy

Our families long for and deserve our best. Men, let's step up to our responsibilities in our families and in our community. Let's be the men that our sons and daughters aspire to become like.

Let's mentor boys and young men in our community into manhood. Become a Lunch Buddy at Polk School, coach a sports team, become a Boy Scout leader. Our children and our community are counting on us.

Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! Vindicate the oppressed and suffering!  Psalm 82:3

MissionShift - Part 1

I'm reviewing the first section of the book MissionShift: Global Mission Issues In The Third Millennium. Ed Stetzer tweeted several weeks ago that he would give a copy of the book to anyone who would agree to review the book and join an online conversation on his blog. Never one to pass up a free book, I jumped at the offer. 

I was intrigued by the topic of mission and missiology. The first thing I noticed is that the book is published by B&H Academic. This is an academic work. I probably wouldn't have picked this book up to read on my own. However, if you willing to wade through the sometimes lengthy and complex discourse, this is a very informative and useful book. It speaks directly to the issues facing the church today and can act as a framework to help us interact, adapt, confront and transform culture.

The book is designed around three essays and then a series of responses to each:

1. Mission Defined and Described by Charles Van Engen describes Mission in the Past
2. The Gospel in Human Contexts by Paul Hiebert describes Mission in the Present
3. The Future of Evangelicals in Mission by Ralph Winter describes Mission in the Future

My assignment this week is to respond and reflect on the first essay, including the responses by Keith Eitel, Enoch Wan, Darrell Guder, Andreas Kostenberger, Ed Stetzer and David Hesselgrave. Quite a task for guy who has never studied missiology! I will try to keep my comments concise and to the point.

As Proverbs 17:27-28 says: Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Being a history major, I enjoyed Van Engen's comments about how mission has been defined differently over the years. He quotes Sidney Rooy: "If, like David Bosch, we define mission as missio Dei ["the mission of God"], we can say that this signifies the revelation of God as the One who love the world God has created, who is concerned for this world, and who has formed the church to be a subject called to participate in the historical project of establishing the kingdom of God....Truly, each generation must define mission anew."

I enjoyed the section on the Biblical meaning of the word mission. The word mission is rarely used in either the Old or New Testaments. "What is emphasized regularly is the concept of being sent, with an emphasis on the authority and purpose of the sender."

• The church is sent by her Lord.
• The covenant people of God are sent by God to the nations who are not yet part of the people of God.
• Jesus refers to Himself as the one who is sent: "I must proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose." (Luke 4:43)
• The followers of Jesus are also sent to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God, to invite all peoples to become Jesus' disciples and responsible members of His church. (Matthew 28:18-20)
• We need to continually remember that sending is an integral part of mission. Jesus Christ is the Sender, "whose authority defines, circumscribes, limits, and propels Christian mission."

During the Constantinian era, the concept of Christian mission changed drastically.

• The Decree of Milan in 313 AD recognized Christianity as an officially permitted religion
• In 325 Christianity became the favored religion
• In 380 Christianity became the official religion
• By 392 Christianity became the only tolerated religion [in the Holy Roman Empire]
• "In a brief span of eighty years, Christianity went from being a persecuted religion to the persecuting religion." In addition to the church, the empire [nation-state] became an agent of mission represented by persons designated by the emperor.
• In this era the mission of the church was extended through conquest, forcible imposition of the faith, destroying pagan religions, and mass baptisms.
• In the Constantinian model of mission, there was confusion between the temporal and spiritual. The Emperor represented the "kingdom of God" which led to a confusion of church and state.

In the late 1700s William Carey suggested a different way of understanding mission. His approach was rooted in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and assumed the following:

• Salvation was individualistic, primarily concerned with a spiritual and personal relationship with Jesus Christ
• The primary calling of the church's mission was geographic. Christians were called to go.
• New converts should be gathered into churches resembling the sending churches and missions
• New individual converts should be extracted from their non-Christian contexts, gathered into Christian mission stations, and taught culture and civilization of the missionaries.

 The World Council of Churces was founded in 1948 in response to the "disastrous consequences of the church's silence and irrelevance in the crisis of Western Europe during the 1930's and the early 1940's." The WCC wanted to find a more relevant missiology and crystallized around the phrase missio Dei, "the mission of God." The WCC became characterized by:

• Radical secularization of mission
• A deep pessimism about the church as a viable agent of God's mission
• An emphasis on God's mission oriented toward, and centered in, the kingdom of God and the world rather than the church
• The world set the agenda for the church

This radical secularization of mission and caused S Neill to say, "When everything is mission, nothing is mission."

Reacting against the redefinition of mission by the WCC, Evangelical leaders came together in two major mission conferences in 1966 and later in Lausanne in 1974, Pattaya

• Calling people to mission for" unreached people groups" in places where they saw no viable church present. This led to many missionaries being sent to the former Soviet-bloc countries.
• An emphasis on the "10-40 Window", the least-evangelized area of the world where the greatest number of poor live.
• Evangelicals struggling to bring together evangelism and social action

 Van Engen concludes by calling for missional churches who are contextual, intentional, proclaiming, reconciling, sanctifying, unifying, and transforming. Van Engen footnotes Scherer at this point:

"Mission happens wherever the church is; it is how the church exists. Mission is the church preaching Christ for the first time; it is the act of Christians struggling against injustice and oppression; it is the binding of wounds in reconciliation; it the church learning from other religious ways and being challenged by the world's cultures....Mission is the local church focusing not on its own, internal problems, but on other human beings, focusing elsewhere, in a world that calls and challenges it."

I like that! Mission happens wherever the church is; it is how the church exists! I want to be that kind of church! I want to pray, trust, and work to create that kind of community here in Cedar Rapids. I want to be the church on the move that lives out the gospel and extends it to all people.

Silent No More!

Today is Martin Luther King Day. Ed Stetzer has a great post titled Letters from a Birmingham Jail over at edstetzer.com. I am summarizing his post.

The Letter from Jail is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr. King wrote the letter from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was confined after being arrested for his part in the Birmingham campaign. King's letter is a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen on April 12, 1963, titled "A Call For Unity". The clergymen agreed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets.

Here is an excerpt from the letter:

I received a letter this morning from a white brother in Texas which said, "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry? It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time. It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation... 

As I was reading during my quiet time this morning in Matthew 12, here are some of my thoughts and reflections.

"Appalling silence." As a witness to the transforming power of the gospel, has the church of Jesus Christ lost our voice? As the people of God, do we speak for those who can't speak for themselves? Do we stand silently as we see injustice run rampant? Are we willing to stand with the gospel in the places where it critiques and confronts our culture?

Jesus was willing to confront his religious culture. Jesus was counter cultural. When confronted by the Pharisees about law-keeping and boundary-drawing, Jesus responded with this:

And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. Matthew 12:7


Jesus was criticized for doing good and for healing on the Sabbath. He so thoroughly confronted the Pharisees legalistic system of religion that they went off to plot how to kill him. And what was Jesus response? Luke 12:15 says he withdrew and many followed him, and he healed all their sick.

Matthew writes that Jesus compassion and mercy reflects the heart of God and was foretold in Isaiah 42:1-4:

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations."  Matthew 12:18

If we are silent the rocks will cry out! What does it mean in our culture at this time of history to proclaim justice and practice mercy? What would it look like to be a follower of Jesus who speaks for those who have no voice? Let's be silent not more!

Are You Listening?

Last Sunday President Barack Obama gave a commencement speech at Hampton University and took a swipe at iPods, iPads and Play Stations. I applaud the president for taking on our entertainment-saturated culture.

However he didn't stop there. He also took on the 24/7 news cycle and social media.

"And meanwhile, you're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank that high on the truth meter. And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and Play Stations -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy."

I find it ironic that our president is complaining about the 24/7 media environment that exposes us to all kinds of content. And worse yet, our president says that information becomes a distraction and diversion rather than a tool of empowerment.

It appears that our president has changed his view of social media since being elected. Here are the facts according to the "truth meter."

Here is what Fast Company has to say about Barack Obama and his social media strategy during the campaign.

I'm obviously not the only one aware of Obama's comfort-level with technology: he had 3 million online donors during the election and 2 million people were passionate enough to create profiles on my.barackobama.com. Barack Obama gets the Internet and social media the way that Kennedy got TV. You've heard the story of how radio listeners thought Nixon won the debates but televsion viewers saw it the other way around? Kennedy was built for TV and Obama is built for the Internet age.

Here is what the New York Times has to say about how Obama tapped into the power of social networks.

In February 2007, a friend called Marc Andreessen, a founder of Netscape and a board member of Facebook, and asked if he wanted to meet with a man with an idea that sounded preposterous on its face.

Always game for something new, Mr. Andreessen headed to the San Francisco airport late one night to hear the guy out. He wondered if social networking, with its tremendous communication capabilities and aggressive database development, might help him beat the overwhelming odds facing him.

“It was like a guy in a garage who was thinking of taking on the biggest names in the business,” Mr. Andreessen recalled. “What he was doing shouldn’t have been possible, but we see a lot of that out here and then something clicks. He was clearly supersmart and very entrepreneurial, a person who saw the world and the status quo as malleable.”

And as it turned out, President-elect Barack Obama was right.

Like a lot of Web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans.

You can read this report called The Social Pulpit - Barack Obama's Social Media Toolkit.

And finally, you really need to read this article, How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign. Chris Hughes was one of the co-founders of Facebook and he developed the MyBarackObama.com website that "allowed Obama supporters to create groups, plan events, raise funds, download tools, and connect with one another -- not unlike a more focused, activist Facebook. MyBO also let the campaign reach its most passionate supporters cheaply and effectively. By the time the campaign was over, volunteers had created more than 2 million profiles on the site, planned 200,000 offline events, formed 35,000 groups, posted 400,000 blogs, and raised $30 million on 70,000 personal fund-raising pages."

Here is what Chris Hughes did for Barack and his campaign.

He helped develop the most robust set of Web-based social-networking tools ever used in a political campaign, enabling energized citizens to turn themselves into activists, long before a single human field staffer arrived to show them how.

"Technology has always been used as a net to capture people in a campaign or cause, but not to organize," says Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. "Chris saw what was possible before anyone else." Hughes built something the candidate said he wanted but didn't yet know was possible: a virtual mechanism for scaling and supporting community action. Then that community turned around and elected his boss president. "I still can't quite wrap my mind around it," Hughes says.

Our president is learning that taking your message directly to the people works both ways. President Obama would like us to believe that information is a distraction and diversion, that content can confound and obscure the truth, and that media needs to be tuned out and turned off.

But I think what is really happening is that our president is learning that in this new age of social media, information flows two ways, that content can't be easily spun and that media is now 24/7.

And he's also learning that dialog requires a two-way conversation. The American people have learned that they have a voice. Mr. President, the people are speaking. You would do well to listen.

Happy Sunday!

You gotta love this video! On Easter Sunday, April 4 of this year, over 1300 people from Faith Church from Budapest, Hungary danced in the city's Hero's Square. What a way to celebrate Easter!

Here is some of the backstory. What do ya thing? How about Cedar Rapids doing something like this? Sort of like flash mob meets Jesus! 

Verse 1
That day will be remembered as the greatest day in history
The fate of the world changed in one glorious moment
When Life triumphed on Resurrection Sunday 
The hope of a people searching for life
The day will be brighter
The message of freedom rings in the sky
Spreading the fire
The flag of a nation ready to fly
Taking them higher
The heart of a land that rises to fight
Full of desire
When nothing is as you want it to be
Look up to heaven
Freedom was paid for on Calvary
The chain is broken
Making a way right to destiny
Borders are open
And Jesus has granted the victory
That Sunday mornin

Bridge
Joy in this life time, utterly free
More than the world gives, beyond what you see
For nations its time to rise their hope is in Jesus Christ
If the giants come, just hold on, the advantage is now on your side
Jesus, will take the final fight

Verse 2 
A light dawned that Sunday Morning it broke through the boundaries of time
Hearts start shining, calling to all mankind
Lets celebrate eternal life 
When nothing is as you want it to be
Look up to heaven
Freedom was paid for on Calvary
The chain is broken
Making a way right to destiny
Borders are open
And Jesus has granted the victory
That Sunday mornin

Where Do People Find The Time?

Excellent talk by Clay Shirky, author and graduate professor at NYU. I just finished his latest book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

I love his concept of excess time or "cognitive surplus."

"Starting with the Second World War a whole series of things happened--rising GDP per capita, rising educational attainment, rising life expectancy and, critically, a rising number of people who were working five-day work weeks. For the first time, society forced onto an enormous number of its citizens the requirement to manage something they had never had to manage before--free time. And what did we do with that free time? Well, mostly we spent it watching TV."

And how much cognitive surplus do we have? More than you might think!

"So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project--every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in--that represents something like the accumulation of 100 million hours of human thought. I worked this out with Martin Wattenberg at IBM; it's a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but it's the right order of magnitude, about 100 million hours of thought."

"And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads. This is a pretty big surplus."

So, how are you spending and investing your time? Are you learning and participating and conversing and sharing and collaborating and growing? What are your goals for personal and professional development this year? What are you contributing at work and to those who are closest to you? Are you leaving the world a better place by your presence?

Where do people find the time? I find that I always have time for what's important to me. The world is waiting for our contribution. We have one solitary life. Let's make the most of every day!

Overcome Evil With Good

You've heard about Fred Phelps and Wesboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. But perhaps you haven't heard about Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania.
You're about to learn more about Albert Snyder in the weeks ahead as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case when it they reconvene on October 4.

On March 3, 2006 Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, 20, was killed in a Humvee crash in Al Anbar province, Iraq and was buried on March 10 in Westminster, Maryland. The Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church staged a protest outside the ceremony, including signs reading "Semper Fi, Semper Fags" and "God hates dead soldiers."

Then, on June 5, 2006,  Albert Snyder, Matthew Snyder's father, filed a defamation suit against Phelps and the Westboro Church in federal court, alleging church members violated the family's right to privacy and defamed Matthew Snyder on its website. The legal battle has wound itself through the court system and will be heard by the Supreme Court this fall.

Which brings us back to Albert Snyder, a father who tragically lost his 20 year old son while he was serving his country in Iraq. The latest story by the Associated Press details the fathers pain and agony.

Some nights Albert Snyder wakes up at 3 a.m. Other nights he doesn't sleep at all, tormented by thoughts of the hateful signs carried by a fundamentalist church outside his Marine son's funeral.

 "It's still very emotional," Snyder said in an interview at his attorney's office. "It's like I constantly relive this every day, and I just wonder sometimes, when this is all over, what I'm going to do with that void. Will the grieving process begin?"

This will be an interesting case of freedom of speech verses state protection. But regardless of the outcome, it's important to emphatically state that the kind of hatred the Phelps advocates has no place in the life of a follower of Christ. My heart goes out to Albert Snyder and the unimaginable pain he has had to endure.

I don't know how I would react if I were faced with a similar circumstance. I can't imagine loosing one of my sons. And I can't imagine the hatred that motives a person to hold up signs of condemnation at the funeral of an innocent soldier. There's some things in life I just don't understand.

It's times like this that I turn to the Scriptures for guidance and wisdom. Romans 12:14-15, 19-21 is just such a passage for this occassion:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Did You Learn Anything?

By now you've probably seen the new Tiger Woods Nike commercial. The voice you hear in the video is that of Earl Woods, Tiger's father who passed away in 2006. The commercial was timed to coincide with Tiger's return to golf, playing in the Masters tournament this week after a five month lay off.

This commercial is strange on many levels. First, Tiger's blank stare is very strange. Then we learn that Earl Woods wasn't even talking about Tiger. He was talking about his wife, Kultida Woods, Tiger's mother! The audio has been all edited together to give the impression that Earl is speaking about and to his son.

At times, as I've watched the life of Tiger Woods played out in public view, I've thought I was watching scenes from The Truman Show. The film chronicles the life of a man who discovers he is living in a constructed reality soap opera, televised 24/7 to billions across the globe.

I can't decide, am I watching The Tiger Show or The Truman Show? I can't tell them apart. Both feature men who are living a constructed reality soap opera. Both are televised 24/7. Both are watched by billions across the globe. Both feature lives that are lived from the outside in for all the public to see.

And just when we thought Tiger was going to reinvent himself - to focus on character, integrity and honesty -  this commercial shows up. And we're reminded all over again that Tiger is a brand. He's owned by Nike and other corporations. His lines are scripted and his image is carefully managed. He's an entertainer and all the world is his stage.

This week, Tiger is once again playing golf. He's playing in the famed Masters at Augusta after five months of introspection and therapy. I guess I had hoped for more. For more authenticity and less publicity. For more substance and less facade. Instead I'm left to wonder, Tiger, did you learn anything?

The Courage to Believe

Jackie Robinson broke into major league baseball 62 years ago today. In memory of that event all major league players are wearing Jackie Robinson's No. 42. Two years ago, on the 60th anniversary of Robinson's big-league debut, one player on each team symbolically wore No. 42.

Introduced to a standing ovation, Rachel Robinson stepped to the podium at Citi Field, the new home of the New York Mets, and smiled as she gazed around the regal new rotunda that bears her husband's name. Before Monday's 6-5 loss to San Diego, the Mets unveiled the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, a sprawling marble and granite tribute to Robinson that adorns the entrance of the new $800 million park. Much of Citi Field serves as an architectural homage to Robinson's home park, Ebbets Field.

High above the ballpark entrance, an inscription of his famous quote: "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." At the other end of the room, an 8-foot, blue sculpture of his No. 42.

Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars read aloud his nine values, articulated in a book written by his daughter, Sharon, and now etched around the rotunda: courage, excellence, persistence, justice, teamwork, commitment, citizenship, determination, integrity.

Jackie Robinson was an incredible man. I wrote about him two years ago here.

In our Lead Like Jesus group this morning we discussed our life mission, vision and value statements. The older I get the more I desire to make a lasting impact on people. To live a life that intentionally connects with God's purpose and mission. To make a difference and to leave the world a better place.

Jackie just didn't talk about a life mission, he lived it. Jackie didn't discuss the values that shaped his life, he lived them. Today baseball honors a man who helped change not only the game, but our nation. Today we honor the memory of a true American hero who had the courage to believe that one person can make a difference.

It's A New World

I've now owned the Kindle 2 for one week and I thought I would post some of my impressions and thoughts on this Amazon electronic book reader.

• It looks bigger in the photos. In person, it's remarkably small and light weight. Measuring only 1/3 inch thick and 10 ounces, it's easy to hold and tote around. The actual reading screen is 4.75" by 3.5".
• It so easy and enjoyable to read! The electronic ink technology is incredible. I've read several hours at a time with no eye strain or fatigue! And the 16 shades of grey render fantastic graphic images.
• There are all kinds of free books online in the public domain. I've already read G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy and am currently working on The Man Who Was Thursday. I've downloaded The Prince, The Brothers Karamozov, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Divine Comedy, Tremendous Trifles, the ESV Bible and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - all for free! You can't beat that.
• I'm reading more and I'm reading a wider variety of literature. If I'm interested in a book or get a recommendation, I download a sample copy of book to my Kindle and try it out. And the large variety of good titles in public domain have opened up new reading options.
• I'm a person who marks and underlines when I read. The Notes and Highlight feature of the Kindle is nothing short of awesome. You really need to see it to believe it. Mark the text or passage you like, push the five-way button and it's saved in a My Clippings file. Add a note annotation if you like and it's saved too. Connect the Kindle to your computer via a USB cable and you can download all you notes and highlights in a text format document. No more retyping favorite passages to share with others! The Kindle does it all for you.
• I love the live dictionary look-up function. Chesterton uses several words a page that I've never heard of. No problem! Just put the cursor in front of the word in question and the definition pops up at the bottom of the screen. I've already looked up more words in a week than I have in the past ten years combined!
• Want more information on a word or topic? No need to get out of your chair to go to the computer. Just fire up the Kindle's browser and it takes you directly to Wikipedia. Or you can open up Google and surf the web! It works great in a pinch. The Sprint EVDO network is at your disposal for no additional fee or charge.
• Have you ever tried to find that favorite passage or note in a book? With the Kindle, you can search your entire library, a particular book or your notes and highlights! Very cool! Add key works or tags and you have a powerful search tool.
• I enjoy skimming through a book before I read it. The Kindle makes this a little harder to do this. You can always jump directly to the Table of Contents, a particular chapter, bookmark or the last place you read. But it's not quite the same. All things considered, this is a small price to pay for the additional features the Kindle gives me.
• Do I miss the experience of holding an analog, printed book in my hands? Not at all. I can set the Kindle down on my lap and not have to worry about trying to keep the pages open.
• I'm looking forward to being able to subscribe to the Kindle edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Steve Buttry, the former Gazette editor, wrote on a recent "live blog" that the Kindle edition is in development and they hope to release it in the near future. Kindle editions don't have coupons, ads, or crossword puzzles. But they usually contain the same content as the printed or online editions. And for around $5 a month, you can't beat it!
• I'm enjoying the ESPN - The Baseball Report blog. It's delivered to my Kindle each morning and then updated throughout the day. I can get the same thing at my computer, but it's fun reading the blog while sitting in my favorite chair! It's a great price at 99 cents a month!
• The price is right for Kindle books. I recently purchased and read The Survivors Club. It retails for $27. Amazon sells it for $14.81 online. I purchased the Kindle edition for $9.99. I'm hoping that over the course of the next few years that the Kindle editions will drop in price. Currently, 10% of Amazon's total book sales are for Kindle editions. This is just the beginning of the growth curve. In the not too distant future, a paper book will be as unusual to find as a music CD is today.
• I love being able to carry around a library of books in a device that weighs under one pound! I just throw it in my bag or carry it with me as I go to an appointment or meeting. In an instant, I have access to various Bible translations, Bible study reference materials, current books that I'm reading, books that I have enjoyed reading and want to share with others, and many other books that I hope to begin reading some day.

Well, there you have it! Is the Kindle right for everyone. Absolutely not. You must be a reader to justify the expense. At $360, the up-front cost price is steep. But for the person who reads thirty plus books a year, the Kindle is a very viable option.

A special "thank you" to the several friends who made surprise contributions to my Kindle fund! I'm having a blast reading, experimenting, and exploring on my new Kindle! It's a new world!

I Was Stupid

What's in a name? Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco and now Alex Rodriguez. All of these names have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Names that took a life-time to build now tarnished by scandal. Names that were once larger than life, reduced to finger pointing, excuse making and embarrassment.

By now you've probably heard that reports came out over the weekend that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. Today, Alex Rodriguez spoke with Peter Gammons and admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003 while playing with the Texas Rangers.

Alex Rodriguez, a three-time MVP, will now have to deal with the backlash of public opinion. In New York City they are calling him A-Roid. It won't be pretty. Kudos to Alex, if even under duress, for coming clean. Perhaps Alex will be an example that others will soon follow.

And now the debate rages on regarding the Baseball Hall of Fame and if these player from the steroid era should and will be considered. Commentators and analysts are already calling the Baseball Hall of Fame hypocritical for keeping Mark McGwire out. The argument goes that you should only measure what goes on between the lines.

But the critics overlook one important piece of information. The Hall of Fame ballot says "a player's record of achievement, contribution to the team, the game, their character, longevity and sportsmanship should be considered."

You see, the Hall of Fame is "old school." They think that sportsmanship, character and teamship count. And they weigh these "intangibles" as heavily as achievement. What a novel idea!

What's in a name? Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."

A good name is to be desired and esteemed. A good name along with a record of achievement makes you eligible for Cooperstown. A good name means you don't have to worry what informants leak to the press. A good name means you don't have to defend decisions you made in the past.

In 2008 Alex Rodriguez made $28 million playing baseball for the New York Yankees. Alex Rodriguex has fame and fortune. But I'm certain after watching the Peter Gammons interview today, that Alex Rodriguez would gladly trade it all in exchange for getting his good name back. Alex said it best when he said, "I was stupid."

Kindle2

Jeff Bezos and Amazon unveiled the new Kindle 2 electronic book reading device today at a press conference. I wrote about the Kindle in 2007 in these two blog posts.

The updated Kindle has a slimmer design (just 1/3 of an inch thick), longer battery life, faster page turns, over seven times more storage, sharper images, and a new read-to-me feature. In case your not familiar with the Kindle, it utilizes electronic-ink display technology, which gives the same appearance and readability of printed paper. Reading on the Kindle is nothing like reading from a computer screen. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically.

Presently there there are 230,000 books published in the Kindle format. Bezos vision is "every book, ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds!" Wow!!

So what's the big deal about a digital book reader?

• Efficiency - The Kindle is 10 ounces and holds 1500 books in memory! You can have your entire library at your finger tips! Have you ever tried to find a quote from a book you read but can't remember which book its from? No problem, just type in the key words and the search functionality will find what you're looking for.
• Cost - Kindle books cost less than their print counterparts. I usually read 20-25 books a year, meaning a Kindle would pay for itself in about two years. In years to come, the price of electronic books will continue to decrease while the cost of print books will continue to increase.
• Convenience - You don't understand the meaning of a word or phrase and you're too lazy to go find the dictionary? No problem. Just put your cursor over the word and the definition is displayed at the bottom of the page! A friend recommends a good book to you that you want to purchase. Just use the free whispernet wireless EVDO network and it will be downloaded ready for reading in 60 seconds! That's convenience!

The electronic book is here to stay. So dust off your print books and keep them for your grand kids. Some day you can tell them how you used to read print books curled up in a chair in your family room as you listened to music on your CD player. Your grand kids will laugh, and say, "Grandpa, tell me another story!"

Intellectually Bankrupt

In case you haven't heard, the December 15 issue of Newsweek's is titled The Religious Case for Gay Marriage. Lisa Miller's cover story attempts to take a look at what the Scriptures have to say about marriage and homosexuality, but only becomes a soap box for Ms. Miller's own preconceived conclusions.

The Scriptures? This is what Ms. Miller has to say about them:
"A mature view of scriptural authority requires us, as we have in the past, to move beyond literalism. The Bible was written for a world so unlike our own, it's impossible to apply its rules, at face value, to ours." "At this point the authority of the Bible is reduced to whatever "universal truths" we can distill from its (supposed) horrifyingly backward and oppressive texts."

You can read a good review of the article at CitizenLink and an even better review at Christianity Today.

But what I find most disturbing as a follower of Jesus Christ and someone who considers the Bible to be God inspired, is the editorial by Jon Meacham. Here is Mr. Meacham's view of someone who looks to the Scriptures for truth.

"No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition."

To argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt! I think I just got called a "fool" by Mr. Meacham! Horrifyingly backward and oppressive texts! So much for religious tolerance!

How should we respond to all of this? Mr. Meacham says "Let the letters and e-mails come." I don't advocate letter writing or hand wringing. And why not? Because I take my directions not from the editor of Newsweek but from the timeless truth of Scripture. Passages like 1 Peter 2:11-12, 15:

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

And 1 Corinthians 1:18-21

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Let's not be surprised when those who live in darkness reject the light. Let's not be surprised when those who reject God's moral law declare those who follow it to be fools. Let's not be surprised when we find that we are rejected by our own culture. We are aliens and strangers passing through a foreign land.

Instead of shock and surprise, let's pray, care and share. Let's be about silencing our critics by doing good. Let's live out our mission, not afraid to be called fools by those who misunderstand. Or to be called intellectually bankrupt by editors of Newsweek!

Turn Off and Tune In

There's a new study out on what makes people happy. The study conducted by the University of Maryland sociologist John Robinson was published in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research. It looked at public opinion data from nearly 40,000 people ages 18 to 64, as well as time-use diaries that detail how people spend their days.

And what did the study conclude? They found that happy people spend more free hours socializing, reading and participating in religious activities, while unhappy people watch 30 percent more television!

The most recent figure from Nielsen Media Research indicate that the average American watches 4 1/2 hours of television per day. That is 31 1/2 hours every week. This is enough television to make anyone unhappy! Life is too short and there is too much to do to park yourself in front of a television that many hours a week.

Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good TV show or sporting event as much as the next guy. Just last night all four of us watched the Syracuse Orange beat the Kansas Jayhawks in an exciting overtime basketball game. Our emotions went from elation to frustration during the course of the game. It was a thoroughly enjoyable family time.

Now, we don't know if watching television makes a person unhappy, or if those who are unhappy are drawn to more television as a way to ward off their unhappiness. But make no mistake, heavy television watching correlates with unhappiness.

So tomorrow, choose to be happy. Turn off the television. Engage in stimulating conversation. Enjoy hanging out with family and friends. Tell a funny story. Recall God's goodness this past year and thank Him for His many blessings.

Take time to turn off and tune in.

Infectious Greed

I wrote earlier about Alan Greenspan and his libertarian trust in unregulated financial markets to do the right thing. It seems as though Mr. Greenspan has changed his mind. He was called to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, October 23.

Listen to Mr. Greenspan's new "enlightened" views:

• He described the current financial crisis as a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" and acknowledged that the crisis has exposed flaws in his thinking and in the workings of the free-market system.
• He told the House Oversight Committee that his belief that banks would be more prudent in their lending practices because of the need to protect their stockholders had been proven wrong by the current crisis. He called this a "mistake" in his views and said he had been shocked by that.
• He said he had made a "mistake" in believing that banks in operating in their self-interest would be sufficient to protect their shareholders and the equity in their institutions.
• He called this "a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works."

Mr. Greenspan shouldn't have been shocked. In 2002 he appeared before Senate and had this to say:

"Why did corporate governance checks and balances that served us reasonably well in the past break down? At root was the rapid enlargement of stock market capitalizations in the latter part of the 1990s that arguably engendered an outsized increase in opportunities for avarice. An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community."

"The trouble, unfortunately, is that the shock of what has happened will keep malfeasance down for a while. But human nature being what it is -- and memories fade -- it will be back. And it is important that at that time appropriate legislation be in place to inhibit activities that we would perceive to be inappropriate."

"It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously.''

The human condition hasn't changed through the centuries. Greed, if left unchecked, consumes everything around it. It's never satisfied.

This is why Jesus told His followers in Luke 12:15:
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

The only solution is a transformed heart. Greed and selfish interest can be changed to generosity, gratitude and humility by the power of Jesus Christ. He is able to deliver us from ourselves. The human heart is capable of all kinds of evil. External legislation and laws are needed to create moral boundaries for protection, accountability and stability.

We shouldn't be "shocked" that given the chance, individuals and corporations pursue profit-taking. We shouldn't be shocked when we seek corporate executives on lavish vacations even as they seek government bailouts. We shouldn't be shocked that banks and credit institutions sold sub-prime mortgages in order to turn short-term profits. We shouldn't be shocked to learn that in 2005, for the first time since the Great Depression, personal savings rates were in the red for an entire year! You see, we have met the enemy and he is us!

As Jesus instructed us, we need to "watch out" for all kind of greed. We need to "be on our guard" for infectious greed!

Honesty

Lance Greco sent me a link to a ESPN article today titled, Santangelo admits HGH use, says he'll 'face the music'. In my blog yesterday, Let the Games Begin, I mentioned that I'm waiting for just one baseball player to step forward to take personal responsibility for his HGH use.

Well, the wait is over. F.P. Santangelo, a seven year veteran who last played with the Oakland A's, was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report. Santangelo now works for Sacramento's KHTK Radio as a member of, "The Rise Guys" morning show. This morning he came on the air and admitted that he had used HGH. Here are some of the quotes from the MLB article.

In an emotional two-hour radio appearance, the seven-year major league veteran, who last played with the Oakland A's in 2001, confessed to using human growth hormone, explained how and why he did it and publicly apologized to his two kids, his ex-wife, his parents and listeners. He talked about the difficulty he had in explaining it all to his children.

Santangelo's honesty, his candor and his willingness to accept responsibility for what he had done touched some listeners and infuriated others. Opinions ranged from, "You're a liar," "You should resign," and "What should I tell my kid?" to "You don't owe anyone an apology," "I commend you for telling the truth," and "Keep your head up." Santangelo absorbed it all, telling listeners, "I made this bed and now I have to lie in it."

Friday, Santangelo described the release of the Mitchell report as a "relief," telling ESPN.com it was something he had wanted to "scream from the top of a mountain" for some time now, but fear of litigation kept him from doing so.

"This is just me," he said. "I hit things head-on. I'm honest to a fault. I never run away from anything. Once I knew this was coming out, I wasn't going to hide from it."

As difficult as it was to listen to critical phone calls, Santangelo said the hardest part was sitting down with his kids a month ago to explain to them about the decision he'd made. When a caller asked what he should tell his 10-year-old son about Santangelo's inclusion in the report, the former major leaguer instructed him to tell him the exact same thing he told F.P. Jr. "I told him, 'You make mistakes. If you make the right decision in the first place, you won't have to go through what I have. But if you do make a wrong decision, you handle it head-on, with humility and you move on.' "My kids are learning a very good life lesson right now. Their Dad screwed up but he faced the music and is dealing with it head-on."

At the end of his two-hour radio stint, Santangelo again apologized to his friends, his family and his listeners. He again took accountability for his actions and admitted he made a horrible mistake and that everyone's criticism was warranted.

Kudos to Santangelo for being a stand up guy. He's admitted his error and is taking responsibility for his decisions. Admission of guilt is always the first step toward recovery and healing. Santangelo has discovered the peace of mind that comes with honesty.

He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but however confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Let The Games Begin

The Mitchell Report was released today. In case you haven't been following the HGH scandal in baseball, former Senator George Mitchell was selected in March 2006 to head an independent probe into the drug scandal in baseball.

Many of the names released today were not new. BALCO had already linked Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield. But other names like Clemens and Pettit were surprises. The new report linked more than 50 players to performance-enhancing drugs who had not been previously associated with doping.

"Every American, not just baseball fans, ought to be shocked by that disturbing truth," Mitchell said. Baseball started testing for steroids in 2002 leading to the "growth" (no pun intended) in Human Growth Hormone use. Unlike steroids, HGH is not detectable through urine testing.

Mitchell said former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent told him the problem was possibly "the most serious challenge that baseball has faced since the 1919 Black Sox scandal" - when Chicago White Sox players conspired with gamblers to affect the outcome of the World Series championship.

"By and large, the conduct of the players' association was a disgrace and an outrage," Dick Pound, chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency told Reuters. The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, said: "It is a sad, sad day for the national pastime and all who love America. All involved should be ashamed."

Disgrace, outrage, shame, crisis of integrity - all serious challenges to the game of baseball. And how will the players and their association respond to these serious charges? Just watch. There will be blame shifting, finger pointing, excuses and explanations galore. Here are just a few we might hear:

• My agent made me do it.
• I didn't know it was illegal.
• I thougth it was clear cream.
• My mom recommended it to me.
• All my teammates were doing it.
• I've never heard of HGH.
• I used it but didn't inhale.

I'm eagerly waiting for one player, just one player, to step forward and take responsibility for his own actions. I'm waiting for just one person to say, "I used HGH and it was wrong. I made a mistake and I'm sorry. I've been a poor role model. I appeal to young people who look up to me to not make the same mistake that I made. HGH and steroids are very dangerous. I'm sincerely sorry for what I have done. I will use the rest of my career to repair the damage I have helped to cause and hope to regain your trust."

I'm waiting, but I'm not too hopeful. Baseball has ceased to be a sport and has become just another form of entertainment. The bottom line is the dollar. Decisions are made by whatever it takes to put people in the stands. Baseball has become just another game. The word "integrity" and baseball no longer belong in the same sentence. Baseball more closely resembles WWF (it's now officially called the World Wrestling Entertainment) or Roller Derby.

Here is how Wikipedia describes professional wrestling - a simulated sport and performing art which combines wrestling with theater. Baseball might want to take notice. That's not a bad definition. Professional Baseball - a simulated sport and performing art which combines baseball with theater.

Maybe there's a reason that major league baseball is referred to as The Show. Maybe baseball never was a sport. Maybe it was always about entertainment. Who really cares if their favorite actor or artist is using HGH or steroids? It's all about the latest song or movie.

So, if you're looking for some good entertainment this week, watch as baseball players run for cover, dodge accusations and parse verbs. It's all part of the script. It's good theater. Let the games begin!