by Lon on January 30, 2007
Actually, it’s “gentian violet”, for treating any possible infections. It doesn’t come off for a couple days. We ended up calling Stellar names like little hobo, drunk, and sailor, during that time.
Here’s some other hilarious photos of babies with the purple beard on flickr.
by Lon on January 28, 2007
Last night Yvz was watching something on tv, where they were interviewing kids in the ghetto.
The reporter asked one kid – “What do you want to do when you grow up?”
boy resonds – “become a CEO”
the reporter is a bit shocked and says – “become a CEO of what?”
the boy then says – “actually i have a dream…”
reporter – “oh and what’s you dream?”
the boy says – “…I want to be batman”
My wife was commenting on how the boy probably got the CEO-part from his parents; but what was in his heart, was batman.
Are you living your dream? or someone else’s?
by Lon on January 26, 2007
I never explained one of the items in my Lon-gerie fashion line earlier.
A while back I had wrote on my MSN messenger tag “My life is brilliant”, inspired by the first line in the James blunt song ‘You’re beautiful”.
Someone wrote to me and said how it was so typical of me, and how easy it is for someone like me to say that.
After which I changed it to
YOUR LIFE IS BRILLIANT…
you
just
don’t
know
it
yet.
think about it.
by Lon on January 21, 2007
For five years I’ve waited and asked the administration for a church planting course at Tyndale Seminary. It still hasn’t happened. Church planting courses are in our academic calendar, but they haven’t been offered supposedly due to a lack of interest. This semester I decided to enroll as a visiting student to Heritage Seminary for their church planting foundations course way out in Cambridge.
A couple thoughts from my first class specifically regarding demographics between the U.S. and Canada. (Because so often many people try to plant ‘American’ churches in a Canadian context, when in fact many of our values are diverging).
- The state of California alone has more people than all of Canada
- Statistically the values of the most liberal states (New England area) are still more conservative than Canada’s most conservative province (Alberta)
- Where postmodernism is a philosophical system embraced in the U.S., it is intrinsic to who Canadians are – we are almost exclusively postmodern
- Canada has quickly surpassed the UK in secularism
- “In the U.S. it’s legal to bear arms, in Canada it’s legal to bear breasts”
- Some additional generalizations for the U.S. – Risk-taking, money is everything, winner takes all, higher standard of living, and aspiration
- As compared to in Canada – Risk-averse, money is suspect, income redistribution, best quality of life, and accommodation
Much of this and many more stats are found in Michael Adams’ books, Sex in the snow, and Fire & Ice.
For my American friends here’s one of our infamous Molson Beer “I am Canadian” commercials.
For my Canadian friends, who are oblivious to American politics for the most part, check out this awesome speech by Senator Barack Obama who’s in the running to be America’s first black president (though I’ve got my bets on Hillary).
What do you think?
by Lon on January 19, 2007
Shakespeare wrote: “I have immortal longings in me”. Don’t we all?
by Lon on January 18, 2007
See the last three posts if you’re still catching up. Some people say ‘preaching is dead’. I often think so as well, but I still believe our post-Christian culture opens new opportunities for the ‘preacher’ today.
Postmodernity blurs the lines between everything – fact and fiction, on and offline, news and entertainment. Although there are inherent dangers to this blurring of boundaries, in many ways this cultural milieu provides the opportunity for us to preach a more holistic message. God’s story and the human story do not need to be separate. Faith and everyday life no longer need to be compartmentalized. The good news of the kingdom of God can be preached as a reality that can permeate every aspect of humanity.
Another new reality for our preaching today is the opportunity to call people to change immediately. Gone are the days where everyone requires all the empirical evidence upfront and then weighs out all the pros and cons. People today often only process information that they can apply immediately. Preaching to a postmodern world is conducive to action-oriented life transformation. Just as in the Scriptures James speaks strongly of acting on what we learn, when postmodern preaching offers people clear life applications, people have an opportunity to move towards faith, even if incrementally.
One of the most unique opportunities of our postmodern times is for preachers and followers of Jesus themselves. Being a post-Christian era, this offers us a unique time of humility, revisiting our roots and faith, re-placing our trust to where it belongs, and re-aligning ourselves back to becoming the church that Jesus had in mind when He was on the cross. As we do this, preachers have a rare opportunity to shake the culture again. Postmodern culture does not expect anything relevant to be coming out of the church. But when they are encountered by a church that is re-aligned with God and the voice of God is heard in a way that connects, it will be shockingly relevant, because that which is eternal is always relevant.
Spirituality is at an all-time high today, and religion is disdained more than ever. When we reveal to the postmodern world that Christ was very much the same way, this will immediately resonate. Though postmoderns want spiritual values without constraints, if we preach the radical values of Christ, they will form their own boundaries. Though postmoderns distrust institutions, if we preach that Christ did not come to establish a religion but a movement of followers that will change the world, the church will be seen differently. Though postmoderns stress personal fulfillment, if we preach that following Jesus brings people closer to the person they were always created to be, it can bring people to craving this deeper place of fulfillment. As Graham Johnston says, “Hope in Christ addresses the restlessness and arbitrary existence of the postmodern world”
The role of preaching in a postmodern world is just as crucial as ever. Although the challenges have changed since the modern era, the greatest needs of a human soul remain the same. Biblical and relevant preaching can transcend all of the negative stereotypes of postmodernity. Preaching is able to ask what no one dares to ask, dialog even deeper into the human heart, and proclaim a story that all are invited to participate in. Preaching is able to reveal to people what God is doing; in the life of the preacher, the world around them, and even in their own humanity. Preaching is able to integrate God with all the disconnected realities people live in today, calling them to change, while surprising them about the goodness of God. Preachers must learn to see the invisible and hear the inaudible, that the heart of the postmodern world is ‘preaching’ for us to preach Christ centered messages clearly to them.
