June 2004 Archive

Election Reflections (06/30/04 - 0 Comments)
Yesterday I woke up feeling rather depressed. The previous evening I had sat in front of the television and watched Canada elect their fourth consecutive Liberal government. Despite years of gross negligence, waste and scandal Canadians showed their complacency, deciding that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. The polls leading to the election had suggested a neck-in-neck race, but by the time all was said and done, the Liberals took...

404 Error Messages (06/29/04 - 0 Comments)
If you've been using the Internet for any length of time, you've probably seen some of the fake 404 error messages people love to post. (A 404 error message is the error you get when your browser tries to open a page that does not exist. Click here to see what I mean). Since I really didn't feel like working today I decided to make my own 404 error message. So give it a shot....

Awesome Creator (06/28/04 - 0 Comments)
There is an incredible article on BBC News about a new kind of ultrasound that is revealing stunning new information about children in the womb. This new scanning method produces detailed, 3-dimensional pictures of fetuses. Lo and behold, it seems that these fetuses display behavior that can only be described as human at much earlier ages than experts had previously thought. The man who developed this technology says "his work has been able to show...

Attention Nathan Copeland (06/28/04 - 0 Comments)
I hate to use this site for a purpose like this, but in this case it's necessary. Nathan: I emailed you in regards to what we spoke about on Thursday. Unfortunately the email address you provided does not seem to work as the email immediately bounced back to me. I tried another similar address and it has not bounced back so perhaps that one got through. Could you drop me an email at tim @...

BlogSwap Update (06/28/04 - 0 Comments)
Just a quick update on BlogSwap. If you indicated interest in participating in the first BlogSwap, you should have received an email from me. If you have not yet received it, please let me know and I'll be sure you get it right away....

Riding the Wave? (06/28/04 - 0 Comments)
A few months ago I commented on the articles written about The Passion of the Christ by Brian McLaren and Rick Warren. McLaren took issue with Warren's assertion that this movie represented the best opportunity for evangelism in the past 2000 years. Warren wrote a respose which boasted about commented about the enormous efforts his church made to ensure everybody and their brother got to see this movie and the amazing results they supposedly achieved....

Sunday Ramblings (06/27/04 - 0 Comments)
Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out at our church's contribution to the Oakville Waterfront Festival. For the past three years we have rented a climbing wall and allowed kids (and the occasional adult) to climb the wall. It is generally very popular since it is just about the only free thing at the festival. People are constantly asking how much it costs to climb and it's fun to see their expressions change when...

Minister of the Word (06/27/04 - 0 Comments)
J.A. Wylie was a pastor and author who lived in the nineteenth century whose greatest work is the three volume masterpiece “The History of Protestantism.” The first book spends a small amount of time examining early Christian history and how the purity of the original church gave way to the corruption of the Catholic system. Wylie says “This change [making God less free in His gift of salvation] brought a multitude of others in its...

A Gift (06/26/04 - 0 Comments)
Last Sunday was Father's Day. My son spent his morning in our church's preschool program while my wife and I enjoyed the service. When the service was over, my son came bounding into the auditorium just overflowing with excitement, holding something behind his back. He came to me and told me he had a surprise for me. With a flourish he presented to me a little pencil holder he had made for me that very...

Expecting Results (06/25/04 - 0 Comments)
When you pray, petitioning God for something, do you really expect results? Do you pray as one who is already defeated, expecting before you even pray that God will not grant your prayer? Or do you pray with confidence that God hears and answers prayer? Acts 12 contains a wonderful story that shows how even the giants of the faith and the pillars of the church had trouble putting their confidence in God through prayer....

Congratulations Go To... (06/25/04 - 0 Comments)
Congratulations to my little sister Maryanne and my brother-in-law Pat on the birth of their second child, Joshua Patrick - a brother to Anna Grace. Little Joshua made his entry into the world this morning away down south in Atlanta. These are the times when it is difficult to live 1000 miles away from the rest of the family! However, if all goes well Pat, Maryanne and their now-bigger family are intending on travelling up...

Babywise & Other Ezzo Nonsense (06/24/04 - 2 Comments)
Just a few weeks ago I had no idea who Garry Ezzo was and how controversial his childraising programs are. I had looked over his book "Growing Kids God's Way" but had never really read it. Then Matt Hall posted about Babywise and a little bit about the controversy. This article drew me especially and I was amazed to see that this Babywise stuff is very nearly a cult! If you're interested in the subject,...

Love & Humility (06/24/04 - 2 Comments)
I know so little about love. This thought occurred to me just a few weeks ago and I began to look at love to see what it is and how I can learn to love more and love better. It is no great mystery that the Bible places great emphasis on love. The word “love” appears hundreds of times through the Scripture as God tells us not only how much He loves His children but...

Are...You...Ready, Ready, READY?!? (06/23/04 - 0 Comments)
I was doing my morning rounds of the Internet and came across an article at Pastors.com, a site run by Rick Warren as a resource to, you guessed it, pastors (He seems to resource them by strongarming them into purchasing endless amounts of his sermons, his books and so on). The article is part of Warren's weekly "Ministry Toolbox" and in this particular article he is writing about nationwide conference calls he is hosting to...

Dear Neighbor (06/22/04 - 0 Comments)
Dear neighbor, I know that it is sometimes difficult to live in a townhouse. I know we each only have a postage-stamp-sized backyard and that sometimes you can hear us in our house just like we sometimes hear you. I sympathize. I would like to point something out. We've noticed that you have a bad habit that you only indulge on the weekends that your daughters are with their father. You think you're sneaky about...

Book Review - More Ready Than You Realize (06/22/04 - 1 Comments)
Brian McLaren is a pastor and author who is leading the church’s charge into postmodernism and is one of the foremost voices of the emerging church movement. His book More Ready Than You Realize was recommended to me by several people. One called it “the best book I’ve ever read on evangelism” and another went almost as far, calling it “one of the best books” he had read on the subject. In my discussion of...

End Of An Era (06/22/04 - 0 Comments)
Over the past two years I have been very fortunate to receive free hosting for two of my Web sites, Challies Dot Com as well as Websonix. Today I found out that I will no longer receive free hosting. The owners of the server have decided to no longer offer hosting and have asked me to move along as soon as I can. While it's disappointing that my hosting will no longer be free, I...

Raising Holy Hands (06/21/04 - 6 Comments)
Yesterday I wrote about 1 Timothy 2:8 being the inspiration for the song �Unchanging� which includes the lyrics �so we raise up holy hands / to praise the holy One / Who was and is and is to come." I said that this verse cannot be used to prove that we are given license to raise our hands while we sing for two reasons. First, the context of the verse shows that it applies specifically...

BlogSwap (06/20/04 - 0 Comments)
Several months ago I had an idea about something I thought might be a fun activity for myself and some of my fellow bloggers. Now, several months later, after receiving some positive feedback about the idea and having spent more time thinking about how it would work, I am finally going to present it to you and see who is interested in participating. My idea is to have regular BlogSwaps. A BlogSwap is where, for...

Sunday Ramblings (06/20/04 - 0 Comments)
I don't like capris pants (those pant-short hybrids that come down to about mid-calf). While I strongly dislike them on women, I really don't like seeing men wearing them. Yes, you read that correctly. I have seen men in capris pants. As a matter of fact, I've seen lots of men wearing capris pants. While we were wandering around the zoo yesterday I saw several men wearing them. And in case you are wondering, these...

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo... (06/19/04 - 0 Comments)
Admission to the zoo: $46.00 Lunch at the zoo: $16.58 Gas to get to the zoo: $10.00 Pony ride at the zoo: $4.00 Watching your daughter see an antelope and screaming “MOOOOO!”: Priceless We had initially decided to have a quiet day at home today, but round about 9:30 Aileen said “why don’t we do something today?” So after some discussion we arrived at the idea of going to the zoo. So we packed ourselves...

If Only... (06/18/04 - 0 Comments)
Here in Canada we are rapidly approaching a federal election. The aptly-named Liberal Party has been in power for the past three terms and has been the predominant party in Canada since the 1960's. Tired of the terrible corruption and lack of morality in the party, many Canadians seem to be turning on the party in favor of the not-as-aptly-named Conservative Party (now known as the Conservative Alliance). The majority of Christians will be voting...

Empty Your Clipboard Here... (06/18/04 - 0 Comments)
Do you know what your clipboard is? It's that little area in your computer's memory where it stores things that you have recently copied and pasted. You can find out what is in it by going into a program like Word and pressing the key combination of CTRL-V. The contents of my clipboard are currently: http://hopeforbaghdad.com/v-web/b2 Fascinating, isn't it? What is in your clipboard? Post a comment and dump your clipboard there!...

Instructions in Engrish (06/17/04 - 0 Comments)
My son bought a toy today that came with a tiny piece of paper with some miniscule drawings of how to assemble it. Below that were the following printed directions: At assemble other that process inside,if feel difficult,please face home to look for the help.The sketch map possibility that this assemble the method is different from the actual product have a little bit. Seems to me my four-year old could have written better directions than...

How Many Homosexuals In Canada? (06/17/04 - 8 Comments)
Statistics Canada performed its first-ever survey that looked at sexual orientation. Interestingly (and not-too surprisingly to most Christians) the percentage of people who identify themselves as homosexual was far lower than the gay community would have us believe. While they claim that between 5 and 10 percent of the population is homosexual, this survey found a mere 1 percent of people identified themselves as gay. A further 0.7 percent consider themselves bisexual (which in my...

Outsourcing Prayer (06/17/04 - 0 Comments)
While the corporate world deals with the fact that hundreds of thousands of American jobs are being outsourced to companies overseas, now we find out that it is happening in churches too. There is a bizarre and strangely hilarious article in the New York Times about the Catholic Church's practice of outsourcing prayer and masses. With clergy in short supply in North America, some churches are sending requests for masses to places such as India...

"My Own Personal" (06/16/04 - 0 Comments)
This phrase is one of my pet peeves. It is used with alarming frequency and I seem to hear it wherever I go these days. The other day I read a quote where someone said "my own personal heart is breaking." I guess he really wanted to stress that he didn't break anyone else's heart. Not only was it his heart (not your heart), but it was also his own (make no mistake about it...it...

Two Or More (06/16/04 - 5 Comments)
Matthew 18:19 and 20 are oft-quoted verses that most of us know by heart. Verse nineteen is the favorite of the Word of Faith so-called Christians. It reads "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven." Just about anytime you choose you can turn on your television and find people abusing this verse, offering...

Album Review - Revenge of the Supertones (06/15/04 - 1 Comments)
I think the Supertones may be gunning for the record for the greatest amount of turnover of any band in Christian music. * Of the seven originals I believe only two are left. Several replacements have also come and gone. However, with singer/songwriter Mojo (Matt Morginsky) still firmly at the helm, their sound and general feel has not changed a whole lot. Their newest album, Revenge of the Supertones, (released June 15, 2004) reaches into...

Truth In A Truthless Age (06/14/04 - 0 Comments)
I just saw over on James White's site that he and some other great speakers are going to be holding a conference in Toronto later this year (September 10, 11). The speakers will be: James White - I read his blog every couple of days and greatly admire him as a theologian. Sometimes his sarcasm gets a bit out of hand, but I'm willing to overlook it because of his stand for truth! Richard Ganz...

Praise Dancing (06/14/04 - 24 Comments)
Here are some snippets of an interesting article I saw over at In The Faith. At the St. James AME Church in East San Jose, Calif., young people worship by dancing -- choreographed movements inspired by everything from ballet to the latest MTV videos. It's an alternative way of praying that helps bring kids into the faith, say church members. It's also a national trend, said Karla Jenkins, co-coordinator of Christian Dance Fellowship USA, part...

It's June 14...Do You Know Where Your Taxes Are? (06/14/04 - 0 Comments)
My taxes are due June 15. That means tomorrow. Care to guess what I am going to be doing tonight? Ah, the terrifyingly unsatisfying life of a procastinator!...

Blog Roll Updates (06/13/04 - 0 Comments)
It has been a while since I last updated my list of recommended links. Today I finally got around to deleting one that hasn't been updated in a long time and I added two new ones. I try to keep my list short, so if it makes my list you know it's worth reading! I don't understand why people would list 50 or 100 sites on their blog... The first addition is Matt Hall. Matt...

Acting Out Death (06/12/04 - 1 Comments)
I was about 18 years old the first time I saw a dead person. My grandmother had unexpectedly suffered a massive heart attack and died just a few days earlier, and now the family was given the opportunity to say “goodbye” to her before the funeral. We were ushered into a room in the funeral home, and there, across the room, she lay in an elegant coffin. I took a deep breath and walked over...

Papal Miscellania (06/11/04 - 0 Comments)
Anne Catherine Emmerich, who may just be nominated for a Grammy award for writing the screenplay for The Passion of the Christ is due to be beatified on October 3. This, of course, is a step on the road to canonization (ie being declared a saint). I wonder if she was ever considered for this "honor" before she became so popular on the heels of Gibson's film. I am guessing the answer is "no." While...

Ron Cowle (06/10/04 - 0 Comments)
A few weeks ago I completed a rather interesting Web site for my uncle, Ron Cowle. Ron is an artist, and a pretty good one at that! The site was unique in that he had a very clear vision of what he wanted it to look like and my job was really to take that vision and translate it to code. In the end he was very happy with the site as it really did...

Thursday Ramblings (06/10/04 - 0 Comments)
I have promised never to do a "ramblings" entry more than once per week on this blog. I usually reserve it for Sunday, but after a very hectic day today, I have decided to post ramblings on Thursday. They require at least 20% less brainpower than a well-thought-out article, and I need to reserve brainpower. I am supposed to be at evangelism training classes tonight. Our church is asking all members to attend a four...

Down The Drain... (06/09/04 - 0 Comments)
Flash (that's Macromedia Flash, for the not-quite-so-computer-literate) saw fit to corrupt one of my files today. Naturally it was one I had spent the whole day working on. Not only did the program crash 7 or 8 times during the course of the day, but it also refused, time and again. to play the movies I had made. The only good that came of all this crashing is that I backed up my files fairly...

Time-Honored Traditions (06/09/04 - 0 Comments)
I took an hour out of my evening to watch the proceedings surrounding Ronald Reagan. This evening he was brought to the Capitol Building where he will lie in state until the funeral on Friday. The historian in me is always interested in the traditions, the pomp and circumstance that are found at such occassions. So many of them stem from historical roots and have been honored for decades or even centuries. Here are a...

Antediluvian (06/09/04 - 0 Comments)
I bought a CD the other day that uses the word "antediluvian" in one of the songs. I think I have now, officially, seen everything. Care to hazard a guess what album it was and who the artist is? If you are not familiar with the word antediluvian it means "of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood."...