Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

Sunday was my oldest son's birthday. His party was on Saturday. We had family and friends together to celebrate. One of the events the "boys" did on Friday was touring the J.M. Davis Museum. This museum is home to 20,000 guns. It is mind-blowing to see the variety of guns that has been collected over the years. This picture shows (poorly) the old and the new. The long rifle type weapon on bottom is from the 1600's. The smaller boxy weapon is from the last 20 years. This is an example of the beauty that was crafted into one of the old flintlock rifles from the 19oo's. This happens to be a double barrel version. One of my favorites, a customized holster and belt rig. This is a Buck Rogers pistol from the limited toy gun collection. And from the strange and bizarre collections: A hammer gun used to (according to the identification card) kill a cow. The head of the hammer has three barrels and chambers. When the hammer comes down on the cow's head, the rounds disc...

There are days when something will strike me in such a way that it's like someone turns the light on in a darkened room. Earlier this week was just such a situation. I have done many funerals so far in my ministry. In fact, I love doing funerals. There is something very rewarding about speaking about a person's life and celebrating who they have been in this life. This funeral was for an extraordinary person. A giving and kind person who respected life. This man was of the Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw has named them. He was born in the first decade of the last century. In fact, he was born during the First World War. When the time came to serve the call of the country during the Second World War, this man went off to serve. His task was to put aircraft back together after the bombing and fighter raids into Germany. He wasn't a combat veteran. But he saw the horrors of war. He didn't talk about his experiences very often. He was very humble about the medals and cit...

Friday evening Lisa and I went out on a date. We attended a concert. We don't get out to many concerts. And this was one of Lisa's favorite groups - Point of Grace. Opening for PoG was new artist Daniel Kirkley. Daniel Kirkley has been compared to Josh Groban. He has a strong voice and classical quality to his singing. His one radio release is My New Dawn . It appears he is breaking out onto the mainstream. I will admit that his stage presence was a little rough. He is new to this, though. And I was guilty of focusing on the visual presentation of his show. And because I focused on that, I almost missed the true quality that he has. He has a powerful vocal quality. He brings the depth of feeling and the message of his songs right to the depths of the soul. And music is a language of the soul. I really wish, though, that he would have selected some songs that really allowed his vocals to show their full depth. It may have been nerves that led him to cut back on the vocals. He sa...

I watched two things this weekend that appear to have nothing in common yet are strangely similar. Lisa purchased The Prestige . This was a movie she really wanted to see at the theater. It didn't really make a splash from what I remember of it. But it looked interesting to me. It was interesting to Lisa only because Hugh Jackman was one of the lead actors. She has an unhealthy fascination for Hugh Jackman. The story is about two rival magicians. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play the rival magicians. They begin working together when they are mentoring with an older magician. But the movie portrays them mentoring with the man (played by Michael Caine) who crafts the illusions used by the magician. As they become more ambitious their rivalry turns violent toward each other. The entire movie is about illusion and misdirection. Not just the art of prestidigitation. The movie is filmed to enhance the illusion of the plot. It all comes down to the prestige. This is the final part of t...