Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

The family went and watched Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix yesterday. Now before I get scathing reprimands for a.)taking my children to see that very grown up movie and b.)exposing my children to witchcraft, understand that I never said I was trying to qualify for parent of the year. My boys have watched every Harry Potter film so far. They get the basic story of good (Harry and friends) vs. evil (Voldemort and cronies). They can handle the heavy story lines and serious plot even if they don't understand every angle. As to the second point, the magic of Harry Potter offers great teachable moments. Christians would do well to study magic as a sociological feature a little more. It would help clear up some very poor theology that's out on the landscape. Magic is manipulating a power greater than yourself to accomplish your own ends. It is not about wands and spells. It is about selfish desire and the means we go to make desire reality. And I believe that there are some Chr...

Before I was an Okie I lived in Wichita, Kansas. We moved when I was about 10. We had lived in Wichita for about 7 years. I still remember some things, but most of it is a blank. Lisa and I took a romantic reconnecting weekend away to, of all places, Wichita. A lot of it had to do with connecting with an internet friend as well as nostalgia. Let me first say that we stayed at a fantastic bed and breakfast. The College Hill Bed and Breakfast is nestled away in central Wichita. You can get anywhere relatively quickly from there. The house itself has been beautifully remodeled and offers three rooms as of now. We stayed in the Tropical Room. It is a warm and cozy room with a separate bath and huge closet. It is decorated in African stylized animal prints with greens and browns. The bathroom has a tropical feel with palm fronds and a rain shower shower head. The breakfasts that were prepared for us were fresh and very tasty. Even through I'm not a fruit nut, there was enough to fill us...

If there is one thing about summer that I really enjoy it is the summer movies. At no other time in the year do you have such a choice of over the top action movies. And this year is filled with movies. So far the family has been to the movies more since the first of May than we have been all year long. Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Ratatouille, Meet the Robinsons, and I know I missed something else. But the last one requires some relfection. When the trailers were being shown, I knew I would have to go see Transformers. I was a huge Transformers fan back in the '80's. I had the comic books and toys. I watched the cartoon on t.v. I still think it was an awesome show. So when the movie came out, I knew I would have to see it. I got Nick totally into seeing it. He had the opening date on his calender. So it was going to be a fun thing to share. We got to the theater at about 3:00 to see the 3:10 show. Sold out. And the line for the 3:45 show was already out the front door of the theate...

Last week I was at camp. Not just any camp. JEM is a camp designed for Junior High School (rising 6th through 8th graders) who are or can be leaders in their home church. It is by recommendation only. It is designed around intentional leadership training at age appropriate levels. The name stands for Junior-high Effective Ministry camp. I am on the design team and have been involved with it for 7 of its 8 years. This year was our largest camp. We commissioned 77 students to send them back into their home churches and communities to put into practice what they have learned. One of the most powerful things that the youth learned was personality type. We have used the same personality profile system for many years. It is one the design team is very familiar with. It is from the True Colors Program. It separates personality into 4 categories that are grouped in Colors (Blue, Orange, Green, Gold). Try this personality quiz to see what your color is: Color Personality Quiz I am predominant...