Month: May 2007

Lion Chaser Manifesto

I have not read the book from which this comes, but a former college mate of mine posted this to his blog. I thought it was very good. To read the whole thing, surf on over to Nolan’s site and check out his blog.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences….

Pass the iodine

We got several bottles of iodine from International Aid a few years ago. We have not had much use for it. Thankfully.

Since I started playing football, the iodine has gone into service. Ever wonder why football players use knee pads? Or elbow pads? That is to cut down on the amount of iodine needed to keep a team on the field. I have so many rubbed off spots on my pointy surfaces.

We won our scrimmage tonight. I think the final score was 6 touchdowns to 3. We had a decidedly stronger defense than they had offense. We got a touchdown on our first drive, though they had the ball first. Your’s truly made an interception off of a long pass and was able to run the ball back a few yards before being taken down by 2 tacklers. That turnover set us up for the first touchdown.

After that we got one or two more and then they scored. With 10 minutes left in the game the score was 4 to 3 (our favor). We then drove down for 2 more TDs before the game was over.

It was different playing against another team. You don’t feel bad about hitting them hard. On the other hand, they didn’t feel bad about hitting us either. I was headed toward a runner and totally zoned out that there was an offensive lineman giving blocks for him. I got canned so hard… Did you know you can bruise your deltoid muscle.

As I admitted yesterday, my 37 year old body probably won’t recover like it used to.

The game was supposed to start at 8:30. We were told to be there at 8:00. There were 3 of us there at 8:00 and the bulk of the team did not arrive until 8:45. Not a single opposing team member arrived until 9:00. By 9:40 we started playing while they still had teammates coming in. We played until 11:00.

That, my friends, is Mexican time. That can be very frustrating if you allow it to be. After a while you realize that you will just have to live with it and you try to laugh it off. On the other hand, when I am in charge of an event, I start on time and don’t feel any grief when they show up after the party is over.

Get paid for blogging

What would my vast number of readers think if I started advertising products in my blog postings? These are called “pay per post.”

The way it would work is I get a list of advertisers who would be willing to pay me if I post about their product (even if I say bad things about them). I then choose the product I would write about and I give you my thoughts on the item/website/service. And, this is the important part, I would always tell you when I am getting paid for that posting. So nothing is hidden. You always know what is an ad and what is not.

I already have ads on the website. You just don’t know it. Every time I post a book review (like the post before this one) I put a link in there for you to buy the book at Amazon. You never do. Or, at least no one has yet. But, that is an ad and I get compensation if you buy that book, or any other book after going to Amazon through that link.

Are you offended by that? You should be less offended if I actually tell you up front that these posts are advertisements. And, I could actually make a little money to pay for new running shoes and such. That would be cool.

I have heard about this for some time. But after reading about it on Stephen the Dog‘s blog, I thought I would give it more of an inspection.

Tell me what you think. I have heard precious little from my readers recently (thank you for being there for me Terry). I don’t even know if my own Mother is reading anymore. Sad isn’t it? So, if I don’t hear much negative about it soon, then I think I will sign up.

Review: David Livingstone Africa’s Trailblazer

For the recent episode of Missionary Talks where I give a biography of David Livingstone, I pulled most of my reading and research from the book David Livingstone: Africa’s Trailblazer by Janet and Geoff Benge. This book is published by YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Publishing and is just one in a series called Christian Heroes: Then & Now.

I assume this book is written for a teenage level. It certainly is readable and understandable for younger readers. I read it to my son a couple of years ago when he was 7 and he enjoyed it.

The book seems to be well written. I did not have any glaring questions after having read the book. However, after doing more research into the life of Dr. Livingstone I found out that there were some interesting facts not even mentioned in the book. One such fact was that he was injured and mostly blinded in one eye. Seems to be a simple enough thing to have included in a book, but it was not even alluded to within its covers.

What I really enjoyed about the book was the inclusion of a simple map of Livingstone’s travels. It shows the southern part of Africa where Dr. Livingstone traveled along with the place names where major events took place in his life. The only thing better they could have done with it is to show which African nations are currently in those areas. Doing so would have been neat to see, but I realize that it would have taken away from the simplicity of the map. And, the fact that the African countries as we know them today just did not exist back then. It was just Africa.

Of course the book is written from a decidedly Christian perspective. Livingstone is held up as a model of Christian missions. Less emphasis was placed on his work as a government explorer. And, not surprisingly, little emphasis is placed on his failures as a man. Though the authors touch on some of his project failures, they say little about the interpersonal conflicts that he had.

The book is very emotional and a good read. It was published in 1999 and has 216 pages.

[click on the image to buy the book at Amazon.com]

Contest 1st Runner Up!

 A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Let Them Hear You contest that was being put on by Dancing with Elephants. I was hoping to win an iPod Shuffle, not that I really needed another one. But I also had my eye on the Dr. Floyd Imagination Nation Rangers membership. I am a pretty faithful Dr. Floyd listener and my son has gotten into it too. Really. I wanted the Imagination Nation Rangers membership for him. Really!

Instead, I got the first runner up prize which had an item I was really looking forward to. The big coffee mug from Comedy4Cast was calling my name. I am not interested at all in the music CDs that I won. I wonder if it is appropriate to tell them I don’t want them and they can save on shipping by not sending them? Is that rude? Would I sound like an ingrate? I expect them to contact me in the next day or two to get my shipping information. I guess I will decide by then.

Congratulations to the other two winners. There was a grand prize and a 2nd runner up prize. I won with my review of the Around the World with AiG’s Ken Ham podcast. I reviewed over 30 podcasts during the contest. I feel very pleased with having done all of these reviews. These are shows I listen to anyway, I might as well review them. I saved the other half of the shows I listen to for a future contest.

Now if I can just get people to give me some feedback/review love for Missionary Talks.