Brooding over Brood X

For your afternoon amusement, Dennis E. Powell muses on those brooding over #BroodX:

If you pay any attention to the national news you have seen how Washington, D.C. has gone more berserk than normal. The cause of this particular derangement is this year’s emergence of the proud members of brood X of the 17-year cicada.

Compression Issues Mar a Nifty, Cheap Live Streaming Tool

A Look at the Esywen USB 3.0 Video Capture Card

I’m continuing a series of reviews of live streaming gear with a look at one of the plethora of generic video capture devices that have shown up in the last year:

For most of last year, it was nearly impossible to get a name brand video capture card for a computer. These devices help to take video from a camera, video game console or other device and make it usable on your computer to record or stream. In a world that was dependent on streaming, well known cards like Elgato’s were selling for several times over their original price, giving room for a whole range of generic cards. Some of them are pretty good, so let’s consider one of them.

Is the Low Fuel Light of Time On? (May 24, 2021)

Since I moved away from Dispensationalism years ago during seminary, I’ve thought about preaching a series on the End Times someday, but had always thought I should wait and mull a bit longer. However, as I’ve been praying about message series for Little Hills, it felt like such a series was needed, so… here we go.

To start a series on the “Little Apocalypse” or “Olivette Discourse” (Matthew 24-25), I think we need to begin where Jesus did, heading off at the pass two risks we face when dealing with the future: apathy and obsession. In contrast to these, Jesus instructs us on how to have the right mindset about the future and that’s what we consider in this week’s message.

52 Verses, 52 Books, 52 Weeks (Week 21: James)

Jim Krenning takes us to the Epistle of James to think about how sin affects our testimony and how faithfulness can point people to Jesus. I love the way Jim points us to how our actions influence others in faithfulness.

The Future is Here

Wondering about what the Bible says about the End Times? That’s the subject of the new Steadfast series that starts this Monday at 7 pm (Central). If you have questions about the end times, please leave them in the comments or send me an e-mail — I’d love to try to address as many of your questions as I can as we go through what Jesus says on the topic in Matthew 24-25.

Find Out if NoVax is Right for You

If Skipping the COVID Vaccine Were a Pharmaceutical Commercial...

What if not getting a COVID vaccine were promoted like a medication? Imagine “NoVax,” if you will. That’s the starting point for an OFB piece I wrote in response to a skeptical friend who asked for a non-reactionary reason why someone should get the vaccine.

The disease that we will likely recall for the rest of our lives as simply “the Pandemic” has been answered by vaccines that, by any pre-COVID standard, would be viewed as incredibly effective. Reduce spread, reduce severity and do so with stunningly few severe side effects? How can “NoVax” be appealing in that light?

Poor Excuses? (May 17, 2021)

How does the Church deal with poverty? How do we understand what the Bible says about care for the poor and how it says, “If any will not work, neither let him eat”? As I conclude the second volume of Proverbially Speaking, we look at “Poor Excuses” and God’s Answers. Like so much in Scripture, we are called to a balance we struggle to achieve.

52 Verses, 52 Books, 52 Weeks (Week 20: Acts)

This week, we turn to Zephaniah to think of God’s plans for the future — and how they give us hope as we answer His call to do the right things in the present.

Zippy the Wonder Snail Episode 2

To Boldly Go Where No Snail Has Gone Before

I​ zip back to the podcast-o-sphere with my co-commissar Jason in Episode 2 of Zippy the Wonder Snail. On the docket today: the upcoming “College Bowl” TV show revival academic and the state of the Liberal Arts; suicide and meaning in Star Trek​ and the necessity of Jesus’s Cross.

Respect the Curry (May 10, 2021)

I continues the Little Hills series in Proverbs, considering what the Proverbs tell us about whom we should spend time around.