Happy Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had an especially good Thanksgiving. It has been a roller coaster ride of a year… and while quite a bit of it has been rough, I am really thankful for where things are now. The last few weeks have been a much needed time of healing and refreshment; I am thankful for that.
I am thankful God has taken that roller coaster to get me closer to where I believe he wants me to be. I am also thankful that I have been blessed with such a great family and circle of friends. In so many ways, my cup runneth over.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Late Night Haiku XXXI
LXXXVII. Time is dripping slow,
Stalactite of memory,
Not there, but past then.
LXXXVIII. Memories of joy
Build upon the memories
Of sorrows now past.
LXXXIX. The past is the block,
Which with desire mortared,
Builds story and song.
A Joyous Occasion
I'll go into the details sometime soon, but I just had to post a post noting that a joyous milestone has been passed today that I really think is related to where God has been leading me.
Tonight, I am thankful.
SpiderOak vs. Dropbox
I'm testing SpiderOak and Dropbox as possible ways to keep my documents in sync between home and when away with my laptop. Anyone have any thoughts on which might be the better choice? Right now, I'm leaning towards SpiderOak, since it includes a built in utility for choosing which folders are synchronized with different computers and twice as much space as its similarly priced competitor. On the other hand, actually using the service is more helpful than comparing the basic gist.
Incidentally, if anyone wants to join either service, below are links to get a referral. The referral links with give you additional space in your account (and, as a bonus, in mine, too!).
Beneath the Stars
One of the most beautiful works ever written is Dante Alighieri's la Divina Commedia. As I was plundering bits of the Inferno for a sermon illustration, I soaked up the end of that cantica for the first time in too long. It finds Dante and his poet-guide, Virgil, in the very pit of hell. There, Virgil points Dante to a dark space where there is a hole carved by a little river (the Lethe, which is busy sweeping away all memory of the sins of those in Purgatorio down into the Inferno) and they climb through that hole to again come to the surface.
Dante observes,
He first, I second, without thought of rest
we climbed the dark until we reached the point
where a round opening brought in sight the blest
and beauteous shining of the Heavenly cars.
And we walked out once more beneath the Stars (trans. John Ciardi).
Dante ends each of the canticas with reference to the stars, which remind us of God's glory and hope.
The Comedy is so beautiful that I have for years pondered learning Italian so that I could read the work in Dante's own tongue. One of these day, I just might.
The Blessed Martin
In honor of Reformation Day, I finally got around to changing my “Notable Quotable.”
The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God. — Martin Luther
All Councils "May Err and Many Have Erred"
So says the Westminster Confession of Faith (section 31.3), one of the key confessions of Reformed theology. This realization concerning the fallibility of human instruction goes along with ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (“The Church reformed, always reforming”) to remind us of the church's need to constantly seek the truth of Scripture and never allow our flawed interpretations to override that truth.
Martin Luther realized that when he nailed the Ninety-Five Theses up on the door of Wittenberg Church 492 years ago today. Tradition and the wisdom of men supported indulgences, but the Gospel of Grace condemned it. We should similarly stand against the wisdom of men today, insomuch as it stands against the Gospel and the freedom that comes through union with Christ.
To celebrate the 500th birthday of John Calvin, which occurred earlier this year, Open for Business has offered varying perspectives on the Reformation over the past few weeks. With today's piece written by Steve Braun, the trilogy is complete:
- Biblical Challenges to Church Leadership by yours truly.
- Reformation Day Is a Stupid Holiday by Jason Kettinger.
- Ever Reforming by Steve Braun.
If you're hungry for more, you might also want to check out a very fine piece I stumbled upon over on the PC(USA) web site:
Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. This motto calls us to something more radical than we have imagined. It challenges both liberal and conservative impulses and the habits and agendas we have lately fallen into. It brings a prophetic critique to our cultural accommodation—either to the past or to the present—and calls us to communal and institutional repentance. It invites us, as people who worship and serve a living God, to be open to being “re-formed” according to the Word of God and the call of the Spirit.
That is definitely the lesson we should take away from Reformation Day.
The DROID Has Landed
In my initial testing, it looks really promising.
Like a Dream You Came to Me
Like a dream you came to me,
And trod along the gentle path,
Like a dream you spoke again,
Said what I had once hoped to hear.
A million sighs like filled balloons
Flew pleasantly southwest and high,
Blown fast by kind old Zephyr's touch.
The old familiar visitant,
The ache that's spanned the years and years,
No longer welcomed, nor its lack
Did sting as we today ambled.
The birds gathered and sang just like
A merry band of strolling lutes,
But not outshown by the kindly Sun,
Who poured and splashed his golden rain
Upon your hair (each strand repaid).
But your smile accrued double.
So why am I again attended by
The milky form as though conjured?
Well paid, I do not owe again!
Your golden glow will pay suffice!
Why then do I again feel poor?
Surely, though it was like a dream…
But, oh! There was no like — only a dream.
iDon't Know
Verizon is, without a question, making some really strong decisions in recent times — not the least being the decision to go to LTE for its 4G network (a truly impressive technology). I also think the choice to move away from its long time ties to BREW phones, by putting a lot of its emphasis on Blackberry, Windows and now Android phones is brilliant and clearly the wave of the future.
I'm still not so sure of this campaign. While I don't advocate Dan Hesse's answer as a good way to compete, I think it is pretty bold to put a phone up as doing what the iPhone cannot do.
The trouble is that for as limited as the iPhone is in things such as multitasking, it is doubly ahead in ways most users actually care about: a huge ecosystem of first rate, beautiful, touch oriented apps; desktop class web browsing on a small screen; integration with the iTunes/iPod digital hub, etc.
It's significant that, for example, Apple clearly sees its consumer-level iPhone OS competitors more as Sony and Nintendo than Microsoft or Blackberry. Apple is also trying to play the enterprise card, but in this case, the consumer offers a far more lucrative market.
I think those iPhone advantages can be overcome for many users, and phones like the impressive HTC Imagio that I'm presently reviewing make a very good value/functionality argument for certain market segments. However, in sheer average user functionality, the iPhone has managed to rocket from out of nowhere to become the device to beat in mindshare and, in some segments, marketshare.
If I were Verizon I'd probably stick with the network tact and bide my time until the inevitable iPhone LTE shows up on their network.
