Month: March 2004

Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go…

Paula and I went to see the doctor today, and we’re going to have labor induced this Thursday.

Pretty strange to think about, that we can schedule that. There is the chance that she’ll come early, but the doctor didn’t seem to expect it.

Expect some good news and a photo soon!

Let’s just hope the poem is wrong…

Monday’s Child is fair of face
Tuesday’s Child is full of grace
Wednesday’s Child is full of woe
Thursday’s Child has far to go
Friday’s Child is loving and giving
Saturday’s Child works hard for a living
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Then again, I’m not sure what that means. Thursday’s Child has far to go in order to reach what destination?

Could be worse, I suppose–we could have induced on Wednesday.

On a completely unrelated note, I was very disappointed earlier today. John Ortberg is the teaching pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, which is about two blocks from my apartment. He’s also considered one of the best preachers in America.

Well, I’m always trying become a better preacher, so I emailed him and asked to interview him about the sermon preparation and delivery process (which I was planning to encode in MP3 format and upload to a website, probably Reach The U).

After a few days he emailed me back and declined, citing a busy teaching schedule. I was pretty bummed. I suppose I half expected it–for all he knows I’m some whacko–but it’s still disappointing. I consider him a professional role model, and so it would have been nice to meet him and figure out how he does what he does.

Maybe it will work out someday. I used to have a lot of success at meeting people I esteemed (or was just curious about), but my last few attempts have bombed (Doug Fields, Dan Betzer, Dan Kimball, and now John Ortberg).

Passion Pro-Semitic?

Most of the controversy about Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was predicated on the assumption that at worst it would provoke profound anti-semitism and at the best it would leave people unswayed (as regards the culpability of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus).

Looks like everyone was wrong–just ask the San Francisco Chronicle. The film seems to have nuanced people’s views and made them less willing to assign specific blame.

See a related article in the Washington Times download dive bomber movie .

Note: the survey was pretty small. Read the Chronicle story to get the scoop on the methodology.

Wild Parrots Roam San Francisco?

No baby yet.

Oneida Shen, a Chi Alpha intern in Arizona, just spent the last few days with us checking out campuses in Nor Cal and Nevada. She’s seriously considering coming to work alongside Paula and I here at Stanford. Pretty cool.

Also, apparently one of our alumni is currently in the Miss Universe Singapore finals (according to another Singaporean alumnus). How wild is that?

And I just learned one more really strange thing about the Bay Area–there are flocks of wild parrots that roam San Francisco. Seriously–there’s even a book about it. Apparently they just fly around the city. Read the FAQ. It reminds me of a chapter in the Life of Pi.

Relevant Network

I finally received the first installment of my subscription to Relevant Network this morning (I say finally because I expected it last week).

Anyway, I had wondered what I would get with my subscription, and now I know. I thought I’d pass it on in case your ministry is considering joining the network.

I got a magazine called Relevant Leader. It looks okay–it’s a guide to the resources in the kit (reviews, interviews with artists, etc) along with a handful of extra articles thrown in.

I got 5 copies of the most recent issue of Relevant Magazine. That was nice, but for some reason the magazine has always underwhelmed me. I’ve always felt that they try too hard. But then again, I tend to get annoyed at most things I’m supposed to find cool (like popular music and television programs), so that’s a clue that Relevant is hitting its demographic (for the record, I’m a NPR junkie. If there’s ever anything else on in the car it’s probably because Paula is driving).

I got 7 books (Red Moon Rising, The 250: Evangelism Ideas for Your Campus, Enjoying God, Enter the Worship Circle, Soul Survivor, What’s So Amazing About Grace — Visual Edition, and The Air I Breathe).

I got 2 study guides (one for Red Moon Rising and the other for Soul Survivor).

And I got 5 CDs (Anonymous: Accelerate in Slow Motion, Enter The Worship Circle: The Third Circle, Desperation, Anthony Skinner: Forever and a Day, and Telecast: The Beauty of Simplicity).

Not a bad deal. Not bad at all. I was worried I would be dismayed with my purchase, but I was actually quite satisfied.

I had hoped for some video clips (like the kind of stuff Highway Video puts out), but that wasn’t to be. Perhaps in future installments.

UPDATE: After a little more reflection, I realized that I was surprised at how few of the resources were actually ministry resources. Most were personal growth resources.

As I mentioned before, I was most anxious to receive tools (such as video clips) that would be useful in conducting worship services or planning outreaches or crafting sermons. Videos from Nooma, for example, would be really helpful. Two or three sermons on CD would be extremely useful. A bible study or two would be well-received.

I guess I’d prefer to see 50%+ of the resources be ministry tools and the minority be personal growth materials.

Just some thoughts.

Overall, it’s a great investment. The books and CDs I received were worth far more than I’m paying for the subscription.

Basketball, Baby!

I was on campus today and noticed a huge crowd in the Student Union–turns out that someone had set up a screen and a sound system and was showing the PAC 10 tournament.

We won our first game, by the way.

Anyway, it was interesting to watch how many students were engrossed in the game. It’s the week before finals here, and usually that means students are cramming like crazy.

I guess they just love dominating at a major sport.