A Tale of Two Kids

Wednesday night I was driving my 13-year old son, Tyler, to guitar class, and we were admiring the small sports car next to us.

"Dad, have you seen the body shape of the Jaguar? It's really cool."

"Son, the only Jaguar you'll ever drive is your uncle's (the lawyer)."

Smiling smugly, "Just give me time, Dad."



This morning my younger son, 8-year-old Cameron, was leaving for piano class with his mom. I was quizzing him on highlights of his week.

"What's your favorite thing to do?"

"Praise God."

"You mean like worship?"

"Singing, reading the Bible, praying."



He's also the son that wants to go to work with me when he grows up : ) The older one wants to be an actor, or an artist, or a musician, or a Marine - thanks to his new favorite computer game "First to Fight," where he is learning all about warfare tactics and has a new admiration for soldiers.

Laps Are the New Desks

Lovin' my laptop!

For 4 years now, my laptop has been my primary computer. For me, the reason is that I work from office AND home AND on the road.

This article gives a few other reasons why laptops have outsold desktop computers for the past few years. (starting in May 2003 or May 2005, depending on the source)

"This is due to three major trends: First, laptops have become more advanced, and the technology they contain finally rivals that offered by desktop PCs. Second, laptops have become dramatically cheaper over the past few years. Companies such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard are currently offering models for around $500, with rebates. But the third and probably most important reason laptops have been selling so well is the remarkable spread of wireless technology. Airports, hotels, coffee shops, college campuses, convention centers and almost anywhere business takes place or people simply have to stop and think, Wi-Fi is there."

Broadcasters Worried

This article doesn't proclaim the death of TV, but it does claim that attention is shifting to the internet for people satisfying their entertainment needs.

Will the internet one day replace broadcasting? On-demand instead of everyone at the same time?

As the choices in media explode, it certainly seems that the world is moving toward more and more tailored/personalized consumption of media content.

"It's not entirely clear yet they can cash in on the growing shift of advertising dollars and eyeballs to the Internet, but local broadcasters have no choice but to try."

The Gospel of Judas and Gnosticism

Pointing out the historical and theological inacurracy of "the Gospel of Judas" and the media manipulation of it's release.

"The Judas Gospel:

Suppose that sometime around the year 3,800 A.D., someone wrote a newspaper that began: 'According to a recently-discovered document, which appears to have been written sometime before 1926, Benedict Arnold did not attempt to betray George Washington and the American cause, as is commonly believed. Rather, Benedict Arnold was acting at the request of George Washington, because Washington wanted Arnold to help him create a dictatorship of the proletariat and the abolition of private property.'

A reader who knew her ancient history would recognize that the newly-discovered 'Arnold document' was almost certainly not a historically accurate account of the relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. The reader would know that the terms 'dictatorship of the proletariat' and 'abolition of private property' come from a political philosophy, Marxism, which was created long after Washington and Arnold were dead. The reader would also know that the most reliable records from the 18th century provided no support for the theory that Washington or Arnold favored a dictatorship of the proletariat or the abolition of private property.

This Friday's coverage of the so-called 'Gospel of Judas' in much of the U.S. media was appallingly stupid. The Judas gospel is interesting in its own right, but the notion that it disproves, or casts into doubt, the traditional orthodox understanding of the betrayal of Jesus is preposterous.

In the March 2 issue of USA Today, ancient Egyptian documents expert James Robinson correctly predicted that the owners of the Judas Gospel manuscript would attempt to release it to coincide with the publicity build-up for 'The DaVinci Code' movie, but explained that the 'gospel' was part of a genre of pseudo-gospels from the second century onward, in which the authors simply made up the stories. In contrast, virtually all serious scholarship about the canonical gospels (Matth"

Gospel of Judas and Theology 101

My friend Randy writes about the media frenzy over "The Gospel of Judas." Nothing new there, and nothing true there, but a choreographed media story to create more attention, not to shed more light or truth.

"I personally find the interpretation of Judas' actions in the gospel really interesting. Wow, talk about a spin job. You can see the prefiguring of gnosticism in some of Plato's work, and in contemporary forms of Buddhism. The idea that the body, or the material world, as a prison, is a long and distinguished doctrine, but historic Christianity cut it off at the knees through the doctrine of the incarnation. In saying that God became material, became a part of the physical universe, Christianity redeems the material world, and all of the pleasures that go with it. This is why theology 101 is really important."

Learning Their Lessons

Failure can be a huge motivator. It can also be a trap. I once took a graduate leadership class in which all the students were asked to introduce ourselves by telling of one of our failures.

What really counts is how we respond to failure and success.

This article points out that UCLA's players and coach are taking the disappointment over their championship loss and funneling it into motivation for the hard work and dedication that will get them back into the final game next season.

That shows a lot of character. Great lessons that are helpful in all of life

"'We have to remember this hurtful feeling and learn from it,' Afflalo said. 'We're not going to forget losing this game. Experiences like this, I think, allow me to work hard and try to get better. This is going to be there for a while.'"