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adventure in Argentina, week one

February 28, 2010

The following journal entries are posted as audio files each day. You canfind the links on Facebook (wallymetts) or Twitter (wmetts). This is a summary of our first full week in Argentina, where we are visiting our missionary friends Ivan and Kim Hoyt. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yes, I read The Shack

February 26, 2010

Yes, I read The Shack, and, no, I didn’t like it.

It’s been a while, and I forget the details, but it was not exactly a literary tour de force. All the characters were flat, even God. The main character has a singular problem, not a complex one. And God has a singular solution, and not a very biblical one. Read the rest of this entry »

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the Genesis file, part 2. Men that believe

February 17, 2010

An occasional commentary. I wouldn’t be making any doctrine out of this stuff if I were you.

Genesis 11: 4. Let us make a name for ourselves.
That’s pretty much the whole problem, isn’t it. We’re all so full of ourselves, babel-ing away about our self-sufficiency. So they built a city “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” But God already told them to “fill the earth.” Pride is the root of disobedience. Read the rest of this entry »

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I don’t care about your pony

February 16, 2010

USA Today reports that people are walking away from their social media networks. In fact, you can now pay for services that will scrub your identity from the internet. Freedom for the Mac will disconnect you for up to 8 hours at a time.

According to the USA article by della Cava, the common theme for the exodus is “the nagging sense that a time-sucking habit was sucking the ‘real’ out of life.” She quotes Leanna Fry who says, “I’ve discovered I don’t need to know what hundreds of people are doing. Now I have time for the people who really matter in my life.” Read the rest of this entry »

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this I believe. maybe.

February 6, 2010

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women is a best selling collection of essays named after the radio program of the same name, started in 1951 by Edward Murrow. The editors decided to bring the concept back 50 years after it ended, inviting people from all walks of life to post essays online about their core beliefs.

This is not my essay. Read the rest of this entry »

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Humility and how I achieved it….

February 4, 2010

“The essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest….Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write essays.”
- E.B. White

Read the rest of this entry »

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The Genesis file, part 1. Creatures that swarm

February 2, 2010

This is part of a new project, an occasional commentary. It’s something I’d like my kids to have someday. I’m just highlighting phrases as I read, because they delight me. Or scare me. If I left out your favorite phrase or image feel free to chime in.

This feature will show up about once a week, tucked in with the other posts on faith and culture. I wouldn’t be making any doctrine out of this stuff if I were you.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Happy birthday Katie

January 29, 2010

The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short—eternity, how long! Death, how brief—immortality, how endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol’s clusters, and sip of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there.
—Charles Spurgeon, morning thought, January 29.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Throwing the First Amendment under the bus

January 26, 2010

It’s a happy story with a happy ending.

Doctors recommended that Pam Tebow terminate her pregnancy when she contracted an infection on a mission trip to the Philippines. But she carried her son to term.

That would be Tim Tebow, the star quarterback for the Florida Gators who led his team to two BCS championships and won the Heisman Trophy in 2007. She’s glad she chose to have him. He’s glad too. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why are men so angry?

January 25, 2010

The current economic downturn has been called a he-session, since its effect on jobs has been largely in industries dominated by men, such as finance or construction. You can imagine a bunch of guys sitting around in their underwear, eating mac and cheese and playing with handguns. The sales of both are up. Read the rest of this entry »