Believe it not it’s time for another edition of Short Rounds! I don’t have quite as much stuff as I did last time, but there’s some interesting sites for you to check out over the weekend, some news, and a few other things as well! Enjoy!

News of the Strange!

Microsoft Quietly Allowing You to “Downgrade” From Vista To XP!

Who would have thunk it? And what does this say about what the end users think of Vista?

If You Sleep Too Little You’ll Die – BUT Don’t Sleep Too Much Or You’ll Die Too!

Oh Please – talk about junk science!

Good Reading!

Mark Driscoll Speaks!

This is a great introduction to Driscoll if you don’t know who he is. You might not agree with everything he says – I know I don’t – but you have to respect and admire his work for the Kingdom!

ZIPSkinny – the quick way to get US Census Data!

Check this out – it’s a great way to get some quick demographic data if you are looking for some.

MYANMAR INFO AND REQUEST!

Please pray for peace and freedom for Myanmar/Burma! The wonderful people of that sad country have been suffering under the incompetent military regime for far too long!

Here’s three more sites that have news and great pictures.

BBCBurmese

The BBC’s page that covers everything they know of about Burma/Myanmar.

Two Pictures

I hesitate to put this site here, but it shows how brutal the rulers of Myanmar can be. Two photos show the death of Kenji Nagai, shot to death by the army during a peaceful protest. Read it and weep.

UPDATE:9-28-07, 8:33 AM: The ever amazing Michelle Malkin is weighing in with lots of info, including the possible real story behind this morning’s internet blackout in Burma!
MMED Watch

A lot of the text at this site is in Burmese, but you can still read some of it.

That’s all for this week – keep praying for Myanmar!

I just finished Power To The People, and I’m left feeling grateful that I bought and read it. I can’t say that about a lot of books I read either!

Written by radio talk show host (please don’t let that throw you off getting her book) Laura Ingraham, this isn’t the type of book I usually read. Now days we are subjected to a veritable avalanche of partisan political screeds from both the right and the left. If you don’t listen to Laura’s show then you’d probably expect this book to just another mindless, repetitive right wing rant.

But you’d be wrong.

Power to the People is a lot more than that. Reading it shows that Laura is indeed a conservative, but not a mindless one. She has a strong populist strain that is linked to a traditional Christian moral framework.

As a result the Republican party and President Bush in particular come in from some pretty heavy criticism. I was expecting some of that, especially on the border issues, but was surprised at how frank and wide ranging her criticism of the administration was.

Being a recent refuge from the Republican Party and now a staunch Independent I have to say that I loved it! Which is not to say that Democrats don’t get walloped pretty good as well – they do! She is a conservative after all! But this is a fair, principled book.

And that’s no surprise to those of us who listen her every day.

P2P does get a bit repetitive at times. Occasionally I had that “been here done that” feeling. But it didn’t last long, and even in those sections I enjoyed her vibrant writing style.

By far the best part of the book is the last chapter and the acknowledgments section. It’s here that Laura gets personal. I suspect that wasn’t easy for her either. Because like a lot of public figures she comes across as someone who values her privacy and guards it and her family from to much exposure.

It’s in the final chapter that Laura talks about her faith (she’s an adult convert to Catholicism) and her ordeal with cancer. This final section of the book is worth the cover price alone! I was moved by her honesty, touched by her humor, and grateful that she’s willing to stand up for her Christian beliefs in an unapologetic manner!

The book has done very well as you can see from this graphic (which I swiped from her homepage!) But of course that shouldn’t have anything to do with your decision to buy the book or not. Lots of crappy books wind up as best sellers!

This book stands out because it not only outline the problems with our culture, but suggests some practical solutions as well! Bravo Laura for trying to give more Power to the People instead of the elites (that’s the them of the entire book in case you missed that!).

She closes the book by saying this:

God has given me a second change. I hope I am worth of it.

Not to worry Laura, you are. Well done good and faithful servant!

I’ve just added her to my “I’d love to meet this person but know I never will!” list! I highly recommend you check this book out – now!

Up Date – 8:48 AM – Sky News actually has video! I’ve been on the spot you see in this video, and am having a hard time believing what I’m seeing!

Up Date: 9/26/2007, 8:19 AM: Here’s a couple of Burmese blogs – great pictures even though most of it is in Burmese! The regime is starting to strike back, keep praying!

Ko Htike

Justice and Injustice

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I had planned on doing something more upbeat and uplifting today, but I just can’t. No, it’s not the stuff I’m dealing with locally, which I blogged about on Monday, this time it’s something half a world away.

My heart aches for the people of Myanmar (Burma).

You’ve probably read or heard a little bit about the protests against the government being led by Buddhist monks. If you are like most Americans you probably don’t really know what’s going on for sure, other than having a vague idea that they have a bad government and are trying to change it.

I’ve been to Burma (Myanmar) four time now, so I’m hardly an expert. But I do have very dear friends there, and I do have some experience with their dilapidated economy and the suffering that brings into everyone’s life in Myanmar.

One thing is for sure about Myanmar, appearances are almost always deceiving! What you see isn’t always the way the things are there. The culture is extremely complicated and very, very different from ours. And the government is both brutal and incompetent beyond belief.

There’s just a couple of things I want to do with this post. First of all I want to give you two good news sites that are all about Myanmar and will give you news and insight your regular sites probably won’t.

• Democratic Voice of Burma
• Myanmar News Net

Both sites are good, and I use both of them quite often. In the last two weeks I’ve visited each one many times a day. If you only have time for one I’d probably give the nod to DVB, but hope you’ll check out both.

Here’s a good story with some great pictures – worth looking at for sure!

Secondly – I want to urge you to pray for the people of Myanmar – here’s one reason why:

Riot police and government troops have poured on to the streets of Rangoon, to counter mass demonstrations which have taken place over the past eight days.

The military junta also imposed a dusk-to-dawn (9:00pm – 5:00am) curfew in Burma’s two main cities, Rangoon and Mandalay, on Wednesday in an effort to bring to an end the biggest protests against its rule in nineteen years. Both cities have been put under the control of their local military commanders for two months.

The generals had threatened to take military action against the demonstrators but up to now this has not happened. It is believed the Burmese government is working on a response and there are rumours of troop movements around the country. [Source]

I’m very afraid of what could happen while I sleep tonight. It’ll be day there – and if the Government decides to strike back it will almost surely be a deadly day. Pray for peace and pray for the Christians in Myanmar. They will have to be very wise in making decisions about what to do and how to do it in the coming days.

Let us pray that for their sake as well as the sake of the Burmese people and the Gospel itself, they will choose bravely and wisely. And may all of us stand ready to aid in their ongoing struggle to spread the Word of the Gospel of Freedom during these difficult days.

I thought up this post as I was huffing my way up one of the very steep inclines on my usual hiking path this afternoon.

Sunday I preached on a tough topic, carrying our cross. It was a strong, tough message, not exactly uplifting but major on the challenge side! You can stream or download it here if you’d like too.

Let’s face it, like it or not, following Jesus is often painful, and dying to self is always painful! Like I said on Sunday there’s no spiritual gain without enduring the pain of dying to self.

The reason I was huffing and puffing my way up that incline is because this past summer I got lazy. End result? I gained weight that’s still with me, and I lost a few steps in terms of my fitness level. It doesn’t take long to do that either!

So now I’m working on getting those steps back, and drop the weight as well. I hate the way I feel right now, time to get with it!

The truth is whether you are talking spiritual realities or physical ones, growth is painful, difficult and take intentional discipline or it won’t happen!

There’s is no spiritual gain without some sort of pain. I know that’s not exactly popular, but it’s an accurate reflection of Jesus’ perspective on things, and therefore completely true!

So here’s a word of advice for you on this Tuesday, work into your pain.

Lean into it, advance towards it, grab a hold of it, and don’t let go! There’s much spiritual fruit with in my pain, awaiting to be released by the power of God’s redemptive touch.

Move into it, grow through it, and watch how much your life can change.

Sunday morning I had a message waiting for me at the church office. The caller was a lady who used to attend here before moving to a town about an hour north. She called back and told me the story, a tragic story to be sure. Her husband, who’s been deep in several addictions, killed himself last night.

He shot himself in the head, right in front of her.

Believe it or not that was the second person I know who killed themselves with a gun in the past week.

I grieve for the families left behind. I grieve for the wives who have to deal with the false guilt that their husbands left behind for them to struggle with. I grieve for all the lost potential, broken hearts and shattered dreams.

But I don’t try to understand it.

I gave that up a long time ago. Far too many people waste far to much time speculating on why someone would do this. It’s a question that cannot and will not be answered in this life at any rate.

So please pray for the families left behind and everyone who’s been damaged by these awful events.

And please pray that God will move in people’s hearts and bring much good from these otherwise senseless events.

I did a wedding this (Saturday) afternoon. Nothing unusual about that now is there? It was at the Casino, out on the beach. It’s a beautiful view of the river, the mountains and today only – lots of cool clouds!

Of course there’s lots of boats and people floating around the river this time of year. As we were waiting to get the wedding going (late of course) we had several boatloads of people yelling questions and comments at us – my answering thoughts in parentheses.

“Is this a wedding?” (Why else do you think we are wearing suits with a flowery arch to boot Sherlock?)

“Don’t do it, don’t do it!” (Drunk already are we?)

“You’ll be sorry!” (Hey, I’m just officating at the wedding, not taking the plunge myself!)

Here’s what I don’t get, it’s a beautiful fall afternoon, you have a great boat with a bunch of friends on board. And you have nothing better to do than to harass a bunch of people and watch them get married?

Get a life already!

I just don’t get it!

I’ve got a different kind of Short Rounds for you this week. Besides from some great links, I’m including some other things, including a picture, and some great quotes of the week!

Enjoy!

Come Over & Help Us

Here’s the text of Ed Stetzer’s address to the Southern Baptists, which has moved and excited a lot of folks – thought you might want to read it.

The Muslim Version of Living Together?

Young Muslims in Egypt are experimenting with something new, a kind of trial marriage. It’s not recognized by the government or Muslim leaders, and guess who is going to get the worst of this if caught (by getting pregnant among other ways I suppose)?

“It is a misnomer to call this secret marriage urfi marriage…. If the marriage isn’t recognized, there will be severe repercussions especially on the woman,” says Ibrahim Negm, spokesman for Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the top Sunni Muslim religious authority in Egypt.

Once again Islam comes down harder on women than men. Well, at least they’re consistent!

Injustice!

Remember the dry cleaners who were sued for millions of dollars by a judge over a pair of pants? Well guess what? Lawyer and court fees have been too much for them, and they’ve closed their shop!

Thankfully they have another one – but this is shameful and shouldn’t happen in America!

James Dobson’s Still Being Political

I’ve been saying for years now that brother Dobson ought to focus on what he’s qualified to do – deal with family and marriage issues. Sadly he refuses. Once again he’s talking down Fred Thompson. I have no idea what’s really going on behind the scenes, but I actually do feel his pain on this one somewhat, as none of the candidates who have a real change of winning the nomination in either party are people I’m likely to vote for!

PHOTOS OF INTERST!

You’ll have to click to see it – the first official Prince Caspian poster!!

Narnia lovers enjoy!

USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center . It is the fifth in a new class of warship – designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LAto cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, “those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,” recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. “It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.”

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the “hair on my neck stood up.” “It had a big meaning to it for all of us,” he said. “They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back.”

The ship’s motto? “Never Forget”

SOME QUOTES OF THE WEEK!

“Don’t taze me bro!” By that dopy guy at Kerry’s speech!

Click to go to Bill OReilley Store to get this bumper sticker!

A Marine of Few Words!

Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked:

“What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?”

The Marine shrugged and replied, “A slight recoil.” (Hard to fault a Marine that is that eloquent)

That’s it for this one – have a great weekend and go to church!

I think just about every Christian in America, and probably most around the world, would agree that the church today faces a host of challenges, problems, threats and issues. Of course that’s always been true, but perhaps today we are more aware of it given our technological ability to know things so quickly.

Moving past that point however I’m sure we’d quickly fall into all sorts of disagreements. Never the less I want to explore this topic a bit today.

What Are The Greatest Challenges?

Are the challenges faced by the church today primarily arising from

1. Inside the church?
2. Outside the church?

Would you say that today’s greatest challenge for the church is:

1. Theological & doctrinal?
2. Practical (finding programs & approaches that are effective)?
3. Political & cultural in nature?
4. Or, fill in the blank with something I’ve missed!

If you think the problems facing us are from outside the church then I would imagine you’d be inclined to answer 2 or 3 to the second question. You might also pick number 4 and specify a particular issue like abortion or prayer in school that you are concerned about.

I’m betting the vast majority who feel the major issues challenging the church are coming from within the church would pick #1, followed by #2 as an outgrowth of flawed theology and doctrine.

However you could also say that Culture has corrupted the church, thus leading to flawed theology and doctrine and therefore to our acceptance of programs that we shouldn’t.

In Or Out?

I believe the greatest challenges face today do come from within the church. However I also believe that many, if not most of them, stem from cultural corruption that has seeped into the church from the culture around it. And this isn’t limited to the West or America. You can see it in any culture you travel too. In fact I find it a lot easier to spot cultural influence in other cultures than my own, because I’m often blind to what cultural here since I’m so used to it.

I have no doubts that the church today faces grave theological challenges and grave practical ones as well. Here in America we continue to lose ground across the board, and are getting a little to desperate in our grasping for theological and practical straws.

The great irony here is that for the church to cease to be ingrown and ineffective in reaching out culture, we must look inward first, and outward second!

It’s time churches stop blaming the cultural decay for their lack of growth! I’ve heard many Pastors (and following them the members) of declining churches blame unbelievers for not becoming Christians. They have a superior, “why can’t you get this truth you dummy?” attitude towards the people God loves and Jesus died for!

Is it any wonder we aren’t reaching them?

We must take responsibility for the shape the church is in, admit we’ve made huge mistakes, and then look outward at the culture and try and figure out biblical and creative ways to reach it.

I don’t care about what’s going on politically, the church through the ages has been able to survive just about anything governments can throw at it. But cultural shifts and the slowness of the church to both understand and adapt to them – now that worries me! (Yes, I know worry is a sin, and I know I’m a sinner!)

I’d love to get some feedback on this – and on what you think ought to be done. I think we need to seek a deeper devotion to God’s Word and at the same time a deeper understanding of how to package and present the Gospel to our culture that we might win as many as possible to Christ.

How about you?

Maybe it’s just me.

But I don’t think so.

I keeping coming across not just individual Christians but entire groups of believers who seem to be feeling pretty down lately. And I don’t mean just a little discouraged either. I mean down – down – down dooby do down, down (with apologies to Neal Sedaka!)!

I’m sure there are a lot of reasons, but here’s three that strike me as both wide spread and important.

Politics: I know several believers who are very discouraged given the poor performance of the Republican party over the last few years. And the likely prospect of President Hillary has practically flat lined any hope a lot of Christians I know of ever had!

Just one thought for those of you who out there who might fall into this category: Who died and ordained the Republican Party the Party of Jesus? I missed the memo on that one!

Come on people! The Kingdom of God isn’t depending on any party or individual – but instead rests upon the limitless power of God!

So buck up bunky!

Distorted Perspectives: I’m going to preaching about part of this on Sunday, so it’s on my mind. But I believe a lot of Christians are discouraged about their faith, and believe they have miserably failed Jesus, because they aren’t experiencing what the Bible never promises they will experience!

Lots of preachers and teachers (especially on TV) promise all kind of things that the Scriptures don’t. Lots of people around you do the same – but don’t buy into it!

No where in the Bible is it promised that we’ll have experiences or feelings that will guarantee to us that Jesus is real and God is with us! Instead we are told to walk by faith and not depend upon whatever experiences we may, or may not, have. I’m not anti-experiences. But I am anti extra Biblical expectations and demands of God!

We need to walk by faith, and not worry about whether or not we have the kind of experiences our friends, neighbors or those folks on TV have. You aren’t them – you are you! So rejoice in the unique relationship you have with God and live by faith!

Cultural Corruption: With the exception of our Lord Jesus, everyone who’s ever lived is shaped, molded and formed by their culture. We’re no different today than people have always been in that regard. Our culture often sets us again God and sets us up for failure in our spiritual lives.

Today’s instant everything is a major cause for discouragement among American believers! Becoming like Christ is many things – but quick isn’t one of them!

We have to understand that it’s going to take time, and a lot of it, for us to make any real progress. Instant sanctification is a fraud – period! It’s a false expectation laid on us by our culture not the Bible.

So things are changing to slowly for your taste? Too bad! It’s going to take all of our lives and then some to finish the race and become like our beloved Lord and Master. So let’s understand that, take the long, long view of things, and stop dumping false guilt on ourselves!

All three of the things I’ve mentioned come from culture, not Scripture. I hope as we reject them and embrace God’s Word, we’ll shed the discouragement that so easily entraps us, and rejoice as we live for Christ alone by faith alone!

There’s a great article over at Christianity Today about the state of Christian book publishing. You really ought to read it if you care at all about the kind of books that shape our understanding the Christian faith.

What’s happening? Well Christian publishing is beginning to do high price bidding for books with big “economic potential.” Super Star authors are getting paid larger and larger advances for books which in most cases don’t make back what the authors were paid.

Al Hsu, an acquisitions and development editor at InterVarsity Press says this about it:

What’s interesting about this is that high-flying auctions and advances has been true of New York general market publishing for decades, but it has not been the case in Christian publishing until relatively recently, perhaps the last ten or fifteen years or so. And as a result, good books (with less “commercial potential”) get squeezed out of the market and displaced from bookstore shelves to make way for high-profile books that publishers need to sell a boatload of to break even on.

This is not to say that agents are all bad, or that advances are all inflated. More than anything, it’s a cautionary tale to publishers about bidding on new book proposals. The reality is that the vast majority of books are only going to sell a few thousand copies and thus only warrant advances of a few thousand dollars.

Well, I’ll say what Al won’t – this is an incredibly bad idea! It’s crass, commercial and as sure as the sun rises in the east will lead to a further pandering to the lowest common denominator in Christian publishing.

And who are these “big name Christian authors?” Again people are afraid to say, but not me! Clearly most of them are Mega Church Pastors like Joel Osteen, etc. With their thousands of church members they have a built in audience that guarantees sales that will top a few thousand! And if they are on TV, even more.

I think it’s obvious that Christian publishing is looking for “the next Purpose Driven Life.” It’s not likely they are going to find it. In fact when Rick Warren gets around to writing his next book, if he can find the time that is, I doubt it’ll sell anywhere near as well. I’ll read it, but it’s highly unlikely it’ll sell millions of copies.

All this just makes it even harder for someone who’s not a “superstar” to get a book published and promoted by Christian publishers. Which brings me to the “New Media.”

I believe that the new media, which includes blogs but isn’t limited to them, may be the only light in this dark situation. Here, apart from economic concerns, scholars, Pastors and any one who’s committed enough to write, can “publish” and hopefully reach thousands of people with their message.

The truth is that most of the “Christian” music and publishing corporations aren’t all that Christian. They are corporate entities that are driven by their bottom line, rather than being driven by their faith.

The New Media may set us free enough from that to make a real difference. Maybe.

Time will tell.