“If humor without faith is in danger of dissolving into cynicism and despair, faith without humor is in danger of turning into arrogance and intolerance.” - Conrad Hyers in The Comic Vision and the Christian Faith

“The real epiphany for me, as a longtime religion writer for daily newspapers, was the suprisingly favorable way religion, in its broadest sense, was presented in [The Simpsons], and what a crucial role faith played in the lives of the characters. In many ways, Simpson family members were both defined and circumscribed by religion. The family attended church every Sunday and said grace before meals. Their next-door neighbors were committed evangelical Christians. When faced with crises, the Simpsons turned to God and prayed aloud. God often answered their prayers and intervened in their world. Here was a complete (if inconsistent) cosmology - God, the devil, angels - and a fully realized universe of faith. Characters believed in a literal heaven and hell, and, like most Americans, they ridiculed cults. Clearly, Christians and Christianity were more a part of The Simpsons than of any other prime-time network sitcom or drama, excluding shows specifically devoted to religion such as Touched by an Angel and Seventh Heaven.” - Mark Pinsky in The Gospel According to The Simpsons

well… over the course of a weekend, things happen, good and bad. let me take you through my rundown. friday afternoon, the typical start of a weekend, a group of friends of mine all decided we wanted to go out ot eat. let me tell you what a production this is. girls usually go through the production of getting ready to go somewhere, but guys go through the production of deciding where to go based on price, interest, and location. after much bickering, almost to the point where i was going to go eat on my own, we went to outback. food is modest, price is too expensive for the modest food. oh well, another 15 bucks down the drain. at basketball that night i received a nice injury to my jaw area. not only did i bust open my chin, i chipped a tooth, only to find out these two injuries after the fact. i have always been one with a fair pain tolerance (ie my tatoos didn’t hurt and i tried to walk off my knee injury), so i just played out the game, mostly because it was fairly intense. i then proceed to the bathroom to examine my battle scars and inquire whether or not i needed to shout “medic!’ upon examing the gaping wound, i decided the best course of action would be to proceed to the hospital. upon arrival at North Regional Medical Center (i should’ve gone to Shands, but oh well) i was encountered by various forms of white trash, the locals of gainesville. don’t take me as close minded, that’s just who they are. after 2 hours in the waiting room, i finally got moved into one of those ER rooms that you see on television, quite dramatic for a few stitches. after waiting a while longer, a doctor with a mickey mouse bowtie walked on. it is easy to doubt someone’s credentials when part of their wardrobe includes a comical cartoon mouse. he placed a paper with a circular hole in it over my face (quite impersonal, indeed) and proceeded with the operation as if my whole identity was tied up in my chin. i eventually was done and went home

on saturday, mikey and i went to cafe gardens. it is a quaint outdoors eatery that makes gainesville actually feel like a college town. gainesville is almost entirely composed of chain restaurants, which is rather sadding. after spending much time up in athens, georgia this semester, i have grown quite a respect for the local business owners, only fueled by my criticisms of the capitalistic structure. on our travels back from the restaurant, through drizzling rain, we eventually stopped behind some cars in traffic, which is a common thing to do. but every now and then, some people just don’t stop, such was the case for the girl two cars behind me. she smashed her integra into the car behind me, knocking off his bumper, and causing his front liscense plate to dig into my bumper. what a sad state of affairs. when i exited my car, i realized i did not have my liscense with me. i freaked out and conspired with mikey to convince everyone that mikey was the driver. caught up in the emotions of the event, no one involved noticed that the person who was driving my car (me) is not proclaiming himself the passenger. after a few hours of discussion with the accident investigator, i proceeded home to rest my weary head. that night a friend of mine came over to vent, which really still leads me to think about becoming a counselor. over the past year i have learned to just sit and listen, sometimes throwing in my two cents (often a little more, but i’m learning). i was glad i could be friend to him, as much as i could without letting him drink himself into a stupor. after falling asleep at 5, i woke up to do my taxes and then come back here and make some money on eBay. no deep thoughts for today, just a summary of my weekend. maybe i’ll put it in my pipe and smoke it, then see what this weekend really meant to me.

question for the day: what was the best thing before sliced bread?

“Prayer pulls the rope down below, and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might.” - Charles Spurgeon

“Love alone is not enough, to hold us up, we’ve gotta touch Your rope… so swing Your rope down low” - Aaron Tate (Caedmon’s Call)

You know who you are. I love you. - Chris Bontempo

I own bowling shoes and a bowling ball - Chris Bontempo

He’s off of the “future husband” list - Few girls in response to previous quote

I about crapped my pants - Allen Williams in response to Josh Doody’s bowling accident.

I’m not a big fan of getting eaten by alligators - Me… last night.

The other night, I was posed the question, “What verse has meant the most to you over time?” My answer at the time, and still is, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ (Matthew 22:37). I further expounded on the fact that to love God with all your heart is a completely devotional and relational side of our love. It is manifested in God’s love as shown through the interaction of His people. Loving God with all your heart is in turn loving God’s creation with all your heart. If we are like diamonds, reflect the light of God around our world, then we are truly loving God with all our hearts. To love with our soul is the to love with our true inner being, where the sacred and profane meet, where our fleshly bodies and the Holy Spirit interact. In my quiet time or when I meditate on God’s word or when I am ’still and know You are God’ is when I am loving Him with my soul. In worship I am loving Him with my soul. In brokenness I am loving Him with my soul. In our mind is the last, and often neglected one. Ravi Zacharias feels this is one of the most ignored parts of Christianity; it is strange that some evangelistic movements insist that we must not ‘reason’ out our faith (can anyone explain what’s going on in these people’s heads?) “So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind” (1 Cor 14:15). It is important that there be an incorportation of where our mind is with our spiritualy life. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2). In our culture, people look at Christian’s as ignorant and unintelligent, believing in fairy tales and myths. God says that the wisdom and intelligence of the worldly people will eventually be made foolishness, likely when we reach heaven and these people are somewhere else apart from God, second guessing their opinions.

I have often focused much of my time on loving God with all my mind. Becoming a Christian in a college setting and through apologetics has allowed me to spend much of my time focused in that area (ie my web site). It is time for me to shift my focus into a larger interaction with God, an interaction where he can truly get to know me on an intimate level. I am often fearful that I would end up like one of those people who did things for the Lord my whole life but when I get to heaven, he will say that He “never knew me” (Matt 7:23). I do not doubt the promise of slavation and eternal life, but I doubt my own shortcomings. God is complete, and I am made complete in Christ, but I often feel that my being is so incomplete, I cannot fathom how Christ has made me complete, that I am truly a NEW creation, not just an old creation with new priorites. It is a difficult task to let go of who we are or what we have known, and post-modernist society doesn’t allow people to be “new” creations. But we are all equally created in God’s image and God’s standard is constant. It is easy for us to say that it is “just the way I am” or “that what I know,” but God would be thoroughly dissapointed in that. It renders the death on the cross as pointless. He has set us free, but we actively choose to continue to live a sinful life, often dumbing down our sins so much that they are no longer sins in our minds, they are just “who we are.” This is dangerous. It is also dangerous to ramble on much longer.

Question of the day: We discussed at Bible Study monday that desire is something God plants in us and we can choose to acknowledge that desire to seek Him, or get lethargic and have a ‘dead’ faith. Have you acknowledged the desire? Are you throwing your own kindling on the flame that God has lit in you? He has given you the match and the firewood, but we’ve got to keep putting the firewood on. He will stoke the fire sometimes, but we have to keep blowing on the embers.