Oh yes, I got a lot of it. But Spam Karma, a WordPress plug in, catches it and makes it go to a bad place. I check Spam Karma quite often to make sure it didn’t flag any friends. So today there are a ton and one of them says “Actually i am not an active serfer, but this this site is really great, i will spread it through my friends.” Causes me to chuckle a little. Or is it chortle? No, not a chortle. While I do surf, I am not generally known to ‘serf’. Isn’t it amazing what a spell checker can do for a non-native speaker spamming up the internet?

Any way, at first I wondered why they would dump spam on my blog, it isn’t like I’m ever going to visit their sites or anything. The reason is not so I’ll visit but in order to boost their rating at Google so they will show up more toward the top of a Google search on whatever. Google ranks based on the number of incoming links to a website. Clever idea but it can be gamed, its called Google Bombing. Go to Google and type “failure” in then click the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. That results is because of Google Bombing.

So if you are a WordPress user and have not yet downloaded and installed the Spam Karma 2 plug in, please do so now.

Update: Since posting this I have gotten around 200-300 comment spams per day with that same stupid sentence in them. Spam Karma is working overtime! :) On a related note, someone I don’t know had a conversation with a comment spammer. Turns out that they don’t all have horns and a tail after all! This one was simply clueless. [HT: Paulo]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President George Bush today announced that he has changed his shirt. “I have consulted fashion experts and members of congress and taken the bold and needed step of changing my shirt.”

This change came after the President’s approval figures continued to slip in polls and the loss of Republican control of the Senate. The President’s choice of shirt had often been cited in both cases. Two months ago the President announced that he would be seen in public with a new shirt after the new year.

“This is a bold new shirt for America. It had become obvious to me that the previous shirt was not working. We needed a change. You asked for a change and I heard you” the President said in a news conference.

The change was welcomed by Republicans. “Where the previous shirt failed,” said Senate Minority Whip Mitch McConnell, “this new shirt is a fresh change of direction for the President and for the United States of America.”

The Democratic response was less enthusiastic. “The shirt change does not go far enough!” Said Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. “It simply isn’t the change of shirt that America needs. It isn’t the change of wardrobe the people demanded in voting in the new Congress.” She went on to cite problems with the sleeve length and color choice in the new shirt as being insufficient.

Public reaction was mixed. In a New York Times poll, 23% of the people approved of the new shirt while 27% disapproved. An informal interview with shoppers at the Westfield Mall outside Columbus, Ohio yielded some confused results.

“But isn’t that the same shirt he was wearing before?” asked homemaker Janet Fogelman. “It doesn’t look like it’s changed. There is that stain right next to his tie that was there before. Same color too.” Bystanders looking at the same picture of the President’s new shirt agreed.

“How come the Democrats didn’t notice that?” asked Mike Wilkey, a truck driver who was standing behind Mrs. Fogelman.

“Man, is the dude ever going to change his shirt? I’m sick of looking at the same [expletive deleted] thing. Doesn’t he know that it isn’t working for him?” Commented Jimmy Straton, a high school senior. Many in the gathered crowed voiced their agreement.

Richard Fortman stepped forward and disagreed. “You people are being un-American! Demanding that the President change his shirt is giving in to the demands of America’s enemies. We have to stay the course!”

Neither Democratic nor Republican spokesmen were available to comment on the observations.

I would like to combine my Tungsten T3 and my cellphone into one device. Yeah, the iPhone got me thinking. There is no way in the world I am going to get one, but a smart phone would be nice. So I started looking around. I’m on Verizon and I’m a Mac user so what’s available for me? The PalmOne Treo, that’s what. It runs on Palm OS and it available on the Verizon network. Cool.

However, I don’t want to pay Verizon for internet access, I’d rather use my WiFi at home which I’m already paying for. Sorry, no go. The Treo’s switched to Windows Mobil with the Treo 700’s. To get Windows Mobil to sync with my Mac I’d have to buy additional software. So that limits me to earlier models. While the Treo 650 runs on Palm OS, it does not have built in WiFi capability. You used to be able to get a card that plugs in and then some hacked drivers to get WiFi on it, but a firmware update killed that.

So my options for a Mac compatible, WiFi-enabled smart phone that works on Verizon are essentially nil. This came as a real shock to me. It doesn’t seem like I’m asking for a whole lot here.

Updated: Oh, by the way, I’m an idiot. There is a Palm Treo 700p that runs on Palm. It is available through Sprint but is a CDMA phone and so it should work on Verizon. However, it was much more than I spent on my 650 so I’m a happy and not poor idiot. :)

I haven’t commented on politics in a while but recent events have stimulated some thoughts once again.

Barak Obama has launched his exploratory committee paperwork. This isn’t an announcement of his intention to run but it is an increased commitment to that movement. When I look at the Democrats, the two leading almost-candidates are Obama and Hillary Clinton. Clinton strikes me as a professional politician demonstrated by her carpet bagging in New York. So between the two, I preferred Obama. But that’s because I know little of him. NPR is beside themselves with the possibilities of either an Africa-American or a woman running for President. I don’t really care about race or gender, I’m interested in how they intend to lead. NPR compared the two today and my feelings for Obama dipped. He and Hillary have similar voting records and he has been opposed to the war since the beginning. I think those two things are going to aim Obama in a direction I don’t think we need to go. I wonder who the Republicans are going to put forward. I like John McCain. I think.

That brings up another point. America should learn from the 12 years of Republican rule and not give both Congress and president to one party. All that power in one group invites corruption of existing politicos, ingress of money and power hungry people and increased pressure for corruption from lobbying groups. Division of powers makes a lot of sense. I feel trapped having both Houses now in Democratic control. I just hope the Republicans learn from Bush and put forward someone who is electable and not so polarizing.

Speaking of Bush, his ‘new direction’ for Iraq is all ‘stay the course’ without the cute catch phrase. I don’t really think anything has changed there, has it? And it has been a resounding success so far… What we need to do is begin to win the hearts of the people. Lets focus on getting the infrastructure in Baghdad up and running. And lets do it through local Iraqi contractors. Yes, yes I know that the insurgents target anything we do there. But perhaps it will be more difficult to see which we’re doing if we fund Iraqis in those projects. What a mess.

Glad to see Condi trying to get the Middle East Peace Process moving again. That boat stalled and began sinking. Focusing on Israel is really an important part of fixing Iraq. It is part of the reason militant Muslims hate America. They see us in Israel’s hip pocket. Not only that, but Israel is doing some pretty bad things and they need to get some pressure to knock it off.

We Westerners are pragmatic people. We go with what works. Hollywood does films of successful television program, and video games and sequels of successful movies , our infomercials focus on testimonials, books on business cite success stories of companies who’ve used their model, and on and on. This make sense. Why do what hasn’t worked and ignore what does?

The ‘problem’ comes when we allow that attitude to bleed over into our spiritual lives. This scripture reading program was very successful for him. When that pastor preached a sermon series on this subject attendance went up. This method of evangelism proved very successful for that group ten years ago. And so we buy the book or the program and attempt to import it into our lives and church expecting similar results. As if people are all the same and God will always react to the same thing in the same way.

I was struck by the beginning of Luke 4. Verse 16-30 tell of Jesus preaching in a synagogue in his home town. Luke slows the narration down and give us a lot of detail, especially compared to his next reporting of Jesus in the synagogue in verse 44. Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah and sits down. Once everyone’s attention is fixed on him and the people are waiting for some commentary on the text, Jesus simply announces that that text is fulfilled in their hearing. At first “all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth” (22) but by the end of this episode, they’re trying to throw him off a cliff! Read On…

Last weekend I got tired of hanging around the house and took the family down to Millennium Park in downtown Chicago before Ben and I start back at school. We had a great afternoon. Took the train so I didn’t have to drive and that’s always a good thing. So here are a few pictures:

Here we are reflected in the side of the bean, hamming it up:

Gillian really wants to see Wicked. We’ll have to work it out!!

Chicago is a great city. When I was on Manhattan, it felt crowded and intimidating. LA felt false and flippant. Chicago has a more hospitable  feeling. It is a really beautiful city. Sure the politics are corrupt but the city itself is cool.

I’m up to Luke 4 and I feel like the story is just beginning. Luke spent some time on some details of a few people, most notably John the Baptist. The first three chapters show God’s initiative in all these events. Zechariah didn’t go into the temple and tell God that he would be a father and that his child would be the herald of the Messiah. Mary didn’t decide to become pregnant before she “knew a man.” God sent his angel to both and initiated the works of salvation that Luke is about to relate to us. Right off the bat, Luke wants us to know that this story is God’s story and it is initiated by God.

But then I got to the genealogy of Jesus at the end of chapter 3 and I’ve spent the past few days asking myself why it is there. I’m not asking why he included the genealogy, but why he didn’t include it at the beginning like Matthew did? Luke is far too intentional in his writing style to have simply dumped it here for no reason and there is no textual evidence that it wasn’t original. So why is it here?

Well I spent a few days reading back and forth and I kept tripping on the genealogy till I pressed on. Like I said at the beginning, the story is just beginning! Consider how Luke ends his narration just before the genealogy. He rather quickly wraps it up. John baptized, Herod threw him in jail, and oh yea, John baptized Jesus too. I mean he covers all that in 5 verses, he rushes right through it as compared to the other narratives so far. There is a feeling of summing up in that first part of chapter 3. Then a genealogy introducing Jesus.

I know, we’ve already been introduced to Jesus. We read of his birth, his presentation at the temple, then he’s 12 and he’s teaching the teachers at the temple. But we really haven’t met Jesus. We don’t really meet him till now. Luke 4 begins with the Spirit leading him into the wilderness and the devil tempting him. The genealogy showed us the link between Jesus and God via Abraham via David. Now, in the temptation, the devil makes the statement that Jesus is the Son of God. Bring to bear what we’ve learned so far and we see that Jesus is the Son of God first by miraculous birth, second by descendancy and finally by God’s very own pronouncement (Luke 3:22). Satan then comes along and tests Jesus in that very area and Jesus passes the test. The temptation ends with the announcement that Jesus begins his ministry “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).

If we consider the first three chapters as prologue, which I think has some warrant, then the genealogy is the beginning of the story and Luke’s narration of Jesus begins with a very powerful introduction. He defeats the challenges to his role as the Son of God and launches his ministry in the power of God’s Spirit.

Here is Jesus.

If you have a Mac, check out this screensaver. The concept is simple and the execution elegant. And its free.

If you don’t have a Mac, consider buying one. You can find refurbished ones at reasonable prices.

I just finished reading Lewis’ book The Silver Chair to my girls. It was a great story. I love reading The Chronicles of Narnia to them. Though I’ve read it before, I didn’t recall this paragraph which struck me as quite funny:

And the wall, at Aslan’s word, was made whole again. When the police arrived and found no lion, no broken wall, no convicts, and the Head behaving like a lunitic, there was an inquiry into the whole thing. And in the inquiry all sorts of things about Experiment House came out, and about ten people got expelled. After that, the Head’s friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interefere with other heads. And when they found she much good even at that, they got her into Parliment where she lived happily ever after.

Ah, thank you brother Jack. I wish Aslan would send us more like you. By the way, I just had a peek round IMDB and I see that Prince Caspian is in preproduction. Not much information about it yet.

Welcome to 2007! Yesterday I finished my “umteenth” pass through the Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible reading schedule. I think it is a great idea to read through the Bible in a year and to do it more than once. In the past, I have used the One Year Bible and that works well too. Or you can just read three or four chapters a day and get through it. But for 2007 I’ve decided to do something different. Throughout 2006 I’ve heard professors and pastors and others say that it might be good also to slow down your reading and to read consecutively. Dr. VanGemeren this past term even suggested reading only one book of the Bible for a year. Reading it slowly, repeatedly, meditatively and allow it to soak in to you. So that’s what I’ve decided to do for 2007. I’m going to read 3 John and nothing but! :) Kidding, I am going to focus my morning quiet time on the Gospel of Luke for the year. Yes, I will be reading elsewhere in the Bible for other purposes, but for my quiet time I’m going to stick to Luke.

Why? A number of reasons, really. Luke is a gospel and I haven’t really focused on a gospel since I taught John a number of years ago. The past two years of seminary have given me a new appreciation and a new approach to reading narrative and I’d like to read a gospel with this new pair of eyes. Luke is about disciples and I know I could do better in that area of my spiritual walk. I might well be leading a church plant starting in the fall and Luke, as a handbook on disciples, might be very helpful. I might preach through it or teach through it as part of that work. Or it might prove helpful as I develop a discipleship program for the plant.

So this year it will be Luke and I every morning and I started this morning with the introductory material in my ESV Reformation Study Bible and most of chapter one. Already I have something to chew on. After Luke’s introduction (1:1-4) he introduces us to John the Baptist’s parents Elizabeth and Zachariah and John’s miraculous conception. Then we’re introduced to Mary and her even more miraculous pregnancy. What stood out about these two episodes is that they are both uniquely God’s initiative. Zachariah goes into the temple alone to perform his ecclesiastical duty and is confronted by an angel announcing the coming miraculous conception of his son. Then Mary is confronted by the same angel with a similar message. Neither were seeking the roles God chose for them. The Incarnation is God’s initiative as it could only be.

I have a feeling that this year I’ll be blogging through Luke so I even added a category for it. We’ll see how this goes, I’m positive that it cannot be a waste of time.