March 24, 2006

New Videos for Asia's Hope

Please check out these new online videos for Asia's Hope. They are very well done. They focus on the new work that is being done in Thailand. There is another video that is behind the tab on the right hand side, when you are watching the first one. Click on the "More Videos" link. These are excellent!

March 23, 2006

Here are a couple of pictures of the Blue Flame Jazz Band
playing at the Renaissance Theater this month.

March 20, 2006

March 09, 2006

The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne...

Here is a song that I have begun to treasure over the years... I consider it one of my top 20 favorite "Christmas" songs... I love that is tries to unwrap the pathetic commercialism of our November and December... now I need to live something like it...

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
They'll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by the Prince of Peace
And they call him by the Savior
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgment
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

March 07, 2006

Okay, time for some new books...

Here we go with some of the newest books I have completed...

Boys Will Be Boys - a book (published by The National Trust) that I was given by a friend after he came back from England. The National Trust is some type of charitable organization in England that contributes money from book sales to I don't remember what... The book was actually an alphabetical collection of 'boyish' sayings that have entered the vernacular, but that we may not always know the meanings of. (I laugh as I enter a sentence ending with a preposition!!!)

The Mark of the Christian by Francis Shaeffer - one of the dearest of Francis Shaeffer's books... the mark of the Christian is... love based in truth. I love (no overstatement here) this book. It sets a standard that I want to live out... and a standard that Jesus calls all us to. I truly respect and cherish the challenge that Shaeffer does not back down from, that the world has the right to judge the veracity of the Christian faith based upon the manifested love of Christian people... a standard that I fail regularly, but that I am glad exists...

The Big Four by Agatha Christie - a good read, but not one of my favorite Poirot novels. Here Poirot goes up against an intenational spy ring. It is definitely interesting, but I did not really like it as much because you do not get to know the characters as well as you usually do. The story and characters are shrouded in obscurity and vagueness... I like the details that come out in getting to know the specific characters.

The Closers by Michael Connelly - this is my favorite Michael Connelly since Angel's Flight. Don't get me wrong, I like all of his books... but this was one of the best in a while. Great plot, great character development... I think that I really got into this one because the case is about a victim that was murdered in high school in 1988... in other words I am the exact age as the victim... I was 16 in 1988 just like the victim... but many other aspects of the book made it good and believable... good reading. The Harry Bosch character needs to be classified as a classic in the mystery novel literature... Connelly has crafted him so well over the years... excellent.