1 Cor 7:26

Five points to the first person to note in the comments why this juxtaposition was counter to my expectations:

NIV 1Co 7:26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.

TNIV 1Co 7:26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

Choral Music and Common Grace

I’ve now persuaded even my wife to get into LaLa.com (she’s usually a bit skeptical of my technological forays). We’re enjoying it very much. I wrote this in my profile description for the site:

I love choral music. God created beauty, and even those who rebel against Him have been left with His image. Their ability to create incredible beauty reflects God’s own creativity. So whether Tavener, Pärt, Vaughn Williams, Hillier, Rutter, Joseph Jennings, and those fantastic King’s Singers acknowledge God’s rule through Christ or not, they bring glory to God.

The Level of Political Discourse in Mass-Media

The past was supposed to be better than today. I’m a conservative, aren’t I?

Did you know that people in America used to memorize poems and read stuff longer than a blog post? Did you know there was a day when kids’ brains weren’t full of Hannah Montana—or Eminem, for that matter? I always assumed these factors would create a higher level of discourse in the nation. But, if anything, political ads in 1952 were worse than today. Click that link for a fascinating site.

Star Wars Philosophy Melange

Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers a line in the final Star Wars movie (III) which has achieved some level of fame. It appears 8,270 times on the Web, including as the name of a blog.

Anakin has just informed him, “You’re either with me, or you’re my enemy!”

Obi-Wan replies with that now-famous line: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes!”

I love Anakin’s reply. He stops, cocks his head, smirks, and says, “Obi-Wan, are you absolutely sure?”

Ok, no, he didn’t really say that. I think that was Ravi Zacharias and D. A. Carson in chorus.

Such a saying, however, does reveal something about the melange of philosophy which has melted into Star Wars. Here’s another, a comment Qui-Gon Jinn makes to Anakin’s mother as they watch young Anakin serving others:

“He gives with no thought of reward.”

This line is a little harder for Christians to process than the first, I think. We Christians all know that truth is absolute, but it sounds nice when someone works for no reward.

But that idea is not Christian. It’s anti-Christian. Simply put, God offers rewards.

I didn’t say you could earn your salvation. I didn’t say that it’s up to you to muster up some spiritual strength or work up some grace or alter your will. That’s all God’s work. But Jesus says you should rejoice and be exceeding glad when people persecute you for His name’s sake—because great is your reward in heaven! I seriously doubt that God intends for you to forget about that reward while going through your trial. The reward is the reason (γαρ) for the joy you’re supposed to have during persecution!

And God offers other rewards:

ESV Ps 19:11 Moreover, by them [God's words] is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

ESV Pr 22:4 The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.

ESV Heb 11:26 [Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

ESV 1Co 3:14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

ESV Gn 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

The NIV and KJV render that last one with God telling Abram, “I am your shield, your very great reward.” Whichever rendering is correct, both are true. God is the ultimate reward for His children. Don’t deny yourself this reward. Sell all your possessions to get it, if necessary. Ask God for grace to want this reward, to never let it leave your mind and heart!

So You Got a New iPod Touch

I am dedicating this post to DN and all of the faithful BJU Wellness Program devotees who won iPod Touches and now—congratulations—have them in hand! May the Lord help you to use this helpful tool to His glory!

I got a free iPod Touch with my iMac. I had had my eye on it for a while because I needed a Palm replacement—after using a Palm IIIxe through seven years of grad school. Here are the applications I have installed right now (I’ve put especially useful ones in bold in the list below):

1. Air Sharing: Turns your iPod into a wireless flash drive.
2. AOL Radio: self-explanatory. Many stations available over a wireless connection.
3. CheckWord: Check words to see if they are in the Scrabble dictionary.
4. Dual Level: Use your iPod as a level (it works because of the internal sensors).
5. eReader: Read books in the eReader format. Eh…
6. Evernote: Good for sermon notes or any notes because it automatically syncs your notes or images on the web and your iPod.
7. Firemail: Type e-mails in landscape format. Handy if you don’t like portrait’s narrower keyboard.
8. Google Mobile: Search Google and your own iPod.
9. Holy Bible: Try to find the one with this exact icon. Others cost money. I still want to get the ESV and polytonic Greek, but this is the first one I’ve found with a free GNT of any sort. With a wireless connection, you can get nearly anything. But my church has (wisely!) blocked users from accessing the wireless signal during Pastor Minnick’s sermons.
10. Instapaper: Save articles while surfing the Net on your computer so you can read them later.
11. O-Marks: Synchronize your bookmarks in Safari with those in Mobile Safari.
12. Pandora Radio: Pretty cool and innovative music-streaming site.
13. PayPal: Haven’t used it, but I may and it’s worth keeping around.
14. Remote: Very cool! It’s a fully-featured iTunes remote. I can turn the music down in my house without ever moving more than a finger!
15. Simplify Media: Haven’t used it, but it promises to stream my iTunes library from my desktop to my iPod if I ever need that.
16. Text Guru: More features than Notepad.
17. Units: Convert different weights and measures.
18. WeatherBug: Not very pretty looking, but has more features than the included weather app.
19. WordPress: For my blog. I haven’t really found this useful in my situation.

A few tips:

1. I keep my iPod on the lowest brightness setting to save battery, since I mainly use it as a handheld computer.
2. Turn off wireless whenever you’re not using it so you don’t drain your battery.
3. Learn to type well and you can really get going fast. I’ve been surprised what a little practice has done for me. I take more notes on Pastor Minnick’s sermons now than I used to on my Palm (and that’s saying something), and I can switch over to the GNT quite quickly.

A few links for you to add to your home screen:

(Just go to these sites in Mobile Safari, then click the plus sign, then add them to home screen.)

• NPR Mobile. Great during pledge drives! =)
• Neat alternative ESV Bible site.
• Don’t Waste Your Life (free online eBook I recommend; formatted for iPhone / iPod Touch).
• The Weather Channel for my zipcode (just replace my zipcode with yours).
• Facebook for iPhone (I promise I do not waste time on this! But I do want to keep up a bit with old friends.)
• I also have links for Google Reader mobile (very cool), my Amazon Wishlist (in case I’m in a store and want to check Amazon’s prices), and various Bible sites.