I was over at Greg Boyd’s blog and I stumbled upon this post.

Read that post before reading further.

I remember hearing about this when I was at RBC (which is now Kuyper), but remember it being presented very differently, where the responsibility fell on the townspeople and the governing bodies of that city. I’ve been intrigued enough to try to dig up some old notes and see if I can find the specific notes I took on that lesson, to see what exactly was taught. I’m interested to speak to some friend who went to Calvin College to see what was taught there as well.

Was it as heartwarming for you as it was for me? I hope so. Its been days since my last post so I hope you enjoyed it.

When people cease to be surrounded by beauty they cease to hope

-N.T. Wright

I want a religion that costs me something

-Phyllis Tickle

Seeing this reminds me of some killer birthday parties at showbiz pizza. 

I remember thinking about how sweet this band was, but still feeling a little creeped out by them at the same time. 

I thought this was interesting and pretty wild to think about.

We can all hope that prices of goods will level off for a while because I know I don’t want to spend six dollars a gallon for gas. I was actually surprised that the price of corn hadn’t gone up more due to the E85 vehicles. I know mpg is going to a much bigger factor next time I buy a car. The link to the original site can be found here.

I’m sure you seen this in the news, on other websites or other blogs, but I figured I ought to add my $.02.

Here’s the link.

I’m just disappointed that Dobson, who is considered a Christian leader, decides to criticize Obama- accusing him of having a fruitcake theology, when Barak Obama is just pointing out that even among Christians there will be disagreements. I certainly hope that Christians will one day be seen as people who are able to be comfortable and ok with disagreements, but that day is not today. Regardless of what Dobson thinks about Obama, or even how he felt about being mentioned by him, I just wish he could have responded with a bit more love and a lot less insult.

First off I’d like to point out that I’m not creepy. I usually follow peoples’ blogs that I find that are a part of mars hill. The list includes people I know and people I don’t know. I stole the following two paragraphs from someone I don’t know. You can read her blog here. I could have gone back to the music at mars cd and written this all down, but I’d rather copy and paste, so here it is.

“If I’m really honest, my natural movement is downward. You know, I so quickly become the cynic. The critic. The guy who can only see whats wrong and points it out to everybody. And everybody loves that guy. I guess I just thought for a long time, you know, I’m just one of the perceptive ones, that kind of thing. I’m one of the smart ones, standing in the back of the room throwing stones at everything. Now it just seems that I think I was afraid. I just think I was scared. It is so easy to be a cynic. It is so easy to find and point out what’s wrong with things. I mean, anybody can do that. But it takes courage to believe. and in this world, where there’s so much darkness, so much screwed up sin, it takes the deepest kind of courage to stand up and find the good and hold out for hope. And so when we choose to go upward, to find God’s fingerprints everywhere, we are choosing to really live because cynicism is a dead end.”

And then he read what has become a favorite quote of mine over the last few years, from GK Chesterton:

“The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again!”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again!” to the sun; and evening, “Do it again!” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all dasies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

I have definitely realized how easy it is to point out the negative lately, especially in my school program. I want to point out the good and the beautiful, which isn’t easy because the negative is always so obvious and easy to find. Through my schooling and especially when I get into a school this fall, I want to stand for the GOOD and point it out. I want to stay far away from the negative and the pessimism that can be found in many situation.

I heard Shane Claiborne mention this again last night. I love that both Rob Bell and Shane both talk about how Jesus’ response wasn’t either fight or flight, but a third way- a way of love, love no matter what other do to you. Jesus’ response is always love, I want to be like Jesus.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how some of my values change, or re-prioritize depending on the season of life that I am experiencing. One thing that I have definitely noticed is that when my life is relaxed and not very busy my value of personal health and exercise becomes pretty important. When my life becomes crazy and filled with appointments, school and work, my value of personal health and exercise becomes less of a priority, simply because it is so difficult to fit exercising into a busy life.

I’m not sure how many other values shift up and down with the seasons of life, but I’m wondering what values are like a roller coaster in your life? Do you have some values that re-prioritize or are you values relatively concrete? One consequence of being in school is that I do not get to spend as much time as I would like volunteering with kids. That is another value that has shifted with the seasons of life for me.

What about you, what shifts in values have you experienced?