We’re coming up on the Backyard Brawl (GT vs UGA football), so here’s a joke on UGA.

Bubba finished up the agricultural program at UGA and got his degree. He bought a plot of land outside Athens and decided to raise chickens. So he went to the local co-op and said “Give me 100 baby chickens.” So, the co-op owner sold him what he wanted.

A week later, Bubba went back to the co-op and said, “Give me another 100 baby chickens.” So, the co-op owner sold him what he wanted.

A week later, Bubba went back to the co-op and said, “Give me another 100 baby chickens.” The co-op owner was astounded and said to Bubba, “Wow! You must really be doing well, that you need so many chickens in such a short amount of time!”

Bubba sadly replied, “No, I’m not having success at all. I must either be planting them too deep or too far apart.”

From the front page of the NBA site. No wonder I don’t get pro basketball anymore.

I’ve been thinking about the election.  How little it ultimately means to those who know (and really trust) Christ.  What should a Christian’s response be to it?  What can we learn from it?

While I stand behind posts I made earlier regarding the election (even all the way back to when we thought it’d be a Giuliani-Clinton race), there are a few recent points that really stood out to me.

John Piper wrote a column a couple weeks before the election, noting the priority we should put on the election relative to our faith, paralleling it with 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.

On the morning of the election, Mark Driscoll wrote a column noting that the vast majority of voters (on both sides) are seeking government or governmental leaders to fulfill a need that can only be met by Jesus.

Two pastors.  Two men that I greatly respect.  Two solid thinkers with some great specific points.

But for me, those posts were merely extra-base hits.  The ball was knocked out of the park a few days later, and I’m happy to say that I personally know the slugger.

Sandee Simpson Fricks (and her hubby, Bruce) are college friends of mine. I hate to say that, as it kinda implies that Sandee is close to my age, and that constitutes insulting a very nice person.

(I don’t mind insulting Bruce, even though he’s nice, too.)

Sandee wrote a note on Facebook on Monday, expressing some thoughts that she had based on her pastor’s message Sunday.  Since not all of my readers are on Facebook, I am reproducing her note (with her permission) here:

Was this election an indictment of the Christian Church?

This is the question going through my mind during the sermon yesterday.

In his sermon, Dr. Dave stated that, in his opinion, many Americans voted the way they did because they were taking the side of the hurting. Those who needed a hand. They voted for a president to solve their problems and the problems of those around them. They voted for Obama, though many Christian organizations had endorsed McCain. He asked the question - Do the people of America have more faith in the White House than God’s House?

This actually dovetails with a note I posted last week about conservatives donating more money to charities. And we do. Conservatives believe that the church and other private charities can help the hurting better than government can. But, is our message getting out there? Are we taking our responsibilities seriously enough?

Dr. Dave proposes that we, as the church, need to lead in our community by example. Following God.

Clearly it is not any president’s fault if a family finds themselves in foreclosure because they were living beyond their means. The church (and it’s individual members) needs to set an example by being fiscally responsible.

Clearly it is not any president’s fault if a marriage finds itself in divorce court because a spouse was unfaithful. The church (and it’s individual members) needs to set an example by strengthening marriages.

What if the Church (and its members) consistently followed God? Would our example to the community draw them in? Would there be less hurting in the world?

We know that Jesus never promised us an easy path. In fact, he guaranteed suffering. But surely we could eliminate a lot of self-inflicted pain by being obedient to Him.

Dr. Dave stated that throughout the Bible, we can see that “the condition of God’s people is never dependent on the nation they live in”. In fact, we know that nations, empires and leaders come and go. Therefore our hope must not lie in a man, nation or government but in God. Only He will stand forever.

In case you want to listen to the message — I haven’t heard it all yet, but I’ve really liked what I have heard — here is the podcast page for Sandee’s church (see the 11/9/2008 entry).  Or here’s a link directly to the MP3.

One line that really rings loudly:  While admitting that it’s not a bad thing for Christians to try to elect someone who upholds and practices their values, Dr Davis wonders if it’s time for the American Church to admit that

. . . we have allowed the banner of the Christian faith to be carried too long by those in the White House.

Ouch.  Dude, that’s a little too close to home.

Or, in other words, Dr Davis, you don’t have to wonder.

House
(2008 — Michael Madsen, Reynaldo Rosales, Heidi Dippold)

I went and saw House tonight.  This was the movie based on the book by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti.  About 400 years ago, I wrote about the novel after reading it.  In that review, I said that my main beef with the book was that it was trying to be a movie too much, instead of just being a book, and speculated that the reason for this was that it was slated to be a movie from the get-go.

When the movie trailer came out, it showed a lot of promise — it seemed that, indeed, the movie images that the authors tried to portray in the book came out on the screen.  And having seen the movie, I can confirm that this is the case.

While I can’t say exactly how true to the book it was (it’s been too long since I read the novel), I think the comments that I made on that first link suffice as a summary.  What’s left here are some random thoughts:

• Tax incentives in Poland must be phenomenal to shoot a movie there that’s set in Alabama.
• Early on, the score was distracting.  You don’t have to cue me every time you want me to be scared.  Eventually, they apparently reined in the composer.
• I don’t know how they managed to get Michael Madsen for his role, but he fit it perfectly.
• Conversely, J. P. Davis may quite possibly be the worst actor in the history of film.

Perhaps my strongest impression, though, is that the MPAA is clearly on crack.  They gave this movie an R rating and could/would not identify anything that could be cut to get the rating down to PG-13.  Apparently, they thought the whole thing was just too sca-wee, Mommy.  Yeah, the movie’s quite intense, but there’s no way it’s deserving of an R rating.

Here’s what scored House an R.  I counted two uses of “hell” (one of which was halfway in reference to the actual place — a character describes a boiler room as being “hot as hell” — and given what they’re going through, that seems like a place that would be on her mind).  One character’s blouse is kinda low-cut, showing some cleavage.  It is implied (but never stated) that one character was the victim of incest as a youngster.  And even the violence that actually was on the screen — a lot happened off-screen — was (maybe) worthy of a “soft” PG-13.

Back to the movie: To be honest, this isn’t the kind of movie that’s a must-see on the big screen. I mostly went to see it because I’m a Dekker/Peretti fan.  And seeing as how theaters threatened — before the movie even came out — that it’d better do well this weekend or it’s gone to make room for other releases, there’s a decent chance you won’t get to see it in the theater, anyway.  But, if you’re interested in a good scare, get the DVD when it comes out.

Being referred to as a “resource” is dehumanizing enough. But Matt Perman notes the actual danger of corporations considering their employees to be “resources” or “overhead”.

I’ve long been of the mind that the change from “Personnel” to “Human Resources” was a purposeful step in a long line of dehumanization and devaluing.  However, I think that Matt supports the corporate corollary to Occam’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.

Four percent of the un-dead support Ron Paul.

Yeah, I know it borders on megalomania to quote yourself.  Just think of it as a microcosm of blogging in general.

Had one of the weekly conference calls that I attend earlier today. Everyone was introducing themselves as they joined the call — which is totally unnecessary, but pre-programmed.  After about 20 introductions, I was able to get a word in edge-wise.  Bored with the standard intro, I said, “My driver’s license says ‘Brendt Waters.’”

After a few more introductions, there was a pause, so I interjected, “Of course, it also lists my weight as 190.”

Q: What’s the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?

A: One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and — let’s be honest — pretty sexy piece of eye-candy. The other kills her own food.

Just in case:

• you haven’t gotten an ESV Study Bible yet (I haven’t)
• you’re interested in getting one (I am)
• you still shop brick-n-mortar stores occasionally (I do)
• you don’t mind shopping the chain stores (there aren’t any mom-n-pop stores left around here)
• there’s a Lifeway store near you (like the one just around the corner from my local On the Border restaurant - yummmmm)

Lifeway is having a sale on November 14-15, which includes the hardback edition of the ESV Study Bible for $24.99 (MSRP is $50.*).

Granted, you can get it now online and do almost as well.  But if you’ve waited this long (like I have), what’s another couple weeks?

* Tax, tag, and title are extra. Dealer retains rebate. Your mileage may vary. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.