You need Monty, too.

A bit irreverent, but the idea rings true.

Amazon.com Modifies 'Abortion' Queries

Yahoo! News: "Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it had modified the way its search engine handles queries for the term 'abortion' after receiving an e-mail complaint that the results appeared biased.

Until the recent change, a user who visited the Seattle Internet retailer and typed in the word 'abortion' received a prompt asking, 'Did you mean adoption?' followed by search results for 'abortion.'

Spokeswoman Patty Smith said the automated prompt was purely based on technology, and that no human had made the decision to show the question.

'Adoption and abortion are the same except for two keystrokes,' Smith said. 'They also, in this case, happen to be somewhat related terms.'

Still, Smith said she and other company officials decided to remove the question after receiving an e-mail complaint and deciding that it raised a valid concern."

It seems a bit coincidental, of course, and I wouldn't put it past someone with access to Amazon's A9 search engine algorithms to do such a thing. But then again I wouldn't put it past the Hand of God, either. If it made a difference just once -- saved just one innocent life -- then it was more than worth any inconvenience it might have caused a few. And it would be a blessing if it raised a few eyebrows or made a few folks rethink the issue.

Sponsoring the Anti-Christ

It's official, the Anti-Christ is brought to us by Lexus!

The voice-over guy announced it just before the first commercial break during an airing of The Antichrist, a recent documentary on The History Channel.

Now isn't that taking commercialism a bit too far? And with sponsorship like that, why do we have to pay thirty-bucks for the DVD? That's just evil. Plain, simple evil.

Can't let an idea die

The comic strip Non Sequitur gets quite political quite often and three recent strips in a series fired yet another broadside on the Intelligent Design debate.







Just thought I'd give you something to think about. I wouldn't be surprised if the debate heats up again and soon. Look for more posts from me soon.

PDL Chapter 6 Question

"How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?"

Wahoo!! I'm gettin' a promotion and its par-tay time!!

Well, just as I mentioned in the post from Chapter 5, I know that despite Earth not being my final home, what I do here affects me for all eternity. Certainly I could post a detailed plan here, but that would assume that I have one. Instead, let me just write that my lifestyle should be centered on taking as many people with me when the End Times arrive.

Kind of like a suicidal nut job with a high-power rifle in a clock tower, but instead of shooting in anger before taking out myself I'd be shouting the Lord's praises before being taken.

C'mon, that's a good analogy because you got the point. Now I just have to get others to see God's love for themselves. Onward to the party!

PDL Chapter 5 Question

"What has happened to me recently that I now realize was a test from God? What are the greatest matters that God has entrusted to me?"

Jimminy Crickets! Now that I think about it, everything is a test! Chapter 5 uses the idea of a life metaphor -- is life a game, is it party, or is it .... I don't seem to have a life metaphor. Sure, I think of driving in traffic as an obstacle course and use similar metaphors for innumerable other activities, but I don't have an overarching concept that I apply to my life. But since reading this chapter I am beginning to think of this life as a test. "A very important test is how you act when you can't feel God's presence in your life" (p. 43).

I suppose it is like that "Footprints" poem:

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

When I don't feel the Lord in my life (thankfully that hasn't happened since accepting Christ as my savior) I plan on using the gifts of faith and patience that He has given me to wait out the loneliness. Before this happens I pray that I be given other gifts to productively end the absence.

And I pray that I have these resources when I finally find out what the Lord as entrusted to me as my task or other matters here on Earth. As mentioned in previous posts, I once felt that being a teacher would be my biggest concern. Now I have no such occupation-based thoughts. Praying about this is one of my most important goals, though I need to work on it with greater fervor.

The pull-quote on page 45 of this chapter resonated with me. "The more God gives you, the more responsible He expects you to be." This noble ideal is exactly how the Founding Fathers of the United States felt and is the basis for a whole school of thought dating back to the Roman consul Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Even before allowing Christ into my life I had admired and adopted the legacy of Cincinnatus. Going forward it will be a powerful tool to guide me as I glorify God.

PDL Chapter 4 Question

"Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today?"

Obviously, my body wasn't meant to last forever but I should stop abusing it with a poor diet and not exercising it. Not taking care of it is looking a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. The Lord entrusted me to take care of it and so far I've been doing a very poor job so far.

Surely the question is more about my non-corporeal permanence, but as I am betwixt Heaven and Earth right now the two incarnations are inexorably mated. Giving into the sinful pleasures of sloth and gluttony mars my shiny, clean soul. God gave it to me in factory-fresh condition, without blemish or flaw, and I've neglected the routine maintenance for some forty years now.

By accepting Christ I restored my soul but it can still be damaged and even lost. The Lord already knows if I will be taken to the Millennial Kingdom and I believe that I will be there, but how I behave on Earth determines how I will serve the Lord for eternity and I certainly don't want to disappoint Him.

So here's my plan, though only with God's strength and love can I fulfill it.

• Daily prayer
• Follow my heart when He calls upon me for prayer throughout the day
• Be thankful and loving for all His gifts
• Think more often "Is what I'm about to do going to glorify the Lord?"

PDL Chapter 3 Question

"What would my family and friends say is the driving force of my life? What do I want it to be?"

Without asking my friends and family, I honestly don't know what they would say is the driving force in my life. At least not at this time. Once they might have said that being a teacher was my driving force. Occupational answers are probably the norm, I would imagine. Once I thought it would be great to be a professional photographer.

Right now I have no professional ambitions so I guess that I can't count something like that as my driving force. And I probably shouldn't go with what I've been telling people for years: "I just hope to live long enough to bury my mother and then I'm done." For some reason that upsets strangers and not-so-strangers.

But it probably doesn't matter a whole lot what family and friends might say because what does matter is what God has in mind. "Don't be pigheaded as your ancestors were. Clasp GODs outstretched hand. Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for all time. Serve GOD, your God. You'll no longer be in danger of his hot anger" (2 Chronicles 30:8). Even before reading chapter three of The Purpose Driven Life the idea of living my life for God weighed on me.

My friend Paul put it much more clearly than I could: "I pray that everything I do glorifies God, whether it be at church, work, or home." No doubt he won't mind if I borrow that as the driving force that I would like to have because, after all, this is the what the Lord would like for all of His children to assume as their goal.