Another one bites the dust...

Young Ben Lavin (pictured center in the all white, obviously) got married this weekend in Cool, California. It was a good time. The author particularly enjoys the mountains and quality weather of said california. God Bless you and Kamy, Ben.

I always knew women talked too much to be healthy

Honestly, if you're offended by the title, you should really consider taking yourself a little less seriously.

Heard about this on NPR last week and found it rather intriguing. Apparently, young women are prone to co-rumination in over-abundance, leading to further problems and worsened mental state.

Now, it seemed this was too good to be true (and it was). The hope was to have irrefutible evidence that whenever a female said something I didn't like, I could simply cite this research and inform them of their mistake. :D

Sadly enough, talking about your problems isn't a bad thing. Only talking about them too much.

Ah well, there's always next year...

Church essential number one: Brokenness/Wholeness

It seems a key element in any kind of effective church is the ability to grieve healthily. A corporate outpouring of this character is stoked by all of the individuals' willingness to sit in hard places, and believe and hope for redemption.

I believe God has an inner fire in each of us, but so often we let it die because we are broken by life, sadness, pain...

A friend of mine once related a similar situation to me using an analogy of a broken glass (paraphrased):

"Sam for such a long time, all I could do was sit and say look at the broken glass; what am I going to do? My glass is broken...After some time, I realized there was glue, and the glass could be put back together. It wouldn't be put back together, though, without blood-without your hands being cut over and over again. It also would never look the same as it did before. How could it? with glue holding glass together like mortar with bricks. However, it can again serve its purpose." That purpose? A vessel. "Be filled and spill" also comes to mind. This cannot happen if we believe we, in and of ourselves, can do it. We can't. We break, we weary, we despair. But there is much to say for our past pains becoming strengths that can be used by a perfect Creator as he deems fit. Not for our own glory, but for his own. We are broken, but our brokenness can be made new, can be re-sculpted for good (what was intended for evil).

(I'm really thinking out loud here and trying to dream a little bit. I welcome your input and thoughts, criticisms and questions. I'm hoping to think of more of these and bring them together for a more cohesive whole.)

Good things can come from Nebraska

Disclaimer: The author obviously does not believe the implication from the title. Knowing many people from Nebraska (some, good friends, and most, good people), the author knows better. However the craft shown in the photo represents one of the not so good things to come out of Nebraska.

Remember the days of Freedom. Creighton Blue Jays keeping it real. This is a great tool for people who need help getting into a routine.

Considerations of Late...A visual representation

This has been spurred by readings and conversations of late.

Will Ferrell doing George Bush on Global Warming

Yes, you should watch this.

Going green with your H20 (Public Service Announcement)

It has come to the attention of the author that many people (the author chief among the offenders) use far too many disposable containers to hold food and beverage.

Sure it's easy to just grab a plastic cup or plate and throw it away, but it would be a whole lot better to ease up on filling landfills and the like and lessen our need for mass quantities of plastic. It's also cheaper.

There are other alleged repercussions involving the ways in which we live affecting things like cancer in humans. Some of these questions are raised by Michael Sleeth of A Rocha

He also gave a good talk about Conservationism, simplicity, and a bit about the whole cancer thing. You can find it here (you'll want July 8th, "Serve God Save the Planet"). The sermons around this one are also intriguing.

The picture above illustrates some of the author's efforts to change the way he effects the world around him. Small yes (well the liter mug isn't small, but the effort is). Is it a little odd to use a beer glass for water in the workplace? Maybe, but it's also a great way to start a good conversation about taking care of what we've been given. Appreciating our blessings without exploiting them.

Revel in it friends...

You always want what you can't have. Crap that's funny.

What's interesting to me is that nobody ever broaches the topic (mainly because it's not funny, exciting, or interesting) of what happens when people go get the thing they don't need simply because they can't have it. Usually they're left holding responsibility for some crap they didn't want. Think about it.

Giving other blogs a bump...

Since the staff of "Common" Sense has realized the mass quantity of humanity which comprises its readership (read diminutive at best), they have decided to issue virtual shout-outs to other blogs of note (biased or not).

Kyle and Michelle, parents of ridiculously over-cute children have updated their blog with numerous posts and also changed addresses. Give the family some love...

While the author is a bit bothered that they have taken the URL which was obviously created for keeping track of the life and times of the prodigious offspring of the author, there are certainly other options, so no hard feelings you guys.

Effectiveness

Gordo Byrn has a great article on personal planning. You can find it here.

Ah google, you had me at "I'm feeling lucky"

The author honestly feels a little bad about his inordinate affection for google. But he's torn. He loves the company which continues to improve its offerings and thus continues to have the author's support.

The author justifies his technological romance by not clicking on the ads (but it's not really true, sometimes his interest is piqued enough to follow those crazy ads on the side).

Latest in google's laundry list of life simplifying devices is 1-800-GOOG-411. I suppose you could use 800-FREE-411 but why?

The author is a huge fan of google reader, google documents (which you can keep online), and especially iGoogle (a place to bring together all of the googley goodness), but lately has found himself checking back with google labs just to see what's in the works. Ah google, someday I'm sure you'll turn into a cruel blood-sucking mistress, but today, you are my friend.

Questions (for some reason, I can't get the title bar to work, so this will have to do)

Recommended listening for whenever you get a chance:

Kent Dobson on the Present Kingdom (June 24 2007). You can find it here.

A rallying post

A selection from an especially solid movie (with some selective editing).

I can’t do this.

I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, … …. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end.Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?…But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, …, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

What are we holding on to…?

There’s some good in this world, … And it’s worth fighting for.

Hard and Soft Power

Ah the beauty of a good article. Truth and balance can warm the soul. Enjoy the 4th.

Picture by Kevin Kallaugher