Review: Forensic Faith: A Cold-Case Detective Helps You Rethink and Share Your Christian Beliefs

Forensic Faith: A Cold-Case Detective Helps You Rethink and Share Your Christian Beliefs by J. Warner Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer, given copy of book in advance for an honest review by the Netgalley web site.
It was an interesting book. I know that what I believe is true but when I took a philosophy class last semester (as I get older I want to keep the mind going), I realized that I could not talk intelligently about it. Many of the arguments that were given me to question my faith in that class were used in the book (like the typical 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' one). I am not sure that I could ever make it to the Christian Case Maker that he talks about in this book. At this point I can talk a little more intelligently about the questions that could come at me.
The book follows a natural progression from barely understanding the topic to being well versed in and what to do. He seems to rely a lot on the fact that you have read the other books in his series but when he mentions them, he does bring forth the relevant points from them so you do not miss anything in the referrals to them.
I would recommend to any who are being questioned about their faith and as a tool for a parent to sit with their pre-teen and teenage children so that when they go off to college, their faith will be there own, not the faith of their parents. They will be able to talk intelligently about why they believe what they believe when they are questioned in class.

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Review: Messy Church Enhanced eBook: A Multigenerational Mission for God's Family

Messy Church Enhanced eBook: A Multigenerational Mission for God's Family by Ross Parsley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I always wondered why the church that I had been attending for years started doing the things they did the way they did. Thanks to this book I know why. They had read this book or one like it.
I do not disagree with the author on the premise of a church as a family, nor do I disagree with his thoughts that all generations should be at the table together. What I do disagree with is the concept that this can be done in a church that has been around for a while. When it did happen, people started to vote with their feet how they felt about the church. I weathered it out for a while but as I saw needed ministries be gutted because they could no longer be supported, and the one that I was involved with was one of them, I left as well. This book is better to be read by a person who is involved with a new church rather than trying to change an existing one. There was a lot of good material in it. I just feel that trying to steer a big ship is not as easy as steering a row boat. Most people will not last long enough in bigger churches to get the ship on the course that it needs to be.

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Review: Security and Privacy for Microsoft Office 2010 Users

Security and Privacy for Microsoft Office 2010 Users by Mitch Tulloch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While not a current book (2013 is what I teach, 2016 is most current) it offers a good overview of security features that do not change a whole bunch in each version of Office. If you can pick it up relatively low cost it would be a good investment.

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Review: This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter

This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter by Paula Gooder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent book for the season of Lent. Ms. Gooder focuses on the three things that are important that come from Easter.
1) The resurrection being the most important to a Christian. Without it there is not salvation. The next is the ascension, without this Jesus would still be here and we would expect Him to be doing all the work.
2) The ascension, since it falls on a Thursday, is usually not remembered on most church calendars. However, it is important.
3) Pentecost. Without this event, we would not have the power to go forth and tell others.
Without each of these events, the story of Easter is incomplete.
I was able to read this as part of Faithlife web site and their free book. As part of the site, people could sign up to read the book together and talk about it. That made the book a little more interesting to me as I read what other people thought and could reflect on things that I missed.
It is a seasonable book. For that reason, though it could be read any time of the year, it is best read as a reflection time leading up to Easter, or as part of the time from Easter to Pentecost.
Enjoyed the book.

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Review: The Good Book: 40 Chapters That Reveal the Bible's Biggest Ideas

The Good Book: 40 Chapters That Reveal the Bible's Biggest Ideas by Deron Spoo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Standard disclaimer. I got an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Deron Spoo has written an excellent book that can be used in so many different ways. It can be used as a personal devotional, a Christian Education class, a Bible study, etc.
My only disappointment, minor because I may have read something into his introduction. I was under the impression that he had created this book of stories to help an unchurched (ignostic he calls them) to understand the Christian faith better. In reality the title says it all, 'the Bible's biggest ideas.
The book is written to all levels. A person who has read the Bible and studied it can gain some new insight. I know that I looked at some scriptures in a way that I would not have before. On the other hand, a person who is unchurched can pick up the book can gain an understanding of what it truly means to be a Christian and what we believe.
Forty ideas are presented. 20 from the Older Testament (Old means we do not use it any more, older means it still has value), and 20 from the New Testament. One might have their own scriptures that they might include, but I feel that Mr. Spoo has chosen with care what he thought were the best ones. I am sure it was hard to narrow it down to 40 ideas.
If you are looking for a book that argues theology, this is not it. Nor does it deal with the issues that as Christians separate us into denominations. It does, however, introduce the key concepts of Christianity in nice bite sized pieces.
High recommendations from me on this book.

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Review: Facehooked: How Facebook Affects Our Emotions, Relationships, and Lives

Facehooked: How Facebook Affects Our Emotions, Relationships, and Lives by Suzana E. Flores
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To start with got a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for a review
When I first started reading this it took a little bit of getting into it. I had just finished reading 'The Church of Facebook' and was expecting it to be very similar. It really was not, but like that book, it took some getting into it for me, but for opposite reasons. Church of Facebook seems to tell stories that had nothing to do with the subject but in the end had everything to do with it. Fachooked started out with stories but went right into the why of them.
It was interesting in that the author started with the light fare and when you got far enough in, the subjects became a little darker. And that is the way it should be. If she had started with the scary stuff first people might not read it at all. That was a good call on her part. If that is not what she had planned it still was a good move on her part. I feel that just the right amount of time was spent on each subject, although for me and what I know (I work in IT and am familiar with a lot of this) some seemed to drag on. I can not object to that because not everyone has the same level of knowledge and what drags for me might be not enough for you.
In all, I think it was a good read and would recommend it to anyone that has interest in the subject matter.

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Book Review - Understanding the Culture

Understanding the Culture: A Survey of Social Engagement by Jeff Myers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I got an advanced copy from Netgallery in exchange for a review. Unfortunately I could not finish in time for the book to be released. This is a good thing. It was so deep, rather than skim through it I had to deep read it each chapter.
The book has the feel of a Classroom textbook. It is easy to read but the topics are very deep. There is a clear pattern to each chapter and once that pattern is noticed it does make the reading a little easier.
It is clear that once you get into it, this is a Christian world view book. The name does not give the hint that it would be. I wish I had a copy of it last semester when taking a Philosophy class, a lot of the questions that came up I had a hard time addressing. It would have been good to have this a reference to quote from.
It is the third in a series and I would love to some time invest in the other two. For now, I will have to add them to my want to read list.
Summing it up, it is a great book, but it may not be for everyone.


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Book Review of Mom I'm Gay

Mom, I'm Gay: Loving your LGBTQ child without sacrificing your faith by Susan Cottrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I got a free ecopy of this book from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review of the book.

I ask to review this book not because I have a child who is gay, but I have children who have gay friends. In fact last Thanksgiving she my daughter brought home a young man from hr college who says he is trans-gendered. He was welcome into our home with no problem whatsoever. A far cry from the father who told him not to come home for Thanksgiving.

I was hoping that I could understand the right and wrong things to say. The author does address that, but the politics in it is fairly overwhelming. For about the first quarter of the book she spouts the belief that God made your child that way. If you do not think that God did this then you are basically told how unloving you are. While she does not use the words, she basically is talking about the gay gene theory. It has not been proven either way, but she speaks as if it is the only truth. For a person who preaches that we should not judge, she judges you flat out if you disagree with her.

As a Christian, I also do not care for her bashing the church as a whole. She basically says that there is no church that will affirm your gay child. She late in the book talks about a select few that would be accepting and recommends a web site that you should go to. One of her problems here is she talks about people who have religion and not relationship. The church I go to (one of the megachurches she puts down with not names mentioned) when I told the pastor of the church that my daughter would be bringing a trans-gendered person to church said, great, we will love them like we love everyone else. You see, we preach a love for all in our church. A sin is a sin, and there sin is no worse than mine or yours. What matters is your relationship with God.

I can not recommend this book at all as long as the political baggage is attached to it. If she could have stuck to the ins and outs of loving a child who was gay I would have given it 5 stars. Since she got political about things I could only give it three. I also recommend that the author not judge others, just like she talks about in the book.

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Wow, has it been that long.

Used to be this was where I posted a lot of the flotsam and jetsam that flowed through my mind.  As I became more involved in Facebook, that is where a lot of my thoughts wound up going and I realized the other day that I had not blogged for a while.
Logging in tonight I realized it has been a year an a half.  And before that it was spotty.
So, here I am again. let's see if I can be a little bit more regular here.

Happy new years....

A New Look at an Old Story

We changed churches recently.  While I still love the people at Grace Church in Tulsa, I did not feel like I was part of the fellowship anymore.  I honestly felt that it was time to move.  I looked at a few, but I kind of felt that I should be at Lifechurch.TV South Tulsa campus.  Last week Pastor Craig started a sermon series on "The Christian Atheist".  Very good series.  I was encouraged to try a reading plan that they had called

Home Again: A Study Of The Prodigal Son.  I would encourage all to read it.

I have read the story of the prodigal son for years, even facilitated a group that discussed the The Father Heart of God: Experiencing the Depths of His Love for You , a book devoted to that same story.  So for me, I did not think that I could learn anything new from it.  You know, God has a habit of grabbing you by the neck sometime and just politely tell you, shut up and listen.  I did for this one.

It is an old story, I am sure that you know it well if you grow up in church.  One son wants his inheritance while dad is still living.  Takes the money and spends it all, then, when he has nothing less, he tries to return home to be a servant.  Dad rushes to him, forgives him, kills the fatted calf and has a party for him.  The older son gets mad because he did not get a party the whole time he stayed.  The question that this devotional tried to bring out was, "which son was the better one?"  (that is my version of it).

I always though that the older son was the better one.  He stayed with the father through all the problems of life that were thrown at them, there he was, right by the dad's side.  If the younger had not run away, then he would have been blessed just like the older one did.  Sure, the younger son was forgiven, that says something, but the older one was smarter. Or was he?  His actions, that I had not really looked at closer before, showed he was just as bad as his younger brother.

In reality, one brother is living by faith, the other living by works.  Both are elements that God wants in our lives, and like the father loved both of his sons, God loves both sides equally.  Both of these, however, are ditches on the side of the road.  You get off on one you or the other, you are out of the will of God.  God will gently prod you to get out of the ditch and get back up to center ground so that you can move on with what He has planned for your life.

Take some time to do the reading plan, I am sure you will get something else out of it.  If nothing else take some time to take a look at the YouTube presentation of the story.

From the "If I drank I could win a bar bet with" department

Helping my son with homework tonight and the question was name the three largest cities in Oklahoma by population and land mass. We looked up population and it was Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman. By land mass it is Oklahoma City, Norman and Tulsa. He wants one answer not two so I look up population per square mile.  That muddles things up even more as it is Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Norman.

So if you ever need the answer to the largest city in Oklahoma, you can give one of three answers and be right!

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus: newspaper - Yahoo! News

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus: newspaper - Yahoo! News

So they are trying to blame something on us from un-named sources.  What is funny is the following quote:

Since Flame was an intelligence "collection" virus rather than a cyberwarfare program to sabotage computer systems, it required less-stringent U.S. legal and policy review than any U.S. involvement in offensive cyberwarfare efforts, experts told Reuters.
The CIA, NSA, Pentagon, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

Um, yes, the USA and the various departments are just going to admit to something like this?  If they were not involved and said so, would the average person believe them.  

Problems with conspiracies, is once they start, they are hard to kill....

Do people really think about what they are saying when they get their 15 minutes of fame?

News from The Associated Press

So, in Georgia, there is a little girl throwing a tantrum in school and the police get called in:

Salecia Johnson, 6, was accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at Creekside Elementary School in Milledgeville, according to a police report.
Police said a small shelf thrown by the child struck the principal in the leg during the fracas. The child also jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame, the police report states.

So, she was really traumatizing all the students all around her, would you agree?  So what do the cops do?

The school called police. When an officer tried to calm the child in the principal's office, she resisted, police say. She "was restrained by placing her hands behind her back and handcuffed," a police report states.

 Why did they call the cops and not the parents is a good question. In one version of the story that I read, the parents were unavailable for contact. If you contact everyone on the list in most schools, the next step in most cases in the police.  So far I think the police or the school did not wrong what so ever, though the cuffs might have been overkill, I understand that it was for her safety in the police car.

But here is the kicker:

The girl's aunt, Candace Ruff, went with the child's mother to pick her up from the police station. She said Salecia had been in a holding cell and complained about the handcuffs.

"She said they were really tight. She said they really hurt her wrists," Ruff said. "She was so shaken up when we went there to pick her up."

And:

"We would not like to see this happen to another child, because it's horrifying. It's devastating," her aunt told The Associated Press.

So let me translate what she said in what it means to me.  It was totally OK for her niece  to terrorize the school, give her classmates nightmares about her actions, and be totally impossible to work with. What is not OK is for her niece is to have handcuffs put on her because they hurt her wrist and she was so shaken up about it, to the point of being devastated.

Am I missing something here.  She got her 15 minutes of fame I guess. I do not think I would have been calling the police if my child had been acting like that...

From the "Whoops, I spoke to soon department"

Read this today and got a chuckle....

Only good driver 'on the planet' ruins car

NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) -- A car that hit a guardrail on a New York road was photographed with a bumper sticker proclaiming the motorist is the only good driver "on the planet."

The car, which was smashed on its front end and flipped over after colliding with the guardrail in a northbound lane of the FDR Drive at 9 a.m. Sunday, was photographed bearing a bumper sticker reading, "Why am I the only one on the planet who knows how to drive?" the New York Post reported Monday.

Police said the male driver, who was alone in the car, was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2012/04/03/Jockstrip-The-world-as-we-know-it/UPI-48681333447200/#ixzz1r08dNNR6

Obama Warns 'unelected' Supreme Court Against Striking Down Health Law | Fox News

Obama Warns 'unelected' Supreme Court Against Striking Down Health Law | Fox News

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld. 

The president spoke at length about the case at a joint press conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. The president, adopting what he described as the language of conservatives who fret about judicial activism, questioned how an "unelected group of people" could overturn a law approved by

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/02/obama-confident-supreme-court-will-uphold-health-care-law/#ixzz1qv0zymJd

So I want to make sure that I get this straight. When the conservatives complained that the unelected court was making rules from the bench that  flew against what the people wanted, that was OK because it fit the liberal agenda, that was OK.  When the unelected court makes rules that support the conservative agenda and go against the liberal agenda, then a stern warning comes from the president and elected officials happen.

Am I the only one who does not see the logic in this.  If it is wrong one want, is it not wrong the other way as well?

Or have I drank too much of the conservative Kool-aide....?

Working with my kid...

Last night and tonight have been interesting. You have to understand that up till a few years ago I was always very active in working with my children. Even though I worked nights, most of that time I worked from home.
That changed a few years ago. My job was airline related, I did technical assistance for technicians fixing airline ticketing equipment. When 9/11 happened my office go downsized a few people at a time . I was lucky and held on longer than others, but in the end I was let go.
I took a job at a community college fixing computers but I worked nights. Eventuality I went to days but along with my part time job of teaching them, I had to take on a job at a major retail store. So I was basically home maybe one a week.
This not good because my youngest son has Asburgers, a high functioning form of Autism. He has really needed a dad and I have not been emotionally or physically there. We were loosening connection.
In school he was needing to write a narrative essay, but he was drawing a blank on how to do it. It was passed the due date but they would take it if we could get it done soon. Now I am not the best writer but I have learned how to write bettthan many so even though I was tired, as he was to, I got to help him write his paper.
The result I do not care if he gets a good grade on. We had connected again in ways we haven't done in years. I think he enjoyed it as well. He was relaxed as he climbed into bed as if he once again knew he had a dad who loved him.
In my Wednesday night co-dependency group, I am a facilitator of a group going over the book, The Father Heart of God. I have learned in the past two days just what a joy it is for me to be part of my sons life again. How much more does it mean to the Father God to be part of my life if I will just let Him be a part of it? 

Retail workers sign petition to “Save Thanksgiving” | SFGate Blog | an SFGate.com blog

Retail workers sign petition to “Save Thanksgiving” | SFGate Blog | an SFGate.com blog

So let me see if I understand this correctly.

More and more stores, from Target to Best Buy, are pledging to start the Black Friday shopping extravaganza’s early — like after dinner on Thanksgiving night. And they’ll stay open all night long.

That upsets a lot of workers, including Anthony Hardwick of Omaha, Neb., who says he’d rather be at home with his family than stocking shelves or working a register at Target. Plus to make it though the night he’ll have to sleep most of the day, he told CNNMoney.com.

Hardwick started an online petition called “Tell Target to Save Thanksgiving” calling for Target to open later that quickly attracted 157,000 signatures.

Here is a guy who has a job in an economy that is not doing very well so he starts a protest so he does not have to work on Thanksgiving. I would think that the man would be thankful that he has a job and can work on that day. I would think that he would be thankful that he is not in a soup kitchen with his family. Nope, the protest is there, and he is upset he has to work. While I do not care to work on the day, someone has to and the Walmart that I work at will take care of the people that work there. We will have some food set out for us to eat during breaks. We will get holiday pay based on the average hours we worked. And more important, my family will have 8 hours more of pay from my part time job, maybe being able to get some presents for each other.

Get your priorities correct people.

Church tweets protest of Steve Jobs funeral via iPhone | News To Me with George Mathis

Church tweets protest of Steve Jobs funeral via iPhone | News To Me with George Mathis

This has got to be what I consider the ultimate in irrational behavior. If you look up irony in the dictionary, this news article should be found there.

Westboro Baptist, those of the protest the military funereals because America is going to Hades in a hand-basket fame, have decided to protest the funereal of Steve Jobs. Why, because he did not use technology for God...

Religious leader Margie J. Phelps, in responding to an Associated Press headline on Twitter concerning Jobs’ death, said the group would picket the funeral because Jobs had “a huge platform; gave God no glory and taught sin.”

I never knew he taught sin... must have been one of those things I missed because I am not an Apple fanboy. (and I am not putting down Apple or Jobs, just the religious fanatics that the fanboys are). What is ironic is how they put this message up on Twitter:

Yes, that is right, they protested Jobs, and his lifestyle, on a phone that he helped to create. I am a Christian. I can honestly say that if I thought that Jobs represented Satan and all that stand with him, I would not be using the tools he created to talk about how I would protest his lifestyle.

School Surveys 7th-Graders on Oral Sex - FoxNews.com

School Surveys 7th-Graders on Oral Sex - FoxNews.com

Was this really necessary?

Tessitore said her daughters, both students at Memorial Middle School, were told they had to complete a Youth Risk Behavior Study.

“Kids were actually told to sit down and take them,” said John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “The parents here are very upset.”

Whitehead said the girls were deeply disturbed by the subject matter of the study – including questions about suicide, drug use and sexual behavior.

“One of the questions is, ‘have you ever had oral sex,’” Whitehead said. “You’re talking about kids who probably don’t even know what oral sex is.”

But in stead of accepting responsibility the principal passes the buck:

Principal Fran Thomas told Fox News Radio that students were indeed given the survey – and admits it was graphic. But Thomas said the school has nothing to do with the content and they were required to administer the survey to fulfill a grant requirement.

“I can take no responsibility for what’s on that survey,” Thomas said. “It’s not generated by the school system.”

So in stead of saying that I could have stopped this if I had not applied for the grant, he says that it was mandated by the grant and I had no control over it. Then they wonder why the kids do not take responsibility for their own actions!

Travel Time

Will have to be going to another campus for the next few weeks.  Could be interesting, it is one of the ones that I used to work at.  Not sure why they need me, call load does not look too bad.  I was told that we have a number of projects that need to be done, so I will be up there for a little bit.  It is between semesters so I will not have the commute between the two campuses to teach.

Now, if I could only get to the point that I did not have to work the third job.  I enjoy Walmart, but 3 jobs is a bit too much.  Each weekend drains me so much.

Well, here goes .....