First, thanks to everyone who has emailed me about my wife's surgery. I didn't mention it here, but I talked about it on the podcast this week, and many of my regular readers here listen to the podcast.

For those who missed it (and you really SHOULD listen to the podcast, it's good music!), my wife had her gallbladder removed on Monday. We were afraid that she had appendicitis, so we ran to the hospital even though we've got no insurance -- we've applied, but hadn't heard anything -- figuring that if it WAS her appendix, we needed to do something. After two trips to the ER, they found out it was her gallbladder. Her gallbladder was extremely inflamed -- so much that they couldn't do the surgery laproscopically (I hope that's spelled right ...). So she has a rather long incision and about 15 staples in her right now. But she's home (as of Thursday) and resting comfortably -- but I'm now in charge of the housework (and you can imagine what that means for the state of our house right now!).

But through it, God showed how He takes care of us. Monday afternoon, when we got home from the hospital, in the mailbox we found .... our new insurance cards. Coverage dated to November 9 -- the day before our first trip to the ER. Wow. That's all I can say about that one.

And speaking of the podcast, the promo for View From the Pew Radio aired today on the Podcast 411 podcast. If you've ever thought about podcasting, Rob's site has a great how-to showing you how to get everything set up to make a great-sounding podcast.

Also, a new addition to the blogroll. Discoshaman has returned to the blogosphere, and so the ling to Le Sabot Post-Moderne is back in the blogroll. Go there, read that, 'nuff said. Of course, if you're just finding out about this now, you don't read too many other blogs ...

I haven't posted much Blogger Football League stuff recently because I'd sound like a broken record. The Pewie Podcasters are currently 2-9 for the season. The hockey team is doing much better -- I'd be winning this week if I had remembered to set my roster up Monday and Tuesday (I was a little busy -- see the first point above ;-) ).

I've got book reviews and CD reviews to write for a bunch of places, and I have more coming, so you'll get to read those in the next week or so. And I've got other things planned -- including the Mark Study I've been neglecting. So stick around -- it'll be worth it, promise!!

{Edit -- I just re-read this (11/21) and am ashamed of the amount of typos in this post. I'm VERY sorry to everyone who had to try and read this the first time.}

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I've been a bit absent from blogging lately, because my wife has been in the hospital after having gallbladder surgery -- and not the laproscopic kind, either. Nice, big scar across her belly right now. She's home resting right now, and I have a chance to get caught up on some posting.

I have been reading -- thanks to my RSS reader I didn't have to spend a lot of time roaming the 'net, but I still was able to keep up to date. And, unfortunately, someone linked to this idiot. Specifically, his loving tribute to a brother in Christ who was tragically killed. {For those who don't get it, that was sarcasm.}
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September 12, 1931 - November 15, 2005

It is with great sorrow that Bellevue Baptist Church announces the passing of her beloved Pastor Emeritus, Dr. Adrian Rogers. For 32 years, Dr. Rogers taught the Bellevue congregation the Word of God, displayed the character of Jesus, and showed us how to trust, love, and follow the Holy Spirit. With his guidance, Bellevue experienced tremendous growth in numbers and maturity. One can encapsulate Dr. Rogers' service to us in one brief statement: he taught us how to love Jesus. For that we are eternally grateful. His accomplishments are many; his reward in heaven eternal. We will continue to remember Joyce and the family in our prayers and Dr. Rogers in our hearts.

We thank the Lord for sending us a dedicated servant. He fought the good fight and finished the course. We echo the words of our Heavenly Father, "well done, good and faithful servant."

Dr. Rogers' body will lie in state Wednesday from 5:00-8:00 p.m. and Thursday from 1:00-6:00 p.m. in Bellevue's sanctuary. Visitation with the family is 4:00-6:00 p.m. Thursday in the sanctuary. The funeral service will begin at 6:00 p.m.

The family kindly requests that any memorials be sent to the "Adrian Rogers Pastor Training Institute" to go toward the continuance of his ministry and vision to train pastors for the furtherance of the Gospel here and around the world.

Gifts may be sent to:

Adrian Roger Pastor Training Institute
c/o Love Worth Finding
2941 Kate Bond Road
Memphis, TN 38133

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So I promised everyone that I'd review my new toy here. My original review is at Blogcritics, but I've had the machine longer now.

First of all, the flavors are great. I've tried everything they sent me except the diet cola, the diet pink grapefruit, and the sports drink, and everything tastes really good.

The thing is simple to use. Hook a bottle of cold water up to the machine (you have to use their bottles, but that's OK), hit the carbonator button (on the top) three times or so, and add the soda syrup. It takes all of a minute to fix, if you keep the water in the fridge. I've been keeping a couple bottles in the fridge at all times, ready to be turned into soda.

It's also cheaper than I said in the BC article -- they have a machine that's less expensive than the Edition 1 that I got. You can get a starter kit for less than $100.

And I can't stress how convenient it is. You don't run out of sodas. YOu don't suddenly say "Wow, I'd love to have an orange float, but I don't have any orange soda." Or rootbeer float. Or Coke float. Or whatever.

I'm not sure that I would have ever bought one of these things. I probably never would have seen one if I hand't read the press release that Blogcritics got, and requested a sample to review. But I'm glad I did. And I think this is something that's worth the money.

If you camp or boat, this is actually being marketed to you. Most boating stores and camping stores carry them now -- judging from the web site, they're in just about every Boaters World store in the country. A lot of diet and health food stores are getting in on the act, too. And you can get them at the Soda Club website, of course. Check them out -- I know I'll be buying some more flavors in the near future.

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Everyone knows I'm not a defender of Pat "Foot in Mouth Tastes Great" Robertson. But this time, I have to say something about the coverage of what he said -- and didn't say.

Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Mr. Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club .

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So Drs. Mohler and Patterson aren't going to debate, they are going to discuss. Glad that was clarified.

I can remember when debate was what intellectual people did when they discussed. A debate is (according to Dictionary.com)

1 To consider something; deliberate.
2 To engage in argument by discussing opposing points.
3 To engage in a formal discussion or argument.

Unfortunately, we've missed the point of debate. Debate is about us vs. them, our side against their side. We go into debates not to learn, but to win. So now, when we want to emphasize our respect for "the opposition," we discuss.

Fine. I still think this discussion will be incredibly valuable for the SBC, as we try to establish exactly what things we are willing to separate over, and what things we aren't.

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... when you put motivational speeches before the study of God's Word.

This is what happens when people get too focused on a messenger. When they never hear 'hard preaching' on topics like sin, repentance, and Hell. They have to pledge their allegiance to their preacher. They have to make themselves readily identifiable to others of their group, so they know that they are the ones who listen to the truth.

What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
(1 Corinthians 1:12-13 ESV)

The rip on the What Would Jesus Do is telling. Rip one marketing program to create another. But while the WWJD thing actually had some potential before it became trite, IWJO says nothing.

Or maybe it says a lot. Maybe it says "I watch powerless preaching." Or "I don't like it when a preacher preaches about sin all the time. It makes me feel bad."

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
(2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)

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"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the Internet and telephone trees," Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them."

And, to be fair, it's not a big news story. There are other things that we have to talk about. But this actually helps me support one of my favorite soapbox issues. more...

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This is awesome news. Al Mohler and Paige Patterson are going to debate Calvinism at the Pastors Conference at the next Southern Baptist Convention. And I agree with Dr. Ascol -- this is a good thing no matter who "wins." The SBC is opening up a theological discussion, about a topic that is hotly contested right now among conservative Southern Baptists. And, as Dr. Ascol mentions, both of these men are friends, and will be so after the debate. I see Calvinist/Arminian debates all the time that are, shall we say, less than friendly. I think that this debate has the potential to show everyone how theological disagreements should be handled, and how two good, evangelical Christians can disagree on things and still work and fellowship together.

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I actually had to work today, so this is the first opportunity I've had to talk about the real October 31st holiday -- Reformation Day.

This is the date that, in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. Or maybe he didn't. The first known account of the actual nailing of the Theses didn't appear until after Luther's death, and there is some discussion among historians over whether it actually happened or not. It is in keeping with the practice of the day -- theses were traditionally nailed up when they were to be presented for debate, and Luther could have done just that, hoping for a debate that would spark reform within the Catholic church. At the very least, Luther's concerns as expressed in the Theses were made known to his superiors -- his opposition to Papal indulgences and many of the other problems in the church resulted in his condemnation and the beginning of the Lutheran church and Protestant Christianity.

I think it's interesting that one of the web sites that you find when searching for "Reformation Day" includes the question "Why is Reformation Day such an important Christian festival?" I would say that it is an ignored Christian festival. Ask the average Christian in the street what Reformation Day is, and they probably won't have much of a clue. Most churches are more concerned with organizing their Hell House and having hayrides for their Fall Festival than they are in teaching the historic origins of Protestant Christianity, or teaching what they were protesting to begin with.

It's a perfect opportunity to remember the Reformation slogan -- Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda -- The church reformed and always to be reformed. We need to always be careful that our beliefs and practices are based firmly on Scripture, and not on traditions, and we need to be willing to make changes when we are out of line. That, if nothing else, is what we must learn from the Reformation.

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There are a lot of accessories for iPods. And today seems to be the day that the strange ones come out.

First, I read about the BrixPod case. Looks like something made out of Legos, right? 'Cause it is.

The BrixPod Classic is a signed and numbered limited edition of 300 units. Each BrixPod is assembled by hand from 59 genuine LEGO® parts. The BrixPod Classic can be displayed alone but is intended for use with the iPod shuffle (not included). By inserting the shuffle into the top of the BrixPod you get the effect of a fully functional music player constructed from LEGO®. The shuffle is held securely and protected inside the BrixPod. By pushing on the screen area of the BrixPod the shuffle can be paused/played. An eject slider on the back of the BrixPod allows you to remove the shuffle easily.

Inspired by the world's obsession and devotion to the iPod, iBelieve is a replacement lanyard for your iPod Shuffle. It is a social commentary on the fastest growing religion in the world.

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While reading Tim Challies blog today, I happened across the link to Dr. Michael Haykin's blog. I've taken two classes with Dr. Haykin at Southern, and learned a lot from both. He introduced me to Andrew Fuller (which my wife really appreciates) and the early Baptists in England. Even though my church history studies will focus more on the Medieval church (especially the late Middle Ages, shortly before the Reformation), I gained a lot of valuable knowledge and understanding from Dr. Haykin's classes. His blog has quickly been placed in the blogroll, and the RSS feed added to my feed reader.

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I've left this story alone, for a lot of reasons -- mainly because I don't like blogging politics, partially because I've not been impressed with the nominee. But now that the nomination is gone, I want to talk a little bit about why I'm glad.

I know nothing about Harriet Miers. She may be hugely qualified. SHe may have gone on to be the best justice we've had in a long time. But the only thing we really know about her is that she used to be Roman Catholic, and converted to evangelical, Protestant Christianity.

In the Roberts nomination, religion was off the table. Anyone who mentioned his faith was chastened, because it should only matter how good a justice he would be. And I agree with that -- there should be no litmus test of faith. We all wanted Roberts to be judged on his ability.

But not Miers. It's almost like Bush was saying to us, "Don't worry about what she thinks -- she's one of us! {wink, wink, nudge, nudge}" Christians were expected to support her because she's a Christian.

I don't like that attitude. I don't like being pandered to by the GOP, as if I'm some immature kid who has to have a candy bar thrown to him every so often so he doesn't act up. There are plenty of highly qualified, conservative judges out there who would be a slam-dunk nominee.

I almost thing that the President set Miers up for failure. It's as if he decided to give everyone the nominee that everyone feared the most, and then at the last minute pull her back and give us something else. And that's not fair to Harriet Miers, it's not fair to conservative Christians, and it's not fair to the counrty.

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Do it yourself .... sodas.

Soda Club is introducing their line of countertop brewing appliances to the United States. The press release, web site, and everything I've read about them says that they're pretty popular in Europe, and are expecting great things from their entry into the US market. more...

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So McDonalds is going to start putting nutritional information right on the packaging of its food, huh? And this is some kind of a victory for the fast-food-eating public, huh?

more...

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So I didn't get to go to GodBloggerCon 2005. And now I have to sit and read all the posts about how cool it was, and what a wonderful time everyone had, and how good-looking David Wayne is. Next year, maybe I can talk about podcasting (HINT HINT TO ANYONE LISTENING!!!! I'M VOLUNTEERING!!!). Ahem. Anyway, while reading the various accounts, I found this post that asks some good questions. The aforementioned Mr. Wayne has tackled a couple, but I'd like to add my two bits to the mix. more...

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Ok, not really, but I've seen this pop up all over the place -- the whole "My Blog is worth $) thing, and so many blogs I've seen are worth $0. So I decided to try it, and I was shocked.

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Maybe this will become the next blogosphere meme -- and it will have started right here!! Cool, huh?

I'm going to think of 5 numbers, 1-10 (if you're cool, you can roll a D10 for this, but my dice are missing and presumed lost). I'm going to start at my blogroll, count down the first number, and go to that blog. Then count down the next number on their blogroll, and so on. +NOTE -- the numbers CAN duplicate, and you should use the first blogroll on the page as you scroll down.

My numbers are: 3, 8, 2, 9, and 4. So here we go!

more...

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Just took my daughter to see Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. My review is over at Cinema Veritas.

Short story -- go see it. Get your kids the DVD, and watch it again. Outstanding movie.

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