Almost one year ago this week, i was in the same place again. After a whirlwind of summer activities and a little vacation, I was feeling almost human again. This year, it’s been postponed a few weeks due to some family issues, relocating our ministry offices, and a couple of hurricanes that have altered our plans more than once.

Last night, combustion occurred, and today the pheonix is rising from the ashes.

Somehow, we usually think that renewal and rebirth is comes out of a time of rest and recharging. That’s just not so. I don’t know of any first-birth experience that is so. What makes us think that re-birth is so? As John Piper so aptly once put it, "Pain is a beautiful hermeneutic."

So much to discuss, digest, and dissect. I feel like a newborn waking to the stimulus-overload world around me. And it’s a good feeling.

For starters, here are some things I’m chewing on:

 

This Gizmodo article that announced Microsoft’s partnership with Rock The Vote in order to allow Xbox Live gamers to register to vote and participate in prelim presidential votes. My question is do we really want the uninformed Rock The Vote schlubs involved? Or will they actually unplug from MasterChief long enough to get educated about the issues and plug in to the political realm? Time will tell.

An interesting New York Post piece about Sarah Palin. The entire article is well-written and worth the two minutes to read, but the last paragraph is especially worthy of reposting:

"But it was when I looked up her biography after the meeting that I learned one of the most salient facts about Sarah Palin. She knew she was bearing a Down syndrome child but refused to have an abortion. While I am personally pro-choice, pro-choice means just that, the right to choose to have or not to have an abortion. My head bows to the integrity, guts and courage it takes to embark knowingly on such a life challenge because of one’s personal belief in the sanctity of life. When we look at McCain’s loving adoption of a child from a Bangladeshi orphanage run by Mother Teresa and Palin’s knowing birth of a handicapped baby, we see a quality of character on this ticket worthy of the White House."

Read the whole article here.

There’s an interesting Boston.com article on why daydreaming is cruicial to creativity. From Einstein to the guy who invented sticky notes, there are some interesting thoughts (and some biblical parallels to be made, IMO, about prayer and ‘being still’ perhaps) according to recent scientists.

Prayers still going out to Steve McCoy (meet Molly) and to dustindkk and family (meet Lucca).

Finally, a great big Thank You, Jesus for being able to keep up with the world via Twitter. You can follow me here.