currently reading...

roadside religion: in search of the sacred, the strange, and the substance of faith, by timothy beal

faith requires one to go further than trust allows. this is true of religious faith as much as it is of the kind of faith required of us to be in relationship with other people. faith requires self-imperiling vulnerability. in faith, i open myself to another, to otherness, even to the wholly other. i expose myself, lay myself bare, express desire, show wounds. in this vulnerable expression of lack, fear, need, brokenness, i open myself to the unexpected -- to healing, transformation, a word of grace. i leap, arms wide open, teary-eyed face and soft belly exposed, into an unknown possibility, without assurance that my leap will land me safely on solid ground. faith requires vulnerability, desperate vulnerability.

highly recommended.

this is brilliant

via Rick

this just keeps getting better...

regarding pat robertson's comments on venezuelan president hugo chavez:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called for the Federal Communications Commission to investigate, just as it did when Janet Jackson's breast was exposed in the Super Bowl broadcast in 2004. "This is even more threatening to hemispheric stability than the flash of a breast on television during a ballgame," Mr. Jackson said.

via the new york times

pat robertson is a moron...

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

source: abcnews.com

topic: the environment

why aren't conservationists fighting poverty?

on biodiesel vs. straight veggie oil

paper or drastic: on personal actions that make a real difference

lather, rinse, rethink: on making eco-friendly cleaning products

pee-powered battery smaller than a credit card

guess who i'm having lunch with today!

how i spent my 29th birthday and pictures of the bride and groom

one thing you will frequently find referenced here at in the midst is my girlfriends from houston. affectionately self-referenced as the big six. they are (please see the photo above to match names with faces) me, jill, nikki, lauren, trenda (my sister), and tania. lauren and i are unfortunately no longer in houston (a fact i simultaneously mourn and rejoice daily), so a couple of times per year, the six of us get together for a reunion.

last thanksgiving, we decided that we should repeat a big six vacation of a couple of years ago, and make our way to cloudcroft, new mexico, where nikki's folks have a cabin in the mountains. since all six of have summer birthdays, we decided that the occasion for our reunion would be a communal brithday celebration. and it just happened to work out that we did it on my actual birthday weekend.

and except for the man across the aisle from me on my flight who systematically tore up about five credit card statements page, by page, by page, by page.... it was a PERFECT holiday.

click here for proof.

and as promised, the bride and groom. lovely...

better days

i heart the robbie seay band. buy their new album. it's available via itunes.

this is good news

spurs re-sign robert horry

coming soon...

pictures of the bride and groom (also known as debbie and stacy). and of the big six holiday in the mountains.

try not to go crazy with anticipation...

book recommendation

cloudstreet, by tim winton

an excerpt:

Don't you want to be independent?

Quick, I don't even know what it means anymore. If it means being alone, I don't want it. If I'm gunna be independent, do you think I need a husband? And a kid? And a mother and father, and inlaws and friends and neighbours? When I want to be independent I retire. I go skinny and puke. You've seen me like that. I just begin to disappear. But I want to live. I want to be with people, Quick. I want to battle it out.

SHHHH!

i'm sitting here at the corinth library. it is louder than the freaking missouri state fair in here.

for the love, people...LOWER YOUR VOICES!

why we flee...

from friday's daily dig:

Unfortunately, in seeing ourselves as we truly are, not all that we see is beautiful and attractive. This is undoubtedly part of the reason we flee silence. We do not want to be confronted with our hypocrisy, our phoniness. We see how false and fragile is the false self we project. We have to go through this painful experience to come to our true self.

It is a harrowing journey, a death to self—the false self—and no one wants to die. But it is the only path to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love. And it begins with silence. We cannot give ourselves in love if we do not know and possess ourselves. This is the great value of silence. It is the pathway to all we truly want. -- m. basil pennington

geez...

tomorrow's my birthday. i'm pretty sure this would make the perfect gift.

i’ll put this one in the i’m-a-christian-but-not-that-kind-of-christian category

from SoMA Review

A religious troupe in Maryland now sells a Christian Flag of the United States of America. According to the website they’re “loving [their] Jesus in the U.S. of A.” And they’ve got a flag to prove it.

The flag features an eagle carrying a blood-stained cross (“the American Christian taking the gospel around the world”); 50 stars around the border (“US Christians banding together to protect [their] right to preach the gospel”); and some apocalyptic punch courtesy of the Gospel of Matthew and King James (“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world…and then shall the end come” – chapter 24, verse 14).

The gold-fringed edition goes for 50 God-trusting bucks.

you have got to be kidding me...