"Hey, babe"

Here's something I wrote for some friends after I came back from the TIGS San Francisco community service day back in November:

*****

"Hey, babe."

That's what one of my junior high boys from church said to Alicia yesterday. Let me back up.

My junior highers and I were in San Francisco yesterday for a community service day, and on the way back, one thing led to another, and...well, we ended up trying to prank-call some of my college friends using my cell phone. :) (Since Caller ID would have displayed my name, and the recipient would have heard a bunch of silly and/or giggling junior highers, I think my college friends would have taken it all in fun.)

Most of the people whom we tried to call didn't pick up, but finally, Alicia picked up the phone. One of the junior high boys had dialed and was holding the phone, and the first thing he said when she picked up was, "Hey, babe."

I started freaking out.

My junior highers started cracking up. Loudly.

After a few seconds, he-who-held-the-phone passed it back to me, and I explained the situation to Alicia. "We were prank calling some of my friends, but I wasn't expecting him to say that!!!!" The junior highers started cracking up again when they heard that.

*

Why did I start freaking out? My junior highers didn't ask me, but if they'd asked me, I might have said something that they might understand more fully as they grow older. I might have said something like this:

Hearts are like dynamite; don't play with them. Saying, "Hey, babe" to one of my friends is a very minor infraction, to be sure; all the same, I don't want you doing that to any of my friends.

(Have I always thought this way? No.
Have I always acted this way? No.
But do I want to protect my sisters' hearts? Yes.)

Update: Alicia responds. :)

Free Scripture song downloads

This looks like a fantastic way to memorize and think about Scripture!

Through Mark and Stephen Altrogge's blog, you can download three free Scripture songs from Forever Grateful Music. (Mark runs Forever Grateful Music.)

Also, through the ESV Blog, you can also download two more free Scripture songs from Mark Altrogge.

Why memorize Scripture? The Bethlehem Baptist Church gives some good reasons (under "Why Memorize the Bible?")

Visit Abort73.com, weep, and pray

This Tuesday (January 22) in 1973, something very sad happened in America. Our judges said that killing babies before they get out of their mothers' wombs is legal. So it was illegal to kill people who were healthy and could defend themselves, but it was legal to kill small babies who couldn't defend themselves.

Do unborn children matter to God? Very much. They are made in His image, and when you kill an unborn child, you greatly offend God.

Want to find out more about abortion? Want to see an end to this bloodshed? Then visit Abort73.com and learn about abortion, weep over the evil, and pray that the God of mercy would rescue these children.

Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1

Thought you guys might enjoy this--Andrew Osenga is offering his acoustic EP Letters To The Editor, Vol. 1 as a free download, and I sing on the last track! (You can't really tell which one is my voice, and it's not for very long. But all the same, kind of cool!)

Who is Andrew Osenga? He's a singer-songwriter, producer, current lead guitarist/occassional vocalist for Caedmon's Call, and former lead singer/main singer for the critically-acclaimed but commercially, um, not-so-successful band The Normals. (I listened to The Normals a LOT in high school. :))

The Triple-Greg threat

This coming Friday may set a record in TIGS history: it may very well be the first time that we've ever had

Greg F. and Greg P. are going to be emceeing, and
Greg G. will be speaking.

Oh my. :) It's the triple-Greg threat! :)

On a more serious note, I'm pretty jazzed about this. We're kicking off our TIGS worship series with the subject of why we should worship God. This strikes at the very heart of Christianity, so if you only come to TIGS one night this year, come this Friday!

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

The latest Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, just released yesterday, and from what I read, it's artistically a better movie than the first one (Jonah), which, by the way, I have on VHS, if anybody wants to borrow it.

According to Christianity Today's review of the movie, it's not just another Disney movie. To see what this more clearly, if you see the movie, you can ask some of the questions suggested at the end of the review:

If Elliot, Sedgewick and George are supposed to be normal people like us in the story, who does the King represent? Why do you think that?

Could the pirates have been victorious without the King? Why or why not? List the ways the King helps them throughout the movie. What do you think this movie says about your ability to do good things without God?

The review also hints at the answers to these questions in the third from last paragraph (the one beginning, "Will kids realize . . . ?") of the review.

Good new books

These new books look pretty good:

Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson

The author is a Christian, but the reviews (even from non-Christians) have been very good. Looks like an exciting, intelligent book.

This book is available through the Sacramento library system.

Eyes to See, edited by Bret Lott

This is a collection of classic short stories with introductions written by a Christian author. Note: this reading is likely more difficult than middle school-level.

Why I like media

I like media a lot. It's part of how God made me and gifted me. And media can help you to see

• true things as true,
• beautiful things as beautiful, and
• good things as good.
  

And this pleases God.

(It can also do the opposite--help you to see

• false things as true,
• ugly things as beautiful, and
• wicked things as good.
  

And that's one reason why you and I need the Bible to keep us anchored!)

God is the source of truth and beauty and goodness, and you can find God's truth and beauty and goodness shining through even books and movies and music that non-Christians make.

Pretty cool, huh?

More coming soon, I promise! :)

Sorry guys, I meant to update this site a bit more often (my goal is at least once per week; we'll see how that goes), but I've been pretty busy with other things. Much thanks for all the suggestions, though! I'll play around with the site a bit more when I get a chance to breathe a bit more.

I'll try to post some more stuff this weekend.