Chris Cree just posted one of the most thought-provoking posts about blog networks that I’ve read in a long time. In addition to providing some pretty incredible links, he asks some pertinent questions for the people participating in HighCallingBlogs.com. Chris says,
I am curious to hear your opinions on advertising in general, and internet advertising in particular.
How do you feel when you see ads on faith-oriented web sites?
Do you feel faith based non-profits should look at ways to be self supporting or should they rely on donation support?
Even if you’re not interested in all the details of Chris’ post, I’d love to hear your responses over at HighCallingBlogs.com. In fact, I’m turning the comments off here, so you have to go there to comment. Please do. Your input on this issue is really important to me–especially if you’re part of HighCallingBlogs.com.
My friend L. L. Barkat FINALLY discovered the beauty of Texas this past week at Laity Lodge. She also challenged Jim Martin and me to post something we had written while we were there. [UPDATE: my friend, Tod Bolsinger joined the game too, and here's a link to his post.]
L. L. posted about the stairs. For me, Laity is more about ascending cliffs than climbing stairs. So I worked on this old poem I wrote about circle bluff–and my mixed emotions about the way we rush out to nature to get a quick fix, then rush back to our busy lives.
The poem isn’t really finished. It’s the end of a sonnet, but I haven’t written the last 6 lines yet. Maybe I never will. But I did record a reading of it because I believe poetry is essentially oral. So here’s the front-half octave of a sonnet with no title.
(Don’t complain. It’s free poetry. Beggars can’t be choosers. You want the real thing? Go subscribe to 32 Poems.)
A limestone cliff shows the end of the climb
though most never notice the gradual incline
that leads us here. Each step feels more or less
normal, doesn’t wind us or try us. We pass
boulders without stopping and mossy logs,
perfect resting spots. When our tired legs caught
on tree roots or loose rocks, we blamed terrain.
On top, we snap shots, check watches, descend again.
Just a reminder of what many of us have in common (from the English hymn by Timothy Dudley-Smith):
Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,
peace and plenty crown your days;
love his laws, declare his judgments,
walk in all his words and ways;
he the Lord and we his children–
praise the Lord, all people, praise!
Now you can sing those words to yourself while you watch along with Beaker.
This year, I have enjoyed the best desktop calendar ever. It’s the Schott’s Almanac calendar from Workman. Totally awesome. Here are some fun things I pulled from last month:
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. - J. R. R. Tolkein
There are no ugly women, only lazy ones - Helena Rubinstein (applies to men as well)
Baby crocodiles are called “crocklets.” Baby sharks are called “cubs.” Baby partridges are called “cheepers.” Who knew?
We have to believe in free will. We’ve got no choice. - Isaac Bashevis Singer
A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you. - attributed to Bert Leston Taylor.
(Bloggers who do this are boring too.)
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. - Samuel Butler
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. - Carl Sagan
Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another. - Tom Robbins
The Lord prefers common-looking people. That’s why he makes so many of them. - Abraham Lincoln
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them, the rest of us could not succeed. - Mark Twain
(So if I’m not succeeding, should I try, try again? Or resign myself as a fool?)
Success if the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill
(I suppose that approach to work could become foolish at some point as well.)
Headaches can be cured by wearing the rattles from a rattlesnake inside your hat, according to archaic animal lore. Also, dogs pretty much always foretell death–whether they’re digging holes, burying sticks, crossing bridges, or rolling in the grass beneath a window. I’ve got two dogs, so our lives are rich with omens.
Finally, did you know that each apostle has a gem emblem?
Andrew is sapphire.
Bartholomew is carnelian.
James is chalcedony.
James the Less is topaz.
John is emerald.
Matthew is amethyst (also the birth stone for August).
Matthias (after Judas) is chrysolite.
Peter is jasper.
Philip is sardonyx.
Simeon is hyacinth.
Thaddeus is chrysoprase.
Thomas is beryl.
I’ve never heard of half of those gems, and to be honest, I’d forgotten the names of half of those apostles.
First, a reminder of my standard disclaimer. The views expressed here do not necessarily express the views of my employer or the publications I help edit.
But I promised this post for Mark, who left a comment addressed to me and Eric over at the Radiolab blog.
Radiolab is the best audio show I have ever heard. Ever. My wife hates audio shows, but she loves Radiolab. I’m a heel for not having made a donation to them yet. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m still highly loyal to Escape Pod and the whole Escape Artist brand.)
Don’t believe me about Radiolab? Go listen to Emergence. Or Laughter. Or Deception. After I heard the episode on Deception, I had to sit in my car in a parking garage and collect myself before I could reenter the world. The show had a profound impact on me.
Radiolab airs on National Public Radio stations, but the Podcast version of Radiolab includes extra bits, like the speech they posted last week called Tell Me a Story. In that extra, Robert Krulwich delivers a fire and brimstone commencement address at CalTech encouraging scientists to fight for their stories. For better or worse, he also uses some pretty incendiary language about Creationists.
So I couldn’t resist. I popped over to the Radiolab site and left this comment:
Inspiring speech. Interesting comments. I noted the antagonism toward creationists, too, especially since I listened to this podcast on the way home from the evangelical retreat center where I work.
But I’m no creationist. I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with folks like John Medina and Francis Collins through our retreat center. Both of them encouraged me to be much more vocal in defending science and evolution. I wouldn’t say I’m at war with creationists, but I’ve stopped sitting quietly when people assume I believe the world is 6000 years old.
I am not often out at the retreat center, so it’s a little misleading to say I “work there,” but I was trying to give a concise comment. As an editor for TheHighCalling.org and FaithInTheWorkplace.com, I defend the vision entrusted to me–without trying to insert my own opinion and philosophy. (Though that happens from time to time because I’m only human.)
At the time I wrote the comment, I thought about linking to my interviews with John Medina and Francis Collins, but I hesitate to link to my own stuff like that.
Still, I was thinking about what John Medina told me 2 years ago:
You see, science is just one way of knowing. It is actually a fairly small sandbox. Every Christian needs to memorize Emmanuel Kant. Over 200 years ago, he said that if something is physical in nature, you may utilize the tools of this great sandbox called natural philosophy—the scientific method.
The instant something is not physical in nature, those tools collapse because you have introduced an uncontrollable variable. Not an uncontrolled variable. An uncontrollable one. That’s key.
And what Francis Collins told me last year:
One of the great tragedies of our current era is that evolution is being portrayed as a threat to God. If science is God’s gift to us, along with the intelligence to explore his world, God could hardly be threatened by what we discover. It’s all his creation. The truth is the truth, and it’s all God’s truth. I reach out as much as I can to my Christian brothers and sisters and try to make a case that this is an unnecessary battle. We can embrace evolution as God’s plan and worship him in the process, without feeling anxious or apologetic.
So here I am posting this unapologetically. If you’re a regular here, it’s probably not much of a surprise. And don’t misunderstand. I’m not picking a fight or looking to have a point by point argument over various readings of Genesis.
What I am doing is trying to find a way to talk about this issue without people yelling and calling names. And inviting Mark and Eric (the commenters from Radiolab) to talk with me here if they want to.
(Mark and Eric, we can also have a private conversation if you like. Just email me at Marcus [at symbol] HighCallingBlogs.com.)
