Posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
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I know that I promised a blog on Bigfoot, but this alien film has to be spoken about. If you haven’t heard, a man named Stan Romaneck has claimed to have true footage of an alien creature. Romaneck claims that he thought that he had a peeping tom and set up a video camera to catch the lowlife who was looking in on his two teenage stepdaughters. What he found was that he was being visited, yet again, by aliens and had captured one on film. The official photo of the alien is above. The window is eight feet high which explains why all we see is the top of the head. The aliens can only stretch their necks out so far (for proof, just go rent ET again).
After seeing the image I have only three questions:
1. Who would have thought that the aliens would look so much like Miss Piggy?
2. Why would an advanced race or civilization need to look through the window? You would think that if they could make it all the way here from a planet light years away that they would have binoculars or a telescope.
3. Why is it that these things never happen in a place where a good picture can be taken? Every time the aliens appear, it is to Uncle Pokey and his best friend Wienie, when they are out on a fishing trip drinking moonshine, rather than to the president. It’s just a thought, but the aliens could make it a little easier on themselves.
All of this to say that while I don’t believe that this film is anything but either a mistake or a hoax. While I do have a pretty carefully thought through theory about what constitutes the “Abduction Phenomenon,” I don’t think that what you see has anything to do with it. What then are we to make of those who claim to have been abducted? Some are experiencing sleep paralysis (google “old hag syndrome"), others have some serious mental problems, others (and there are many in this category) just like to make up stories. Don’t believe those who say “they have no reason to make this up.” There are some who just like to be the center of attention and one way of getting this attention is claiming that some bizarre situation has happened to you. But then there are those others, who are clearly not lying, experiencing mental difficulties or suffering from sleep paralysis. What about those? There are such people and I believe that they have experienced something real. I’ll tell you what I think if you like, just let me know. For now, however, I wouldn’t bet the farm on this image being a real alien. Of course I could be wrong, in which case, can anyone lend me a Miss Piggy puppet?
Onward . . .
DrSamLam
Posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
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Well I had my first root canal today and since I spent the extra money on the “gas” I pretty much slept through the whole thing. I am not one who loves to spend money on anything but books, in hard copy or electronic format from Logos.com, but the nitrous at the dentist is a necessity for me. I am phobic about the dentist, and only because of my great and very patient dentist do I now have anything resembling a healthy mouth. All of that to say that the stories about root canals being near child-birth in the intensity of pain either were not true or were very well masked by the gas.
I am writing this under the influence of some pain medication, so please don’t take all that I say in this post as being written without a tongue in a fairly sore cheek. some of it, however, is really serious. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is which.
Posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
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Well I had my first root canal today and since I spent the extra money on the “gas” I pretty much slept through the whole thing. I am not one who loves to spend money on anything but books, in hard copy or electronic format from Logos.com, but the nitrous at the dentist is a necessity for me. I am phobic about the dentist, and only because of my great and very patient dentist do I now have anything resembling a healthy mouth. All of that to say that the stories about root canals being near child-birth in the intensity of pain either were not true or were very well masked by the gas.
Thanks to all of you for your prayers and helpfully comments. I will give you a full report tomorrow, as well as owning up to another of my quirky interests: Bigfoot.
Until tomorrow, Onward . . .
DrSamLam
Posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
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I will be teaching a course this summer on how to use Logos software (the greatest Bible software on the planet IMHO) and will be conducting some of the class online. I am thinking of using a platform called “BlackBoard” and would like to know if anyone out there has any experience with this or other educational platforms. If you wouldn’t mind responding here, rather than by personal note it would help keep the discussion public.
I plan to put up syllabus, grades, assignments, web-pages to be looked at, and other web based work, as well as insisting that students interact with one another online as well as in class. Whatever help you can offer will be much appreciated.
Thanks Much
DrSamLam
Posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
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The End. What do those words really mean? They show up in movies, cartoons, and books; in games, trips, and relationships, but what do they really mean?
Since this is the end of the semester, the end of the school year (perhaps the most difficult school year of my entire life), the end of softball season, and even the end of my son’s high school education I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to end.
Some things we don’t like to end, and as I have said in another post, even things that we don’t like, we never do anything, knowingly, for the last time without a feeling of sadness. I had not played softball in almost fifteen years but I was convinced to come out and play in the church league this year with Josiah. He is much, much better already than I ever was or ever will be, and when the last game came around, despite the fact that I played terribly, perhaps the worst player in the league, I still hated for it to end.
It was fun. It was community. It was people encouraging each other, laughing and crying, shouting and yelling. It was a wonderful time and no matter how many times I fell down (at least once a game); no matter how many times I ran up on the person who was on base in front of me (three games in a row); no matter how many times I struck out swinging in slow pitch softball (too many to count) I still had fun. Isn’t that what church is supposed to be like?
Ending though is not just about stopping wherever you are; it takes real planning, endurance, and practice to end well. At the end of the school year I always think back to the start of the year and realize how many students started out in my Greek class and then dropped out (usually about 25%). I think about how so many of them come into class the first day and tell me how excited they are and how they are going to work as hard as they need to in order to do well in the class; then a few weeks go by and the material becomes a little more difficult, the vocabulary becomes a higher number of words, the number of inflected forms becomes more complex and some of those who said they were going to do whatever they could, drop the class. They failed to end well.
The same was true of the softball season. Some of those players who had shown a great deal of control all season, when it came to the championship game, lost that control. This loss of control cost much more than the game, it cost them their testimony. After such a wonderful season, why not finish well? Because finishing well is hard.
We are all ending something and starting something else. God calls us to end what we started well, so that we can start something new properly. Sure, this was a tough year in many different ways, but God does not call us to finish well when things go well, but to finish well when things are difficult.
Some of us have more yesterdays than tomorrows in our lives. We know that we will one day be finishing up not just a school year or a softball season, but our time here on earth. What do you want to be said about you? How about “ was the kind of person who could be depended on not just to start with enthusiasm, but to finish well.” With the blessing of our Lord Christ, we come to “the end” and hear a “well done . . .”
Finish Well,
DrSamLam
Posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
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I can’t vouch for the total accuracy of all of this news, but I think that it should cause us to think and ask ourselves about what we are doing in our churches to communicate with those who are sitting in our congregations.
The leadership development organization Growing Leaders recently asked focus groups of young adults (ages 16-24) how they prefer to receive communication. Their order of preference: text messages, MySpace and/or Facebook, podcasts, instant messaging, cell phone, CDs, DVDs and Email.
Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 4/4/08
Americans named the Bible as their favorite book of all time, according to a Harris Poll. In addition to being the #1 book overall, the Bible also came in first across the board with all demographic groups. An estimated 92% of Americans own a Bible; the average household owns four. The New Yorker estimates Bible publishers sell 25 million copies a year. But just 45% of Americans read it in a typical week, says the Barna Research Group. In the poll, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was the nation’s second favorite read, while J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fantasy series nabbed third.
Christian Post 4/8/08
Evangelical leaders were asked, “What is your preferred English Bible translation?” and were left to write in their response. 49% named only the NIV as their preferred translation, while another 18% named a second translation along with the NIV. Other versions listed included the New Living Translation, The Message, the New English Bible, the New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips, 1962) and the King James Version.
Christian Post 4/11/0
Although Amazon.com hasn’t released sales figures for its e-book reader Kindle, it reports supply is not keeping up with demand. The International Digital Publishing Forum says e-book sales have risen from $6 million in ’02 to $33 million in ’07. Those numbers do not include many smaller publishers or library and educational purchases, so the download market is likely far larger. Publishers are reluctant to discuss sales figures but say they’ve seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the 11/07 Kindle release.
USA Today 4/4/08
A story is told of a South American tribe that went on a long journey. They’d walk for days without stopping, then all of a sudden stop, sit down and rest, and make camp for a couple of days before going any further. They explained to Westerners that they needed the time of rest so that their souls could catch up with them. What about you? Are you working so hard you’ve forgotten to let your soul catch up now and then? Are you feeling like your work is soul-less and little more than a method of producing a paycheck? Make it a habit to embrace Sabbath days and times in your life. Wisdom, peace, contentment and insight about investing your life in fulfilling work will grow in those times. Carve out those times for restoration and spiritual breathing. Even Jesus got away from the crowds periodically.
Adapted from No More Mondays, Dan Miller, WaterBrook 2008
How do any or all of these disparate pieces of news affect the way that Christians are going to share the gospel? How does it affect the way that seminaries should be training their students? Some of these issues are here to stay and not using them in the church, or not using them to train new students, is missing a serious opportunity. The church and seminary should be ahead of, not behind the curve in methods of sharing the gospel.
I am really excited about the direction that Knox Seminary is going. There are some great things happening here, and I am really glad to be a part of the school. This is not meant to reflect badly on the old administration or faculty, but things are different and I think a fresh wind is blowing that will help Knox train some great students for the future. I’ll write more about how this brings me both sadness and excitement in a post in a couple of days, so don’t send any critical letters yet. Save them up.
For now, I wonder what you think about these news items and how you think that the Gospel is and will be influenced by these new pieces of information. Put up your comments, I will OK them and put them up as soon as I can (usually within a couple of hours) and agree or disagree this can be a healthy place of discourse.
I really want to hear from you, especially if you disagree with me.
Onward,
DrSamLam
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