Jesus of art vs. Jesus of History

John Piper addresses the portrayal of Jesus in art here. I understand his point, but I don't think I agree.

Jesus came to Earth and became fully man, and in doing so he fully identified with us. His humanity should be enough, but for many its not and they want a Jesus that looks more like a mirror. The Bible is clear that in God's kingdom there is only one race, the human race. I think Jesus would want to see art that embraces the truth about him and acknowledges the oneness of the human race, not our differences. It seems like this would be a powerful force to break down racial barriers, but we are using it to solidify them instead. (I would also worry that people might try to change more than just the skin color of Jesus in order to make him more acceptable to a new culture.)

Why can't the truth, that Jesus was a Palestinian Jew**, be enough. I prefer the true Jesus, the Jewish looking Jesus, to any blond-haired blue-eyed gentle and mild Jesus, but maybe it's because I have neither blond hair or blue eyes.

What do you think?

**Incidentally, here is a Discovery Channel recreation of what a first century Palestinian Jew might have looked like. "Using the latest forensic and historical discoveries — and a computer — scientists have reconstructed the image of a first-century man who lived a life similar to and was around the age of Jesus."

New Baseball Pitch Invented

Try this pitch in your church softball league!


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Putt Putt

This summer has been difficult at times for Emily. Caleb's preschool is really expensive in the summers because it is only offered five days a week (he usually only goes 3-4 times a week during the school year), so we could only afford to send him a few weeks here at the end of summer. So Emily had to use the "preschool budget" in other ways, like taking the boys to putt-putt (which was actually free until Caleb turned 4). Here are some great pictures from that day. The boys had a blast!

Keanu Reeves and Teddybears

I guess everyone has to start their career somewhere.

Pimp My Stroller

Tetris - American Style

This is the coolest way to learn your American geography. Statris!

The easiest level gives you the states in the right direction with the name. The medium level makes you turn the states in the right direction (that can be very tricky up in the northeast). The hardest level doesn't give you the name of the state, and you also have to turn it the right way (a few states were very frustrating). Post your times in the comments.

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Gumby Needs a Bath

This pizza joint is a favorite of every NC State grad. The Pokey stix and ranch dipping sauce were incredible. The pizza was edible, and cheap. You always knew it was dirty in the kitchen, but you tried not to think about it. Emily and I did carryout a few times, and the place was a roach trap. We kept going back though, even when it would make our stomachs ache. Well, the inevitable has happened, they got a 70.5 on their latest sanitation grade. That's just one roach away from a D. I've never seen a D on a restaurant in my life. Here' s a picture of my college suitemates striking a pose with one of their classic larges (some of you remember the name for it).

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NEW LOST Orientation Film- Station Six, The Orchid

For all the Losties out there. This was played at Comic Con yesterday.

Pirates of the Sandbox

The other day Caleb and I played Pirates in the sandbox, stealing each others treasure and taking it back to our pirate island. Pirates, Spiderman, and Transformers are big in our house right now. Don't underestimate the power of Hollywood over the toy isle at Target!

Modern Day Missionaries

My friends Ben and Jenn are coming home from Africa today. They have been on a mission trip with their church in Winston Salem (Calvary Baptist). A cool thing their group has done is blog, podcast, and post daily pictures while they are away on their trip. It has been really cool to find out what is going on directly from the people there, without having to wait for the "recap service" three months after they get home. It also helps remind me to pray for them. If you want to check out the site they set up just for the trip, go here. Here are some pictures of the missionaries in action!

T Ball

These pictures are the inspiration for why we got Ben a TBall set for his birthday. Brian and Katie came over and brought a whiffle ball set and the boys ate it up. Ben carried that bat around and thought he was king. Give Brian some credit, he could have lost a finger substituting for the tee like that.
You'll also notice the Bocce ball set on the ground. Ben LOVES to play bocce ball. He's always running to the back door telling us he's going to play some bocce ball. He just can't wait for his turn to throw the ball again. Caleb is surprisingly good at bocce ball too.

Car Explosion

Check out the shockwave.

Hey Ya'll, Take dis hur Kwiz

So were you born and raised in the South? Has the Dixie in you seceded? Find out here by taking the Southerner quiz. Post your scores in the comments. I got an 84%.

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Dinner Prayer

Here is a video of the boys praying for dinner. This was actually a recreation after they had already blessed the food once because I knew we would want it on video. Caleb thought it was so funny to bless the food twice, that he proceeded to say the blessing 2 more times after I stopped filming.

Philippine Jail Dance

"Thriller" as performed by inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center

My dad works for the NC department of corrections in prison construction. Maybe we need to start putting dance halls in the prisons. [The cross dresser is disturbing though. That's one manly looking woman.]

Up Close with the boys

Ave Maria

So the owner of Dominoes is building a Catholic town in Florida. You don't have to be catholic to live there, but it simply lacks some of the temptations and eyesores of a modern city like a strip club or birth control sales. [If you are a pediatrician or OBGYN you might want to move there, you'll be busy I bet]. The centerpiece of the town is a large Cathedral. I wonder if they will give permits to other denominations to build? What about a mosque? I don't think the constitution would allow them to restrict that. So would you be willing to move there? Is this going too far and violating the "in the world but not of it" command of Jesus?

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Bridge Demolition

This is pretty cool.

Jessica the Hippo

Pretty interesting.

New Dining Room Furniture = Pirates + Bubble Wrap

We recently got dining room furniture. In order to make unpacking the boxes fun for the boys, we pretended we were all pirates and were opening boxes of treasure (hence the eyepatch). Once we had gotten all the chairs opened and assembled, we were left with every child's favorite type of garbage, bubble wrap. Not just average bubble-wrap though, the kind with the huge bubbles that make a loud pop when you burst them. The boys were set to go for hours.

Citizenship Quiz

So you think you're a good citizen huh? Care to prove how much you know about your government? What score do you think should be a minimum in order to be eligible to vote? I personally have no problem limiting voting rights to those who know enough about the system to make an intelligent choice. Here's the test. Post your scores in the comments section! I got a 22, and here's the picture to prove it (I'm not bragging, I actually missed a lot that I thought I knew).

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Mountain Bike Tricks

This guy is amazing.

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Punch-Out!! Trailer - Nintendo Short Cuts

If you loved Mike Tyson Punchout on Nintendo when you were growing up (like me), you have to watch this video. It's awesome.

World Clock

There is something here for everyone. You need to check this site out. It shows the increase in all kinds of statistics with each second. It will really give you some perspective, kind of a "God's eye view" of things. Mind boggling.

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Why Ben is a Monkey

Some of you may wonder why we call Ben a monkey. Here are two perfect examples to explain it.

1) Saturday morning I woke up to the noises of Ben and Caleb playing in Caleb's room. Ben had gotten up before he was supposed to (his least favorite rule) and looked around the house for something to do. He went downstairs and found the bag of Cheetoes I had left on the coffee table. When I found him upstairs in Caleb's room, he was just inhaling the bag and had cheese powder all over his mouth and shirt.

2) This morning Ben got up early again, and I heard him playing in his bathroom. It was almost time for me to get up, so I just let him be for a few more minutes. Caleb woke up a few minutes later and they went downstairs and Caleb turned on a show for them to watch. I went ahead and got in the shower. After finishing my shower, Ben came up to check on me and was toting Caleb's toothpaste around. He had blue toothpaste all over his lips and shirt (again!) and had eaten about 1/4 of the tube. We immediately called poison control and they said to give him milk (apparently calcium binds with fluoride) and he should be fine for such a small amount. [For those who are still concerned, Ben is fine]

The moral of the story, don't take your eyes off of a monkey for a minute, cause they will find something to get into.

Bible Action Figures

Looks like I won't have to use the seven dwarfs in my Sunday School videos anymore, because Wal Mart is getting ready to sell these Bible action figures in many of their stores. I'm not a gambling man, but I would almost promise you that the store in Wake Forest (1 mile from the Seminary) would be the perfect candidate for these toys. In our house we've done reenactments of some of the bible stories with Star Wars and superheroes toys and the boys loved it. They loved telling the stories with the toys. That also took some imagination and creativity too, and I think that was part of the appeal. Nonetheless, I think Caleb and Ben would like these figurines. As far as I can tell the only "bad" they make is Goliath. I know he's big, but can he go up against all the heroes of the faith singlehandedly? Where's the Pharisee, Judas, Pharaoh, Jezebel, or Satan himself?

Birthday Cupcakes

Happy Birthday To Ben

Ben was veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy excited about getting his cupcake with his birthday candle in it. Can you tell?

Anti-Helium Gas On Leno

This is pretty cool. I didn't know this existed.

The Wind

The Wind - an interesting and funny commercial

Bday Party Part 2

For dinner we had pizza from Anzios in Rolesville. We had never had their pizza before, but it was a huge hit and we plan to order from there again real soon. Emily made some great spider cupcakes with web designs and plastic spiders on top. They were good, but messy (check out Katherine's lips in the second picture).

But of course, every good party must come to an end, and the boys were happy to help carry the balloons to the car. Thanks to everyone who came to the party and help make it such a good time!

Caleb and Ben's Birthday Party - Part 1

This past weekend was the boys' birthday party. They've been talking about it and anticipating it for weeks now. Ben was really looking forward to the balloons and the silly string, Caleb was looking forward to the friends and the presents. The boys had a blast riding their bikes around the park with their friends and cousins. Then we had a silly string fight (it was a Spider Man themed party, so it was actually a web-shooting fight). I was the bad-guy all the kids were chasing after. Clearly, I lost. The boys' friend David brought his new power wheel and chauffeured kids around the trail. Ben and David were like two old men riding down the trail with nothing to say but content as can be.

Square Dancing with the Wiggles

Any wiggles fans out there. There are 2 in our house. Here they are dancing and singing along to a wiggles cowboy song.

Japanese Game Show Part 2

For those of you who enjoyed Human Tetris, here's dizzy boxing.
The creativity on Japanese games shows just puts American game shows to shame. I don't understand why they are running for the bucket of soap after they fall in. Any ideas?

Balloon magic

The other week, Caleb discovered what a balloon on the A/C vent can do. He and Ben were entertained for a long time watching the balloons "dance."

Sheep Mask

Some guys put a scary mask on a sheep to see how all the other sheep would react. I guess it was a slow day on the farm.

Ben's Time Out

This is a picture of Ben sitting on the steps in "Time Out." I don't think it was working.