book recommendations

i have been giving out a lot of book recommendations recently, and LOVING IT.

if you need one, email me on myspace: http://myspace.com/beardy

i got a lot of good ones stored up in these memory banks...

dan

practice makes perfect.

we are in yuba city, ca, at joe's house, practicing for the upcoming tour with relient k and mae. this tour is going to be ridiculous -- in a good way. i can't wait. but i have never been much a fan of actually practicing. =) i think that in sherwood, we have always put a higher premium on work than on practice. we are attempting to change this now, but of course, change is hard, and comes slowly. it's like learning to farm and expecting your artichokes to pop out in a week.

we have been watching the American version of the Office a lot lately -- i think maybe a little too much. i am starting to identify with characters in that show more than i would like. i think i am also developing some sort of combination of my girlfriend and Pam in my head. sometimes i can't tell the two apart. time for a break.

i just read a pretty succinct entry on "slacktivist" about "christian bookstores." if you want to read it, go here:

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2007/02/teetotalist_gif.html

i am trying to be less cynical, more patient, more quiet, a better listener. these things are also like artichokes. (what?)

trying, failing, trying, failing, trying,
dan

how some christians talk...

By J. Matt Barber

"In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Bush briefly touched on the horrors of the HIV/AIDS pandemic currently plaguing Africa. Most everyone agrees that something must be done to combat the spread of this dreadful and preventable disease, which continues to infect many throughout the poverty-stricken continent.

That being said, the president unfortunately missed a valuable opportunity to address the needless HIV/AIDS epidemic within our own borders, which predominately affects – and infects – men who choose to engage in dangerous homosexual behaviors – and at times the women who love them. (In the U.S., the vast majority of women infected with HIV/AIDS are infected by men who also have sex with men, or through intravenous drug use).

As Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth has said, "It's time to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room: Fighting AIDS without talking against homosexuality is like fighting lung cancer without talking against smoking."

Lorri Jean, a respected leader among homosexual activists and CEO of the Los Angeles based Gay and Lesbian Center, recently began an advertising campaign tackling "gay" America's HIV/AIDS epidemic. Her message: "HIV is a Gay Disease. Own it. End it."

Although it might spell the end of her career as a pro-homosexual activist, Jean is to be commended for providing a rarely candid and refreshing approach to the homosexual condition."


WOW. A "Gay Disease"?! She should be "commended" for being a mean propagandist? And Matt, seriously, is it MORE IMPORTANT to squeeze a sermon out of the 1.4 million AIDS victims in America than the 25 MILLION IN AFRICA? Is the word "epidemic" really to be used equally between the two situations? When was the last "epidemic" that affected less than 0.5% of a nation's population? Or I guess it's a moral epidemic? What disease do you have if your symptom is ignoring a giant global humanitarian crisis that alone has left 15 MILLION ORPHANS in its wake? Or if we could be optimistic, I guess you are just allowing the epidemic to take its course so that later, you can "care for the widows and orphans"?

And Peter, seriously? "Fighting AIDS without talking against homosexuality is like fighting lung cancer without talking against smoking." That may be true in America, but read half an article on AIDS in Africa and you will be cured of your attitude.

There is too much to be angry about in these few short paragraphs. It's unreal. If you know me, and you know that I am a Christian, please do not ever think that it has ANYTHING to do with these people. Anything.

I'm going to sleep sad, now,
Dan

i built my army with photos.

i put up a lot of pictures on my myspace profile, mostly from my europe trip:

http://myspace.com/beardy

enjoy!

left behind is scary.

i have read some of the Left Behind series, many years ago. i wonder if you have; there is a good chance, considering the sales of those books. you might not know, however, that the theology those books are based on is pretty much 100% wrong. =) totally outlandish, unlikely, self-obsessed, poor scripture reading, you name it. so please don't believe them. also, this site is really funny, and pretty insightful, and goes through them, page by page, explaining the problems:

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/index.html

good times. end times?

dan