I took a free IQ test here. It was pretty fun.

On Tuesday we brought home some new pets for our aquarium. We got 8 ghost shrimp. I like these because 1) they're wierd, 2) they totally freak me out, 3) they eat debris from the bottom of the tank, 4) they're bodies are transparent, so you can see their organs wiggling around inside, and 5) they only cost $0.26 each. We also got one small plecostomus, which should keep the algae in the tank under control (and it could get to be pretty huge, this type of fish can be up to 26 inches if they live in a big enough tank.) Also, I swear that I saw a baby fish (fry), but no one believes me. It probably got eaten right after I saw it. So, in conclusion, our fish may or may not be pregnant, the ghost shrimp are cool, and the plecostomus sucks.

Well, work is coming along on my message for Sunday. I'll post some extra info later about recommended books and web sites. Also, I just installed Open Office, a free replacement for Microsoft Office. So far, it seems to be working ok. I'll have more once I've put it through some more tests.

I took a quiz to see which operating system I am most like.

This is my brother Mike. He's trying out for the part of Kramsg, an orc in the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I think he's got a good chance, though it would be better if his teeth weren't so straight.Actually this is part of some strange ritual at Florida College, his futre alma mater, called Midnight Madness.

Here are a few of the things I was pondering today while I sat outside watching Emma play in her sandbox:1. What is the goal of the church in America? I know that we want to see individuals receive God's grace and salvation, but we also want to change the culture. Which one takes priority? Do these two ever work against each other? I know that in places like China where the church is the most counter-cultural, it's seeing the most growth. When all of Europe was controlled by the church during the Middle Ages, the real message of personal faith was all but lost. So in changing the culture, what is our goal? Do we envision a country where all the news media is like the 700 Club and every sattelite channel has people with bad hairdos talking about the end of the world and asking for donations? Is there a point in the shift toward a Christian culture when becoming a nominal Christian becomes easier and being a real disciple becomes harder?2. Why is it that every week there is a new, smaller, more feature-rich cell phone hitting the market and we still haven't found a way to make solar power practical for everyone? If solar power is the solution to our bothersome dependence on fossil fuels, then why isn't it replacing them? Maybe all companies found guitly of participating in spamming should be forced to use their engineering talents on solving this problem.I don't know why I was thinking about this stuff, but if you have any ideas, please post a comment.

The weather was great this morning. It was one of the smoothest plane rides I've ever had, including commercial jets. What's even better is that I got to play with the new GPS receiver (Airmap 500) that my dad got (right). The curvy line is the trail we were leaving. This thing tells you exactly where you've been, your altitude, speed and heading, and just about anything you want to know about where you're going except for what the special of the day is at the airport snack bar. You can also use it in a car and upload street maps so you won't get lost.

Adrian from the airHere's a picture of Adrian I took from an airplane my dad was flying. Click on the picture to see a bigger version that has an arrow pointing to my house. (Click on the arrow to make my real house shudder from the pain of the voodoo-charmed .jpg image.) Anyway, my dad is an awesome pilot and chances are that he could beat up your dad, so don't mess with me. If the weather is decent tomorrow we're hoping to go flying.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton:On the evolutionary basis you may be inhumane, or you may be absurdly humane; but you cannot be human. That you and a tiger are one may be a reason for being tender to a tiger. Or it may be a reason for being as cruel as the tiger. It is one way to train the tiger to imitate you, it is a shorter way to imitate the tiger. But in neither case does evolution tell you how to treat a tiger reasonably, that is, to admire his stripes while avoiding his claws.All humanity does agree that we are in a net of sin. Most of humanity agrees that there is some way out. But as to what is the way out, I do not think that there are two institutions in the universe which contradict each other so flatly as Buddhism and Christianity.This book is in the public domain which means that you can legally download the entire text for free and read it on your computer. Just click hereI'm rereading some Chesterton in preparation for some sermons I'll be preaching here at ACC on the first 3 Sundays in October.