April 24, 2012

1. Disappointed to read I did not make Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world this year.

2. I did read something there that caught my attention and gave me hope. A fellow named Salman Khan has created a website designed to help teenagers with their education in subjects such as math and science.

            Khan came up with this idea trying to help his teenage cousin solve algebra problems. Since she lived far away, he attempted to help her online. He succeeded.

            Bill Gates wrote that this idea has morphed into an amazing service covering a multitude of subjects. I decided to check it out myself. In five minutes, Khan taught me how to do logarithms. Folks, you have a better chance of teaching my pet dogs to talk than Khan did of teaching me logarithms.

         If you have teenagers, what I about to give you will be very valuable to you. It is a link to Khan’s website…. http://www.khanacademy.org/

3. Great line from ESPN’s Colin Cowherd… To paraphrase – What a week in sports when a player named Meta World Peace gave another NBA player the worst elbow to the head in memory, and a team called the Saints are anything but.

4. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez announced his retirement last night at Rangers’ Ballpark. Believe it or not, no “expert” ranks him the greatest catcher of all time. Are you kidding me?

            Look at some of his stats—Gold gloves: 13, the most by a catcher in MLB history; Silver Slugger Awards: 7; All-star selections: 14; 1999 American League MVP; .296 career batting average (Mickey Mantle’s was .298); 311 career home runs; threw out 45.68% base runners… a MLB record.

            This guy was an offensive gem and a defensive stud. He played in two World Series, winning one. He was the MVP of the 2003 NLCS.

I think, in time, he will move up the list.

5. RIP Charles Colson.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

April 17, 2012

1. TIME magazine had a fantastic cover story in this week's issue. It is called “The Worlds Most Exclusive Club” and is taken from a new book written by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy called THE PRESIDENTS CLUB.

            The article highlighted several fascinating insights into the relationship of the current president and the ex-presidents. Two of the highlights for me are: 1) President Clinton and the Bush family have not only overcome the bitterness of the 1992 presidential election, they have grown so close that Clinton has vacationed with George H. W. Bush, raised money with George W. Bush, escorted Barbara Bush at the funeral of Betty Ford, and received the nickname from the Bush family “Brother from Another Mother”, and 2) President Clinton would often call President Nixon late at night to consult with him about foreign-policy matters and other presidential issues. Nixon sent Clinton a letter shortly before he died in 1994. The letter assisted Clinton so much that he makes it a practice to read the letter every year.

2. I agree with many I've heard on talk radio, who wonder why in the world New York fans booed Tim Tebow the other night at a New York Yankee ballgame. As “Mike and Mike” said yesterday morning, why take your time booing somebody who is building hospitals for orphans and auctions off opportunities to spend the day with him as he ministers to children in children's hospitals–with the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised going to charity.

3. I still don't know where we are going to get all of the money to pay for what the federal government spends in a year.

4. Mark Bergin wrote last week of an incredible plan by Oklahoma State University that backfired. The board opted to purchase life insurance policies on 27 elderly boosters back in 2007. Each policy was valued at $10 million. Two years later, there was a problem. None of the boosters had died. During that time, OSU had paid out over $32 million in premiums. In 2009, OSU canceled the policies and sought litigation to recover a portion of the money they had paid in premiums. Not only did they lose in court, the judge ruled that OSU had to pay the insurance company for the cost of litigation.

5. Charles Colson is recovering after falling ill at a conference and undergoing surgery a few weeks ago. The founder of Prison Fellowship had surgery on March 31 to remove a clot of blood from the surface of his brain after he had an intracerebral hemorrhage. Colson has shown some encouraging signs. I’m praying for you, Chuck Colson.

           

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

April 10, 2012

1. Last week was a whirlwind for the Edge family. We drove Thursday to Harding to see our daughter Haleigh perform in Spring Sing. (Spring Sing was neat!)

            Friday morning we drove to Dallas for the LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST convention. Our daughter, Abby, drove part of the way on the interstate. That was good experience for her and she did well. I would say that was the highlight, but maybe I should give that honor to being stuck for an hour and a half in traffic on I-635 in lovely Richardson.

            LTC ended Sunday morning with a worship service, and we returned home. I usually have to return home on Saturday night in order to preach Sunday. This year I was able to stay with my family, which I appreciated greatly.

2. I came across an intriguing summary of Walter Isaacson's recent biography on Steve Jobs this week. It was from the April 9 issue of FORBES; I found it interesting to see the business magazine’s take on Jobs’ impact on our culture:

 
 
The Macintosh which begat the home computer revolution popularized graphical user interfaces.
 
Toy story another Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.
 
Apple stores, which reinvented the role of a store in defining a brand.
 
The iPod, which change the way we consume music.
 
The iTunes store, which saved the music industry.
 
The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, e-mail and Web devices.
 
The App Store, which spawned a new content–creation industry.
 
The iPad, which launched tablet computing and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books and videos.
 
The iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.
 
And Apple itself.

The Apple II, which took [Apple cofounder Stephen] Wozniak's circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.

            To me, the most intriguing statement was that the iTunes store “saved the music industry.”

3. This also from FORBES—this week’s issue. Now that Steve Jobs has passed away, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is being called America's number one CEO. The magazine credits this to his obsession with customer service.

            There are symbolic actions performed everywhere by Bezos to drive the mission of customer service home to his employees. In every meeting Bezos leaves one chair empty. Symbolically, the customer sits there.

            Another interesting tidbit, of the top five officers in the company, none earned more than $175,000 a year. I would suspect they were given stock options, although I did not read this.

4. I have been listening to the recordings of Jacqueline Kennedy (Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), which her daughter Caroline recently released to the public. These consist of several hours of oral interviews conducted and recorded by the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

            The idea was to obtain an oral history from Mrs. Kennedy while the events of her husband's life were fresh on her mind. The recordings began in early 1964, just a few months after her husband’s tragic assassination.

            I have listened to a few of the sessions, and I cannot help but be initially impressed with the normality of Mrs. Kennedy as a human being. Time had not interspersed itself between the assassination and the point where Mrs. Kennedy would become a cultural icon. Consequently, it is easy to spot the humanity of Mrs. Kennedy, her husband, and their family.

            Retrospection also offers perspective on just how sudden President and Mrs. Kennedy rose to such a prominent place in the spectrum of world events. In 1951, a young college graduate named Jacqueline Bouvier met a handsome young senator from Massachusetts. Ten years later, at the age of 32, she was the first lady of the United States.

            She was a first lady with enormous influence. Reflecting upon her commitment to the restoration of the White House, I was able to gain new insight into what an achievement that was. To bring groups together and to raise funds for such an unusual (at that time) endeavor was an enormous achievement. However, coming from a young housewife and mother, who was committed to her family, I consider this to be an amazing accomplishment.

            I look forward to hearing more of these recordings.

5. Yu Darvish gives me hope for the Texas Rangers’ pitching staff. Joe Nathan gives me doubt. Darvish recovered last night from a horrific first inning to pitch well. Nathan has thrown one pitch this year—a home run ball, which won the ball game for the Chicago White Sox. Tonight, Naftali Feliz makes his debut as a Ranger starter. This will be an important start.

April 3, 2012

1. Today I am having a study day at the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary library in Jacksonville, Texas. This morning, I attended their chapel service to hear Albert Mohler, the well-known president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary lecture on “The Fall of Man & the Christian Message.”

            I am of the acapella tradition when it comes to public worship. Consequently, in the chapel service, I could not but be reminded again that the chief battle in Christian worship is not over acapella vs. instrumental. The combat is over reserved worship vs. expressive worship and old hymns vs. new hymns.

            The seminary chapel service was instrumental, with a piano providing the accompaniment. The hymns sung were the old classics, most of which I grew up singing. The only “expression” displayed by the participants was smiles. I thought of the number of Baptists I know who would have howled had they attended that chapel service.

            There are people in my church tradition who think that brining an instrument in would bring peace. I can assure you, it would not.            

            I have often wondered why this is so. My guess is that public worship is so intimate and so personal, when one attends an assembly that does not match up with his worship style, it is the equivalent of going out on a Sadie Hawkins date with a girl he does not like. He wants to be nice, decent, and civil to his date, but the date is more of an event to be endured than a relationship to be celebrated.

            There are good people on both sides of the issue. I wish everyone the best.

2. Incidentally, Albert Mohler’s lecture on the “Fall of Man” was very good. He is one of the better public lecturers I have heard. With his intellect, his commitment to scripture, and his ability to communicate, I can see why he is a darling to the evangelical Christian world as well as a “go-to guy” when GOOD MORNING AMERICA and other media sources desire a quote or response from the evangelical community.

3. AMC’s TV series MAD MEN returned last week. Several magazines have run cover stories on the event, including NEWSEEK. You may be asking, “Why all the fuss?” My guess is the characters fascinate people because they (the characters) are so flawed. Thus the popular culture finds them authentic.

            Perhaps the best quote I ran across concerning the series came courtesy the keyboard of Rob Sheffield of ROLLING STONE. Addressing MAD MEN’S man character, Don Draper, Sheffield wrote, "Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got."

            I have found this observation to be spot on. Sheffield, in one sentence, has summarized the challenge facing Christianity in American culture.

            A religion, who’s founder states that for one to be saved he must die to self, will always face obstacles in a culture where no one wants to lose what he has got.

4. Surrounding the death of former MONKEES’ singer Davy Jones, I came across an interesting little factoid: by the late 1960s, Davy Jones had become so famous, a struggling singer/songwriter named David Jones decided he had to change his name. He did; he changed it to David Bowie.

5. The past few days have reminded me why I never fill out a NCAA tournament bracket. I missed every pick I had made for the Men’s Final Four. (In “Five” last week, I had selected Louisville over Kentucky, Ohio State over Kansas, and Louisville over Ohio State in the championship game.)

            I am sticking with the Baylor girls though. They’ll beat Notre Dame tonight and go 40-0.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for the title.