the power of a praying pastor

something tells me that jeremiah, who is an old soybean bible friend and currently a pastor with the apex community in vegas, has established a far more sustainable bi-vocational occupation than i have.

if you know christians who are staunchly anti-gambling or have poor relatives who seek provisions from slot machines, be sure to share with them this example of how God providentially blesses prayer-full risks.

come on miah! little 8 pound, 6 ounce newborn infant jesus needs a new pair of shoes!

musing...

i hesitate to admit this, but lately i've been pursuing hypermiling as a personal discipline. i am not by nature a very patient or passive person. thus, driving no faster than 62 and confining myself to the right-hand lane has been a real challenge for me.

although i'm only in the second week of this initiative, i have already realized that this expression of intentional slowing is leading me towards greater depths of personal reflection and prayer. i am constantly flagellating myself for failing to demarcate enough time for solitude, prayer, journaling and spiritual development. moreover, since i most often encounter the Other in the midst of such practices, i think that a fair amount of the self-condemnation is deserved. however, hypermiling is reminding me that in addition to reaching out in silence, i also need to pursue holiness and communion in the midst of the ordinary activities of my day.

so i guess hypermiling is an effective treatment for my incipient gnosticism. who would have guessed?

overheard: the ten most hypocritical christian athletes

4. Andy Pettitte

HOW MUCH HE LOVES JESUS: In his sports metaphorically-titled book, Strike Zone: Targeting a Life of Intregrity and Purity, Andy Pettitte had this to say about how he wants to live his life for the Lord, “As a Christian I also have one goal. I want to fulfill God’s purpose for my life. I constantly ask myself “What does God want me to do?” and “Where does He want me to go?”

WHY JESUS HATES HIM: WHY JESUS HATES HIM: Apparently God wants him to do steroids. And he wants him to go to the congress and lie about it. After getting called out by Brian McNamee for taking H.G.H., Pettitte needed to read Romans 13:1-5, a passage in the Bible that says you shouldn’t lie to the civil government. Did he really need to find that line to be sure about lying? I guess Pettitte initially thought the explicit “Thou shalt not lie” commandment actually meant “Thou shalt not lie…unless you’re talking to someone who was elected to office. Then you can lie your ass off. Amen.”

you can read up on the other offenders over at holy taco.

ht: deadspin

get some!

next week generation kill, a seven part hbo mini-series that is based on evan wright's remarkable book* of the same name, is premiering on hbo.

the mini-series is produced by the team that created the wire and is probably the only show worth watching this summer.

check out the trailer here.

read an interview with ed burns, one of the co-creators of the wire and the mini-series here.

check out one bullet away: the making of a marine officer, a book that is related to generation kill, here.

over the past six months media critics and culture watchers have been talking about the public indifference to movies such as stop loss and in the valley of elah that attempt to chronicle and capture the experience of the iraqi catastrophe. i hope that the public tunes in and turns on to generation kill since it is one of the most insightful portraits of the war that i've come across thus far.

* tip o' the hat to josh brown for turning me on to the book.