Tuesday In Reverent Fear released their sophomore album Stomacher. I’ve been privileged to watch/listen to this album come into being over the past four years and it will be well worth the wait for those of you who are already fans of IRF’s Written in the A.M. Screamo and hardcore fans will still find deliciously devastating tracks but in general IRF’s sound has matured into a more well rounded, fuller and diverse piece of work. Jarrod’s lyrics are good enough to stand on their own, his literary and fictional influences come through in what is highly artistic song-writing. If that wasn’t enough the music that drives Stomacher is epic and feels downright theatrical. I almost feel like this album needs to be listened to in letterbox.
Go get this album, rock out to “666777888” or “Castle St.” while you drive or put on “The Greatest Love” or “Streetwalker” and fall into a trance. Whatever you do go buy this album today.
You can get it on iTunes HERE.

Greg Boyd’s new book The Myth of a Christian Nation was just recently released.

Check out this NPR interview he gave here in this Podcast.

Check out the book, listen to the podcast and come back to post your thoughts. Do you think Boyd is on the right track?

        I’ve been reading some books for an introduction to Hermeneutics class. Pretty standard stuff really. The books generally dealt with some of the bigger themes in both the Old and the New Testament. Harmless, basic, introductory stuff right? Not that New Testament Themes book. That book is rocking my world, well I guess Jesus rocks my world and that book touches on some basic Jesus stuff. And it scares me to death. So here’s what’s got me all wound up. Basically the early church’s expectation that Christ would return soon (and even if it wasn’t soon, that he would return abruptly) led them to frown on saving money. Saving money was basically a way of saying that you either did not expect Christ to return soon or that you had better ideas about what could be done with that money in the future, rather than using it today for the work of the Kingdom. Excess money was seen as baggage, after-all what if Christ came back and you had piles of money saved up?! What if you were called to give a reason for why you saved (read: hoarded) this for yourself instead of putting it to work in the Kingdom? Wow. Good point. The better I become at dealing with my finances the more important saving money is to me, but it’s really all about my own security and comfort. I’m not saving money to use to help the poor, I’m not saving money to put to work in the Kingdom. It’s all about my own “security.”
        Then last night at community group we started talking about wisdom, specifically Christian wisdom. The wisdom of the cross looks very foolish to the world. So I brought my “problem” before the group. Should Christians save money? Is it hoarding for our own security so that we have to depend even less on God… even less on fellow Christians? Does saving money encourage us to put up walls of “security” and distance us from the poor? Well for one, I’m bound and determined not to just find a comfortable answer to this question that still allows me to save while I ignore the needs of others. I desperately do not want to proof text my way into justifying what America has trained me to think already. So if this conversation leads me where I think it might that means a radical amount of trust in God and specifically in the church.
        What if we Christians took care of our elderly and likewise trusted that after a lifetime of giving away, of emptying ourselves that the church would care for us? Can we do that?

        I got a phone call from Samuel L. Jackson/Kazmir Trypuc today. It was both hilarious and personalized. You too can hook friends up with a call from Sam Jackson HERE. For those of you who would be given a 9 on the ol’ Jaded scale be warned that by doing this you are a pawn for a movie studio. They are “tricking” you into working in their publicity department and you are not going to be paid. That being said, it’s TONS OF FUN!

        I have previously compared Derek Webb to Keith Green. Well Webb is continuing to impress me, starting Sept 1st he’s giving away his newest album, Mockingbird, for free. In the article he even says that Green was his inspiration for doing so. Check freederekwebb.com. This is quite possibly the best Christian album I’ve ever heard. Webb has the most thoughtful and theologically rich lyrics I’ve heard. His music is prophetic in a time when most Christian music is about as deep and prophetic as your local Wal-Mart. So go check it out… and pirate it. Go ahead he wants you to.

“In general, I hate Christian rock music. But now I have heard the songs of Derek Webb. Webb’s songs are free of the pietistic sentimentality that usually characterizes popular Christian music. His music, like the Gospel, is at once hard, edgy, and beautiful.”
- Stanley Hauerwas

Back in May Kara got me a test kit for National Geographic’s “Genographic Project” for my birthday. I got my test results back today. The above is the journey of the different Y-Chromosone markers in my DNA. After watching the video I learned that “my people” the Cro-Magnons conquered the Neandertals and took over europe just before the last ice age when they survived in Northern Italy. I’m a part of M343 (Halogroup R1B). Super interesting!

Good news from yesterday: We finally get a sneak peak at OS X Leopard! Apple’s new OS, which will ship in Spring ‘07. Check it out here. Windows users, take a look at what windows will be able to do in… oh five years or so. As usual there is good reason to watch Steve Jobs’ keynote, not the least of which is the introduction of the Mac Pro which replaces the PowerMac G5.