Links and Elevators

NASA just finished the first stage of their Centennial Challenge competition (link). This is a new series of technology competitions that they modeled on the X Prize contest. The X Prize, as I'm sure you recall, was a contest to see which group or company could design an aircraft that could carry two people into space and make a return trip into space within two days. It was worth one million dollars and was thought to be the precursor to private space travel.

The Centennial Challenges are an entire series of challenges like that. The first challenge this past year was to create a super-strong rope that could be used as space elevator. The second challenge was to create a robot to travel up a line like this carrying a heavy load. These two competitions were worth $50,000 each but no one won either one. Next year's continuation of this series will be worth $200,000 instead. Space tech is cool (says the sci-fi fan).

And if that bores you then have fun with this game instead. The best time that I've seen so far is 22 seconds.

And in case anyone missed it, here's that article about Richard that was in the London Free Press last week.

Weekend Review

Did you all read the article about Richard Phillips in the Christian Life in London insert in the London Free Press last Wednesday? He still has those commercials on TV for his old school and now he has this article about his work with the youth shelter in London. I think that's thirty minutes of fame now.

This past Saturday my Little Brother carve a pumpkin. I vaguely remember doing that as a kid but I had to learn how to do it all over again. We managed to get a fairly intricate carving done that looks really cool. Thanks to my mom, I have some before-and-after pictures but I can't post them for the sake of my Little's privacy. Sorry about that.

This past Friday I attended nine20, the young adult group at Open Doors church. I've recently started playing percussion with them for worship each Friday but this time none of the regular worship leaders showed up. I was drafted into worship leadership at the last minute and we ripped off a quick ten minute sound check and practice. The worship went well.

The guest speaker was Harvey Katz, finishing off part two of a talk about evangelism. (See Part 1 here.) He preached from the passage in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, which has one of my favourite verses: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." I had a song in mind that I used to play for the after-service worship at FCCC (my old church) back in the day. I started playing as Harvey was finishing his talk and I ministered in song afterwards. It was great since I haven't done that in more than a year except by myself. My piano playing was fairly pathetic but it got the job done. I'm always a little surprised at how effectively God uses me to lead worship but it's great that He still does.

Speaking of God using me, I'm off to Windsor this coming weekend to do some inner-city outreach. There's a church there that helps train other churches in that kind of ministry. I'll be heading down as part of the worship team to play percussion for two different events and I'll also be doing some walk-the-streets outreach stuff on Saturday afternoon. This will be cool since I haven't done anything like this in quite a while. I'll be away from early Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.

News & Views

Ah, now I can dip into weird news again, for your reading pleasure...

Did you hear about the 10-foot boa snake that terrorized an apartment building? One guy went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, looked down at the toilet after turning on the light and realized there was a snake coiled in his toilet looking up at him. The snake was living on rats it found in the sewer, apparently, and it would pop up in toilets. Check out the full story on that link and a funny picture.

"This year alone, Shanghai will complete towers with more space for living and working than there is in all the office buildings in New York." (Link)

The CSI Effect: The CSI TV shows are having a tangible effect on reasl-life juries, according to this article in the Toronto Star. Juries are demanding forensic evidence more than ever before and, like the show, are more inclined to accept the unhappy ending without this kind of evidence.

I heard about a new type of window that is strong enough to repel bullets (link). This new material is both stronger and lighter than the existing bullet proof glass. That piqued my interest since one of my recent friends, Andrea Black, happens to be a mechanical engineer for a company that builds tanks. She's sometimes gets to build explosives to test their tanka rmour armour, which is really cool job.

Personal Space

I hung out at nine20 this past Friday evening, as I usually do every Friday evening. It's the young adult group at Open Door church. Harvey Katz was a guest speaker and he had a talk about the principles of evangelism. Harvey's an excellent evangelist so he knows what he's talking about but I was still surprised by his easy explanation about what it requires.

As a summary for my own sake, he said that it comes down to personal space. Y'know how it's weird to speak to someone that's a "close talker?" Those people that don't seem to understand that we need a little more than a few inches between us during a conversation? And yet the closer you are to someone, the easier it is to offer a hug or that kind of thing. Harvey said that it's the same deal with everyone's spiritual space.

Too often, Christians act like "close talkers" and get too serious too quickly about spiritual issues. I found that comment odd since I had the vague impression that evangelists were successful in reaching people precisely because they got through people's boundaries. Instead, Harvey said that we need to identify people's personal distance from us and from God and allow them to lead. That's right, the evangelist isn't the one in control of the conversation!

There are various levels of spiritual space in peoples lives, Harvey said.

1. The Unconvinced: These are the people that cannot be swayed through conversation or debate. The best course of action is to pray for them and to show God in our own lives.
2. The Inquirers: They may ask questions so we can answer them, but don't overdo it and give them more than they asked for. Pay attention to their social cues and don't bore them or push them.
3. The Seekers: These are the people that are intently searching and they may have long and deep conversations about these issues. In this case, do not push for a decision. Let them come to their own conclusion.
4. The Finders: These are the people that have decided to become Christians. This will seem like a final destination at the end of a long road. We need to understand that this is the beginning of their journey with God instead of the culmination.
5. The Keepers: "It's not how far you've gone, it's the path you're on."

The way that Harvey explained this makes it so much easier in my head. Give people an opening during conversations to ask about God. If they pursue the topic, talk to them at their discretion. Evangelism isn't about breaking through into people's lives, it's about helping people find what they are looking for.

Ain't Just Words

The Toronto Star had an article this past week about the upcoming Raptors season in the NBA. Last year, Sam Mitchell was the rookie head coach and it showed. He had to "hug some players and kick some others in the butt...This time around, though, the Raptors coach is pretty sure he's going to do the right thing to the right guy."

Most notably, Rafer Alston imploded part way through the season and threatened to quit the NBA entirely. Presumably the coach used a little too much tough love with him (like the suspension that was given) when he needed to use more encouragement. Too late to fix that problem now that Rafer is gone - though I suppose that does fix it in a way.

It's interesting to see the coach showing some personal growth in such a public way, though that is the nature of sports journalism. It reminds of my own experience with the youth worship team at Faith (FCCC) back in the day. I thought that I was an excellent leader and teacher. In my mind I was practical, motivating and properly focused on the spiritual aspect of worship. In the minds of the youth, I seemed demanding, oblivious and stubborn.

I led the youth worship team for what, two years? After the first year, Leonard Terry (our pastor) preached a series on communication and I clued into the fact that my perception of my leadership and communication skills did not match the youth's perspective. By far, the biggest change for me was that I realized that I needed to encourage the youth a whole lot more. I always thought that they were doing an excellent job and that they were progressing nicely but I rarely said that to them.

Some of the youth really didn't appreciate my leadership, to put it nicely. The side effect was that it gave many of them the chance to mature themselves. Can we submit to an authority that we don't like? Can we follow a leader with whom we do not always agree? What if others are making negative comments, how do we handle that situation? I taught the youth a lot during that time and unfortunately some of it was through a negative example, but fortunately many of them still developed regardless.

I've said for a long time that we can't grow too much as Christians until we take on leadership roles ourselves in some capacity. That was certainly true for me. I look back on my growth during that leadership time as the one experience that impacted me the most in my life. I've had innumerable learning experiences during my twenty-seven years on this planet, of course, but I point to that time as my key epiphany.

So to any of the members of the old youth worship team that may read this, I offer my thanks to you. I love the time that I shared with you all and I appreciate all that you have given to me. I pray that my communication with others and that my current and future leadership would be as encouraging and inspiring as possible.

Grand Friends and Fathers

Calvin Harrison's band, Exodus in Peril, is having a concert tonight at GTA. The rumour is that they're video taping the show with four cameras for a concert DVD later. I'm still waiting for the release of their full CD but maybe they'll have a single or something for sale tonight. It starts at 7:00 pm and it costs $6.00. I'll be there for the concert, which may be opened by Chasing Arcadia, and then I'll probably head over to Open Doors for the rest of the evening.

Psst! I hear the my little sister has a retro post up. (Sorry, no link.) Just for the record, she thinks that I'm "a strange little man." I consider it a high compliment. Of course, my mom mockingly pointed to that as a factor that keeps the girls away. Bah, I say! I have fun being a little weird and in being a dorky older brother. I'm sure someone will appreciate me for who I am.

My grandfather (my dad's father) is visiting us this week for the Thanksgiving holiday. He just had a pacemaker put in and his health is great, so this is the first trip that he has made in a long while. It's also the first trip he has made without my grandmother in decades so we're very happy to have him here with us for the week.

My dad, my brother and I played Pay the Man with him last night. My dad and my grandfather each won a game but I attribute that to the fact that my brother was sitting to their left for each of their wins, accidentally feeding them all the cards that they needed.

And this next picture has immediately become one of my favourites:



P.S. As always, click on the pictures above to visit my picture web site.

Raptors Trade!

I usually leave sports references to Jevant (and his archnemesis) but this is huge news for me as an avid fan of the Toronto Raptors. They traded away Rafer Alston!

Press Release: Raptors.com
Article: ESPN.com
Article: Toronto Star
Blog: Toronto Star Jabs

I thought that the big NBA news was a report earlier today that the Chicago Bulls traded Eddy Curry to New York, but this piece of news about Alston is much more important to me. I only have tangential knowledge of Mike James, the Houston Rockets point guard for whom they traded. I vaguely remember Houston getting him late last year for their playoff run.

The initial analysis is that Mike James is a dependable but not exceptionally skilled point guard. Rafer was the opposite, explosive skills with a temper to match. I suppose the Raptors got exactly who the kind of player they wanted in return but I don't think that Mike James has really had a shot as the go-to starting point guard. We'll have to see how this plays out for his playing time with the Raptors but it wouldn't surprise me to see him competing with the Raptors recent draft pick Jose Calderon.

Wow. Training camps start in the NBA today but this news ratcheted my interest up three notches.

Points of Interest

Last week, it was reported in this article that two Japanese researchers managed to take photos of a giant squid in it's natural habitat. That's the first time that has ever managed. Giant squid live so far down that the only things that we have to work with are dead bodies or their leftovers after they have been eaten by a sperm whale.

Previously, it was suggested that the giant squid lure prey or feel for prey with their amazingly long tentacles. Thanks to these new pictures, it looks like they actually attack like a python does, striking their prey and then wrapping them up and squeezing them.

There was an article last week about a new galaxy that astronomers have managed to find. It's extremely far away from us, so the light from it has travelled for a very long time and shows us a picture of that that galaxy was like back when that light was first sent on it's universal journey. The problem is that it's also very large, and that's confusing because light that has been travelling for so long should show a relatively small galaxy, not a giant one. I don't usually link to these kinds of articles because they come out every couple of weeks or so, showing research that confuses our ideas about how the universe was formed.

Speaking of which, Mike has had a few posts recently regarding whether "scientifically verified" is the same thing as "true fact." Don't bother reading those posts unless you find semi-scholarly discussion fun. He hasn't directly tackled the issue of Intelligent Design yet, but it ties in nicely with the above article about how we think the universe was formed.

Intelligent Design is one opponent of Evolution, stating that a universe this complex has to have been created on purpose instead of being created by chance. It doesn't identify who this "intelligent designer" is, but critics say that it's just a veiled attempt at introducing God to the classrooms.

The current "Intelligent Design" debate in the US courts (article) is drawing a line in the sand, somewhat outside of Mike's argument. Their dividing point is the difference between hypotheses and theory, positing that Intelligent Design is a hypotheses while Evolution is a theory. The purpose of the courts is to decide whether Intelligent Design is a valid idea to be taught in schools. As Mike has written in previous blogs, this isn't a new debate by any means but it's still a point of interest.