During a break from class last week, some freinds from school and I went to In N Out Burger for dinner. It was at that time that I was introduced to Animal Fries.

If I retain nothing from my years of college, I at least can point to this discovery as being well worth my time and money invested.

Animal Fries are basically the standard delicious fries but topped with grilled onions, the special sauce that normally goes on the burger and topped with melted cheese. Angiotastic!! I feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it.

If any of you are visiting So. Cal, it is required that you get thee to an In N Out at once for a Double-Double, Fries and a Dr. Pepper. If you're feeling adventurous, order up a 4 X 4 (yes it is exactly what you think it is).

Here's a helpful series of papers on worship that come from all different sides of the Reformed world. It has a helpful treatment of Jordan's liturgism as well as a great summary of Schlissel's critique of the Regulative Principle of Worship.

via Barukatash.com (one day I'm going to ask Brian what that means).

When lame PC groups attack:

Albino group complains about unfair portrayals of the "pigmentally challenged" in The Matrix: Reloaded

Turn Out the Lights

Yes, I'm wearing my sackcloth today (very itchy).

The bottom line is we just got beat by a better team. The Spurs didn't quit and they just kept crashing the boards, blasting through defenders for uncontested layups and jacking up threes. Tim Duncan proved why he's the 2 time MVP by that performance last night, we had absolutely NO answer for him. The Lakers on the other hand suffered from the same sluggishness that had plagued them all season. Absolutely no movement or cutting to the basket to try to get open. Ball goes in to Shaq, and they all stand around like their shoes are nailed to the floor. And where was the double team on Duncan? FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD, MOOOOVE!!!!

Course it didn't help that our best defender on the team tweaked his hammy, our clutch guy from the three point line went on the worst cold streak of his career and that the coach's heart nearly exploded a few days ago. But nonetheless...

Questions to ponder/Things to improve:

• How do we spend that $5 million salary cap exception? Two words: Karl Malone. Or perhaps two more words: Gary Payton. One or both (in my dreams) would be good. But it won't be easy, a lot of teams with far deeper pockets will be gunning for those guys too. I predict we'll get one of those two though.
  
  
• Get rid of the dead weight and we'll be fine. Slava Medvedenko? Mark Madsen? Jannero Pargo? Buh-bye. Let Horry, Shaw and Walker walk. Bring in athletic guards that can shoot the three and won't cost too much. I'm looking at you Jon Barry and/or Corey Maggette. Oh alright and you can come too Eric Piatkowski. One more big banger down on the boards: PJ Brown. Yeah that looks nice.
  

I've been thinking a lot about my devotional time lately and I wanted to get your opinions and suggestions. How do you "do" devotions? Do you spent some time reading a chapter of the Bible, think about it and pray a bit? Do you see it as your study time, and break out the lexicons and dictionaries? Do you meditate on a certain verse in the chapter that you read? Is there a method that you follow that works for you? Do you do it once or twice a day? How much time do you allot for it? Do you think it's OK to use devotionals (or other books) or do you find them to be an unnecessary crutch?

Lately I've been feeling "meh" about my time spent in the Bible. I've been following the McCheyne plan for devotions and I like it a lot. But the problem I've been having is that once I've finished reading, I find myself asking "OK, so now what do I do with this?" Yes, I pray for illumination before and after I read. Yes, I try to meditate on a text that struck me in a passage. But more often than not, all I come away with is a feeling of "OK, did that, now I can check that off my 'to do' list", I truly depise feeling like that.

Why is it that we are told that we must do daily devotions and spend time in God's Word, but are rarely ever given a praxis that shows us how to do it? It is akin to the "be warm and filled" problem that James outlines in his epistle. We are told by our shepherds "make sure to do your devotions" and we come before God with lots of inspiration, but no road map. It's a problem that I still struggle with today even though I've been walking with Christ for over 10 years, isn't that sad?

Now understand, I'm not trying to put the blame for my spiritual shortcomings on other people, but I think I have a valid point. Biblical illiteracy has reached an all time high (low?) in the church today. A lot of things can be pointed to as the cause: sermons based on "life lessons" rather than biblical exposition, an overemphasis of personal experience over biblical norms ("I just felt the Holy Spirit's presence...how could it be wrong?"), the gnostic dualism of "heart knowledge" over "head knowledge". But could it also be that Christians today, just don't know how to "do" devotions and therefore aren't spending a good amount of time in the Word? I can compensate because I'm one of those sick puppies who loves to read theology; but what about those who would be just as happy if they never heard of names like Van Til or Calvin and Vos?

Anyway, just thinking out loud...

Well, it appears that Microsoft has officially denounced the iLoo calling it nothing more than a hoax. Oooookay, then why did they wait a week before announcing it as so?

It doesn't help their case that two other sources confirmed it as the real thing *cough*coverup*cough*.

I foresee lots of layoffs and NDA's being signed over in MS's R&D department in the near future.

There is nothing so wrong in the world that cannot be put right by a Strawberry Tsunami from Jamba Juice.

Joel Garver's Return!!

As they say, the doctor is in!

It's good to have him back.