Rant: NOW Hated the Wrong Ad

It's Tuesday, but I'm still thinking about the Super Bowl ads. I happened to watch Super Bowl 44 at home, with my family, and got to really focus on the ads more than usual. There were a few good ones -- as I mentioned yesterday, Google's ad was genius -- but most of them were unmemorable and uncreative.

But that's not why I feel a rant coming on. I've got the rant going because Terry O'Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), made headlines in recent weeks about one of the Super Bowl ads being "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning" to women. Those are strong words. Extraordinarily offensive. Demeaning.

Let's see if we can guess the offensive, demeaning ad.

Was it this ad for Flo.tv, which featured Jim Nantz telling a guy to "change out of that skirt" and grow a spine because he gave up watching a football game in order to shop with his wife?



Nope. Apparently NOW is OK with this ad.

Was it this ad for Bridgestone tires, in which a man in some sort of dystopian future gives up his wife in exchange for keeping his (apparently) excellent tires?



No, it wasn't the Bridgestone ad. Apparently NOW is cool with the wife-for-tires exchange.

Was it this ad for GoDaddy.com, a company that seems to sink all of their advertising money into titillating ads that objectify women as sex objects?



No, it wasn't the GoDaddy.com ad, which might as well change their tagline to "Tasteless Ads and Websites." Nor was it the Snickers ad in which the joke was that a guy was playing football like "an old lady" (the hilarious Betty White), or the Dodge Charger ad in which a male voiceover seethed about the sacrifices required by marriage.

It wasn't any of those ads, of course. According to the National Organization for Women, the "extraordinarily demeaning and offensive" that they tried to get CBS to drop from its Super Bowl advertising lineup was this one featuring Tim Tebow and his mom, Pam.



Seriously? Really? That ad -- and its message of "Celebrate family. Celebrate life." -- was more demeaning to women than all the other ones above?

Look, I get why some groups were upset about the ad. Lots of people -- liberal and conservative, Christian and secular, male and female -- have problems with Focus on the Family. I certainly do, and I've ranted about it before.

I understand that there are better ways for a non-profit organization to spend its money than on a Super Bowl ad.

I understand that Pam Tebow's faith-fueled decision to give birth to Tim despite the risks, and despite its positive outcome, is a decision that -- had it gone the other way -- could have left her other kids without a mom. (And which doctors were absolutely correct to worry about...and which likely kills too many other mothers and unborn children every year.)

And I understand that this ad was a total letdown after all the controversy of the preceding week. Everyone at my house watched it, and then said, in unison, "That's IT?"

But what I don't understand is how this ad, just this ad, in which one mother tells how she exercised her freedom of choice and chose to have a baby despite the risks to her own health...how does this demean women? How does this even damage the pro-choice cause? She had a choice. She chose to give birth. But she had a choice. This is wrong how?

This is more demeaning than women used as sex objects to sell websites?

This is more demeaning than an ad suggesting women are worth less than a set of tires?

This is more demeaning than saying a televised football game is more important than hanging out with your wife or girlfriend? That choosing her over sports makes you a skirt-wearing sissy lady?

Really? Really?!?

I don't have any problem with feminism. I have a 9 year-old daughter, and as often as I can, I tell her she can be and do anything she wants when she grows up. She can be a doctor. She can be president. She can be a mom. She can do all those things. She is smart and cool and capable of anything a boy can do.

I think it's ridiculous that, just a few generations ago, women couldn't vote. I think it's ridiculous that, in more than a few Christian denominations, women can't be pastors (like Southern Baptists, who won't let a woman be the senior pastor of a church of 25 people but will allow Beth Moore to be the most popular Bible teacher in the English-speaking world). If my own daughter wants to be the pastor of a church someday, I will do everything I can to support her in that. I don't have any problem at all with female pastors or ministers or whatever. I think we need more of them.

I don't have a problem with feminism.

But I do have a problem with stupidity. I have a problem with mindless, lockstep adherence to a political stance. And I have a problem with logical inconsistency. So when NOW can't see beyond Tim Tebow's devout faith or his pro-life beliefs or his connection to an organization they hate -- and when this hysterical myopia makes them blind to advertising that is far more offensive to women -- then I have trouble taking NOW's version of capital-F Feminism seriously.

I'm not alone. Even among feminists.

Otherwise, I have to conclude that being a feminist means being OK with objectifying women, and devaluing women, and denigrating women -- as long as you complain long and loud when a woman uses her freedom of choice to have a successful, well-rounded son who makes a choice to appear alongside his mother, whom he clearly loves, in an ad promoting a devilish, hateful message that can be summed up this way:

Celebrate family. Celebrate life.

Grrrrrr. I thought feminism was a good thing. I guess I'm wrong. Because you know what? I kinda like family. I'm also a fan of life. And Tim Tebow comes across as a goofball, but I sorta like him, too.

And I hope my daughter grows up to celebrate things like family and life, in a world that does not place limits on what she might want to be and accomplish.

She is worth more than a tire. She is more than a body. She is interesting enough to miss a football game for. If she grows up to be confident enough and smart enough to make hard decisions and live with the consequences -- like a certain Mrs. Tebow -- then I'll be proud, regardless of her politics or stance on social issues.

I'll be a happy, satisfied dad. But I guess I won't be a the NOW brand of Feminist, because you know why?

They don't hold women in high-enough esteem for me.

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Update: There's a great conversation occurring at Slate's Double X blog about the sexism in this year's crop of ads ("...some of the worst cases of lady-bashing in Super Bowl history"). Recommended.

Right Now

It's been a long time since the first time I did a "now list." Which means it's probably time to do one again.

Feel free to contribute your own list at your blog or in the comments below.

What I was listening to when I began this post:
"Honey, I Been Thinking About You" by Jackie Greene (via Pandora)

What I am drinking right now:
Coffee. Black. Home-brewed Starbucks Sumatra blend.

What I have just finished doing:
Making a play against Bryan Allain in Words with Friends on my iPhone. The word was "Qi." Which is an alternate spelling for "Chi," which is the Chinese word for the life force present in all things. The Q was on a triple word score, so it got me 31 points. Scrabble-nerd!

What I will do immediately after posting this:
Finish designing a magazine ad for a local clothing retailer.

What books I am reading now:
Picking Dandelions by Sarah Cunningham (look for an interview with Sarah next week)
The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson Book 3) by Rick Riordan
Hear No Evil, by Matthew Paul Turner

Last email/text I received:
A promotional email from a church video company about Lenten resources. I know. So boring.

Last email/text I sent:
An email to my sister to give her a GoDaddy.com coupon code.

Last article I read:
"Ozzy Does It: The Improbably Persistence of Ozzy Osbourne," at Slate. True Story: One of the first article I ever wrote for Relevant Magazine was an online recap of the first episode of "The Osbournes." I thought it was great, but then I never watched another episode.

Favorite Super Bowl commercial from last night:
The Google one. So good. Told a great story while, you know, actually showing how the product works. Perfect. Google wins.

Least favorite Super Bowl commercial from last night:
That "Super Bowl" shuffle remake. Awful.

Biggest Super Bowl commercial loser:
Dockers. Because its "people without pants on" spot aired right after the Casual Friday spot that showed office people in their underwear. Which totally spoiled the whole guys-in-their-underwear vibe for the second spot. Dockers execs have to be sitting around in their tasteful chinos while cursing the advertising gods today.

What I just looked at right now:
The snow outside my window. There has been snow outside my window for about two weeks now.

What I was listening to when I finished this post:
"Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve (via Pandora)

OK. That's me today. Now it's your turn.

Dinosaurs and Jesus

Earlier this week I revealed my childhood love for dinosaurs. And as a kid growing up in a devout Christian home, I also harbored a childhood love for Jesus. Some of my first real spiritual questions came when I wasn't able to fit my beloved dinosaurs into the biblical narrative.

Too bad I didn't have these religious dinosaur pictures to inform me. Because they sure would have made me feel better about things.

The Most Awesome Picture Ever:



This is actually a fine art print available from an artist named Derek Chatwood. But the really sad thing is that, when I first saw it a couple of years ago, I wondered for a long time whether it was real. A long time. Because I would absolutely not be surprised if coloring books like this actually existed from Answers in Genesis or some other such Young Earth creationist organization. (H/T: Josh Hatcher for the reminder)

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The Second Most Awesome Picture Ever



I have no clue about the origin of this one -- if you have any idea let me know -- but it's wonderful. That baby dinosaur looks so content in the arms of Christ! All creatures great and small...including juvenile killing machines from the late Jurassic period.

Anyway, when I'm down in the dumps, I always picture myself as a baby Allosaurus leaning my carnivorous head against the sturdy chest of an anglo Messiah who clearly brushes his long hair. It helps.

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The Ark Must Have Been a-Rockin'



The big Creationist/Young Earth idea explaining dinosaur fossils is that most of them are the result of the biblical flood. But since the Bible says every creature "that lives upon the ground" was represented on the ark -- and because organizations like Answers in Genesis insist that the dinosaurs were still alive at the time of the flood -- they conclude that dinosaurs were on the Ark, too.

So obviously, the biblical ark-boarding scene would have looked just like above. The T.Rex will lie down with the lamb, etc.

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Hi, I'm Man



This isn't specifically a religious picture, but I love it all the same. It's a typical dinosaur-size comparison chart like you'd find in a textbook. These images always compare dinosaurs to the size of an adult male. So you have dinosaur silhouettes situated next to a man-sized silhouette, who, inexplicably, is always waving at the camera.

Trust me: if you are within 12 feet of a line of five different bloodthirsty predators, all of whom are leaning toward you with mouths agape, it would probably serve you well not to stop and wave at the camera.

Unless, of course, you're Jesus. The logical conclusion, then, is that the unspeakably calm blue figure in these illustrations is the Son of God.

Turtles All the Way Down

In Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, the famous physicist opens with a story about a prominent scientist (probably Bertrand Russell) who gave a public astronomy lecture way back in the day. He explained how the earth moved around the sun, and how the sun is just one of an countless stars in our immense universe.

When the lecture ended, an annoyed little old lady approached him. She told him that he was talking nonsense, because all that stuff about the planets and solar system and stars was just plain wrong. "The world is really a flat plate," she explained, "supported on the back of a giant tortoise."

The scientist was unphased. He asked her, "What is the tortoise standing on?"

"You’re very clever, young man, very clever," the old lady replied. "But it’s turtles all the way down!"

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There are several different versions of this story floating around out there, often identifying different scientists (could have been William James). Hawking uses the story to explain the existence of different cosmological myths. But in O Me of Little Faith, I employ it a bit differently.

I love the visual of a turtle stack, suspended in space, turtle upon turtle upon turtle. Every turtle supports the turtle above it. Every turtle rests on the turtle below it.

It occurs to me that my faith is the same way. The world at the top of the turtle stack is me. Each turtle is a specific presupposition of my faith -- all of the things that support who I am. Basic morality. How I live. How I treat people. How I raise my kids. My career. The books I write. Whether or not I attend church. The doctrines I hold about the Bible. What I believe about Jesus. All of these things link together in a chain that informs, supports, and sustains my life, turtle upon turtle upon turtle.

There are a lot of turtles in the stack, but it's not turtles all the way down. Because all of these doctrines and viewpoints and ideas ultimately balance upon one thing: whether or not I believe God exists. That's my first turtle, and that turtle rests upon nothing but starlit emptiness and space. We can talk about proofs for the existence of God and all that stuff, but let's face it: the first turtle is supported by mystery. Faith.

Every turtle chain has a beginning, a foundational belief that everything springs from. Mine is that God exists. An atheist's starting point may be that there is no God or gods. Both of us build stacks upon those first turtles. Both of us are depending on the strength of that first turtle, because it supports everything.

God is hard to prove. God is hard to disprove. The existence or non-existence of God is unprovable. But both of us -- the believer and the nonbeliever -- are basing everything on our starting turtle. And once the turtle is in place, switching it out with a new base can be incredibly disruptive, painful, and dangerous. Everything is at stake.

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Of course, in the book, I go into a lot more detail about the turtles-all-the-way-down metaphor -- including a brief tie-in to Dr. Seuss's Yertle the Turtle -- but that's pretty much how the turtles work in O Me of Little Faith.

You had some great guesses about the turtle metaphor as it relates to faith, but as you now know, the winners were the ones who correctly guessed "turtles all the way down." Josh quickly identified the ancient belief that the world rested on the backs of turtles, but didn't quite predict the correct metaphor. (He's right about one thing, though: a literal belief in the turtle arrangement is pretty easy to doubt.)

Angela was the first to introduce "turtles all the way down," but then again, she's my editor. She already knew. Radosh knew it, too, but 1) he's already got Pocket Guide to the Bible and the other Pocket Guides and 2) he's getting an advance copy of OMOLF anyway. I'm going to disqualify him on the amount of stuff he already has. (Sorry!)

So that leaves me with Myles, a theology student at Baylor. Congrats, Myles! We've met before, and I'm thinking yo may have PGTTB already, but if not, let me know. (And if you'd prefer one of my other books, just tell me which one and I'll send it your way.)

Thanks for playing, everyone! Come back for some meaningless frivolity tomorrow, when I won't be talking about turtles, theology, or OMOLF at all.

Update: When I checked this after posting it, the Google-based ad in the sidebar was for turtles. So awesome.

What's Up with the Turtles?

For those of you who are interested in such things, here's the back cover copy for O Me of Little Faith:

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True Confessions

I am a Christian.

I have been a Christian for most of my life. But there are times—an uncomfortable frequency of times, to be honest—when I'm not entirely sure I believe in God.

There. I said it.

From this unconventional profession of faith, Jason Boyett sets off on a journey down a sometimes painful, often hilarious, always honest road of inquisition, searching for a God who occasionally seems to disappear.

An earnest seeker who clings to faith even as he explores the hiddenness of God, Boyett asks uncomfortable questions -- the questions many of us have but dare not say aloud. His willingness to ask these questions have made him immune to over-spiritualized church talk, suspicious of public prayers, and annoyed by too-certain believers who seem to get "personal promptings from Jesus and detailed directions about even the most trivial aspects of their lives." (Boyett has his doubts.)

Written for doubters by a doubter, this is not a tidy, 5-step solution for fixing spiritual uncertainty. Nor is it a cynical, anti-religious screed. Instead, it’s a hopeful, confessional exploration of the relationship between faith and doubt. It’s a book loaded with grace, encouragement, humor, and -- for what it’s worth -- an inordinate number of references to turtles and French daredevils.

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That's right: turtles and French daredevils.

Seriously, the second chapter of the book is pretty much built around turtles as a metaphor for faith. So I have a contest idea. If you can identify what role turtles play in this metaphor -- guess the symbolism, the illustration, the object lesson, the literary allusion, or otherwise figure it out -- then I'll send you a free signed copy of Pocket Guide to the Bible. (If you already have PGTTB, I'll send you something else.)

Leave your guesses in the comments. The contest closes at 9 am tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 4), at which time I'll reveal the answer.

If you have already read the chapter in question, or if I have told you about the turtles, then you are excluded from this contest, cheater.

Predict away, friends.

So About Yesterday...

Maybe I'm naive, but I really didn't expect yesterday's questions to get as theological as they got in yesterday's Ask Jason Any Question extravaganza. I was prepared to answer a lot of questions about writing. Or breakdancing.

Where were the breakdancing questions?

But you guys are smart. You're interested in theology and Christianity and faith and big questions, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'll be honest, though: yesterday felt like a coming-out for me in a lot of ways. I probably come across as a know-it-all in blogging form -- and definitely in Pocket Guide form -- but in real-life I'm pretty quiet and unassuming. I'm thoughtful, but I don't walk around spouting out my opinions, especially about controversial theological subjects like hell and Scripture and all that stuff. But if I tell you I'll answer any question, then by golly, I'd better answer every question. And what's the point of promising to answer questions if I can't then give honest answers to those questions?

So yesterday I was honest. Probably too honest about some stuff, at the risk of offending current readers or potential readers or someone who might have been thinking about bringing me in as a speaker but now is worried because my theology sounds too liberal. Or whatever. Some of my friends at home or at church may now be thinking "I had no idea he thought that about THAT."

But this is who I am. I've been studying this stuff pretty hard for the last few years, and the decisions I've come to definitely are not the most comfortable ones. Flux is never as comfortable as stasis. The uncertainty I continue to face and the spiritual questions I continue to ask are not comfortable. But they're honest. I don't see the point in hiding things, not when I'm trying to be a follower of Someone who was committed to truth-telling, and who claimed to be Truth.

There's no point to seeking the truth if you're going to lie about where you've arrived.

So I'll be open about my opinions and own up to my conclusions. Like Paul, I'll boast about my weaknesses. I am pursuing a life of faith, but I have big questions.

And as a writer, I'll write a book about those questions. And as a shameless marketer, I'll tell you that O Me of Little Faith is available now for pre-order on Amazon, and at a really low price right now of $8.76. Get it now and it'll ship when it releases on May 1.

If you liked yesterday, then you'll like the book. It's pretty much 224 pages of yesterday, only with a scrawny kid on the cover. And a whole chapter about turtles. Inexplicably.

Ask Me Questions

I know a lot of you are aspiring writers, so every once in awhile I like to dedicate a blog post to answering writer-type questions. Instead of pre-selecting the questions, though, I figured we'd just do this one on the fly. Ask me questions today in the comments, and I'll do my best to reply to them.

We'll see how it works.

The questions don't have to be writing-related either. If you want to ask something in general, or theological, or about triathlons or the afterlife or breakdancing, then go right ahead. Unless it's way too personal, I'll spill the beans.

If you don't ask any questions, this will be the worst blog post ever. So I'm counting on you.

Archives: Jesus, Interrupted

Look, it's a snow day here in Amarillo, and I'm feeling lazy. So this is a re-post of an old book review, but there's a reason behind it.

1. Jesus, Interrupted was one of my favorite books I read in 2009. I was given a review copy by HarperOne in exchange for blogging about it -- positive or negative -- and, being a Bible nerd, I enjoyed it immensely.

2. Jesus, Interrupted is being released in trade paperback next week.

3. Transparency time: If I call attention to point #2 above and then direct you back to my original review, then Ehrman's publisher will give me a free copy of God's Problem, a book that happens to be next on my Ehrman reading list.

The question we're left with, then, is this: Will I sell out for a free book?

Yes, in fact, I will. But only because I believe Jesus, Interrupted is the kind of book most Christians need to read.

(For what it's worth, the blog-about-this-please approach doesn't work with most books. I'm looking at you, Berenstain Bears publisher.)

Jesus, Interrupted is very challenging to the Christian faith. No mistake about that. But I know too many Christians who simply aren't educated about biblical scholarship beyond the devotional stuff they hear on Sunday mornings. JI is a hard education, but it is an education nonetheless. It would be easy to go through life reading only the church bookstore-approved stuff while ignoring the more challenging stuff, but a faith that avoids adversity will always be shallow and weak.

A strong faith is a faith that is aware of challenges like Ehrman's, engages with them, and then finds a way to move past them (or beyond them, or alongside them).

Anyway, read anti.

I do recommend Jesus, Interrupted, but but it's a qualified recommendation. Read the Cannarf review below (thanks, Bryan Allain) and make your own decision. My original review is below. In the meantime, I'll be scouring the mailbox for my free book -- and once I've read it, I'll probably review it here.

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As an author of a book about the Bible and an armchair student of theology and biblical studies, I'm pretty fascinated by Ehrman's work -- as well as his personal story. (He entered college and then seminary from a fundamentalist Christian background, interested in studying the Bible in its original languages. By the time he earned his doctorate, he'd become an agnostic.)

So I read Jesus, Interrupted. I read it very quickly, and have been postponing a review of it for awhile because I wasn't sure what to write. A single-post review won't really do the subject justice -- especially as much as Jesus, Interrupted relates to my own writing career (and faith) -- so I'm going to spread it out a bit.

To begin, I thought it would be fun to explore the book using my friend Bryan Allain's quirky, efficient, and totally subjective "Cannarf Rating System." That's right: Cannarf. What's a Cannarf? Read this to find out. In short, it's a means of reviewing almost anything based on your expectations going in. Was the book better or worse than you expected?

So...here we go.

Author: Bart Ehrman

Book Name: Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them)

I'm Glad It Wasn't Called: Jesus, Interrupted: A Book Intended to Destroy Your Christianity (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-HA)

Book Synopsis in Twitteresque 140 Characters or Less: The New Testament has some serious reliability problems, which you probably aren't aware of since they're rarely discussed in church.

Where I Bought It: I didn't. A review copy was provided to me free by the publisher, HarperOne. Which I'm always tempted to pronounce "Harperone," as if it rhymes with chaperone or megaphone.

Paid for With: My mortal soul. (Or not.)

How Long It Took Me to Read: About a week. I don't have time to just sit for hours and read -- I have to make time for it -- but I kept returning happily to the work. Because, being a big nerd, I enjoy reading Bible scholarship. No, really, I do. That's one reason I wrote Pocket Guide to the Bible: to bring Bible scholarship to the masses. With jokes. And it should be said that this book can be described as "Bible scholarship," but it's not a heavy, hard-to-read book. It's a popularization of scholarship, when means you can read it without having to know, in advance, words like eschatology or dispensationalism or Nag Hammadi.

Who I WOULD NOT Recommend This Book to: That's a really interesting question, and one that deserves more than a paragraph of explanation. Here's the deal: If your Christian faith is wrapped up in the inerrancy of the Bible -- the belief that every word of scripture is inspired by God and contains no errors -- this book will either make you 1) confused; 2) dismayed; or 3) angry. Ehrman goes to great lengths to explain how he doesn't see Jesus, Interrupted as an attack on Christian faith. And I agree, to an extent. It is, however, an attack on the kind of Christianity that requires an inerrant Bible and cannot allow any human fingerprints on the Old and New Testaments. Other than a few opinions he carefully qualifies, Ehrman isn't presenting any new or unusual scholarship. He's simply outlining some of the contradictions and discrepancies (from dating of events to diverging views about Jesus by the biblical authors) that are apparent in the Bible. If these human elements are new to you, then yes, you'll struggle with this book.

So I'm not sure whether to recommend it or not. I believe all Christians need to be better informed about the Bible. That's why I wrote my own book about it (and which discussed a few of these contradictions). After all, truth is truth, and if your faith can't withstand some honest questioning, then what kind of faith is it anyway? But I know a lot of Christians whose faith might not survive becoming aware of the "humanity" of Scripture. If you grew up in the kind of biblical fundamentalism that says, of the Bible, "God wrote it, I believe it, that settles it," then you probably won't enjoy Jesus, Interrupted. At all. It'll complicate things, but personally I'd rather have a complicated faith than a simple but uninformed one.

Who I WOULD Recommend This Book to: Pastors, ministers, students of theology, anyone wanting a better understanding of the scriptures and ideas from which Christianity developed (...with all the hesitations rambled about above).

What I Used for a Bookmark: An outdated business card from my days in the advertising world.

What Were Some Interesting Stories from the Book? There were tons, though I wouldn't call them stories. More like examples. I'm pretty familiar with most of the biblical discrepancies in the New Testament -- again, scholars have been noting them for some time -- although Ehrman pointed out a few new ones. In the Gospel story of the healing of Jairus' daughter, the account in Mark 5:21-43 has Jesus learning the girl is sick and dying. Jairus asks Jesus to heal her. But Jesus is interrupted on the way to visiting her, and eventually hears from Jairus' servants that it's too late. The girl has died. (He goes to see her anyway and raises her from the dead.) In the same story as told in Matthew 9:18-26, Jairus comes to Jesus and tells him, "My daughter has just died." He asks Jesus to bring her back to life. So which is it? Is she dying when he approaches Jesus? Or is she already dead?

What Is the One Thing I Will Take from the Book? Because I've done a lot of reading about the Bible already, there weren't too many "surprises" in Ehrman's book. Most of this stuff -- as he points out many, many times (almost too much) -- is widely known and widely accepted. What strikes me the most was Ehrman's contention that it wasn't his knowledge of these biblical problems that led him to abandon his Christian faith, but rather his inability to get past the problem of evil. But that's another book entirely. (It's called God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question -- Why We Suffer. I haven't read it.)

What I Learned from This Book That I Will Apply to My Next Book: It confirms my hatred of end notes. Ehrman cites a lot of scholarly sources and adds comments via endnotes, but you have to turn to the back of the book to read them. Big pet peeve of mine. I personally love to use footnotes in my writing, but only if you can read the note without having to turn to the back of the book. True footnotes are best used on the bottom of the page in which they appear. If I have to interrupt the reading of the chapter so I can turn to the back of the book, look up the chapter and note, and then read it before going back to the original page, then I am officially annoyed. My books all have true footnotes, and always will if I have my way.

Expectations Going In: Again, I wasn't surprised by the information, but I was surprised by a couple of things. First, Ehrman's writing is very accessible. His wordcraft isn't elegant by any means, but he's good at distilling the information in a way the average pew-sitter can read and understand. Secondly, I was surprised at his tone. Based on some responses to his books, I almost expected him to be the kind of raging, angry atheist who is intent only on dragging you out of your faith and into their own non-belief system. (I guess I was expecting a Christopher Hitchens-type diatribe?) But this doesn't seem the case at all with Ehrman. He seems very concerned with making sure the reader realizes he's not trying to attack faith or deter his readers from Christianity -- even though he has personally left the faith. This concern seems genuine, and almost pastoral. Like he's torn between his desire to educate people about the Bible and his concern that their whole belief system not end up torn to shreds.

Cannarf Rating: So I was fascinated by the subject matter, enjoyed his approach as a writer, and appreciated a tone that was more gracious than I expected. And it's thought-provoking, too, which is good. +2 cannarfs.

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Have any of you read this book? (Or another Ehrman book?) If so, how do you rate it?

Tyler Merrick of Project 7 (Part 2)

Yesterday I posted Part 1 of an interview with Tyler Merrick, the founder of Project 7, a for-profit company which donates half of what it makes to organizations working in seven distinct areas of need: Heal the Sick, Save the Earth, House the Homeless, Feed the Hungry, Help Those in Need, Build the Future, and Hope for Peace. We discussed "social capitalism" and the path from helping run a very successful family business to taking a big risk with this new venture.

Here's the second part of the interview:

Jason: Tell me about the seven areas of need you give grants to. Why did you choose those? Are there other categories you considered that didn't make the cut?

Merrick: They were originally based off of the seven deadly sins -- very loosely based, as the earth/creation care focus isn't part of the original 7 sins. But instead of focusing on trying to abstain from gluttony, what if you focused on serving someone who was starving? If we have a glutton and a starving person in the same room then we just have a distribution problem. So in getting the focus off ourselves, we grow and help others who are in need as a result of our gluttony to begin with.

Along with that, I always think of the old adage: Give a man a fish, feed him today. Teach a man how to fish, feed him for life. Teach that man how to take care of the place where he fishes for the next generation. We are investing in non-profits that have needs that are "today." They need to feed, clothe, provide medicine to someone in need right now. But we are also investing in non-profits and a model that teaches people how to “fish” and break the cycle of poverty in their village or community. We are teaching about creation care, as we have been put in place to steward the earth. We’re called to take care of it and when we do that we’re investing in the next generation.

Some critics point to consumerism-as-activism campaigns like (Product) Red as failures, because they're much less efficient than direct charitable giving. I'm thinking of the Buy (Less) Crap! campaign, which is hilarious but also makes a thoughtful point that shopping isn't a reasonable response to human suffering. What's your response to that kind of criticism? Did it inform your "social capitalism" philosophy as you dreamed up Project 7?

That's a great question and perspective. It's pretty simple for us. Project 7 is not an end-all/be-all to human suffering. It is, however, part of recognizing that suffering -- and then providing a way for people to help respond to it. Buying our product is just what we call Phase 1. We want people to go from there to Phase 2, which is the next step: learning about the social issues, giving to organizations making a difference in the areas of need you are passionate about -- you go beyond buying something to be “cool.” Then, Phase 3 is a person who has graduated into a place that they want to do more. They want to volunteer monthly in one of these areas of need. They want to go on a local or overseas mission trip or mentor a child in need.

Buying more crap isn’t the answer, but changing how we buy can definitely help. Hopefully we are a conversation starter. We hope to be a "match" for people to use to get a fire going.

For what it's worth, these social needs really need response from three areas, and I think guys like Rick Warren have done a good job of identifying those. It takes a combination of 1) churches or non-profits, 2) the government, 3) the private sector. I really believe that it takes these various parts to make our part a reality. You can’t get the aid into Haiti like we have seen these past weeks without some social order like the UN, or a government like the US sending troops and military assets and a floating hospital. The private sector can’t do that. However, the private sector can donate money, time, and resources that compliment the Government assets. In addition to that, it takes the non-profits that act as a conduit and most often already have “works” on the ground in that country to help facilitate the needs. They have the relationships that others don’t have, and they'll be there after the government is gone.

Honestly, I believe there is no silver bullet to human suffering except Jesus Christ. Plain and simple. Until the King of Kings returns we are left to do what He has called us to be: the Church. The church is not just a building. It's the gospel lived out in the community, in the world. A building is a place to gather together but we’re called to be out in the thick of it. Salt and light.

One of your big wins the past year was getting your products into Caribou Coffee. How did that happen?

It was a flat-out cold call over a year ago. I had seen a Caribou Coffee for the first time in the Minneapolis Airport about seven years ago on another business trip. It was like a spotlight shined on it. It stayed in the back of mind for some reason. When I started Project 7, it's like it was brought from back of the file cabinet in my mind to front and center. I called them, they weren’t interested, I called, they weren’t interested. I sent product, they weren’t interested. Then one day they called and said "We’re interested."

I was shocked. I flew up to Minneapolis and started what was about a 10-month process of discussions and negotiations. We were going up against Coke and so we were this tiny little no-name start-up. Caribou was the 2nd largest coffee company in the USA, with 550 stores focused mainly in the Midwest. They are publicly traded, and businesses like that have many more reasons not to go with someone like us when Coke is sitting across the table and can make it worth their while. It was the classic David vs. Goliath.

But before all was said and done, not only were we given all their bottled water business but they had a line of Caribou-Branded gum and mints -- like you see at places like Starbucks -- and they dropped them in place of stocking our gum and mints. We signed a multi-year agreement and we started distribution in July of 2009. They have been great.

Tell me about Project 7 Days. How did that develop and what kinds of volunteering do you do?

Project 7 Days is an idea I had when we first started. Here we were doing this business, but we needed to be reminded why we do what we do. So the thought was, what if on the 7th of every month we took a day and closed the office to go volunteer in the Dallas-Fort Worth market in one of these seven areas of need -- food banks, family shelters, Big Brother/Big Sister, Assisted Living, etc.

So we have taken this idea and will be kicking off seven local Project 7 Days chapters this spring with a seven-month, seven-city tour of Caribou’s key markets around the country. We will start in March in Atlanta, where we'll work with all of the Caribou Cafes for a weekend, doing various planned volunteer activities in their community with Caribou employees. We'll also invite their customers to participate.

We then leave that local Atlanta chapter in place and give them the tools to have a local 7 Day every month thereafter in Atlanta. We then log all of our efforts and see how much we can do together and get involved in our communities. It's a decentralized method of getting people in a community together for a certain effort and see how they can be a part of reaching out and helping their community.

We'll start these chapters on college campuses and other cities as requests and needs come about. It's just a way to take a day of the month and put a focus on volunteering. We’re not legalistic in the sense that it doesn’t have to be the 7th if it falls on a day when the group can’t do it. But it's the idea of it, and if you can do it on the 7th, great.

What's in the future for P7? Anything big coming up?

We have some new retailers we’ll be going into in 2010, so we’re excited about that..

We have our first giveaway of $105,000 being awarded this spring. As a start-up, we didn’t make $105,000, but I'd been saying from the beginning that, no matter what, we pledge this amount to show our retail partners, consumers, and supporters that we will make a difference -- even if it's a step of faith. We’re not going to wait on how long it normally takes a start-up to gain profitability. This is our minimum commitment every year.

If someone wants to get more involved with Project 7, from carrying the products to starting a 7 Days chapter, what should they do?

The best thing to do is follow us on Twitter. We pass all the information about these kinds of things through that stream. But they also can go to our site and just send a general e-mail and we’ll get back to them for whatever respective need they have. We can drop-ship product to them or set them up with a distributor we have in their area.

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Thanks for the interview, Tyler. I can't speak highly enough of the work these guys are doing. They are smart and talented marketers with a great product -- but they're not using that talent purely to get rich and gain stuff. They're using it to help people. These are Christians using their gifts outside the Church, and that's always something I can get behind.

Go buy some Project 7 stuff (seriously, my earth-friendly and super-soft P7 "All Causes" tee is my new favorite shirt). Go vote for the organizations who need a slice of the 105,000. Follow them on Twitter and spread the word.

Don't just buy crap. Do good things for people.

Tyler Merrick of Project 7

I want to introduce you to a unique and relatively new company called Project 7, which sells consumer products (bottled water, gum, mints) -- available nationwide in places like Caribou Coffee -- and donates 50% of its profits to non-profit organizations. It sells stuff so it can do good. Project 7 was founded just two years ago, and is beginning to pick up steam. This year, the company is giving away its first $105,000 to organizations that fit within its seven categories of need: Heal the Sick, Save the Earth, House the Homeless, Feed the Hungry, Help Those in Need, Build the Future, and Hope for Peace.

You probably haven't heard much about it, but you definitely will in the future. And by "future," I mean right this instant.

First, though, a disclaimer: The founder, Tyler Merrick, and I have known each other for several years. We both hail from the Texas Panhandle. He was in charge of packaging design for his side of the family business, so we used to run in the same design/marketing circles. A couple of my friends and former co-workers ended up working for him at one point.

Also, I have a Project 7 "all causes" t-shirt that I love (it's so soft!), my wife enjoys Project 7 sugar-free gum, and Tyler sent me some mints. They come in a test tube with a cork stopper, which is awesome.

There. I think that should cover any and all necessary disclaimers. Clearly I am slathered in bias.

Anyway, from time to time I like to pimp the products, businesses, and organizations I really believe in, and Tyler's company is one of them. So I asked if I could interview him.

He said yes.

Jason: First, can you give us the quick-sell elevator pitch about Project 7? What is it and what do you do?

Merrick: We are a cause related business... A for-profit company that exists to support non-profits. We do this buy selling everyday consumer goods such as gum, mints, bio-bottled water and eco-friendly tees. We give 50% of our profits annually to non-profits making a difference in the seven most critical areas of need.

I know you took a big step a couple of years ago to start Project 7. Can you walk me through that process of leaving the family business and launching a very different new company?

I had moved back to the area that my wife and I had grown up in, surrounded by friends and family and going to church with all the same people. I'd had some good success at one of my family’s business divisions, growing it from $3 million to $45 million in five years. I belonged to the local country club, had the nicest cars, a “black” card, went on great trips, etc. Those things aren't bad apart from each other, but I was using them -- seeking them -- to give me some kind of security apart from Christ. As if somehow they would assure me I’m “doing good” and this is the American dream.

Privately I was in the desert and finding myself asking the same question every week: Is this it? My wife and I were high school sweethearts. We had a very comfortable home. All of our family was in this area, I had a great job and a great church. It just all seemed very comfortable. I felt like a bird that had my wings clipped -- and I had clipped them intentionally.

Little did I know, but my wife was having the same thoughts. One day as we both gained a little more confidence in it we talked and we realized we were in the same place. It felt so good to know neither of us were letting each other down. We each had our own things to wrestle with in this process, but that was part of God’s plan. Later that year God began to stir my heart about the possibillity of taking a step of faith -- leaving the family business. For the next year, my wife prayed for God’s direction in this. We definitely had what I call "rubber band moments" in which were we bounced back to the place of comfort from the place of faith. There were days in that year that I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to leave. Something would rattle our cages and we found ourselves backing off.

During that year God gave me the vision for Project 7. I thought that it may be something we would do down the road. Our business had a senior management retreat where we would be discussing my personal transition path -- a 5-year plan -- into leading the overall business. On a Sunday night the week before this retreat I met with my father and shared my heart. He was very gracious. We talked about what the next steps might look like.

I’ll never forget coming home that night and feeling scared but so excited, like a lens of colors had opened up before me again. Reds, were really red and yellows were yellow I had never seen before. I felt like I could fly again. Not knowing where, but I felt ready to take the journey with my wife and family to see where God was leading us.

I've heard you describe yourself as a "social capitalist." What does that mean?

When you have a business model that's as new as ours at Project 7, you get a lot of assumptions. People think you’re a socialist, or a very liberal person, or whatever. I am quick to share with people that I am a capitalist. I believe in the principle of risking and investing in a dollar to gain a potential return on it. I just believe in using that skill set a little differently. I believe in using capitalism to help out others and a lot of those areas of need are socially related.

Capitalism is a good thing when used in the right way. That pretty much goes for everything... Moderation is what we are taught in Scripture. I just believe that instead of paying LeBron James a ridiculous amount of money to tell you that you should buy his signature line of shoes, why not use that money to help the widows, the orphans, or the hungry? I believe that's what we’re called to do.

The idea of selling consumer goods in order to give back is a pretty unique one. How did it develop? Where did it come from?

Truthfully, it's a formula I’ve been working on for about 6 years now, trying to figure out how to merge business with non-profit needs. I think it came from going to charity golf scrambles and banquets, year in and year out, and just wondering Can we do something to compliment these? I mean, sponsoring a golf hole is great, and silent auctions help. But this doesn’t need to be a once-a-year thing. What if we created a vehicle -- a giving model -- that allowed continual revenue streams for non-profits out there, just based on how and what we bought? Project 7 is the result of all those years and lots of scratch paper, napkins, midnight writing sessions, attorney and CPA meetings...and then realizing that wouldn’t work and starting all over again.

Your family business is Merrick Pet Foods, which has a very successful gourmet line. The road from selling gourmet dog food to Project 7 is probably not anyone's idea of a typical business transition. How did your background at Merrick prepared you for what you're doing now?

I'm thankful for my time there. It was like a 6-year MBA program. The experience in consumer goods and retail was priceless. Learning how to build distribution, create new products, and develop a brand was a catalyst in helping me seeing how I could launch Project 7. Sure, these are totally different selling environments -- new buyers, new distributors -- but I could at least use what I had learned there in this start up.

I think that part of the thing that contributed to the needs of Project 7 was just seeing sometimes how people sometimes can get carried away with their dog or cats. Occasionally I'd see customers show more concern about pet food donations to help rescued dog and cats than concern about a human life. It was much easier to adopt a dog or a cat than to help be part of rehabilitating a human being. The concern is right, but it's just misplaced.

So at trade shows and on sales calls I would find myself gracefully introducing this kind of thought process into conversations. Like, "Yes, we need to look after our animals, but we need to take care of the human lives that are in peril as well. Let's worry about the homeless, hungry children on the streets first."

I think that’s when I began to see a bit of how there was a need to take these social issues that often are swept under the rug, and put them at the forefront of our packaging. Make them our brand and put them in the retail space. Like a call to “Feed the Hungry” in a coffee shop, “Heal the Sick” at a bookstore. You may have it good right now. You're comfortable, but there are people hurting out there. We need your help, they need your help. It's a conversation starter. I call our products "little messages" that are designed to interrupt your natural path during the day. Hopefully, they make you think about the needs of others while giving you a way to help.

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Check in tomorrow for part 2 of the interview, in which Tyler tells how he got Project 7 products picked up by Caribou Coffee, how he chose the seven categories of needs the company supports, and the shortcomings of consumerism-as-activism campaigns like the Bono-fied Product (Red).

Until then, change the score and go buy a cool Project 7 t-shirt. While you're there, cast your vote for the non-profit finalists who will receive part of Project 7's first $105,000 in donations.

An Incomplete List of Influences

The following is a random list of things that have played a role in who I am today. I'm listing them, without explanation, in no particular order. Some are good influences. Some are not. (You'll have to guess which is which.)

• My grandmother's vintage Scrabble board game

• Actively attending church from as far back as I can remember

• Going camping as a family, with other families, from the time I was 6

• Taco Villa bean burritos

• Living in Amarillo

• Being skinny as a kid

• Atari / IBM PC, Jr. / Nintendo

• The "Bring Out Your Best" Budweiser jingle from the 1980s, which I always hummed to myself as an intensity-builder during basketball games

• My 7th-grade basketball coach at Austin Jr. High

• Bible Drill competition (I achieved "State Winner Perfect" from 4th to 6th grade)

• The music of Rich Mullins

• The lyrical mastery of late 1980s Kool Moe Dee

• Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

• My 1977 Caprice Classic (brown and tan), handed down from my grandparents

• Trips in the RV with Memaw and PawPaw

• Having braces

• Not having much money during junior high and high school

• Not being as popular in high school as I wanted to be

• All the artists and musicians in my family

• Being around the deaf kids my mom taught

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

• The Narnia series, by C. S. Lewis

• The Sports section of the Amarillo Globe-News

• That Bigfoot book I read about two dozen times

• The Hardy Boys

• The Duke boys

• My utter fascination with dinosaurs from the age of 4 until 2nd or 3rd grade (the first books I remember reading by myself were dinosaur books)

• The stories about Amarillo serial killer Jay Kelly Pinkerton

• The writing of Brennan Manning

• "Diff'rent Strokes"

• "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"

• My first crush, Megan, who lived across the street

• Mrs. Anderson, my 2nd grade teacher

• U2's documentary film, Rattle and Hum

• Reading The Shining way before I should have

• The public library

• When my dog Scuppers died

• Chicago Cubs games on WGN

• My career running the 110-meter hurdles in 7th grade, during which I finished last in all races but one.

• The one time we went camping and I was sad because I hadn't caught a fish all week, so my dad took me out one last time before we left, just the two of us, and I caught one (I still remember the place, and fished there with him just a couple of years ago)

• The Storseth family (now my in-laws)

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Good or bad, what are your influences?

Career Satisfaction: The Truth About Dreams

Yesterday I asked you to list your first job, your current job, and your dream job in which money was no object. Your answers were fascinating. Thank you to all of you who participated.

A lot of you -- I counted 16 -- listed something like be a writer, write books, become a published author, etc. The reason so many people on the Internet want to be writers is a fascinating one, and may be something we'll discuss in the future (Jenny had some good thoughts on it yesterday).

But today I want to think about something else: what we dream of becoming. Reading your responses yesterday caused me to engage in some self-reflection. Which is always dangerous. I came up with my personal timeline of my past career goals:

1. In college, as the editor and designer of our school magazine and newspaper, I realized I wanted to be some kind of writer and graphic designer when I grew up. I used to dream about getting an article published in a national magazine.

2. By the time I had graduated from college, I had gotten an article published in a national magazine. (It doesn't exist any more, but the publication was called Student.) Then I began to dream about writing a novel while working full-time at a church doing writing and design for its ministries.

3. After graduation, I started writing a novel and took a full-time job as communications specialist at a church. I wrote and designed stuff for the church. I dreamed about finishing my novel and getting it published.

4. I finished the novel. (I never got it published, and it exists on paper in my closet.) I still worked at the church, and dreamed about someday breaking into the advertising world as a copywriter and graphic designer.

5. I became a copywriter and graphic designer for a local marketing company. I used to dream of winning awards, designing logos, and directing photo shoots.

6. I won awards, designed logos, and directed photo shoots. Then I dreamed of becoming creative director at the same company, and becoming the guy in charge.

7. I became creative director. I was in charge. I hated it. (Management: not for me.) Then I dreamed of someday writing a book and becoming a published author.

8. I wrote a book and became a published author. Then I dreamed about leaving my creative director job and going back to something simpler and less stressful...something like the work I used to do at the church.

9. I returned to my church job, as Communications Director. Then I began to dream about my writing career really taking off, about writing a series of books, and about getting freelance article assignments from lots of different magazines.

10. My writing career really took off. I wrote a series of books. I got freelance article assignments from lots of different magazines. Then I dreamed about giving up my church job and going out on my own -- about becoming a full-time freelance writer and designer, and actually making a living doing it.

11. I gave up my church job and went out on my own. I became a full-time freelance writer and designer, and today I'm actually making a living doing it. Now I dream of having a book really take off in terms of sales and popularity. I dream of writing a novel (again, and getting it published this time). I dream of being asked to do more speaking engagements. I dream of greater impact, a larger voice, and more financial security.

12. ?

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There are two ways to look at the list above.

One is to read it and think "Jason is living the dream!" Because other than getting that first novel published, all the things I have wanted to do I have ended up doing. For what it's worth, I'm fairly good at setting goals and reaching them.

But this isn't a personal horn-tooting post. What I want you to see from the list above is that:

a) I have career hopes and dreams

b) I have attained career hopes and dreams; and

c) once I attain them, they end up getting replaced by new hopes and dreams.

There's always a new goal. A better career. Another dream.

When it comes to my career, I'm always chasing. I'm never arriving.

The dream is never as satisfying as you think it's going to be. Once you attain it -- and if you work hard and catch some luck, you can attain it -- it will probably not be the life-changing nirvana you've been expecting. When you get there, something else will take its place. You'll start focusing on the next dream job/life goal/career path. You'll always discover something better.

The lesson: Your personal fulfillment and satisfaction in life have to come from somewhere other than (or in addition to) your career. Your faith, your family, your purpose...seek fulfillment here first.

I don't want to discourage anyone from pursuing their dream career. Dream big. Chase it hard. Reach for it, better yourself, and take risks. But realize that, in most cases, when you do achieve your dream, the reality will be less fulfilling than what you expect. There will always be a better position, better work, or someone who's doing it better than you. There's always more, and the desire for more is the biggest temptation most of us face. If we always need more, when will we ever be satisfied? Will we ever have enough?

I don't know.

What I do know is that, at some point, we have to learn to find fulfillment in the most important things -- the things unrelated to what we do for a paycheck. These things help us rest, and they balance out our striving in the other things.

Where do you find your enough?

Your Turn: Three Questions

Time for some bloggy interaction. It's easy. Today I want you to answer the following three questions. That's all.

1. What was your first job?

2. What is your job/career now?

3. If you could be doing anything else with your life -- money's not an issue -- what would it be and why?

I'll post my answers in the comments.

Michael Spencer: The Day Before

Michael Spencer (the Internet Monk) has been a web friend for several years. I've been inspired, comforted, and challenged by his blogging since running across his work -- along with the Boars Head Tavern -- back in 2004 or so. Which is Mesozoic in Web years.

Michael was kind enough to endorse Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse and review Pocket Guide to the Bible and has even let me guest blog at the BHT a time or two. I love his real-life ministry, his healthy skepticism, his confessional blogging, and his passion for the radical grace of the Gospel. I mention him a couple of times in O Me of Little Faith. He's one of the most popular Christian bloggers out there and the reputation is well-deserved.

Sometime around Thanksgiving, Michael's health began to deteriorate. He had a pretty horrible month of December and spent the holidays in and out of the hospital, running tests and trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventually the diagnosis arrived: cancer. On Christmas Eve, doctors removed a small mass from the back of his brain. He's currently recovering from the surgery, going through radiation treatments, and getting ready for chemo. He hasn't blogged in several weeks, and the last two months have brought an abrupt change to his life.

In November, I linked -- just a mention, really -- to a post he had written called "There's Always a Day Before." It was an especially insightful look at the day before the bad news comes. "Live this day and be glad in it," Michael wrote, because you don't know what tomorrow may bring.

In light of the events last week in Haiti and Michael's own health issues -- which started up within a couple week of his original post -- I thought I'd re-publish this piece in its entirety. I don't have anything to add to it, other than to say remember Michael and his wife, Denise, in your prayers...and remember that there's no guarantee tomorrow will be like today.

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There's Always a Day Before
(Michael Spencer)

The news story is strange and tragic. Three college softball players go for a night time drive in the country. On an unfamiliar road, they take a wrong turn and drive into a pond….and drown.

There was a day before. A day with no thought of drowning. A day with family and friends. Perhaps with no thought of eternity, God or heaven. There was a day when every assumption was that tomorrow would be like today.

(Note: Michael's friend Gary passed on after he wrote this piece.) My friend Gary has been the night dean at our school for more than 20 years. His wife has been in poor health, but he has been a workhorse of health. He’s walked miles every day, eaten a vegetarian diet and always kept the rest of us lifted up with his smile and constant focus on the joy he took in his salvation.

Two weeks ago, the doctor turned to him and said leukemia. Today he stands on the crumbling edge of this earthly shadow, looking at the next world, fighting for his life with all that medicine and prayer can offer. Our prayers for him as a school community have been continuous, because we never thought there would be such a day.

There was a day before he heard “leukemia.” A day of work, chores, bills, hopes of seeing a grandchild, prayers for students, love for Suzi. Not a thought that the journey of life contained such a surprising turn for him.

And on that day, Gary was full of faith, full of a servant’s heart, ready for many more days or ready for this to be last one before whatever was around the corner.

We all live the days before. We are living them now.

There was a day before 9-11.

There was a day before your child told you she was pregnant.

There was a day before your wife said she’d had enough.

There was a day before your employer said “lay offs.”

We are living our days before. We are living them now.

Some of us are doing, for the last time, what we think we will be doing twenty years from now.

Some of us are on the verge of a much shorter life, or a very different life, or a life turned upside down.

Some of us are preaching our last sermon, making love for the last time, saying “I love you” to our children for the last time in our own home. Some of us are spending our last day without the knowledge of eternal judgment and the reality of God. We are promising tomorrow will be different and tomorrow is not going to give us the chance, because God has a different tomorrow entirely on our schedule. We just don’t know it today.

Who am I on this day before I am compelled to be someone else? What am I living for? How am I living out the deepest expression of who I am and what I believe?

My life is an accumulation of days lived out of what I believe is true every day.

Gary lived every day with the story of Jesus nearby and the joy of the Lord a ready word to share.

When the day came that “leukemia” was the word he had to hear, he was already living a day resting in the victory of Jesus. That word, above all earthly powers, cannot be taken away. It speaks louder and more certainly the more the surprising words of providence and tragedy shout their unexpected turns into our ears.

Live each day as the day that all of the Gospel is true. Live this day and be glad in it. Live this day as the day of laying down sin and taking up the glad and good forgiveness of Jesus. Live this day determined to be useful and joyful in Jesus. Live this day in a way that, should all things change tomorrow, you will know that the Lord is your God and this is the day to be satisfied in him.

Why I Am Proud

This has been a rough year for almost all nonprofit organizations. When people encounter financial difficulty, charitable giving is one of the first places they cut back. I haven't seen any hard numbers, but I know, from anecdotal evidence, that a lot of organizations are struggling. I have a handful of writing clients that exist on donations, and it seems that lately I've had to write quite a few fundraising letters that say something along the lines of "We know it's hard, but don't forget us."

Plenty of organizations have been forgotten over the last 12-18 months.

Churches aren't immune, either. One local church with a sizable staff recently went through several rounds of layoffs that impacted friends of mine. The church got into a big building campaign, moved into the new facility, and were struggling to pay the bills. Others have cut back in a variety of other ways, from programming to marketing, in order to stay afloat.

This has been a hard year for my church, too. Our part of the world has been insulated somewhat from the recession, but not entirely. Giving is down, and with three months left in the budget year we're at least $100,000 below where we had projected to be. Ministries are starting to look at ways to tighten belts over the next couple of months.

And yet, this weekend, our staff made a decision that impresses me to no end. They decided to take everything given in this weekend's three services -- every loose bill and coin, every check written to the general operating budget, every online donation -- and apply it toward relief efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

If this weekend's giving was like most January weekends at our church (I haven't heard a total yet), that will be something like $60,000 to $75,000 that we'll give to an organization helping on the ground in Haiti. And that'll be $60,000 to $75,000 that we won't be able to feed into our own budget. It's the equivalent of an individual giving up a full week's salary.

It's a big sacrifice.

It's a big step of faith on the part of our pastoral leaders.

And it's the right thing to do.

I'm thrilled by this decision to put the needs of others above our own needs. How can you not? Their needs are life-and-death. Ours are in support of recreation ministries and youth ski trips and heating costs and advertising.

It's hard to justify spending money on yourself when there are people who so desperately need it. And at the end of a week in which a prominent religious person said stupid things to justify Haiti's suffering and a prominent conservative voice said a lot of stupid things meant to discourage giving to relief efforts, I am proud that at least one conservative Texas church didn't listen to the voices of idiots and instead made a choice to love. It might seem we can't do much at the moment to help so many hurting people, but a cash donation is practical, meaningful, and an example of Christian love.

I'm proud my church chose to help. I hope there were others -- churches, families, individuals -- who made the same choice.

Right now, donations are the best way to help relief efforts in Haiti. Here's a good list of reputable organizations leading Haiti relief efforts.

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"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.