Author: Happy

Categories
Motorcycle

Motorcycle Upgrades: Turn Signal Conversion (Part 1 of NaN)

So, some of you know a 1993 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 decided to come and live with us. Now that we’ve spent about 1,000 miles together, it’s time to start breaking things.

One of my bigger fears while riding is getting rear-ended. Not much I can do to prevent that one, other than pray and work on visibility. You’ll notice the last post on this blog was about prayer – and this one is on visibility. Trying to cover my bases…

So, I bought a “Turn Signal Conversion Kit” from the Electrical Connection in Knoxville. Cost just under $50, online. (Disclosure: they didn’t pay me to write this review, however, if you’re reading this, folks, I’d be glad to change that…)

The kit is pretty simple: two RED amber LED rings, one for each rear turn signal lens. The rings attach to the lens with included silicon adhesive. Bonus points to the Electrical connection for including the adhesive and alcohol pads for surface prep.

The LEDs get wired to the turn signal power and ground, the brake light power and ground, and the tail light power and ground. When you’re running regularly, the red is illuminated at a low setting, providing additional red taillights. When you brake, the LEDs illuminate at full strength, giving you two additional brake lights. When you turn, the red LEDs deactivate, leaving only your standard amber turn signals, so everything is street legal anywhere in the states.

The installation took me about 4 hours, mainly because I’m an idiot. It took me nearly an hour to find a way to fish the wiring through the turn signal stalks. The stalks were not meant for extra cabling, but several tries later on each side, they went through. Finding the correct power lines wasn’t too difficult: they Hayes manual pages I found online pointed me in the right direction, and a couple of probes with a voltmeter confirmed my guesswork. The kit included vampire clamps (t-taps) that make decent connections, but not that great.

After installing the kit and testing it, Leslie brought her mad PhD soldering skills outside to sure up the connections a bit. I’m very pleased with the final product…so take a look at a quick video:

If you’re looking to add to your nighttime visibility, I’d give this kit an A+. Being LED-based, I didn’t have to worry about it over-stressing the limited power capabilities of this small bike, and it didn’t break the budget. Here’s a link to the manufacturer’s information.

Categories
Christian Disciplines

Christian Disciplines: Devotionals and Fasting

Enjoy our last two weeks of discussion from our Christian Disciplines Class.

First, Home Devotionals. God is interested not in our spiritual lives, per se, but in our lives—the whole stinkin’ thing! We discussed this concept in our lesson on home devotionals. How can we season our entire lives with his presence? How can we recognize that our jobs, our retirement, our schooling, and our vacations belong to him? To drive home the point, we discussed developing a “theology of sleep.” Our lives, our existence should be wholly redeemed!

For comic relief (while our toes heal) listen to this “Phone call with God.”

For the class discussion on home devotionals (listen for the tips at the end) listen to the summary here.

Regarding fasting: it’s a hot-button topic (even though we’re silent about it most of the time.) The old adage is that “it’s regulated, but not commanded” is worth discussing, but isn’t that helpful. After all, who would regulate something you don’t expect to happen? The number of commanded OT fast days may surprise you. I hope this lesson stirs your thoughts and gives you one more tool in your spiritual disciplines tool-chest. Listen to the summary of Christian fasting here.

Categories
Christian Disciplines

Christian Disciplines: Prayer

Enjoy this week’s recap of prayer – the Christian discipline.

Categories
Hate When That Happens Technology

Why software development scares me

Developers, like me, are writing software for things that could kill me.

Did you see this news story? An error in programming gave hospital patients overdoses of radiation for 18 months before it was detected. If you read the story, it boils down to the fact that the guy in charge messed with settings he shouldn’t have been allowed to even see. So, maybe we don’t blame the programmers…

Categories
Christian Disciplines

Disciplines: Relationships as Disciplines

This week we talked about how significant relationships are. In a post-modern world, they’re our greatest opportunity for evangelism. They enrich our lives–they allow us to survive and thrive. Since our relationships with others affect and reflect our relationship with God, we should treasure them and work on them to help us mature in Christ. We should leave behind surface friendships and risk rejection to move into deeper interaction. We should talk about what is really important.

Here’s a brief overview of relationships as a spiritual discipline, and a video we discussed about the world’s worst youth minister.

Categories
Christian Disciplines

Christian Disciplines (Session 1)

Last Wednesday night at Burns, we’ve started a class on “Christian Disciplines: Tools for Transformation.” This is a class I’m really looking forward to–I see a real need in the church here, and I see real potential.

The class has quite a bit of discussion, but there are several who are not able to join us, so I want to give you a jumping off point so you’ll know what we talked about. We’ve got a Journal that we handed out to help you keep your notes in one place. You can print it out and fold it in half to use as a note-guide.

Our first session was “Introduction to Transformation and Spiritual Disciplines.” I showed a little video clip called “Cardboard Testimonies” and I commend it to you as an exercise to open your eyes to the possibility of transformation. The homework for the first week is this: find someone whose faith you admire, and talk to them for a few minutes and just ask what they do to help nurture and grow their faith. Pick their brain a bit, and come back next time ready to discuss.

Categories
Book Reviews

Review: Velvet Elvis

When I saw Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis in the value bin at McCay’s, I figured I could spare $2 for the potential of a book with a name like velvet elvis…

Background: Rob Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Church (now led by Mark Driscoll) and is the main guy in the first several Nooma videos, if you’re familiar with them.

All in all, Bell and I wouldn’t share the exact same page theologically, though I doubt he would want to label this as a book of theology. I think his goal would be to get people to think about the state of their faith. Is it borrowed? Is it old? Is it really in touch with the word of God and the world of today? Can those two worlds coincide?

Here are the gems I think are worth your consideration and discussion:

  • “If your Bible study doesn’t leave you in awe and filled with wonder, you haven’t really studied the Bible.” I love this sentiment! If the word is really still living and active, this statement must have merit. He scoffs at the modernistic tendency to view the Bible as a collection of data to be analyzed. He would say it takes the living book and murders it—taking the spirit away from the body, to use the language of James. Bible study should be transformative.
  • Bell talks about the traditions of first century Jewish teaching and leadership. I’m not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of his information or research, (though the book is well foot-noted), so I will assume these references are solid. He says that a rabbi’s understanding and interpretation of Torah, of what is binding and what is permitted, of the rules for the life of his disciple is called his yoke. He then refers to a rabbi who proclaimed that his yoke was easy, and his burden was light. Neat connection!
  • The Jerusalem conference of Acts 15 to determine what to do about Gentile converts used the phrase, “It seemed good to us and the Spirit…” Bell makes much of this—if the apostle-driven leadership that was attested to by the miraculous measure of the Spirit could only say “It seemed good…” in something as central as salvation, we might ought to approach our understanding of scripture with the humility of the word “seems.” The phrase “the Bible clearly says” is bandied about by a lot of different people teaching a lot of different things, and at some point, its continued usage is demeaning to the Word of God because it hides (or denies) my fallible role in reading, hearing, understanding, and living it.
  • Bell argued that “all truth is ultimately God’s truth” regardless of source.
  • Christian makes a great noun, but a lousy adjective. When people begin to label things as “Christian” – the label invariably gets applied to things it shouldn’t (lousy music, institutions, businesses, nights at the Preds game, etc) and not applied to things it should (helping those in need, etc.)
  • Here’s a controversial conversation starter: Bell says that he does not want us to be the church of the New Testament, because that implies that the authority is within the church, rather than the one who owns the church. What say ye?
  • My personal favorite of the book: Bell tells the story of the explosion of the Mars Hill church. They had 1,000 their first Sunday, and had grown to 4,000 in a few months. Members were told to bring  chairs if they wanted to bring visitors, because there were literally not enough seats. As the church grew, the parking lot became a nightmare, and tempers flared. When Bell got word of the not-so-nice words and waves being exchanged in the parking lot, he preached the next Sunday: “If you’re not a Christian, and you’re here, you are always welcome. If you are a Christian, and you can’t even act like one in the parking lot, please do us a favor and stop calling yourself one, because it really screws it up for the rest of us. And by the way, someone else could really use your chair.” He said the audience started applauding—I know I would have.

All in all, while I wouldn’t take Bell as my primer to scripture, he raised some great points and opens the door to some great discussion of scripture. I’d recommend it as a dollar bin read for established Christians.

Categories
Crieve Hall Ministry

Protected: Camp Kalos 2009 Singing

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Categories
Every Day Bible

Review: The Lost Letters of Pergamum

Bruce Longenecker’s Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World is a historical fiction designed to allow the modern reader a glimpse of life in the early church. It is formatted as a collection of letters primarily between Luke (the physician and gospel-writer) and Antipas, a benefactor of Rome who eventually is persuaded by Luke’s narrative.

Most folks never read books on first century culture and customs–because frankly, they tend to be boring catalogs of information that don’t seem relevant. Longenecker teaches the history, politics, and culture of the first century by using them as the story surrounding the relationship of two men from different worlds.

This book would be well-suited for a Christian book group styled class. There are plenty of scripture references that help you apply the cultural concepts to your understanding of scripture, and as it tells the story of the conversion of Antipas, it has a great deal to say about the evangelistic process. The letters also reveal some great information about the different groups of Jesus’ day (Essenes, Pharisees, Samaritans, etc…) and some of the early heresies within the church.

All in all, this book was a great read. It kept my attention for one sitting…which is a rare, but good sign!

Categories
Ministry

Don’t Be Dumb: Ten Stupid Mistakes (Part 1)

I haven’t yet read this book, so this doesn’t count as a review, but I wanted to explore its major thoughts before reading it. The book is Geoff Surrat’s Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing: How Leaders Can Overcome Costly Mistakes.

Here are their ten stupid mistakes:

  • Leaders do it all
  • Establishing Wrong role for the pastor’s family
  • Second rate worship experiences
  • Low quality children’s ministry
  • Promoting talent over integrity
  • Clinging to bad location
  • Copying another Successful Church
  • Favor discipline over Reconciliation
  • Mixing ministry and Business
  • Letting committees steer the ship

Just at first blush, it seems like most of these are common sense biblical directives, aren’t they?

Here’s my take on the first five on the list: it’s pretty well done.

Biblical ministry is equipping the entire church to minister. It is helping, leading, training, teaching, and of course, ministering with the goal of producing more folks who are truly serving God and neighbor. It doesn’t fit the Bible or life to have a leader-do-all mentality.

Churches do tend to elevate “lead ministers” to an unrealistic standard. Rather than serving as an example for members to emulate, the projected ideal becomes an unattainable standard. Distinguishing a special place for leaders is probably unavoidable because of perception, but it is certainly not the right way to do things.

I’m not entirely sure what “second-rate worship experiences” means in practicality. Second rate to whom? The preacher? The Lord? The visitor? The member? Paul seemed to think that the outsider should be able to discern that something special and wonderful happens in worship (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) — both intellectually and emotionally. Biblical worship is the harmony of many tensions: approaching the unapproachable God; reverence and wonder; the humility of a servant and the pride of the heir. As a moment of training, evangelism, and recharging–worship can’t be second-rate to anything!

Low quality children’s ministry. In a lot of ways, this has been one of our strengths. Deuteronomy 6 taught that training our children in practical, applied faith is a (the?) key goal of God’s community.

The Bible is also clear–integrity comes first. There is no room for performers as leaders in Christ’s church. One preacher said, “You can’t both present yourself as clever and Christ as the ultimate treasure at the same time.” Remember Simon who wanted to buy his way into Holy Spirit giftedness? It wasn’t received very well…

The next five next time!