Out of the Bloo http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog Laughing out loud with fear and hope I've got a desperate plan . . . en-us Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:46:16 +0000 Bloo v 1.33 http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/images/bloo_logo_200.png Out of the Bloo http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog Where I've Been I'm primarily blogging these days over at the Thinklings, in case any of my three readers were wondering. I [...] Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:45:10 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/where-ive-been http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/where-ive-been the Thinklings, in case any of my three readers were wondering.

I may return here from time to time, or switch my activity from Thinklings to here as the mood takes me. But I've found I'm very bad at trying to keep two blogs up at once.

God bless,

Bill
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=703 Encouragement by text Texted to me by an angel today. I needed it. My Help Comes from the Lord A Song of Ascents. 1 I lift [...] Wed, 19 May 2010 00:20:07 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/encouragement-by-text http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/encouragement-by-text
My Help Comes from the Lord
A Song of Ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=702 Three down, thirteen to go! We're thanking God that our two college kids are back home after successful semesters. They are growing [...] Wed, 12 May 2010 00:42:06 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/three-down-thirteen-to-go http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/three-down-thirteen-to-go
And we're also thanking God for providing in such miraculous ways. We've got four kids, which equates to (under normal circumstances) sixteen years of college. Well, we've made it through the equivalent of three years of college - one of ours just finished his sophomore year, the other her freshman year - with neither ourselves nor our kids having to go into any debt thus far.
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=701 Yes . . . the righteous are bold as a lion. - Proverbs 28:1 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:27:58 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/yes-1 http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/yes-1 . . . the righteous are bold as a lion. - Proverbs 28:1

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=700 Whaur Dae Ye Lie? My daughter's high school theater group just finished a run of the play The Women of Lockerbie. Jill [...] Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:47:05 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/whaur-dae-ye-lie http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/whaur-dae-ye-lie The Women of Lockerbie. Jill and I went to every show. Of course, a big reason for that was that Bethany was playing the central role of Madeline, the grieving mother. But we also went because the play is a great play, done in the form of a Greek tragedy, complete with a chorus, and Bethany's theater group performed it so well. It is a wrenching, haunting exploration of grief, hatred, love and cleansing.

In the final scene, as Madeline and the women of Lockerbie washed the clothes of the dead, a recording of the song below was played. It's heartbreaking and I thought I'd share it with you.



Whaur Dae Ye Lie?
Karine Polwart

Chorus:
Whaur dae ye lie, my faither?
Whaur dae ye lie, my son?
Whaur dae ye lie, my ain true love?
When will the truth be won?

Oor friends, they came tae protect us
Oor friends they bad us bide
Oor friends left us standing there naked
Wi nae place left tae hide

Oor neighbours, they came wi a hundred year hate
Oor neighbours, they came wi guns
Oor neighbours, they came for oor menfolk
An they slew them, everyone

I hae sought oot yer grave wi my mother
I hae sought oot yer grave in vain
I hae sought the bare banes o' the truth and the men
Faither, whaur are ye lane?

I hae cried oot yer name tae the for winds
I hae cried oot yer name til the dawn
I hae cried in the arms o' yer sister dear
Whaur dae ye lie my son?

I hae dream'd o' yer breath upon me
I hae dream'd o' yer yella hair
I hae dream'd o' the sounds o yer dyin love
Whaur dae ye lie, my dear?
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=699 The Overflow of His Infinite Worth I have heard it said, "God didn't die for frogs. So he was responding to our value as humans." This turns [...] Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:35:48 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/the-overflow-of-his-infinite-worth http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/the-overflow-of-his-infinite-worth I have heard it said, "God didn't die for frogs. So he was responding to our value as humans." This turns grace on its head. We are worse off than frogs. They have not sinned. They have not rebelled and treated God with the contempt of being inconsequential in their lives. God did not have to die for frogs. They aren't bad enough. We are. Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay it.

There is only one explanation for God's sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is "the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty.

- John Piper, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=698 Perspective "We are sitcom people serving the God of epic novels." - Jared Wilson, Your Jesus is Too Safe Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:19:12 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/perspective http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/perspective "We are sitcom people serving the God of epic novels."

- Jared Wilson, Your Jesus is Too Safe]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=697 Young Singles HomeGroup Young Singles HomeGroup was really good tonight. Worship time (music provided by iPod) was good, and [...] Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:38:11 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/young-singles-homegroup http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/young-singles-homegroup Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Prayer time was good and then . . . two hours of Balderdash!

It's been a long and trying week. I'm tired but I'll go to bed happy tonight.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=696 More miscellany The college and young singles home group last night was great - a whole lot of them came over (I think [...] Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:04:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/more-miscellany http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/more-miscellany
Jill and I were talking last night, and I remarked that we'll have ups and downs in this thing. Last night was an up, but my goal is to be flexible and persevere through the downs.

I spent the last few hours dragging seventeen years of stuff out of our attic. The garage now looks like a landfill, but the attic is completely cleaned out. Now to start rebuilding . . . the great Garage Renovation of 2010 is in progress. Slow progress, albeit.

No soccer this weekend. Which is a good thing.

I'm almost done with Bloo version 1.32. Will be deploying the 1.31 test version very soon (maybe today). In 2010, I'll be doing a lot more (and more frequent) Bloo releases. This first one is more or less a maintenance release, with a few goodies thrown in. More later.

Soon will get my lesson prepared for tomorrow.
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. - John 6:35
Have a great weekend!

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=695 Miscellany I'm driving Jill's Sebring full time now. Our mechanic pronounced it beyond help a few weeks ago. I'm [...] Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:36:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/miscellany-1 http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/miscellany-1
Daddy date with Bethany tonight was good. She's awesome. She puts up with a lot too.

Great talk with Molly last night.

I was in a room full of millionaires today. "Room full of millionaires" would make a cool band name.

Lost Premier party tomorrow night at our place!

Cooper lives to have his belly rubbed.

Cooper is our dog, by the way.

I am gearing up to liveblog 24 again tonight. We'll see.

I'm going to weigh 400 pounds.

That is all.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=694 Blake's team Here's a cool picture of Blake's soccer team, the Dallas Texans - Houston Division Legend '98. Blake [...] Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:20:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/blakes-team http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/blakes-team
DTH Legend

Blake is number 25, in front, giving us his best game face. The cool thing about this picture is that every kid who got a team picture got to be in the front. It's not really a group shot; The photographer took individual pictures of each kid and photoshopped each kid in the front for the shot they purchased. Very nice.

Blake's team played the first day of a soccer tournament today. It was fun, although it was FREEZING out at the fields. His team won the first game 2-0 against Chivas. Blake scored a goal, capitalizing on a great cross from Pablo. Unfortunately, the second game against Tigres was very tough, and they lost 3-0. Tomorrow they face the Houstonians, which is a very, very tough team.

Go Legend!

Update: They tied the Houstonians 2 to 2, which was disappointing (especially since the Houstonians second goal was off a questionable call resulting in a PK) but the boys played their hearts out in the cold and mud. Well done!
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=693 My notes on Exodus 3:1-15 Such as they are, for tomorrow (with much help from David Guzik and John Piper): here. Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:20:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/my-notes-on-exodus-3115 http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/my-notes-on-exodus-3115 here.


]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=692 Preparing Today I'll finish preparing to teach a Bible study tomorrow, one that I don't deserve to teach. I almost [...] Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:57:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/preparing http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/preparing
I almost always feel that way. My words and actions of the past week come back to me (and this isn't false piety - I was a self-indulgent jerk this week at times).

But teach I shall, and I pray God speaks, in spite of me.
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=691 New life in Haiti Isn't this a beautiful picture? (click on the image to get a bigger picture} [H/T the Gospel Driven [...] Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:06:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/new-life-in-haiti http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/new-life-in-haiti
New life
(click on the image to get a bigger picture}

[H/T the Gospel Driven Church]
]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=690 Back in the day Know what this is? It's a computer hard drive from 1956, used in the IBM 305 RAMAC computer. The [...] Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:03:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/back-in-the-day http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/back-in-the-day
Big Hard Drive

It's a computer hard drive from 1956, used in the IBM 305 RAMAC computer.

The hard drive weighed over a ton and stored a whopping 5 megabytes.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=689 Breaking News I don't want an iPad. (even though everyone else I know is going batty over it). Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:53:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/breaking-news http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/breaking-news
(even though everyone else I know is going batty over it).

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=688 "I am has sent me to you" Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers [...] Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:51:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/i-am-has-sent-me-to-you http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/i-am-has-sent-me-to-you Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, ‘What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.'"

- Exodus 3:13-14I'm starting a teaching series in College and Young Singles this weekend on the seven "I Am" statements of Jesus in the book of John. I can't wait and I hope it goes well. I'm going to start with the passage above, as an introduction, with it's surrounding context.

There's so much here. So much. Two things jump out at me on just a cursory re-reading of this passage.

1. The people of Israel are truly without a shepherd. They feel abandoned, and they have no foundation, They don't really know the God of their fathers very well. Moses is concerned, and he needs a name.

Does that speak to you? How alone are you in the universe when God is such a stranger to you? But even in their loneliness and desperation the Hebrews have cried out to the God they barely knew, and He has heard them.

2. In answer to the "What's your name?" question, God answers "I am who I am". I don't have anything very profound to say here, other than just to say that God is cool. And I don't mean cool in the acid-washed, frosted tips, ipod buds in your ears, shirt untucked, tat with a gotee way. I mean it in the "when I read that, my jaw drops and I say 'wow . . . that's cool'" way. God said "I AM", because what better way is there to describe the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, creator-God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End? He is. And because He is, we are.

And the sooner we acknowledge that, the better.

I'm looking forward to this.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=687 24 Liveblog I find the show 24 strangely compelling. I live-blogged tonight's episode over at Thinklings if you're [...] Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:34:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/24-liveblog http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/24-liveblog live-blogged tonight's episode over at Thinklings if you're interested.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=686 I want one NASA's Puffin, the stealthy, personal, tilt-rotor aircraft. Now that's cool. Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:31:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/i-want-one http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/i-want-one the stealthy, personal, tilt-rotor aircraft.



Now that's cool.

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=685 On a more positive note . . . What a great day in the College and Young Singles class! We had more singles there than I can remember [...] Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:43:00 +0000 Bill http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/on-a-more-positive-note--- http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/posts/on-a-more-positive-note---
It was a really good morning. Very encouraging. We also announced the starting up of HomeGroups in early February.

It was a good end to a pretty challenging and tiring weekend. I think I'll cap it off with some time spent organizing the attic (that's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of fun, right?) :-)

And, after that, time to get ready for a challenging and tiring week. There are lots of big doings at work and I'm in the middle of some of them. Whew.

Oh, I almost forgot. Congratulations Colts!

]]> http://www.outofthebloo.com/blog/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=684