My daughter, Bethany, is in her freshman year of high school. Also attending her school is a young actor named Tony Oller, who stars in the Disney short series "As the Bell Rings". Throughout this first semester Bethany got to know Tony a bit (they say hi in the halls, are MySpace friends, etc)

Today we got a fun surprise. Bethany was a bit shy about telling us this, but it turns out that awhile ago she sent a picture of herself and Tony to PopStar!â„¢ magazine as part of a contest.

And, wouldn't you know it - if you know Beth, this is no surprise, actually :-) - here she is, right on page 32 (I scanned this in tonight).

Awesome.



And here's the magazine cover.

For some time, I've been a student of the history of America's space program. I am fascinated by the early, heady days of the 1960s and early 1970s, when we reached out to the moon and actually managed to land men there and bring them back home safely.

One of the most fascinating journeys of project Apollo was the Christmas voyage of Apollo 8. This mission accomplished something never before even attempted: it was the first time men had flown to the moon and achieved an orbit around the moon. This was an incredibly brave and gutsy thing to try, and the three astronauts aboard Apollo 8, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, were voted Time Magazine's Men of the Year in 1968.

I'm impressed, at times, when reading these histories, at the cultural differences between that time and our own. One good example of this is the way the Apollo 8 astronauts read some text from Genesis 1 back to earth on Christmas Eve. You can give it a listen at the YouTube below:



Reportedly, Dr. Thomas Paine, NASA administrator, said that the mission was "a triumph of the squares, the guys with computers and slide rules who read the Bible on Christmas Eve." Heh

This wasn't the only example of religious observance in space. Commander Frank Borman of the aforementioned Apollo 8 mission was also a lay-reader at his church and was scheduled that weekend to read prayers in the service, so, during the third of ten orbits around the moon, the following occurred:

During the third pass, Borman read a small prayer for his church, as he was meant to lay read during the Midnight service at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church near Seabrook, Texas, but due to the Apollo 8 flight was unable. A fellow parishioner and engineer at Mission Control, Rod Rose, suggested that Borman read the prayer which could be recorded and then replayed during the service.

The following is from the Live Journal of Kevo, my good friend, former band-mate, and all around great guy. He's away at College now and he's learned a few things. If you're in College please read this - there is wisdom here and I couldn't have said it any better myself:

one thing i discovered about being away at college is how easy it is to get away with stuff. or to think youre getting away with stuff. towards the beginning i was starting to get really lazy w/ reading my bible just turning to some random chapter out in netherworld and reading it before going to bed without really caring to even make sense of it. but thankfully i was able to realize i was being an idiot so i made a calendar to where i'll read all of the bible in 6 months. at the rate im going itll probably be more like 8 months but the purpose is being served...to have a plan where i am intentional about reading my bible in a meaningful way and keeping up with it. i now know why it seems like so many people fall off the face of the planet as soon as they go to college when they were so passionate about God in high school...its so easy. you just want to "be your own person" and "live your own life" because youre away now and nothing is really holding you back. well let me go ahead and get things straight because thats a load of crap. the truth is God bought you at a price. of all the away at college lessons to be learned, that by far is the most important one. [Emphasis mine]

This is cool.



I can't describe it any better than The Blind Beggar does:

The very useful idea behind The Miniature Earth is to reduce the world’s population to a community of only 100 people, while keeping statistics the same. The effect enables us to see the differences on our planet with clarity, and perhaps consider how our actions impact humanity.

It is only a few minutes long and well worth a look. Praying you will, in the project’s final words, “Appreciate what you have. And do your best for a better world.�

Do you ever watch Extreme Home Makeover?

We watch it sometimes. I really like it - what a heartwarming show! And they are doing some real, if somewhat extravagant, good for people.

Tonight the show was about them building a home for a family who had lost their father. Their father was a pastor.

I was so impressed with the respect that Extreme Home Makeover gave to the faith of this family. It was beautiful.