Holiday At The Sea

Yes it’s late Friday night. But hey now, I currently have 8 kids. You try getting the post where you collect the links you found interesting up on every Friday morning with 8 kids.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Be my Facebook friend. It’s not real until it’s on Facebook.

Follow my Twitterings.

Browse the music I’ve been listening to.

Stay tuned to the Habañero Collective events page for house show upcomings or check out out new concert-only website, Habañero Shows.

Take a Tumbl with me.

Have a beard? Would you consider renting it out?

What does your coffee order say about you on a date?

R.I.P. The Doors‘ Ray Manzarek.

Read about Yahoo buying Tumblr for over $1 billion. At least they’ve promised not to “screw it up.” Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.

Read about Janet Jackson now becoming a billionaire.

Read about Non Bon Jovi slamming Justin Bieber.

See a map of the damage that would have been caused had Phoenix been struck by a tornado like the one that recently struck OK.

Read about Amazon‘s “Crazy New Workspace” in Seattle.

Read HuffPo’s piece: “Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics.”

Read about the “Pastor Punished for Selling Fake Cancer Cure on TBN.” And we wonder why people don’t trust Christians . . .

Read about network TV’s attempt to copy the “multiple short-seasons” approach of AMC uses with shows such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead.

Browse this list of the top 50 TV pilots of all time. What do you think of the list?

Browse this list of all the running gags on Arrested Development.

Read about Boy Scouts voting to end their long-term ban on openly gay youths.

Preview the new Mount Kimbie album, “Cold Spring Fault Less Youth.”

Watch James Blake live for NPR.

Find out the secrets about The Dukes Of Hazzard’s “General Lee.”

Read about the suicide jumper who killed a 5-year old girl.

Read about Charlie Sheen’s reasons for changing his name.

Read this interview with Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy about their tour with Bob Dylan.

Browse this list of television series based on novels.

Browse Salon’s ”definitive oral history of ’80s metal.”

Browse as Pitchfork points out some worthwhile music documentaries streaming online.

Check out this collection of band collections (like the Cure, Radiohead and the Smiths) as book collections.

Read Spin’s piece on how music is consumed in American prisons.

My wife Kristi and I have been foster parents for almost one year now. Trust me, I know how crazy this is to most people. We already had four biological boys of our own. But we didn’t feel like our family was done, even though it was done biologically (trust me, I had the surgery). So, last July we began praying for a bigger van. We simply outgrew the normal minivan. A minivan could no longer hold our love.

Last week, we pick up our new 12 passenger van. And just in time, too.

I can’t give a lot of details, but our world has became a lot more chaotic. In fact, it’s a beautiful madhouse. Late last week, we received a call asking if we could take three more foster kids. We said yes. So, we went from 5 kids (our 4 sons and Baby G, who we’ve fostered for almost a year now) to 8 kids in our home. It helps that the other kids are Baby G’s biological siblings, but It doesn’t help as much when 8 kids are fighting, fussing, whining, pottying (on a potty or in diapers) or falling asleep at the most inopportune of times.

We never set out to become a big family. But then again, we never opposed being a big family. That much should be obvious with four biological sons of our own. But there’s something unexplainable about foster parenting. Someone recently told us that as you begin to love the kids God places with you, your heart expands to love each additional child for the season they are with you. That is very true. But it’s hard. In fact, sometimes it sucks. Our house is loud. It can get messy and lots of things break. We sweep/mop/vacuum/wash dishes/load laundry/fold laundry/put away laundry/wipe privates, change diapers, wipe mouths, tables and floors, etc., multiple times a day. Every day. And, in addition to the normal household chores that any children bring with them, foster children often bring problems of their own with them (though the problems are most often not their fault) and these kids are no exception. But then again, biological children are not always a walk in the park either. This type of life requires sacrifice.

But then again, it always takes sacrifice to love others, doesn’t it? And this has led me to lots of thought and prayer lately.

I am passionate about foster care and adoption. We have four biological children of our own and then decided our family wasn’t complete. But I know people that aren’t called by God to be foster parents. And that’s OK. I am under no illusion that you are called to be a foster parent, especially of multiple children. And I’m OK with that.

Just don’t tell me how crazy I am for opening my home. I already know that. I can’t even go to Target without getting stares and comments. Even in the heart of Suburbia, large families are not the norm. I understand that you may not be called to open up your home. But I have to ask: how has God called you to sacrifice? Even though I may not know personally, I can guarantee you that God has called us to more than a comfortable American life where we put our church sticker on our car and call it good.

How has God called you to sacrifice? How has God called you to embrace and enter the suffering of the world He loved enough to send Himself/His Son to die for? Just like I believe that ”Not Every Local Church Is For Every Person,” I believe that not every Christian is called to sacrifice in the same way. But all Christians are called to sacrifice. Something.

This may seem self-evident to you, but the way Christians treat one another says to me that we don’t believe this. I am weary of Christians believing that because we’re not all called to sacrifice in the same that we’re not all loved by our Father in the same way. While most of us would never be so blunt as to word it that way, this is exactly how we treat one another. The ones who passionately sacrifice on behalf of those caught in sex trafficking/slavery sometimes look down on those who aren’t called to serve in the same way. The people giving their lives to the homeless want others to share that passion. Those fighting abortion passionately ask “Where. Is. The. Church?” Those, like me, who open up their homes for kids with no home wish that more Christians would do the same.

But instead of celebrating and encouraging and equipping the beautifully different ways Christians can and do impact our culture, we cast dispersions at those who aren’t called to serve like us.

Now, I’m going to be brutally honest; if you claim to follow Jesus and you’re not living sacrificially in some way, I urge you to repent. I’m not sure you can truly belong to God’s family and live for yourself. However, that’s really not the group I’ve been thinking/praying about.

I am far too quick to dismiss those who are not like me. But at the same time, I tire of people that are just like me. After all, “variety is the spice of life,” right? What kind of world would it be if we all liked the same music or movies or food? I am deeply concerned that we are creating non-necessary dividing lines within the big freak-show tent of Christianity. I am far too quick to think that if you’re not called to serve in the same way that I am, then you’re not called by God at all. And that’s just nonsense. We don’t all like the same music. And that’s awesome. We don’t all like the same movies and I thank God that I’ve never had to sit through Titanic or Avatar (the 3D thing, not the animated series) even though I can appreciate that those may be your thing.

Why do we all take for granted that our passion (trafficking, abortion, homelessness, poverty in all its forms, health, water, children, hospitals, literacy, etc., etc., etc., etc.,) is the only passion? If that were the case, we might make a large dent in one issue without making any dent in others and making little to no impact on the big picture. Why are we so quick to elevate our own passions while diminishing others (hint, I think it’s because, even in serving, we are arrogant)?

This whole journey has reminded me that God’s people are nothing more than a beautiful circus of crazies and freaks. Instead of judging one another for not serving in the same way, why aren’t we one another’s best cheerleaders? Instead of looking down on each other for not serving in the same way, why aren’t we reaching back to grab the hands of those who aren’t yet serving at all? Instead of believing that our focus is pitch-perfect, why aren’t we all listening to the beautiful symphony of God’s will to reconcile all things to Himself through the Son while we try to find our part in the orchestra?

If the world will know that we belong to Jesus because of our love for one another (John 13:35), I wonder what our false judgment of one another tells those who are paying any attention?

Welcome to the Weekly Town Crier. Proclaiming blindness to the blind for a long time. Keeping our finger on the pulse of pop culture. Sending out feelers into the cultural battlefield to bring you back the best, the brightest, the . . . .

Well, really, all I do is pass along links to things I have found interesting throughout the week. I hope you like it. But you might not. That doesn’t mean you’re any better than me. Not that you said that. But I’m just saying, don’t.

Be my Facebook friend. It’s not real until it’s on Facebook.

Follow my Twitterings.

Browse the music I’ve been listening to.

Stay tuned to the Habañero Collective events page for house show upcomings or check out out new concert-only website, Habañero Shows.

Take a Tumbl with me.

See Michael Bluth at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Read as The Atlantic argues: “The Thing That Made The Office Great Is the Same Thing That Killed It.”

Read about the $325,000 burger.

Read about the diapers that will tweet you when your little one needs a change.

Browse this list of 7 dangerous food practices that are banned in Europe but are just fine in the good ol’ US of A.

Browse the 2013 Lollapalooza line-up.

Read about Dogfish Head’s upcoming Grateful Dead inspired beer.

Want a degree in heavy metal?

Watch Jon Stewart tell the Obama Administration: “You’ve Vindicated Conspiracy Theorists.” Yes, there are bleeps. Be warned. Be wary. Beware.

Read as Wayne Cordeiro and Francis Chan consider: “Why People Get so Mad at Pastors.”

Browse as Stereogum ranks Will Oldham recordings from worst to best.

Watch the film trailer as James Franco brings Faulkner’s As I Lay Dyin to the big screen.

Read this piece for Salon arguing that “The Internet destroyed the middle class.”

Read this piece about “The hillbilly roots of Mountain Dew.”

Read/Watch about the guy who has started a trend to donate A Bread Crumb & A Fish (That’s “Abercrombie & Fitch” for those of who do not speak “Christianese”) clothing to the homeless in response to the brand’s audacious public statements about who should be wearing their clothes.

Read Christianity Today’s challenging piece urging us to consider the actual ways in which we are loving our neighbors, not just seeking social justice through purchasing and lifestyle choices: “You Cannot Consume Your Way To Social Justice.”

Watch Jon Stewart question the legitimacy of President Obama pleading ignorance on key issues. Yes, it’s Jon Stewart, so don’t blame me if you’re offended.

Read Barnabas Piper’s insightful piece “Writers Don’t Let Go.” I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Read Ray Ortlund’s piece for The Gospel Coalition considering the recent slew of slanders of legalism: “Legalism is a serious accusation.” Read my thoughts on Anthony Bradley’s charge that “Missional Is The New Legalism.”

Weigh in as NPR Music asks: “Do You Have A Favorite Record Label?”

So, Google has entered the online streaming media fray:

• Read Paste’s coverage of Google’s new media streaming service.
• Read Pitchfork’s coverage of the Google move in to streaming media.
• Read Consequence of Sound’s take.
• Read NPR Music’s coverage.

Read about bassist Eric Avery’s decision to quit Nine Inch Nails (yes, this is the same bassist who quit Jane’s Addiction), saying: “i just got overwhelmed.” If you’re going to quit, you might as well quit from some pretty big deal bands, right?

Read this piece asking if you “Speak Christianese”?

Browse Flavorwire’s list of “10 Forgotten Fantastical Novels You Should Read Immediately.”

Read about Lecrae being featured on this year’s “Rock The Bells” lineup, along with holograms of ODB and Eazy E. Presumably not during Lecrae’s set.

Browse as USA Today’s “Pop Candy” chooses their favorite 25 books of the past 25 years.

Read as A.V. Club considers: “Are oral histories a good way to write about music?”

Consider applying for an internship with Seth Godin.

Read about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (co-founder of Interscope Records) donating $70 million to USC for an Arts Academy.

Browse as Rolling Stone considers the best sit-com finales of all time.

Browse this list of “25 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Great Gatsby’.”

Listen to John Fogerty perform CCR‘s “Fortunate Son” with Foo Fighters.

Consider as Rolling Stone dissects the Season Four Arrested Development trailer.

Read as Rolling Stone considers: “What’s at Stake When the Department of Justice Seizes AP Phone Records.”

Read as R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills says there are “Zero plans” for a reunion.

Read this piece wondering why heroes also tend to be weirdos.

Browse Arizona Foothills list of AZ breweries to visit.

Read as Consequence of Sound considers rock’s best television cameos.

Read this piece for The Atlantic, arguing that Cormac McCarthy has written the scariest passage in all of fiction. What do you think?

Read as the New York Times reports: “Acting Chief of I.R.S. Forced Out Over Tea Party Targeting.”

Read about Bill Gates regaining title of world’s richest person.

Read about the “103-pound fish caught off Norway.”

Read as Spin offers a glossary to the world of Vampire Weekend.

Browse as Flavorwire suggests “15 Books You Should Definitely Not Read in Your 20s.”

Read as PopMatters profiles Matthew Cooper of Eluvium, who just released the double-disc Nightmare Ending. Cooper is also responsible for one of my favorite albums ever: An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death.

You may or may not know (and it’s honestly OK either way) that I am part of something known as the Habañero Collective.

What is the Habañero Collective, you might ask? Well, that’s still open for discussion. It began as the “Habañero Hour,” a podcast I did with one of my best friends, Mark, in which we explored, questioned and challenged the idea of “Christian music” in all its forms.

When my family and I moved back to AZ in 2008, the Habañero Hour evolved from just being a podcast to actually hosting concerts. I don’t know what it’s like where you live. And I don’t know if you love music like we do. But where we live, the “West Valley” of Phoenix (which is itself being redefined by Surprise, Vistancia, etc.), there is no quality live music. There just aren’t any cool clubs. At the risk of sounding like a hipster complainer (too late for that, though, right?!), we are literally surrounded by malls, strip-malls and wanna-be malls. Everything is the same. We have to drive to the other side of town (I know, “American Problems,” right?) to see quality live music.

My first reaction to such an obvious injustice is to blog about it. But that’s not quite enough, is it? So my friend Mark started us on the journey of hosting concerts in our homes. This grew up into a very fun, very challenging, very rewarding season of hosting concerts in homes in the West Valley. We’ve met some great people and had some life-long remembered musical moments. But as we began to host more concerts and connect with people, we began to feel that we had said everything we needed to say with the podcast. So we changed our name/identity/branding to “Habañero Collective.”

We created a Tumblr page (which curiously has become our largest “online footprint” so far) to act as an online “paper-weight,” holding our place online, until we figured out what do to next. But, at the same time, we started developing relationships with amazing songwriters and we realized that we wanted this to be something more. Something that grew through the sidewalk cracks of suburban culture. Like a weed that’s strangely interesting enough that you don’t pull it.

As we’ve found ourselves in this transitional phase, Mark took the lead in updating our look, and I am so thankful he did. We have a new logo, which means, watch for limited release Habañero Collective merchandise soon.

I’m not kidding.

Buy our stuff (please).

Oh, and by the way, what do you think of our new branding? We’d love your feedback.

In the meantime:

• Check out our Tumblr page where we pass the time with explorations in image projection.
• Visit Habañero Shows, which focuses exclusively on our concerts.
• Visit us on the Facebooks.
• Twitter with us.

It should come as no surprise to you that I love music. Like the hippish music nerds in High Fidelity, I love music. I love discovering new music. And I love making mixes. I love living with certain bands and styles for certain seasons of life. It’s amazing how listening to old mixes can conjure up the fog of lives lived; coloring your memories with their hues.

Making a mix is not something to be taken lightly. I realize that there are some who just throw some of their favorite songs in a goulash mess of a playlist and call that a mix. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about gathering together a collection of songs that somehow tell a single story, not even just lyrically, with their colors and tones. When it works well, you create an hour or so of a captured feeling, an idle idea or the fragment of a half-remembered dream. You listen over and over again to the flow of the songs. You consider the transitions. You measure the silence. In order to pass it all along to someone else. So they can share in the experience of being ensconced in music. Don’t be fooled, there are a lot of rules.

That’s enough waxing poetic about the beauty of making mixes. A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to visit a couple of my best friends in the whole world in San Francisco. While there, my friend Eric asked me to make him a mix. Which I did. And, even though it was made specifically with one great friend in mind, I’d like to offer it up for your aural examination as well.

Please download, give it a listen and give it some time and please, return and let me know what you think in the comments. Here’s the playlist:

1. Dry The Rain by the Beta Band
2. America’s Son by Air Review
3. Song For Zula by Phosphorescent
4. Manchester (live) by Kishi Bashi
5. No Silver by Chris Bathgate
6. Speak Plainly, Diana by Joe Pug
7. Hold On by Alabama Shakes
8. Push Your Button by the Kernal
9. Ho Hey by the Lumineers
10. Teach Me To Know by the Lone Bellow
11. Don’t Just Sit There by Lucius
12. No Peace, Los Angeles by Mike Doughty
13. Brazos by Matthew E. White

I’d love to hear your thoughts

• Download You’ve Got One Hour Of My Time (You’d Better Make It Good) from Mediafire.
• Download You’ve Got One Hour Of My Time (You’d Better Make It Good) from Zippyshare.
• Download You’ve Got One Hour Of My Time (You’d Better Make It Good) from Rapidshare.

OK, OK, it’s not as easy as you might think to write some new introduction for this thing every week. After all, it’s the same thing week after week, I browse the internets on your behalf and then act as your virtual tour guide. I pass along some of the things I found interesting throughout the week so that you may or may not find them interesting as well. That’s basically how it goes.

Be my Facebook friend. It’s not real until it’s on Facebook.

Follow my Twitterings.

Browse the music I’ve been listening to.

Stay tuned to the Habañero Collective events page for house show upcomings or check out out new concert-only website, Habañero Shows.

Take a Tumbl with me.

Read about/watch The Smiths Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke reunite on stage.

Read about Alan Moore setting out to write what he calls ““A piece of ultimate Lovecraft fiction.”

See the billboard that sends different messages to adults and children.

Read as Tony Jones considers the growing disconnect between older and younger Christians over the use of marijuana. Read another piece considering the same issue

Read as Matthew Paul Turner considers 4 communication truths we can draw from James MacDonald‘s “resignation.”

Read Paste’s piece: “Harper Lee Suing Former Agent Over To Kill A Mockingbird Rights.”

Read about new music from Kanye West.

Read as Scot McKnight considers whether you can “outgrow” a local church. With that in mind, read my piece: “Not Every Local Church Is For Every Person.”

Browse the official lineup for this year’s Austin City Limits festival.

Read about Star Wars VII beginning filming.

Browse this list of the 8 Best Beer Towns in the US.

Browse this list of 13 bad literature to film adaptations.

Read as Pew Research surveys the “Global Religious Landscape.”

R.I.P. Dallas Willard.

Catch the Arrested Development Banana Stand on its world tour.

Browse this list of 10 albums made for incredibly strange reasons.

Read/watch about the growing push to honor Hunter S. Thompson as a Louisville native.

Read Rolling Stone’s piece: “Everything You’ve Been Told About Radicalization Is Wrong.”

Read Paste‘s report that the Coen Brothers new film “Inside Llewyn Davis” getting a release date.

Watch Tom Waits perform with The Rolling Stones.

Read about which global city boasts the most millionaires.

Read about craft brewers resisting buy-out offers.

Read about the 105 year old woman who swears by the power of bacon.

Read as Will Arnett discusses Gob’s chicken dance.

Watch Wilco’s Glenn Kotche play faucets for a television commercial.

Read about the RIAA amending its rules to include Youtube views in its calculations.

Read about the posthumous release by Andy Kaufman.

Read as Forbes considers what it might mean if Microsoft purchases Nook.

Read as Pitchfork profiles Vampire Weekend.

Read as Spin offers 13 quotes from Fugazi’s Ian Mackaye’s recent Library of Congress lecture.

Browse as Flavorwire considers the stories behind famous book titles.

Browse as Paste offers 10 great quotes from The Great Gatsby.

Read about Dennis Rodman’s hars words for President Obama.

Read as Justin Taylor considers the renewed controversy surrounding the “historical Adam.”

Our church family is considering 1 Peter together on Sunday mornings. This past week, we began chapter two and considered verses 1-3, where Peter says:

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As I was thinking and praying over these verses last week, I was struck by the fact that the way we read and apply these verses are probably not actually in line with Peter’s intention. That may or may not be OK.

When modern readers approach these words, the first thing we think is possibly that Peter is slighting his audience by comparing them to “newborn infants.” Many understand this to mean that Peter is telling his audience that they should be more mature than they are. But that doesn’t seem to be Peter’s point at all. “Like newborn infants” describes the way we should “long for the pure spiritual milk” rather than the audience.

What’s more, the command, the imperative section which actually opens this section: “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” is subordinate to the longing for “the pure spiritual milk.” In other words, our progress in putting away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are directly proportionate to how we long to be spiritually nourished.

And that brings me to an interesting consideration. I have heard this section and ones like it applied along the following lines: “If you don’t read your Bible everyday, you don’t love Jesus.” Yet, as Scot McKnight points out in his NIVAC Commentary on 1 Peter:

“To think, however, of personal Bible study is anachronistic; these Christians did not have copies fo the Bible and had to rely on sermons and the local archives for such things. It makes best sense to see here the spiritual nourishment that comes to Christians in various ways. If my view fo the recipients of this letter is correct in that they were socially disenfranchised, then they were likely illiterate as well.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that just because the early Christians didn’t have Bibles, we shouldn’t read ours. We live in a day of unprecedented luxury when it comes to the availability Scripture. Many of us have multiple copies. What is interesting here is that we often view reading the Bible as an obligation rather than a luxury. The early Christians didn’t read it because they didn’t have it. What’s our excuse?

Something to think about is that we hear Peter’s admonition to “ long for the pure spiritual milk” “Like newborn infants” as a command to individuals to have “personal” Bible study. We maximize a meaning Peter probably did not intend while we minimize exactly what he did mean. McKnight suggests that Peter’s use of “pure spiritual milk:”

“refers to the very things that nourish the Christian community in its growth: knowledge of God, prayer, instruction in the gospel, faithful obedience, and hearing God’s preached word.”

Peter seems to assume community as the primary context for his admonitions while we assume individuality. We must understand that our individualistic mindset actually removes us from the blessings and challenges presented by much of Scripture. Peter wanted the community to crave spiritual nourishment so that they could put away the things of the old self together. We isolate ourselves and our struggles and then feel pressure to present a facade to the community. We are quick to believe that the Christians who know the most about God are the ones we should listen to. But these are not necessarily the same individuals who know God the best. Knowing that honey tastes sweet is not the same thing as tasting honey.

We must be careful of any approach to Scripture that reads it through an individualistic lens and understand that community is always the assumed context and the implication/application is rarely “just spend more time studying.” It’s telling that we so readily assume that our reading of Scripture is the intended meaning. Peter probably did not have personal Bible study in mind while we do. Peter probably assumed a community context for spiritual growth while we do not.

May we form communities that long to be nourished together so that, together, we can leave the old ways behind.