I may talk about or teach about When Bad Things Happen to Good People, but I have not lived it like the family in this YouTube video has.

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.

Warning: make sure you have a box of tissues before you watch this heart rending video.

If you you were not around in the 1960s you may not remember when Jesus Rock formed. Some musicians took their Christian faith and their love of Rock and Roll and combined them. Now of course those of you who know the history of Rock and Roll know that it was influenced by church music originally coming out of black churches, but it was not exactly greeted like a long lost son. Many could not deal with “long haired” types and loud music. This was not their idea of church music.

One of the pioneers in Jesus Rock was Larry Norman who received a lot of criticism for his looks and music. His view question of “Why should the devil have all the good music” probably did not endear him with his critics. But it did endear him with kids like me who’s love of blues licks was greater than our love of Bach.

Larry Norman died this week after decades of health problems. The church service I go to on Sunday has drums and electric guitar (the earlier one has organ but is less attended). So no Larry, the devil does not have to have all the good music. Go with God.

Here are some clips of Larry’s songs.

Find out more about Larry Norman at LarryNorman.com.

I found this speech by Barak Obama to support my impression that he is an interesting candidate. I continue to see him as someone who sounds reasonable. I wish that were not such a rare quality in a polititian. In this speech he talks somewhat about his personal faith but more about the role of faith in politics. He charts a course in between the left and the right extremes.

I am a swing voter (registered Republican) and generally find politics distasteful… ok, let’s say “slimy”. My podcast about faith (The Bible Study Podcast) is particularly labeled as free of politics. So for me to even take the time to listen to a political speech is rare, let alone one almost 40 minutes long.

In particular I share Obama’s view that the value of the separation of church and state is not just for the state. “Folks tend to forget that during our founding it wasn’t the athiests and the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the first ammendment”.

Do I agree with all of Obama’s politics? I doubt it. Do I think having someone who seems intelligent and reasonable in the oval office would be a nice change. I do.

Last week The Bible Study Podcast finished up a series on what the church is vs what it is called to be. This series ended up having 10 different episodes:

• Episode 42 – The Church is… (called to be) United
• Episode 43 – The Church is… (called to be) Thankful
• Episode 44 – The Church is… (called to be) Victorious
• Episode 45 – The Church is… (called to be) Grace-full and Mercy-full
• Episode 46 – The Church is… (called to be) Loving
• Episode 47 – The Church is… (called to be) Joyful
• Episode 48 – The Church is… (called to be) Generous
• Episode 49 – The Church is… (called to be) Humble
• Episode 50 – The Church is… (called to be) Prayerful
• Episode 51 – The Church is… (called to be) Truthful

The next series starts today and is titled Christianity 101. This series will be a study on the book of Romans which is one of the best books for getting an structured understanding of Christianity.

Episode 52 – Christianity 101 – Romans 1:1-15

I recently wrapped up a series on the topic of why bad things happen to good people on The Bible Study Podcast. The series was suggested by a listener who was having a difficult time dealing with a particularly horrific local news story. The series ended up being 8 episodes long:

• Episode 34 – Why Do bad Things Happen to Good People? (part 1)
• Episode 35 – Why Did bad Things Happen to Job? (part 2)
• Episode 36 – Well, at least you still have your… oh… nevermind
• Episode 37 – I’ll get by with a little “help” from my friends
• Episode 38 – Job gets answers… sort of
• Episode 39 – Why do good things happen to “bad” people?
• Episode 40 – Where is God? (part 1)
• Episode 41 – Where is God? (part 2)

Starting with Episode 42 The Bible Study Podcast is looking at what the church is and what it is called to be.

Last night I was volunteering in Juvenile Hall in downtown San Jose as I do every Tuesday night. I had three kids in the bible study and for some reason decided to do a bible study about Acts 16:16-40. For those of you who may not know this story it is an account of the apostle Paul and his traveling companion Silas who were arrested when their missionary activities pissed off the wrong rich person. They were beaten and thrown into the deepest part of the jail where they were put in stocks. They spent the night singing and praising God and in the middle of the night an earthquake came and opened all the doors and chains, but Paul, Silas and the other prisoners did not leave. I was using this to illustrate that as much as these prisoners wanted freedom (which this guys could relate to) the faith that they saw in Paul and Silas was more attractive.

I was just wrapping up the bible study as the largest earthquake in the last 18 years hit our area. Since the oldest kid turned 18 yesterday this was certainly the largest in their memory. At least one of the kids asked if God had sent the earthquake because he was not paying attention. I told him I thought that was very unlikely but did wonder why I had decided to talk about that verse.

Oh yes, the doors for juvenile hall did not come open. The guys checked. Instead they locked up with a “hold in place” order and I had to wait for 30 minutes before I could leave and call my wife.

What’s the difference between being a Christian and a follower of Christ. This set of videos asks that question. They are funny but hopefully also thought provoking.

read more | digg story

New designs for fans of Heros, Spinal Tap (or Christian Mac Nerds)

.store td { border: solid 1px #666666 }

A nice looking site, although a little slow.

eBible, a free web 2.0 site with “live” searching of the Bible, commentaries and references is out of beta and open to the public. Check out the link to take a tour and sign up if you’re interested.

read more | digg story

One of my favorite online comic sites is Reverend Fun and this comic really tickled me.