Often we think we are judging someone if we have an opinion about stuff like: homosexuality, abortion, race, party affiliation…

…but you are also judging someone if you think things like: she should leave her abusive spouse even though she wants to stay with him;  she was raped, now she must get a rape kit done; his son died, he should be crying.

All of us have our own views, and that’s okay, and normal.  But if we’re judging someone, we’re forcing our views on them and not listening or respecting them as an individual.

This man has a lot of faith.

What’s the point of going deeper if you can’t even swim in shallow water?

There is a lot of emphasis on going deeper in your spiritual life, growing in spiritual things, but maybe we need to take a look at the very simple and concrete aspects of our lives.  Such as how we take care of ourselves, relationships with others, how we interact with others at work or with our families at home, and even the way we think.

I think, therefore it may not always be true.

According to Don Miller’s blog, the Mentoring Project is live. The mentoring project from what I understand is a project to make a difference in the lives of young people by providing them with a mentor to coach them through life.  They are accepting donations on their donation page.  I don’t as of yet quite know how they will be spending the money the collect, or how or where the program will operate, but I’ll follow up with more information when it becomes available.

From Don Miller’s comment:

I have had innumerable mentors, from David Gentiles, who Blue Like Jazz was dedicated to, to John MacMurray who cowrote To Own a Dragon with me, and about fifteen more between. I strongly believe, without these men, I would probably be in prison. I was already breaking into houses when I was in junior high. David Gentiles gave me a guest writing gig in the youth-group newsletter, and from there I chose a life working with words. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the mentors in my life. Thanks.

Wow, this guy sure can relate to Joe The Plumber.  Remember the time Joe got locked inside a car shaped liked a pumpkin?

<embed src=”http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowScriptAccess=”always” wmode=”transparent” width=”400″ height=”355″ flashvars=”file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/88574/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/ABANDONDED_MCCAIN_article.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=John%20McCain%20Accidentally%20Left%20On%20Campaign%20Bus%20Overnight”></embed><br/><a href=”http://www.theonion.com/content/video/john_mccain_accidentally_left_on?utm_source=embedded_video”>John McCain Accidentally Left On Campaign Bus Overnight</a>

I thought I should mention this aspect of the current state of the economy:

“…believe there is a link between the increases in violence and the financial problems due to the slowing economy.”  Read More

Lately we’ve been talking a lot about bailouts, and the impact on corporate america, but we shouldn’t forget the impact the state of the economy has on the homes of our families.

On my personal blog the most popular page on the site is a post of Rob Bell Quotes. People either love him, hate him, disagree with him, totally agree with him, or could really care less.  Either way, I just love some of the emotional comments I get on the post.  One quote, or rather a story I like from Velvet Elvis is when Rob comments about the jewish rabbi tradition.

Often the story of when Jesus called the disciples to follow him is seen as some kind of tough sacrificial act on the part of the disciples.  We think and teach that to them it was a hard decision to make, to leave their family, their homes, their jobs to follow some stranger who approached them on the shore beside the Sea of Galilee.  However, to them in their historical context it was probably more like winning the lottery.

Rabbis who taught the Torah were the most respected members of the community.  They were the best of the best, the smartest students who knew the text inside and out.  Not everybody could be a rabbi.

 

By age ten, students had begun to sort themselves out.  Some would demonstrate natural abilities with the Scriptures and distance themselves from the others.  These students went on to the next level of eduction, which was called Bet Talmud (“House of Learning”) and lasted until sometime around the age of fourteen.

 

Students who didn’t continue their education would continue learning the family trade if your family made sandals or wine or were farmers, you would apprentice with your parents and extend family as you learned the family trade in anticipation of carrying it on someday and passing it down to the next generation.

The higher level students would continue their eduction and later apply to follow a rabbi.

…If the rabbi decided that this kid did not have what it took, if this student was not the best of the best, then he would send the student home.   He might say, “You obviously love God and know the Torah, but you do not have what it takes to be one of my talmidim.” And then he might add, “Go home and continue learning the family business.”

 

But if the rabbi believed that this kid di have what it took, he would say, “Come, follow me.”

This story made Yahoo! News.  The Ontario Provincial Police are warning the public about prank scary calls that are really just movie promo calls from the new Saw V movie.  We thought that we also should warn you as well, being that Halloween is quickly coming, and that you should be the first to scare your friends.