John Frye is a must read. So is #2 in the series.
Impossible. It got me. (HT: Hamo)
Andrew Perriman has a good post on characteristics of an emerging theology. (HT: TSK)

Br. Maynard reflects on his emerging understanding of communion and kids. I recommend this piece as something to store.
Good, and serious, conversation at Dan Kimball.
Don’t know if you watch CNN, but my favorite curmudgeon, who usually makes a lot of sense, is Jack Cafferty.
Sure beats normal fireworks: God’s fireworks. (HT: Karen Spears Zacharias)
1. Marko links to a bad video of rap. Besides bungling the order of OT events, what did you think?
2. To whom does a Christian church rents its facilities? Check out the lively dialogue at Hamo.
3. A historian claims most of us descend from royalty. Rather than investigate, I’ll imagine both who is my ancestor and who is not.
4. Don Johnson on coming home after a trip away. Nice thoughts.
5. Tim King, a recent grad from NPU, was photographed in Seattle while reading Camus and it ended up in The Seattle Times. You may have to click “next” to get to the picture, and if you do, you’ll see what happens to those who spend much time reading Camus!
6. Is your heart in the upgrade?
7. Work unplugged: Marnie Hunter’s article on vacations has a basic rule: leave work in body, heart, and soul.
8. Population problems in Europe and Japan, and USA nearing 300 million.
9. Dan Kimball’s got a wonderful piece on Willow Creek’s Axis service. The concluding prayer is vintage Dan Kimball, and worthy of emulation; a taste of heaven, I say.
The world is not the world I grew up in. As a 10 year old, I got up at 4:30am, folded newspapers with my father, and then I ventured into the neighborhood for more than an hour delivering newspapers. For a couple of years I took my black Lab, Sam, who sometimes fetched the newspapers I tossed. I then made bacon and eggs in steel skillet with bacon drippings. During the summer, I hopped on my bike and was at the golf course by 7am to play golf until about 3pm. We played “hide and seek” in the neighborhood at night after a game of wiffle ball, which occasionally turned into a fight that was little more than a heated wrestling match. So, when I saw the new book by some English blokes called The Dangerous Book for Boys I said, “Finally, someone who will tell boys how to be boys.” I enjoyed being a boy, I find real resonances with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and I love Penrod, that character created by Booth Tarkington. Not PC, perhaps. I’ll have to find this book.
Which means the recent piece on making sure your kids are studying during the summer needs to be chastened by some fun. Summer is about the only time kids get to be really kids. (By the way, I also don’t believe in AP courses in high school; high school is high school; college is college; 4 years is not enough for college so don’t rush them through.)
Sports:
Are metal bats safe? Again, some youngster is fighting for his life because he was hit by a ball propelled from a metal bat. A hit baseball is dangerous, regardless. But this is simple physics: metal bats are used (1) because they last longer and (2) they are easier to use because they are balanced toward the end more. They are lighter: simply put, then, the kid swings the bat faster and a faster bat speed makes for a faster speed on the ball. Metal bats should be banned. There are more wood bat companies. If it weren’t for the wads of money handed out by metal bat makers to college programs, we’d all be using wooden bats. If you get a chance, defend wood bats. (Plus, the sound.)