It’s that time again — random linkage on a non-random day. Actually, the linkage isn’t entirely random… that’d make it far less interesting. Or more, you never know.

In keeping with tradition (far be it from me to break tradition), I open with a few tidbits of what passes for humour in some circles.

• A gorilla walks into a bar and orders a cold one. The bartender serves it to him and says “that’ll be $10. You know, we don’t get many gorillas ’round these parts.” The gorilla nods, and replies, “I’m not surprised, at these prices.”

• A duck walks into a bar — the bartender looks at him and says, “Hey, buddy, your pants are down…”

• René Descartes walks into a bar, and the bartender asks, “Would you like a beer?” Descartes responds, “I think not” — and POOF! he vanishes…

Think about it. Or not…

Alright, to the links!

Welcome to the blogk: two old hand take up joint-blogging together. “sub•text is a discussion on the preaching and practice of the gospel in the suburban context”, by Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn. You might start with Joe Thorn’s The Missional Summary.

1. “God is the Interesting Thing…” — Evelyn Underhill
2. Who is the Most Mediocre Canadian? I think I’m more mediocre than Jordon Cooper, who wins awards for Canadian blogging. I don’t even know if it’s an honour just to be nominated… it’s never happened to me. I figure the winner will be the person with the best apology for winning. We’re a self-deprecating lot, when necessary. We wouldn’t want to go undeprecated, but we’ll still be mad at you if you beat us to it.
3. Scot McKnight hosts a conversation on journaling, riffing slightly on Helen Cepero’s book, Journaling as a Spiritual Practice: Encountering God Through Attentive Writing. I don’t journal, I blog–which is similar, but not the same since (for me) it limits the subject matter and depth of personal thoughts. For those that do, I’m interested in your thoughts as well… but here’s a question for anyone who both journals and blogs: what difference do you find between the two if you imagine them both as spiritual habits or practices?
4. Love that new Batmobile and have a penchant for PC mods? You’ll have to win the ebay auction first, but this may be just your thing.
5. Why Does Swiss Cheese Have Holes?
6. Gay Man Files $70M Suit Against Bible Publishers Over ‘Homosexual’ Verses
7. Scot McKnight recommends Helmut Thielicke’s excellent little book, A Little Exercise for Young Theologians, and applies it to blogging by extracting some sage advice.
8. Later….when Peter had a chance to talk to the other disciples
9. Jones vs. Driscoll: Chad Hall reviews the latest books by Tony Jones and Mark Driscoll… and pans them both pretty badly — one is overblown, the other is insignificant. Tony Jones responds.
10. TSK on short-term mission & money
11. Great post by Milton Brasher-Cunningham on Billy Joel, grading, and grace. And muffins. Outstanding.
12. I asked this question, “Is There An Emerging Systematic Theology?” and it seems to have resonated somewhat. Raffi Shahinian offers a different view than Brad Sargent and Jonathan Brink.
13. Dan Kimball is up at night with a perplexing question about gay marriage
14. Someone at The Economist has a sense of humour.
15. If the church got to put their own unspoken fine print into the Bible, what would it look like? Michael Spencer knows.
16. Noah keeps a blog…
    

    Day 35
    Here’s an item from the “you-learn-something-every-day” category: Hippo lovemaking is very, very noisy. Haven’t slept in five days.
    P.S. I counted every knot in the cypress wood of the ship: 12,946.

    Day 39
    Somehow Ham keeps winning at UNO. Does he have a secret stash of Draw 4’s?
    Correction: Earlier I wrote that the wood of our ship has 12,946 knots. However, I forgot to include the cover on the top deck. I included that, then recounted the entire thing three more times, just to be sure.
    We have 14,598 knots.

    Day 45
    Okay, so when God said he would make it rain forty days and forty nights, I assumed that we would be done after that. Apparently I was wrong.

17. Speaking of Noah, the KJV-only crowd should take note of a discovery on Mt. Ararat.
18. People react to the Christians Confess website… more powerful stuff than one might first imagine. Maybe it’s important….
19. Are these guys nuts, or did they just fail to read the fine print in the Bible that says not to take that stuff too far? The “Bold As Love” Initiative intends for a church community to give away 60% of their take offering and make do on the other 40% for their own ministries. Well, People Are Talking… like Bill Kinnon and Michael Spencer. My CLB went from 0% to a tithe of 10% of their offerings to missions, many moons back. The percentage was increased somewhere near 30% or more with hopes of hitting 50% someday. I don’t know what the percentage is now, just that somewhere along the way they began redefining certain staff positions and travel expenses to be “outward-focused” so they could tap into the unspent dollars in the missions budget. Right idea, but the execution can be tough.
20. Brad Sargent continues: Recovery from Spiritual Abuse – Part 3C: Power Addiction is Like Porn
21. No, It Really Isn’t Funny unless you’re a satirist, but Christian satire is like shooting fish in a barrel. Say outta them “Christian stores.”

Well, there you go. </linkage>

;^)

“POOF! — he vanishes…” I love that one. Descartes. See, Descartes was the French philosopher who said, “I think, therefore I am.” Never mind, jokes aren’t meant to be explained.

Alright, one for the road:

A duck that walks into a bar and sits down on a stool. The bartender asks, “Can I help you”?
The duck replies, “Quack-quack, got any raisins?”
The bartender says, “No! This is a bar, we don’t sell raisins.”
The duck leaves, but comes back the next day and sits on the same stool. The bartender asks again, “Can I help you?”
The duck replies, “Quack-quack, got any raisins?”
The bartender says, “No! This is a bar, we don’t sell raisins.”
The duck hops down from the stool and leaves.
The next day, the duck returns and sits on the same stool. The bartender approaches him again and asks, “Can I help you?”
“Quack-quack,” answers the duck. “Got any raisins?”
The bartender is getting annoyed. “NO!” he thunders, “and if you come back and ask for raisins once more, I’m going to nail your feet to the floor!”
“Okay,” says the duck, and leaves.
The next day, the duck peeks in the door and calls to the bartender, “Quack-quack, got any nails?”
“No,” replies the bartender.
“Good,” says the duck, walking up to his usual bar stool. “You got any raisins?”