o n t h e t r a c k s

Thursday

Come Holy Spirit

There are several songs by this title, one by Malcolm Fletcher. Here is a text that is very similar in meter to Fletcher's:


Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word
Let me see your glory; Let me see my Lord
only you can change my heart
make in me a brand new start
Come Holy Spirit, Open up your Word

Thursday

The Liberal Baby Bust
What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are manydifferences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle,there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there arenearly 19% more kids than dogs.This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a muchbroader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications forthe future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in aprogressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are peoplein a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives areso much less likely to have children. read more...

Go see a movie...
..on May 19 - that's the recommendation of Barbara Nicolosi. She's suggesting that on the day "Da Vinci code" opens, Christians avoid the tempting alternatives of:
-ignoring the movie (which is like not voting in an election: you're giving the task of shaping the future to others)
-or protesting the movie (which will just drive the box office up by attracting attention)
-or discussing the movie (which is a nice thought if anyone was listening)

So, she says, go see a movie. ANY other movie.

"You'll get a vote, the only vote Hollywood recognizes: The power of cold hard cash laid down on a box officewindow on opening weekend.Use your vote. Don't throw it away. Vote for a movie other than DVC. If enough people do it, the powers that be will notice. They won't have achoice.

"The major studio movie scheduled for release against DVC is the DreamWorks animated feature Over the Hedge. The trailers look fun, and you can take your kids. And your friends. And their friends. In fact, let's all go see it. Let's rock the box office in a way no one expects -- without protests, without boycotts, without arguments, without rancor. Let's show up at the box office ballot box and cast our votes. And buy some popcorn, too."

It's a creative suggestion. The Dreamworks people have gotta love this idea...

Tuesday

Monday

...was a long day. We drove up to Dallas for the memorial service of a baby girl named Kate who only lived 40 days. Kate's parents are in inner city urban ministry in Dallas.

It was hard on all of us to go through but we wanted to be there to provide comfort for the family who are dear friends.

Back in Kingwood today, my energy levels are rather low.

Meanwhile, Tom is back from his trip to SoCal, and so it is fun to both be posting on the ebay atheist again. At one point yesterday, the two of us were responsibile for 7 of the 10 most recent posts. And one of mine got lifted to the front page, where it's already generated over 89 responses. It offered a link to an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle about a self-avowed atheist who writes about joining a Christian Church.

Thursday

Ebay Atheist article in Wall Street Journal

Read the article here. Those of us who are part of this community are bracing for a whole lot more traffic.

Experiences are the best gifts

If you're familiar with the "Languages of Love" books or concepts you know the premise: different people have different "love languages" to which they respond. I am definitely in the experiences camp, and for my 50th birthday, Alicia gave me a great experience:

We spent about 75 minutes at the home of the last living artist from the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".

Gerard Baldwin was the art director of the Jay Ward Studios, is the brother-in-law of a friend, and lives about 5 minutes from our house. Alicia, the kids and I arrived at his home about 6 pm and were met by Gerard at the door, offering us a glass of wine. So we sipped wine and looked around his home at various works of art as he shared stories about the shows on which he worked and the people who worked with him.

And best of all, Mr. Baldwin offered us a framed original work to be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for the annual Gala Fund-raiser's silent auction. The work to be done will have a minimum value of $500 .

Tomorrow night we will be hosting 18 for dinner in the lovely Houston townhome of Bev Mitchell, our dear friend. And I am advised that there are still a few surprises in the works. But our visit with Gerard Baldwin was an experience I will not soon forget.