Surprised by Hope

On Saturday, my wife needed to do some research so we dropped off the boy at his grandparents for a few hours and went down to the Nashville Public Library. It was the perfect place to enjoy and finish up N.T. Wright's Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.

There is nothing I could say in this post to describe the gist of Wright's thinking. Every paragraph carries a big punch of theology. However, I did come away from the book with a refreshing set of thoughts on the subject of eschatology. I have not really done an in-depth study on death and what might happen to a person when he or she dies, and I'll admit I still haven't after reading Wright's book. Still, I feel like his book was a solid foundation to build on for more study on the topic. The way he presents his argument is phenomenal. It would take me years to even be at a point to dispute any of his research and thinking on life after death.

N.T. Wright certainly ranks among the brightest theological minds today. As a friend of mine says, "C.S. Lewis is a brilliant writer and good theologian while N.T. Wright is a brilliant theologian and a good writer."

Dave Ramsey: Butt Scratchin' & Bass Fishin'

My post on June 12, was highlighting Dave Ramsey as a part of a four person panel on Larry King, discussing the state of our economy. If you happened to watch that particular show, and stuck with it through the panel discussions, you would have then seen Ben Stein in a discussion with a Harvard instructor (I forget who exactly) continuing the discussion of our current economy.

Now, I enjoyed Ben Stein's take in his documentary Expelled, but I am not a fan on his view of taxing the rich. If I recall correctly, he essentially argued that "the rich" should be taxed more in order to give to those who are less fortunate. I agree that the rich have an obligation to give, but only from the basis of my own views of Christianity. I don't think they should be obligated by government influence. I would be interested in hearing more about Stein's thoughts on this subject considering he is Jewish, because when it comes to giving to the poor or stimulating the economy, I wonder if the difference of opinion lies as a result of our religious background. Any Jewish readers care to comment? I sincerely would like to know. It may just be a personal opinion of Stein which is interesting considering he is wealthy too. If he think we should give more simply from a numbers game based on a flat percentage, then I can agree with him, but if the rich get a bigger percentage, I don't think it is right. For example, If everyone pays taxes at 10% then it makes sense that the rich give more money. That's how the numbers work, but I didn't get the impression that was what Stein was arguing.

Anyway, I say all of this because Dave Ramsey went on a rant during his radio show the other day addressing this issue of taxing the rich. I for one agree with Dave's take - don't! I am not wealthy compared to other Americans, namely Dave or Ben, but I don't think it is the government's job to determine who gives more or less depending on how much they make. Having said all of that, here is the transcript of a story Dave wrote that addresses this issue. He read it on the show. I liked it. What are your thoughts?

"Butt Scratching and Bass Fishing"

You can also read a good thread about people's reactions at MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com*


* Full disclosure: I work for Dave.

A New Game of Wii Chase

When I walk in the door at the end of the day my 2 year old will walk up to me, shrug his shoulders, squint his eyes, smile from ear to ear, and say one of two words in a sweet little beggar's voice. What are the two words?

1. Chase: My son really likes to play chase. We have no rules. We just run around the house. It's not even tag. No one counts. Sometimes we hide sometimes we don't. We just run and he thinks it is a blast.
   
   
2. Wii: We recently bought Wii Fit and he is fascinated with watching us play it. He doesn't care to play but he likes to choose which game we play. Actually, let me clarify. He likes watching me play. He can't stand it when my wife plays. I have no idea why. Maybe he thinks I need the exercise more.
   

Well, this morning I woke up at 5:30 to exercise and decided to do so with the Wii Fit. As I was working out, my son woke up when I had about 10 minutes remaining in my workout. So, I brought him downstairs and combined two of his favorite things, Wii and Chase.

I started up the "Free Run" and ran for 10 minutes. Instead of running in place, I decided to just start running through the house. It was nearly more than my son could handle. The Wii was on and daddy was playing chase at the same time. I'm pretty sure he got more of a work out than me.

That's my Wii little story. What's yours?

Love is the Killer App

Recently, I've watched several videos of Tim Sanders, the Chief Solutions Officer of Yahoo! They are pretty inspiring. So, I finally got around to reading one of his books, Love is the Killer App.

The book is a quick and easy read packed with a lot of good stuff. The basis of the book is to help you succeed in business by becoming a "lovecat". He then narrows his focus on how to become a lovecat through gaining knowledge, building a network, and showing compassion.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on "Knowledge". Basically, it was 50 pages of why & how you should be reading a long with what you should be reading. If you aren't reading a lot right now, Tim Sanders does a great job of convincing you that you should. If you want to get anywhere, you have to be a reader. In fact, Sanders says "Don't let a guy like me, get a step up on you." He is referring to the knowledge he gains from reading. He atrributes a lot of his success to books and implies that if everyone else was reading like he was, he might not be the same success. It made me think.

Seth Godin Comments on Amazon's Kindle

So, you know a few weeks ago I talked about the new Amazon Kindle that came out? You do remember, right? No? Argh . . . here it is.

Anyway, I was checking out Seth Godin's blog this morning and he provided several of his random thoughts on this new device. So let me sum up his thoughts.

If you are a woman who has thousands of books you never use and feel bad not finishing a book that is no good, but want to save money on purchasing books from a smaller pool of writers, then the Kindle is perfect for you.

Okay, that doesn't sound as good as his post. Maybe you should just read Godin's thoughts.

Dust Jackets

Whenever I buy a hardcover book, I always struggle between whether to keep the dust jacket on or off. Most of the time it annoys me. It slips off, it gets torn, it accidentally gets put on upside down, and it mostly just frustrates me. However, I do like the look of some dust jackets. They really do get my attention and cause me to want to read more with a few exceptions.

Right now I am in the middle of reading Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, and last night as I was reading I came across the following tip.

"Tip: Hardbacks come covered with dust jackets. Don't take that jacket off. Let the design keep you interested in the book. More important, the colors, the images, and the words will help elicit feedback from others. If you carry around a plain cloth book, few people will ask you what you're reading. If you're holding a book with a flashy jacket, someone will probably wonder about it, giving you the opportunity to share your thoughts and helping you learn to express the book's kernel. You own the theory best when you can fully communicate it to others."

So, I now have the answer to my dilemma. However, I do think it is interesting that Sanders tells his readers to always buy hardbacks yet, Love is the Killer App is a paperback. Oh well.

What do you do with dust jackets? Do you leave them on or take them off?

The Singing Salesman, Part II

Do you remember the singing salesman that performed on Britain's Got Talent last year? His name was Paul Potts and he was phenomenal. I posted about it last year. Why am I telling you this?

Well, it appears that American television has done it again and placed themselves as second in line while playing follow the leader to Britain television. Last night America's Got Talent had Neal Boyd (a professional singer), another overweight salesman, singing the same song Nessum Dorma. Not only have they copied the show, they even copied the acts. Unbelievable, I say. The only thing that was different is the fact that Jerry Springer's commentary made me laugh. Here's the clip.



Now, I have nothing against Neal. He is a great singer but there just seems to be something wrong with this picture. Nonetheless, here is Paul Potts again. It's fun to try and sync them.

Old McDonald wasn't a dancer

My son loves music. He loves to dance. To bad he got my dancing genes. Below is a video his aunt Julie took. Enjoy.

Carnton Plantation

This past Saturday morning my wife and I took some time to go and tour Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN. We have lived in Franklin for several years now but we've yet to visit this historical site. My wife had a project for school that required her to visit a historical place, and since I was in the process of reading The Widow of The South which was set at Carnton it was perfect timing for our visit.

Carnton Plantation became a field hospital during the U.S. Civil War at The Battle of Franklin. The battle was one of the deadliest and bloodiest battles of the entire war. It even carried the nickname, "Gettysburg of the West". The battle was fought at night and in a period of 5 hours. There were over 9,000 casualties. More men fell on this day than on the invasion of Normandy in WWII. The plantation was packed with wounded and dying men and boys. Every room was filled with wounded. It got to the point where even men were laid out in the yard. Keep in mind the battle took place on November 30, 1864. It was cold.

There were a lot of things about the tour that I learned but there are two things I want to share in particular. First, we made our way upstairs to the guest room as our tour guide told us all about the room. She then looked over at my feet and said, "you can even see the blood stains left by the wounded where you are standing." I looked down and sure enough - there it was. Then as we walked around the house it became eerie as we saw stain after stain.

Second, a good friend of mine who is a part of the Franklin Civil War Round Table, went with us and recommended that we take the tour with Michelle. Now, I can't say anything about the other tour guides but Michelle was incredible. It didn't take long to see her passion for history. Her love for the story played out in her tone and energy. It was one of the best tours that I can remember taking in a long time. She ended the tour with showing us the book that Carrie McGavock kept. It contained all of the names of those who died at Carnton and where they were buried in in the cemetery next to the home. Michelle shared a few stories about Carrie and how she became known as the "Widow of the South". The stories Michelle shared and the way she shared them brought tears to everyone in the group. It was simply inspiring.

I recommend that you take the tour of Carnton. It is well worth the trip. In fact, if you'll plan to go in the next several days, you can see the pistol and kepi of General Patrick Cleburne (Stonewall of the West) on display. Cleburne was one of the four generals of the Confederacy that were killed in the battle - something that was rare. This is the first time the pistol and kepi have been together since the battle. The story of the pistol's travels in the last 100 plus years is fascinating. You can read about the story here.

Widow of the South

This weekend I was able to finally finish The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. For some reason (well several actually) I've not had the opportunity to read as much over the last 2 weeks. This book is a historical fiction book based on real people during the time of the U.S. Civil War. So, whenever I tried to pick up where I left off it took me awhile to get back into it.

Anyway, the story is set in Franklin, TN, and begins just prior to Confederate solders attacking the Union lines. The story is told from the perspective of several characters. The main character of the book is Carrie McGavock, who lived at the Carnton Plantation. The story follows her service to the soldiers as the Confederacy took over her home as one of the field hospitals for what was the deadliest and bloodiest battle of the entire war.

I have a really hard time with this kind of fiction. I am a stickler for details, so I didn't like not knowing where poetic license was used. However, had I never read anything about the Battle of Franklin this story would have peaked my interest to learn more. It really does do a good job of describing life during that time, especially life that took place post-war.

If you prefer fiction over history and you don't know much about the Battle of Franklin, I think you should read this story.

Why a cappella?

As many of you know, I grew up in attending worhsip in churches of Christ. One of the most identifying traits about a Church of Christ is the fact that they sing a cappella - without musical instruments. Over the years, members have debated the theological significance and scriptural authority of whether using instruments is right or wrong. The debates have been exhausting.

"The early church did it without instruments, we shouldn't use instruments either."

"Making melody in your heart, does not require a piano."

So, for a moment let's move past the theological nature of this discussion and just think about the practice itself. It's simple. It's easy. Sometimes it sounds better than instrumental worship. Sometimes it would make a dog howl. But today, I realized why this tradition will not change anytime soon. It all boils down to ROI on time spent in preparation each week for services. To understand my point, you need to see the video below.



Instead of spending hours of planning, rehearsal, and a lot of people putting on a production like this, CofC members can usually take 1 or 2 people and give you the same quality with only 5 minutes of planning..

Dave Ramsey on panel for Larry King

Dave Ramsey was on Larry King last night discussing the state of our economy and gas prices. He was on a panel with 3 other financial authors. I enjoyed the piece a lot because over all it was very positive. All the panelists did a great job of describing what was actually going on. High gas prices are not destroying the economy and real estate isn't as bad as the media says it is. It was refreshing to me. Watch the clip.

Funny Stupid Tax Story

A fellow coworker at Dave's has one of the most ironic stupid tax stories I've heard. Check out Troy's story. I thought it was funny enough to share.

Dave Ramsey On Good Morning America

If you missed it yesterday, you can watch Dave Ramsey's interview on ABC's Good Morning America. He and Clark Howard were both on together discussing the price of gas. Watch it.

Scooter bullet points

This will be the third summer now that my wife and I have had our scooters. However, this summer, I am beginning to see a lot more of them out on the road, especially in Franklin. I think gas prices are definitely encouraging this new fad. Riding the Natchez Trace and back roads of Williamson County are a blast.

I have a lot of people ask me about our scooters so I wanted to provide some bullet points to help people answer their questions and encourage more people to get one.

• We have a 2005 & 2006 Yamaha Vino 125
• Top speed is between 50-55 mph (varies by weight of driver)
• Holds 1.2 gallons of fuel and gets about 70-90 mpg. I usually only fill up once a week.
  
• Insurance is like $10 a month.
• 125cc engine: Weighs 250 lbs.
  
• It is NOT interstate legal.
• In TN you have to have a Motorcycle endorsement.
• I feel safer in traffic on this than I would a bicycle. I can always keep up with traffic in town. Sometimes out on highways, I may fall behind traffic a little.
• It is a 4-stroke engine so there is no mixing gas and oil.
• Price ranges on scooters for a 125cc are from a $1000 (Chinese models) to $6000 (Vespa/European models).
• Automatic - Actually it doesn't even have multiple gears. It's just gas and go.
• No emissions testing required.
  

Why not a motorcycle? I would love to have one and I enjoy them a lot too. The difference is that insurance is more expensive. Also, I can get around a lot faster and easier in heavy traffic with the scooter.

All done!

Our 2 year old son learned quickly about the phrase "all done." When he finishes his dinner he says "all done!" (that doesn't mean he ate everything). When he washes his hands or takes a bath, he lets us know that he is "all done." When ever we get ready to leave a store it's "all done."

Well, he uses this statement for a lot of things but the other day my wife said he woke up from his afternoon nap, looked around, and said "all done."

It made me laugh.

Teamwork

This morning in our devotional we touched on the topic of unity and teamwork. Here is an entertaining video we watched.

New 'Ask Dave' Look and Feel

It always feels good to wrap up a project (even if it's only the first phase). The development team that I work closely with just finished yesterday, rolling out a new look and feel to the "Ask Dave" portion of Dave Ramsey's subscription based Web site My Total Money Makeover. The usability of the old page was simply horrid and was still functioning like a page you would expect to see from the 90's.

However, the redesign is sweet. The developers and graphic artist made this tool an absolutely incredible resource for the Dave Ramsey fan or for the person with financial questions who has no idea what do with the mess they are in. There are a ton of calls and answers from The Dave Ramsey Show archived so that you can search, browse, read, and listen to. The pages and audio load quickly and you can get through a lot of information very quickly. Plus it's always pretty fun to listen to Dave lay into people who are...well..."not the sharpest tool in the shed." The Ask Dave section is like a Cliff Notes version for Financial Peace University.

If you haven't tried our My Total Money Makeover, there is a free trial. I'm not going to sell you on it because you can learn about it over there. I just wanted to post and brag on our boys for a job well done. Way to go fellas! Why not enjoy some screen shots?

The New Ask Dave

The Old Ask Dave