You always knew the deal was sacrifice
This is a re-post from last year…
I’m taking a break from my usual posting on Internet ministry topics to post about what I believe is the best song ever written for Easter. Now this is not a song you can sing along with (at least not during a worship service, maybe in the car, real loud…), but every time I hear it, it brings the reality of what Jesus did for us 2000 years ago to life. During this Easter season, we need to say it loud and clear: Jesus Christ (God in human form) was born of a virgin and lived on this earth. He lived a perfect life, suffered and died as a sacrifice for our sins. After three days, He rose from the dead, conquering death, ascended to Heaven and will return again. By believing this and accepting this gift from God and not by what we can do ourselves, we will be restored into a relationship with God.
The song? “The Twist” by the Swirling Eddies.
hang on, believe
there’s nothing up my sleeve
i’ve got no magic tricks to save the day
put down the gun
you’re not helping anyone
and i’m not about to run or back away
don’t walk the fence
then come to my defense
i don’t need fair weather kinds of friends around
so watch and pray
as a traitor’s kiss betrays
and rest your feet of clay on shaky ground
and look me in the face, at least what’s left of it
tell me you still love me just a little bit
or nail me down, break the skin
hard enough to do me in
but don’t leave me hanging
dying and dangling
twisting in the wind
here, touch my side
let doubt be crucified
nailed with your wounded pride
to love’s grim altar
here, taste my flesh
my bloody humanness
i am no phantom guest
no skinless martyr
so taste and feel
there’s nothing to conceal
you always knew the deal
as sacrifice
stand up, be strong
when all you’ve got is gone
i left the light turned on in paradise
and when the walls cave in
and the curtain’s torn asunder
you’ll know we’re near the end
you’ll hear me in the thunder
and when the sun grows dim
this will be your sign and wonder
that soon we’ll meet again
just like we did last summer
“I left the light turned on in Paradise…”
I’m taking a break from my usual posting on Internet ministry topics to post about what I believe is the best song ever written for Easter. Now this is not a song you can sing along with (at least not during a worship service, maybe in the car, real loud…), but every time I hear it, it brings the reality of what Jesus did for us 2000 years ago to life. During this Easter season, we need to say it loud and clear: Jesus Christ (God in human form) was born of a virgin and lived on this earth. He lived a perfect life, suffered and died as a sacrifice for our sins. After three days, He rose from the dead, conquering death, ascended to Heaven and will return again. By believing this and accepting this gift from God and not by what we can do ourselves, we will be restored into a relationship with God.
The song? “The Twist” by the Swirling Eddies. › Continue reading
Researcher at UC Irvine to study WoW
I wasn’t going to post again until after the new year, but saw an article in yesterday’s paper (yes, I still read the newspaper, get over it) that questioned the validity of NSF funding going towards researching online gaming. Below is a link to a story from a few months ago about the actual research project which sheds some light on what they are doing. While I don’t want to argue the merits of NSF funding going towards this, I do truly believe that we can learn a lot about Internet ministry by studying how people interact online through games such as World of Warcraft and the “not really a game” Second Life. See my write-ups here and here about this and read the news story below.
UCI tackles ‘World of Warcraft’ mystery
And Happy New Year!
Pew Internet Project: a great resource
As I am working on planning my course in Internet ministry, I am spending quite a bit of time reviewing possible books and other supporting materials. One invaluable resource that I use quite a bit for my own research that I will be using extensively in the course is the work of the Pew Internet and American Life project. As I stated in my last post, it is extremely important for us to understand the users of our Internet ministry resources. If you are interested in understanding how the Internet is being used by Americans (sorry, this resource is US-specific), then you will find the reports issued by this organization extremely useful. Below is a link to their home page, along with links to a few of the most recent reports that relate to Internet ministry. If you find these interesting, I highly recommend subscribing to their RSS feed so you will know when new reports are released. Unfortunately, the last report they did on the use of the Internet for faith-related purposes is now getting quite old (2004) – I hope they will be releasing an update soon!
- Pew Internet and American Life Project home page
- Report on use of podcasting (2008)
- Report on use of video sites (2008)
- Report on “networked families” (2008)
- Report on “faith online” (2004)
Smoked-in in Brea
As many of you know, I live in Brea, California, which is affected by the fires we are having this weekend. Last night, the fires got within a mile or so from our house. We could see flames on the hills near the high school. My six year old son Seth told me “Daddy, if the fire goes away, then God answered my prayer to make it go away.” The picture below was from Saturday afternoon, taken from a hill a couple miles from our house.
This morning, we were going to go to church, but turned around en route because the freeway was closed. The worst of it now is the smoke. If you have ever been in a room where the fireplace was going but someone did not open the flue – that’s what it is like outside right now. My kids are all inside right now watching a movie.
Thanks for all your prayers. If there is anything more to report, I’ll blog it here…
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Welcome to the Lessons From Babel blog
This blog is where I share the latest thoughts on the world of technology and faith. Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment. To find out more about me, my company, and this web site, or to see what resources are available on this site, click on the images right below this.
- Dave Bourgeois
