J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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Archive of "Media" Category
Jesus is my friend
Check out this YouTube classic.
Listen for the lyrics.
Wow…I’m just not sure what to think right now…Renew website
The Renew website will be unveiled soon. Very soon.
Stay tuned.The Books of the Bible
A few weeks ago, the good people at the International Bible Society sent me a new format of the Bible.
At first I was skeptical, but lately I’ve really been digging it.
Someone at IBS caught wind of something I wrote on the blog last August and thought I might be interested in seeing this new product.
It’s called The Books of the Bible, a TNIV translation that reads, well…like a book.
Study Bibles are great (I have a few that I love) but this is the opposite end of the spectrum.
No chapters.
No verses.
No cross references in the center column.
No footnotes provided by scholars.
A single-column reading of the text.
Just the name of the book and the text itself.
Even the books are ordered differently in order to help the reader grasp the breadth and continuity of the entire Story of God and Man. From what I understand, the intention is that the people at IBS want Scripture to read like it did for the original intended readers – like an entire book to be read in one sitting.I’m finding in my time in the mornings that I am reading much more than I did before. Instead of coming to a chapter break and unconsciously feeling as though I am "finished" I find I am caught up into the story much more, that I want to read further, know more.
It’s quite refreshing.I’ve talked with several people that have expressed their desire for Scripture to read more like an exciting novel than an academic textbook.
This might be a helpful tool to move in that direction.In the Shadow of the Moon
Recently Megan and I watched In The Shadow of the Moon.
In the Shadow of the Moon is a documentary that interviews the early astronauts that first walked on the moon in 1969.
With never seen before footage and great interviews, it really gives a good picture of what was running through the hearts and minds of these astronauts, as well as Americans around the country.
The memory of these astronauts is amazing – the amount of detail that they remember some forty years after the first landing on the moon is astounding.I might have enjoyed it a lot more than most, partly because my grandfather was a tour bus driver at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Cannaveral, FL for many many years.
Every new shuttle launch he would send my brother and me stickers of the patches of the mission to space.
We would visit the NASA Space Center often with my grandparents on spring break.
I’ve seen several shuttle launches with my own eyes while Grandpa introduced me to NASA bigwigs.
He even got me a personalized signed copy of astronaut Jim Lovell’s book (Tom Hanks played Lovell in the movie Apollo 13).Even if you are not into space stuff, it’s worth viewing.
There is so much in there about politics, the history of the space program and NASA, American history, creation, risk, courage, human relationships, failure and God’s incredible creativity.
It’s worth renting.What will we miss while we are sleeping?
Casting Crowns’ song While You Were Sleeping is striking and challenging.
Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonightOh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleepingOh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had came
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to saveJerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleepingUnited States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the nightAmerica, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping
Podcasts
I have a regular diet of certain podcasts through iTunes.
They range from the serious to the sublime.News:
CNN’s hourly news update (approx. 3 minutes) - just a quick and simple way to get caught up in what’s happening in the world and around the nation.
Sports:
ESPN Radio’s Daily podcast – ear candy. Just something to have on in the background if I am reading or hanging out.
(I used to subscribe to The Big Show, Dan Patrick’s daily show…it was my favorite until he up and left ESPN…bummer).Misc:
Great Speeches in History - a great collection of speeches that impacted our country (includes speeches such as MLK’s "I Have a Dream," "Television is a Vast Wasteland," Nixon’s famous "Checkers" and resignation speech, JFK’s inaugural speech, Susan B Anthony’s speech on women’s right to vote, etc).
Learn Spanish - I dabble in it and enjoy brushing up on my Spanish vocabulary.Spiritual formation:
Mars Hill/Rob Bell: I subscribe and listen, just like every other Christian under the age of 30.
Mosaic/Erwin McManus: I love hearing Erwin teach. He’s a great influence on me.
Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC)/John Ortberg: JO is one of my favorite teaching pastors – has been for many years dating back to when he was still at Willow Creek.But my favorite podcast I’ve come across is called Pray As You Go, run by a community Jesuits over in England that care deeply about Scripture. Very well done, I might add.
It’s a 10-12 minute daily podcast that is very lectio divina-esque. It’s a great way to start my day driving to work. Meditative, reflective, contemplative. I feel caught up in the tradition of the faith and find that it helps me be saturated in the word on a daily basis.
I recommend it highly. Check it out on iTunes.I’m curious: which podcasts you subscribe/listen to regularly?
Any worth recommending?OVC and Relevant Magazine
My good friend Scott Hackman, who runs the premier, free trade coffee company called One Village Coffee told me that OVC was featured in a recently online article of Relevant Magazine. Check it out here.
Steven Colbert and John 14
Recently I was in Borders where I saw an end cap display for Steven Colbert’s new book (I forget the title at the moment). But the end cap had a lifesize picture of Colbert with that well known smirk on his face pointing to his book and a sign above his head that read: "This is truth. My truth."Now, admittedly Colbert is funny, witty and snarky, so I know the intent of that message is meant to be as such. But I found it interesting and I wondered how much of that was said in a sarcastic way…and how much of it might be partially true in the mind of Colbert -and others. The age of relativity seeps and finds its way into bookstores and onto end cap posters.
As I walked away I wondered about the words of Jesus in John 14: "I am the way the truth and the life…" We replace "the" with "my" all the time in our culture.
What if Jesus had replaced every "the" with "my"?
Would that have changed anything for followers of Jesus?Grace in Images
Check out this video of U2′s song "Grace."
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