My friend Christian is living my dream. After months of hardwork he has brought his own web startup company to the world. SimpleSpark.com, is “cool stuff for your life online”. Or, in other words, it is your one stop shop for find that perfect web app (I can see Justin drooling already). Want a web app related to rss, parenting, beer, calendars, dating, maps, photos, or blogs? Done.

Now granted, I’m a little biased since Christian is a friend of mine, but Simple Spark seems freakin’ sweet. Personally, I like being able to browse the categories to see apps for things I never would have thought of (really, a webapp that specializes in providing reputation and customer feedback systems for businesses and professionals? Who would have thought?). It’s also a great source of ideas for young upstarts like me.

I’m still playing with it, so maybe I’ll add more thoughts later in the comments. Check it out and let me (and Christian) know what you think. I’m pretty sure he’s got RC on his RSS reader.

I’m not sure if Barack Obama can or should be president, but his rhetoric stands in such stark contrast to any other politician in my recent memory that I can’t help but get a little excited. Time will tell. Anyone else counting down to 2008?

What’s the point of Christianity? It’s a question seemingly as eternal as God himself. It’s been asked by people of every gender, age, color, worldview, and religion (or lack thereof) since the carpenter from Nazareth left this world some 2000 years ago. And many answers have risen from this question, some intelligent and thoughtful and some not so. In my own meager way, I will share my own initial thoughts (rough though they may be; I hope to expound on these thoughts later).

Sadly, when I look deep within myself and closely at my walk with Jesus whom I call Christ, the point of Christianity seems pretty weak. I am, by most appearances, a good man. I am kind, honest, and hardworking. I love my wife and son. I try to treat others as I would like to be treated. I have my vices, sure, but nothing that would cause any red-blooded American to look down on me. I’m just your average good guy. And I think that’s the problem.

What is the point of a faith whose adherents are just like everyone else? What is the draw to be part of a community of faith that acts, in many ways, like non-believers but forbids any temporary carnal pleasures? Shouldn’t there be more? Where is the good news in this “gospel”? Is this to what God is really calling me?

When I read the Christian scriptures, I don’t see a God of mediocrity. I see a God, all-powerful, who did not consider such power a thing to be grasped, but made himself to be a servant. I see a God whose simple life, as Jesus, brought good news to the poor, whose touch brought healing and peace, whose actions set the captives free. But not only that, I also see a God who invites me to follow him, to continues his mission of bringing good news, healing, and freedom to the world.

That is the point of Christianity to me, now. If I take five minutes to look outside of my comfortable Seattle condo then I see that the world is a very messy place. I see that young men are being consumed by addiction. I see that women are being abused. I see that violence and crime are eroding my city. I see couples whose relationships are whithering. I see that insatiable appetites are destroying our planet and leaving my peers in bottomless debt. And God, just as he did 2000 years ago, aches to bring good news, healing, and freedom to the world - and we’re all invited to join him.

My wife and I, on one dark and particularly frigid drive home along the PA Turnpike, found a local NPR station playing a program about faith. The topic was interesting (I think it was about Bonhoeffer), the guests were intelligent, and the dialogue was honest. That program, as it turns out, was called Speaking of Faith.

Fast forward two years to last night. It turns out that Speaking of faith now podcasts all of their shows. I subscribed and immediately listened to two programs - one about materialism and morality and the other about globalization and the unexpected rise of religion - while I decorated our Christmas tree. I feel like I don’t have the time or concentration to read lately, so this is a great way to stimulate my brain to new ideas (and posts).

Speaking of Faith come with a very high Ogle recommendation.

IMG_1877.JPG, originally uploaded by Aaron O..

Photo of 66th Ave NE facing east during snowfall.

The first significant snowfall I’ve seen within the city limits. I predict chaos to ensue.

I’ve been thinking about blogging. I think. Somtimes I get a really good idea and I say to myself, “Self, you should blog about that. Hasn’t it been about 13 years since you’ve blogged on RC? Justin’s going to start recruiting for your replacement if you don’t shape up. Oh wait…” So I sit down at my shiny Powerbook with my great idea firmly implanted in my head and the following transpires:

Alrighty, loggin’ in. Doo dee doo. Username… Password… Login button. Go Firefox go! Okay, admin page… Write Post. Cool. Title…… title title title. Hmm. Oh. Huh. Title. This is what the good idea is about. Right, my good idea. My good idea was about… shoot. Let’s try again. My goooooood ideaaaaaa was about……. Lost it. Again. *sigh* I’m going to bed.

So today I’ve decided to bust my cycle. I don’t have anything remotely interesting, educational, or even mildly entertaining to write about but I’m writing anyway! I figure that if I bust my cycle of not blogging then, when I get another good idea, I might actually be able to write about instead of just going to sleep.

Busting your cycle is awesome. Ze would be proud.

If you read all of this, I’m sorry. I’ll refund your money.

I have recently discovered Ze Frank, vlogger extraordinaire and all around creative genius. His video blog, The Show with Ze Frank combines strikingly intelligent ideas with, well, poop jokes. Not for children or the faint of heart, but brilliant nonetheless.

Case and point. From yesterday’s episode:

When you discover some things, you get to name it, like planets. Xena. With other things it’s not so easy. For example, a friend of mine, Gal, discovered something, or at least a lack of something. He discovered that although there are plenty of words in the English language for using a large vocabulary (loquacious, garrulous, voluble), there’s no adjective that means you possess a large vocabulary. Being that he discovered it he figured that he could name it. But what? Vocabulaire? “He quite vocabulaire?” No, Gal had a better idea. He sent the Oxford-English dictionary a letter petitioning them to include the word ‘megagaltastic’. They replied that even though they did not know of any word which means having an extensive vocabulary, having a word named after you is a bit complicated. They need at least five published instances of the word and it needs to stay around for a minimum of five years. So the next time you have to write a paper, Sportsracers, make sure to include the term megagaltastic. We’ve only got five years to go.

So here’s doing my part to invent a word. Justin Baeder is a megagaltastic writer. I have to look up half of the words he writes in the dictionary!

Now let’s see if someone can get that in print.

I was curled up next to my son last night with some Bob Dylan wafting in the air. Political World (Windows Media clip), from 1989’s Oh Mercy, struck me a particularly applicable to America’s current political scene.

We live in a political world,
Love don’t have any place.
We’re living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don’t have a face

We live in a political world,
Icicles hanging down,
Wedding bells ring and angels sing,
clouds cover up the ground.

We live in a political world,
Wisdom is thrown into jail,
It rots in a cell, is misguided as hell
Leaving no one to pick up a trail.

We live in a political world
Where mercy walks the plank,
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank.

We live in a political world
Where courage is a thing of the past
Houses are haunted, children are unwanted
The next day could be your last.

We live in a political world.
The one we can see and can feel
But there’s no one to check, it’s all a stacked deck,
We all know for sure that it’s real.

We live in a political world
In the cities of lonesome fear,
Little by little you turn in the middle
But you’re never why you’re here.

We live in a political world
Under the microscope,
You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there
You always got more than enough rope.

We live in a political world
Turning and a’thrashing about,
As soon as you’re awake, you’re trained to take
What looks like the easy way out.

We live in a political world
Where peace is not welcome at all,
It’s turned away from the door to wander some more
Or put up against the wall.

We live in a political world
Everything is hers or his,
Climb into the frame and shout God’s name
But you’re never sure what it is.