Category: Uncategorized

Still processing through the book “The Shallows” by Nicholas Carr. I recommend it for parents, teachers, youth pastors, pastors, professors, and anyone who may want to care for their own mind and the minds of others. It contains valuable insights into the human brain, and how it is being quickly rewired in ways that we would benefit from paying attention to.

Especially as a parent, I want to raise my daughters in such a way that they know things. Not just facts and figures, but actually know a subject, as opposed to simply knowing how to find what is known about it. One chapter in the book dives deep into the shallow and complex world of Google. Up until reading much of this, I’d assumed Google was simply another internet company, aiming to make money while doing whatever work it does toward new technology in the meantime.

As it turns out, there is far more going on in the Google empire. Carr gives many examples and quotes from Google’s own top dogs, that boil down to this:

“In Google’s view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can, and should, be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can distill their gist, the more productive we can become as thinkers. Anything that stands in the way of the speedy collection, dissection, and transmission of data is a threat not only to Google’s business but to the new utopia of cognitive efficiency it aims to construct on the Internet.”

“The last thing the company wants is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. Google is, quite literally, in the business of distraction.”

The god that Google has created out of “efficiency” leads to sacrifices. As they continue to grow, and achieve goals such as digitizing the texts of countless numbers of books, they encourage compartmentalizing cohesive thought, and deep meditation on single works becomes increasingly rare. Instead of carving out time to sit in quiet, and turning pages, I can merely click a button to get a snippet from a book – surrounded by advertising appropriate to my previous searches or the book I’m currently dissecting.

In the meantime, I recognize the giant amount of irony in quoting passages that point a finger at Google for dissecting books for selfish purposes. Added to that, the fact that most of my 20 or so readers every day find my page by clicking through Google. So smile at how silly I am.

Today I’m reachin’ back to Addie when she was a bit younger.  Remember, “mimi” means “bye bye”, and “oh” means “yes”….and, well….here ya’ go….

You don’t have to look very far to find a topic that polarizes these days. Lately, it seems the one topic I’ve heard/seen people talk vehemently about….is the issue of whether or not a mosque should be built so close to where the tragedy on September 11th, 2001 happened.  Just click the links in the previous sentence and you’ll see the latest stories, filled with intense drama and effort in both directions.

For most of us, it doesn’t quite matter what we think.  You don’t have a national “vote” to make a decision like this.  So whatever side we fall on…we give our opinion, and walk forward into whatever comes next.  But in how we state our opinion, much can be said about who we are.

It seems to me like an issue that should not have been made such an issue.  So much time and energy has been wasted, relationships have been broken, and hate has been spewed, all between several religions who claim peace and love as highly important.

I can’t speak to the Muslim side of things.  I’ve heard accusations of different reasons they may be motivated to build such a building on that location.  So let’s say it’s true.  Let’s say somehow this Muslim community IS connected to the terrorist group that was behind the attacks on 9/11.  Let’s say they wanna build a giant building with a sign that points at “Ground Zero” and says..”Boo Yah”.  ( I don’t believe this is the case at all.)

Even with that, I believe I can speak to the Christian approach.  I believe we are called in many places throughout scripture to live and respond prophetically to the events happening all around us.  (Luke 12:56)  Not that God wants us to make predictions and see if they come true, but that God desires those who follow Him to respond to current events from the perspective of  New Creation, and the Kingdom of God that is, and is to come.

What does that mean?  We understand that by reading the rest of Luke 12 leading up to those verses.  Jesus is talking about letting go of possessions.  About giving things away.  About not storing up treasures on earth.  Reminding us that where we invest our time, money, and energy; there our “center” will be.  That we should “consider the lilies”, not just as inspirational decoration choices – but as a reminder not to allow worry over temporal things to have such a hold on our lives.

I’ve heard many loving followers of Jesus who oppose building on the basis of “showing love, respect, and honor to those who suffered in 9/11”.  I can understand that desire, but I do not believe Christ calls us to reinforce anxiety over possessions out of Love for those who suffer.  I’ll finish with a quote:

“..the new kingdom didn’t look like they had thought it would…No violence, no hatred of enemies, no anxious protection of land and property against the pagan hordes…Rather, a glad and unworried trust in the creator God, whose kingdom is now at last starting to arrive, leading to a glad and generous heart toward other people, even those who are technically “enemies.” ” – NT Wright, “After You Believe”