4 Seminars

This year at Houghton Family Camp I'll be leading 4 one-hour seminars. I am just going to recycle material from my Sunday evening studies and put 4 of them into a 1 hour discussion format. I'd like you to tell me which 4 topics sound the most interesting. Which topics do you think Wesleyan camp-goers would most benefit from hearing?

#1 The Case for Christ (Did Jesus really live/die/rise?)
#2 Doctrine of Heaven (Putting feet to the music)
#3 3 Views on the Fate of the Wicked
#4 Euthanasia (The most complex issue of our day)
#5 What are we to make of Israel?
#6 3 Views of Physical Healing
#7 How do we hear from God?
#8 Are we still to keep the Sabbath?
#9 What are the essential beliefs of Christianity?

Idol #1

Surprisingly to some, David Cook won. More surprising, though, is the fact that he won by 12 million votes. If my math skills still exist, that means he got about 54 million call-in votes compared to 42 million for Disney David. I thought this was a very good season. If there is any talent left in America (and there always is) then next season should be fun too.

Idol #2

So who should finish 2nd? I just watched the final round of American Idol and, I have to say, the answer to that question is really tough. Who chose smarter song choices? David A. Whose songs would I actually like to listen to on a regular basis? David C. Which performer was the most technically perfect? David A. Whose performance and personality was more enjoyable? David C. If the average voter is like me, David C will win. But I have no way of knowing what the average American Idol voter is like. I don't vote. I'm thinking the larger number of actual voters will pick David A, but I'm quite certain that David C will have a more notable career in the music industry. I, for one, look forward to his stuff.

Talk Radio

Last Wednesday I called into a radio show for the first time in my life. I didn't have anything very interesting to say, I just had an urge. I am interested in knowing if any of you ever call-in to radio shows/stations. I plan on calling in to this show more often.

Strange Dream

I have been having very strange dreams lately. This morning, for instance, I remember very clearly receiving an email from a former girlfriend (one that I haven't heard from in years) which said that she just wanted to let me know that some guy in her area was using my blog to teach some type of class. In particular, he was interested in getting the publishing rights to this post (for some odd reason). Just a short little dream, but strange.

I find dreams fascinating. Most often, though, images from a dream are fleeting in the first few moments after I awake. But from time to time there will be a run of a few days in which I remember dreams quite vividly. I'm in one of those right now. The other day I dreamed that Katie & I were walking on a big bridge in Toronto when suddenly there was a giant flood and we barely made if off the bridge before it collapsed.

My theory on dreams is that they are our minds recycling system. All the clutter from the thoughts we've had throughout the day (those thoughts that didn't get adequately processed) flood the mind at night for recycling. Dreams don't often make much sense b/c thoughts on various subjects are combined together. For instance, the earthquake (and possibility of flooding) in China has me worried about my friends in Da Qiao. Da Qiao is chinese for 'Big Bridge.' Since I am thousands of miles from being able to physically help my friends there, my mind could not process my concern. And so I ended up on a 'big bridge' with Katie. Why Toronto? I'm guessing b/c I've been thinking about taking a Megabus trip to Toronto sometime this year.

Should dreams get interpreted? Only if they are from God (and I think that's pretty rare). I don't think they are symbolic in the sense of having a greater meaning that we should discern. I think they might include symbols (the big bridge represented Da Qiao, the flood represented the natural disaster in China, etc), but only by accident (in a sense). You shouldn't interpret the contents of someone's garbage can, but you can, at least, learn about what kinds of things they couldn't put to use.

2 Weeks of Wii

So I've had a Wii for nearly 2 weeks now. I have 3 games: Wii Sports, Carnival Games & Cars Mater-National. I bought Cars Mater-National b/c it sounded like a fun racing game, but I didn't really like it for the 5 minutes I tried playing it. I bought Carnival Games b/c I thought Wii Games was somewhat stupid and CG sounded better. It's better, but it's still not that much fun.

Wii Sports is a completely different story. It's awesome. I like the bowling the best. So far my high score is 236 I believe. My 2nd favorite is the Golf, even though it frustrates me to no end. I was impressed with the details in the pitching part of baseball. I haven't played Tennis much yet, but it is fun. I'm not a fan of the boxing.

I really like that you can download NES, Super NES, N64, Sega, etc games! Making Mii's is also fun. I will probably try to sell/trade Carnival Games & Cars Mater-National. I definitely want to get Deca Sports (which is like Wii Sports except has 10 different games).

'Pastor Matt'

I'm becoming more and more uncomfortable with being called 'pastor matt.' Maybe 'uncomfortable' isn't the right word. I guess I just wish I was called 'Matthew.' But it's a tough issue b/c people have a good heart and are just trying to show respect. I just think knocking down the clergy-laity distinction is worth more than getting the respect. I have to agree with Barth who said "the term 'laity' is one of the worst in the vocabulary of religion and ought to be banished from the Christian conversation." And I agree with Dunn when he said the clergy-laity tradition has done more to undermine New Testament authority than most heresies.

Am I OK with being called 'Pastor Matt?' Sure, it's OK. And I realize that some people would feel very uncomfortable just calling me Matthew b/c they have such a high level of respect of the pastoral role. But I have to say that I much more enjoy being called just plain Matthew. In order, I prefer 1) Matthew 2) Pastor Matthew 3) Pastor Matt 4) PM 5) Master Pat 6) Hey Man 7) Matt