In case I’ve never mentioned it, I’ve been a big Wallace & Gromit fan for years. It just cracks me up, and now my kids love it, too.

This year, a series of short episodes (about 5 minutes each) featuring W&G character Shaun the sheep was created. They’ve been airing on The Disney Channel this month, so my kids and I have been trying to catch them when they’re on. They’ve been a lot of fun, too.

Here’s the first episode:

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were floods of people coming to Little Rock from down south. People were looking for a place to stay. Local hotels were full. People were opening up their homes to strangers. We considered doing the same. We’d just moved back from Alabama and into our new house, literally, a few weeks before the hurricane hit. We had two bedrooms upstairs, where we could put a family up for however long they needed, with their own bathroom. Our kids could temporarily sleep downstairs in our room. But we didn’t. We helped in various ways, including donations of food, clothing, furniture and money. But we never invited anyone to stay in our home.

Nearly two years later, I don’t really remember why we chose not to do so. Having just moved, I suspect we got wrapped up in our own lives and duties, and conveniently forgot about it. And even if we didn’t, we probably found several ways to rationalize why we couldn’t or shouldn’t at that time.

That memory of an opportunity lost came to mind recently when I saw this clip from The Andy Griffith Show. Opie asks Andy and Aunt Bea some tough questions about why they can’t help a neighbor who is about to be evicted and will be without a home. Andy and Bea attempt to justify why they aren’t the ones who to come to his aid, but Opie presses on. Eventually they realize that they have no good reason for not helping him.

Sometimes it’s inconvenient to be Jesus to those around us. It’s usually easier to find a way around it. I guess sometimes we need an Opie there to show us the way.

I received a new “Harding Alumni Digest” email a few minutes ago. There’s a section where they are relaying information about various building projects on campus. In discussing some land along Race Street that is being cleared by the university, I found the following statement:

Buildings that have been removed recently include the bus station, two buildings that were the Race Street Apartments, a house that had served as a real estate office, a pink brick building that was most recently the local Democratic party headquarters, a gun shop with a garage and a mechanic’s shop that was once a filling station.

The school that has recently invited Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to speak, tearing down a Democratic party headquarters… yeah, that seems about right.

Disclaimer: I’m aware that the post title isn’t really accurate. It’s like a Fox News headline, not really describing the truth or reality. Just a little joke on my part.

I was sad to read of the unexpected passing of Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser yesterday. He was a good coach and will certainly be missed in the ACC and in college basketball. He and his team have had a couple of rough years the past two seasons, but things were looking a little brighter for next season. DBR has a good list of articles regarding Prosser’s death.

I rarely watch Hannity & Colmes, but every time I do I can’t help but think that Alan Colmes must really need this job. I can’t think of any other reason why he stays.

Apparently the “angel of death” has taken a feline form in Oscar the creepy death cat. Apparently, he snuggles up to nursing home residents and gives them comfort just before they die. He’s apparently done this to numerous people (25) over the last two years. When he shows up to comfort them, they die within hours. I can only assume the residents no longer want to see this “kitty of death” come near them.

And, I really wish I could do this:

It’s been a long week already. I was trying to get some test product out to a customer by Monday, and thought I was in good shape Friday. Just to make sure, I ended up working from home for about 4 hours on Sunday evening. I came in at 8:30am on Monday, left at 11:30am to work from home (and watch the kids for my wife). At 6:30am Tuesday, I got up from my PC, took a shower, and came to work. Finally, I left work at 10:00am yesterday. It’s been a long time since I put in a 25 hour day. I hope it’s a long time before the next one.

My head is still fuzzy from lack of sleep over the past several days (lack of sleep started on Saturday), but here’s a few things that have been running through my head. No commentary (yet), but just some song lyrics that just keep coming back to me, and a passage from the book I’m reading (although I’ve had little time to read lately.)

From Brett Dennen’s “There Is So Much More”

I wonder how so many can be in so much pain,
while others don’t seem to feel a thing
Then I curse my whiteness
and I get so damn depressed
In a world of suffering,
why should I be so blessed?

From Derek Webb’s “This Too Shall Be Made Right”

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

I also downloaded Todd Agnew’s newest disc Better Questions last night. As with his previous work, I suspect there’ll be some of his lyrics making their home inside my head for a while as well.

And a few quotes from Ronald Sider’s book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Chapter 1):

The rich today can ignore famine because it manifests itself differently than in the past.

“In earlier historical periods, … whole nations … experienced widespread starvation and death. Today the advancement in both national and international distribution systems has concentrated the effects of food scarcity among the world’s poor, wherever they are.”

People with money can always buy food; famine affects only the poor. When food scarcity triples the price of grain imports … middle- and upper-income persons in developing countries continue to eat. But people already devoting 60 to 80 percent of their income to food simply eat less and die sooner. Death usually results from diseases that underfed bodies cannot resist.

Over two hundred million U.S. citizens were consuming enough food (partly because of high consumption of grain-fed livestock) to feed over one billion people in the poor countries. Oxford economist Donald Hay has pointed out that a mere 2 percent of the world’s grain harvest would be enough, if shared, to erase the problem of hunger and malnutrition around the world!

This is how famine has been redefined, or rather, redistributed! It no longer inconveniences the rich and powerful. It strikes only the poor and powerless. Since the poor usually die quietly in relative obscurity, the rich of all nations comfortably ignore this kind of famine. But famine - redefined and redistributed - is alive and well. Even in good times, millions and millions of persons go to bed hungry, and children’s brains vegetate and their bodies succumb prematurely to disease.

What will Christians do in this time of swelling affluence and persistent poverty? Will we dare to remember that the God we worship tells us that “whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17)? Will Christians have the courage to seek justice for the poor, even if that means disapproval by affluent neighbors?

Where will you and I stand? With the starving or the overfed? With poor Lazarus or the rich man? Most of the rich countries are at least nominally Christian. What an ironic tragedy that an affluent, “Christian” minority in the world continues to hoard its wealth while hundreds of millions of people hover on the edge of starvation?

I hope to have time to post some thoughts on all of this in the near future…

A friend sent me this video, so I watched it…

…and I couldn’t help but wonder: in his attempt to woo a “fun lovin’ type gal”, which of the following was likely the most damaging?

• the uncontrollable rage
   
• “rummaging through the dumpster for a playboy”
   
• employment at a comic book store
   
• the Kramer-esque fall at the end
   
• other?

Any thoughts?

My 8-year-old daughter is attempting to permanently take over our home computer. Webkinz must be destroyed.

She’s also moved on from the likes of “Dora The Explorer” and such, and now watches Disney programs like “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and the one with Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter.

My 3-year-old son often does whatever she does, so he’s been watching them, too. He can sing the “Suite Life” theme song. And last night he said to me, “Dad, I love Hannah Montana.”

I don’t know what that means, but I hope it’s a good thing.

Anyway, one thing I’ve been planning to write about recently was our decision to leave our church home for another, although I’m not sure this is going to be exactly what I initially intended it to be.

In short, we were not happy there, and despite our initial feelings, we felt that ourselves and this church were just not a good fit. One of the problems both my wife and I had was size - around 5,000 members, 10x our previous church in Alabama as well as our church before that here in Little Rock - which just made it difficult to really feel like part of a family. Another was the decision to build a new campus, which was going to end up costing in the 10’s of millions of dollars. Is it a wise use to spend that kind of money on yourselves? That’s a question many would debate. I was never comfortable with it, and it’s hard to feel at home when you’re uncomfortable.

There are a handful of other reasons we chose to part ways which I won’t detail here. One other motivation for the change, however, had to do with our heritage. Having spent the first 38+ years of my life in Churches of Christ, it certainly felt a little strange to be attending a church that was not of that background. We missed things like weekly communion and, despite my love of music, we missed four-part acappella singing from time to time as well.

This isn’t a perfect analogy, but it was similar to how we felt living in Alabama. There was a lot to like, but eventually we wanted to come back to Arkansas, which will always be home.

Granted, I do not want to be a part of the kind of Churches of Christ I knew growing up. I am glad I was where I was, and I came to faith in those churches. The folks in the church I grew up in were good people who loved the Lord and each other, and I’m thankful for so many of them who helped me grow spiritually in my younger years. But it was also rigid and legalistic in some ways, and at this point in my life I no longer am, nor do I want my children growing up in such an environment.

Still, there is much more that was good in where I’ve come from, and there are churches in my own tradition where I would feel at home. One of those is our new church (where my brother happens to be a shepherd.) We have been visiting them for the last couple of months, and we informed them just this week that we would like to become a part of the family there. We look forward the future and the plans God has for this group of believers. We know many of the people there already - some from having attended other CoC’s with them when we lived here before, others from having visited this same church two years ago when we first moved back, and a few from some other avenue of our lives. And, it’s significantly smaller - probably around 95% smaller - than where we’ve been recently.

But, perhaps more than anything, we wanted to truly feel like we were part of a family, and I don’t think we’ve truly felt that since we left Alabama two years ago this month.

So, that’s a short summary of our move. It’s not the Church of Christ I grew up in, but still it feels like we’re home again, where we belong.

And, I should point out that the people in the pictures on the church’s home page are actual members of the church, not professional models.

First, an off-topic question - why in the world is television programming now overrun with talent contests, mostly involving people with little to zero talent? Can someone please make it stop?

Thank God for USA network. Monk starts a new season tomorrow night. And I’ve enjoyed the first two episodes of their new series Burn Notice as well, and look forward to more of that. Of course, I usually like Jeffrey Donovan, and he’s been very good in this series so far. Those two series will be helpful for the rest of the summer in the absence of Lost and Heroes.

Okay, on to the real topic…

I’ve mentioned Michael McDermott’s music several times in recent months, suggesting that everyone should be listening to his work.

Let me make sure I give a little more time to Josh Ritter as well. I’ve mentioned The Animal Years, which I downloaded several months ago, and it’s one of my top 5 of the year so far. Last night I finally downloaded his previous effort, Hello Starling. Again, outstanding work (and I’ve only listened to it once, but that will change shortly.) He’s one of the best out there along with McDermott. His newest album is due out next month, and I can hardly wait.

So, if you’re not listening to McDermott and Ritter, it’s time you start.

Now.

Until you can get to your local music store or favorite download site, check these out:

I’m serious. Now.

I’ve got a few posts I’m wanting to write, but want to think through them more since they’re of a more serious nature than new music. Anyway, until then…

One of my favorite days of every month now is the day my eMusic downloads refresh. I woke up this morning with 75 new downloads available and it was like all of my problems were solved. Okay, that’s overstating it, but it’s still a little exciting.

I promptly downloaded a couple of albums this morning:

• Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
  I read some reviews of the new Arcade Fire album a couple of months ago. I expected to get it last month, but ended up getting Cary Brothers instead. I’m listening to this right now. Good stuff.
   

• Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers
  I discovered TNP a week or two ago. Wikipedia states that they may have gotten their name from a Jimmy Swaggart quote, where he called music “the new pornography.” Pretty clever. I’ve listened to the clips numerous times and really loved it, so I’m looking forward to hearing the full album shortly.

So, I now have 50 downloads left. I’ll probably get another 4 full albums, and some singles with whatever is left over (if any). Here’s what’s in the queue:

• Control - Pedro the Lion : I’ve kept a couple of PTL selections in my queue for the last couple of months, and have yet to pull the trigger. But, this is probably the month.
   

• The Story and the Song - Between the Trees : I’ve read several reviews of this disc over the last several months. From the clips, I like it, but I’m not sure how much yet. I know I’ll likely get it, it’s just a matter of when.
   
• Hello Starling - Josh Ritter
  I loved The Animal Years, which was one of my early eMusic downloads, and I really like what I hear of this one as well.
   

• God Save The Clientele - The Clientele
  This is another one that I like, but I’m trying to decide if I like it enough to download it.
   

• God Save The Smithereens - The Smithereens
  This has been on my list for a while, and I think I’ve mentioned it before. I’ve been a fan of theirs since the 80’s, but just haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Again, it’s just a matter of when.
   

• Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
  The new Spoon record was released yesterday, and was immediately available on eMusic. I liked my previous Spoon download, Gimme Fiction (and neglected to include it in my mid-year list “also ran’s” a couple of weeks ago), and I really liked what I heard of this new one as well.
   

• Word of Mouth - The Kinks
  I had this on cassette in high school, and always loved it. I’ll definitely be getting this at some point.

I also have several other discs that I’m considering and are probably for next month or beyond, including Storyhill, Old Crow Medicine Show, John Fogerty, Apples in Stereo, Drive-By Truckers, Sufjan Stevens and Fernando Ortega. And, if previous months are any indication, there’s a good chance I’ll find something not on these lists that I’ll end up with in the next week or two.

I’m also looking at some singles from The Kinks (State of Confusion album, also mid-80’s) and former Men At Work frontman Colin Hay (Man @ Work album, which includes some remakes of Men At Work hits).

So, that’s it. That’s the list.

As always, any other suggestions?

Regardless of who won today’s men’s singles final at Wimbledon, history would be made.

For #2 seed Raphael Nadal, he was looking to become the first man in 27 years to win both the French and Wimbledon in the same year. The last time was in 1980 when Bjorn Borg did it.

For #1 Roger Federer, he was trying to win his fifth straight Wimbledon, which also had not been done since 1980. That year, the very same Bjorn Borg’s Wimbledon win over John McEnroe was his fifth straight.

These two had already made history at last year’s French and Wimbledon. In the Open era, never had two players played in the final at the French and then done so again at Wimbledon a few weeks later. Nadal and Federer did that last year. And again this year.

As the telecast on NBC began, they said that the Nadal-Federer rivalry was still waiting for the first “road win.” As I already mentioned, Federer has owned Nadal and the world on grass, having won the previous four titles at Wimbledon, including a win over Nadal last year. And, Nadal has owned Federer and the world on clay, having won three straight French titles, the last two over Federer.

However, today would not be the day for a “road win.” Federer would be the history maker today, winning his fifth consecutive title on Centre Court. Nadal, though, put up a great fight, pushing the champion to five sets before losing. In his post-match comments, Federer was asked about Nadal’s play. Federer stated that he was happy for every title he gets now, because he knows Nadal will eventually be taking them all. That very well may be true. Here’s hoping for a U.S. Open final in September between these two. Maybe a third grand slam final will decide if Roger is still the king, or if Nadal is ready to dethrone him.

Let me say this, though - these two guys are not only the two best tennis players on the men’s tour (by far), but they are also two very nice guys, both extremely gracious in both winning and losing. It’s probably true that the rivalry between the two is made into more than it really is by the media (that’s what they do - they overdo), but still they’re the two best and they’re usually standing at the end of the slams to decide who gets the prize. And that’s why it’s both uncommon and refreshing to see their attitudes towards each other when they play on the sport’s biggest stages.

One last note - while there’s no doubt the women’s game has been better over the last 10 years or so, there’s nothing better anywhere in tennis right now than watching these two in a grand slam final. Today’s match was tennis at it’s finest.

A few other Wimbledon notes…

Venus Williams won the women’s title, her fourth in eight years. That puts her among players who have won at least four Wimbledon titles - Steffi Graf (7), Martina Navratilova (9), and Billie Jean King (6). That’s not bad company at all.

Probably the best women’s match I watched was the Justine Henin-Serena Williams match in the quarterfinals. Henin won in three sets, but it was unclear if Williams was really 100% after a couple of injuries had slowed her down. Still, great match.

Other highlights on the men’s side were a couple of great 5-set matches in the quarterfinals on Friday. First, Novak Djokovic knocked out Marcos Baghdatis in five in an outstanding match. I didn’t remember seeing the 20-year-old Djokovic play before, but having watched a couple of his matches this week, he’s clearly going to be a force to be reckoned with in the coming year as well. I’ve enjoyed several matches involving Baghdatis in the last year or two, and love watching him play. I now feel the same about Djokovic, and I look forward to seeing more of him as well.

The other was a great match in the end, although it was also a major fold by Andy Roddick. Up two sets and a break, Roddick eventually fell to Richard Gasquet in the fifth set. Roddick said he was not yet looking ahead to the next round where Federer awaited the winner, but one has to wonder what caused him to lose his focus in the third. After that, Gasquet caught fire and just outplayed Roddick the remainder of the match. Gasquet has a great backhand and he used it to hit some tremendous winners. It was really a blast to watch.

Overall, this was a pretty good year at Wimbledon, despite all of the ridiculous rain delays during the middle days of the tournament. I was glad to have the opportunity to see a lot of it near the end. Maybe I need to take off for the final days of Wimbledon every year. :)