whereisjodi.

I've often found myself grateful for a series of lectures I attended years ago put on by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason. His organization exists to train Christians to be better ambassadors in the public square <quoting from memory rather than copying from the website> and I couldn't recommend his materials more highly.

One thing Greg said that always sticks in my mind is how our culture views religion. I can talk til I'm blue in the face about the truth claims of Christianity, but in the end more likely than not I'll be greeted with a polite, if blank stare, as if I'm trying to sell them on nothing more significant than the merits of vanilla ice cream over mint chocolate chip. It's unbelievably frustrating.

An article I read the other day reminded me of the Ice Cream Dilemma -- it was entitled "America's Unfaithful Faithful" and discussed a recent survey about Americans churchgoing habits. Or more accurately, their church-hopping habits. One quote I found fairly disturbing talked about the 'marketability' of religion:

What it says is that this marketplace is highly competitive and that no one can sit on their laurels, because another group out there will make [its tenets] available" for potential converts to try out.

Once again, putting forth the notion that the church and/or religion you choose has more to do with personal preference and response to a slick marketing campaign than with the truth claims of that particular religion.

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My dad owned the first version of the Macintosh computer. I remember it didn't even have a hard drive, you had to save things to a floppy. A few years later my first computer was a Mac laptop that had something like a 250k hard drive. I may be mistaken, but I think that's about one song these days.

Over the past decade I've been fairly well pidgeon-holed into PC's because of the company I worked for and the type of consulting I did. However, I've always had rude remarks for all things Microsoft, and today I'm preparing to break rank. As painful as it always is to plunk down the change for something that goes obsolete the moment you take it out of the box, I'm quite excited. Maybe it's because I've been indoctrinated by too many Mac commercials a la:

Posted by authorjodi at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

PETS at risk of self-harm are increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants because they cannot discuss problems in their lives with others, a leading veterinarian says.

I thought this article was quite funny, and a good way to return to blogging. It's funny how quickly a month can pass once you get out of the habit -- and things have been so far from the routine in my personal life that I haven't been able to work up the energy to blog about my usuals <sex show at a college that removed a cross some thought was offensive, co-ed showers in Maryland, 13-year-old arrested for throwing a pencil, and a brothel in Prague offering free services if you're willing to be filmed for their website>.

Since Christmas I've been in a season I jokingly refer to as payback. Though my parents aren't what you'd strictly call "perfect" and my grandma and aunts always roll their eyes when I refer to their daughter/sister as my sainted mother, I'm thoroughly and completely grateful for the parents God granted me.

Through the months of January and February I've been making small repayments for all those years of care, laundry, pocket money, moral support, meals, dishes and diapers <in no particular order>. Both have had rather significant health crisis' in the past months -- significant enough that I experienced my first real brush with thinking about them as mortals rather than superheroes who would always be around.

There are some real bummers on the road of life, but being forced to recognize your parents' mortality has got to be one of the majors.

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