December 2009 Archives

Pam and I returned to Blockbuster for the first time since 2002. That's how long we've been doing Netflix. We needed to rent a Playstation game for Cameron, my nephew. Can't get those with Netflix.

Cameron: I stood in line for 30 minutes! Just to rent a game. Do you appreciate your uncle, or what?

The experience reaffirmed my membership in--and now, I realize, unbridled devotion to--Netflix. For less than $20 a month, we get 3 videos at a time, with a two-day turnaround, which means we could probably watch 30 videos a month, if we really tried. Plus, we can stream scores of other videos directly to our TV or computer.

The experience today reminded me of the insanity that is Blockbuster:

• Drive to the store, several miles away.
• Search for a parking spot in the terribly inadequate lot.
• Browse the shelves, trying to decide what to rent.
• The number of videos available is a tiny fraction of what you can get on Netflix.
• You end up selecting something that's available, whether or not it's what you really wanted.
• Stand in line for eons.
• High rental cost.
• Drive back to the store to return the videos within 5 days.
• Late fees (no late fees with Netflix).

Considering the convenience of Netflix, how does Blockbuster even stay in business?

Kohls had lots of great sales going today. So while Pam was working, I was spending.

As I grabbed a shirt near the bottom of a stack, a pin stabbed my thumb. Deep. And then it started bleeding...and bleeding...and wouldn't stop. I finally found a wastebasket with some of that flimsy paper they wrap within dress shirts. Wrapped it around my thumb, and the bleeding finally stopped.

Then I went to pay for my items.

The checkout girl asked, "Do you qualify for the senior discount?"

A few hours before, I'd had a good workout at the Y. I felt young, vigorous, and hale. But now...just how old did I look?

"It depends," I responded, "on what age the discount starts." After all, you can join AARP as soon as you turn 50.

"62," the gal said.

I'm 53. But to her, I looked like I could be at least 62.

I decided I didn't like Kohls anymore.

A copy of "Tio Archie," the book I wrote about missionary Archie Cameron, is being sold on ebay for $10. We're pretty much giving away our excess stock. But this one is signed by Archie Cameron. Maybe I'll buy it. Not even I have a copy signed by Archie (who passed away a couple years ago).

I'll be in Honduras in 2 weeks. They hope to release the Spanish edition of "Tio Archie" at that time.

I see a few copies of my Murphy Law cartoon books are also being sold on ebay. Hadn't noticed that before.

(Thanks to Kem Meyer for the photo.)

I went to bed last night disgusted with the Colts. I woke up disgusted. And I'm still disgusted. Disgusted that they sacrificed being a potential history-making team, settling instead for being a team of good-enough.

Coach Jim Caldwell said perfection was never their goal. Well, mission accomplished. Quitter.

The Colts have their eye on becoming the 44th team to win the Super Bowl. Big whup. Winning the Super Bowl is the epitome of the season, but not necessarily something historic. Instead of being 1 of 44, the Colts could have been:

• The 3rd team to end the regular season undefeated.
• The 2nd team to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl.
• The only team to finish with a 19-0 record.

Instead, they settled for being 1 of 44. Nothing special.

Said center Jeff Saturday, when the Indy fans booed: "I don't blame them a bit, man. I probably would have booed, too. I don't blame them. They pay to come see us win games, and we didn't get it done."

Former NFL great Chris Carter pointed out on ESPN that momentum is tough to recapture. The Saints had momentum, but lost it to the Cowboys. The very next week they lost again to Tampa Bay, of all teams.

The Colts commanded amazing momentum, but voluntarily gave it up. Decided it wasn't important. The Colts will probably phone it in this week against the Bills, then have a bye week. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they lose in the first round of the playoffs. The momentum is gone. The extra sense of purpose--of being one of the all-time great teams, a team of destiny--was thrown aside frivolously.

The Patriots went undefeated in 2007 until the Super Bowl. But people will talk about them a long time, as one of only two teams--with the Dolphins--to go undefeated in the regular season. Yes, they lost the final game. But they are still 1 of 2, not 1 of 44. They made history, and they never checked their swing. I hate them, but admire that they went for it.

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi wrote on ESPN:

There aren't many times in your life when you have a chance to do something that has never been done before. When you are faced with a challenge like that, my feeling is that you embrace it and see if you've got what it takes to conquer it.

That's the way we felt in New England. And yes, we lost the Super Bowl, but let me be clear: We lost the Super Bowl because the New York Giants played better than we did that day. It was not because we were tired and needed more rest....

I always thought the off-season was the time for rest....

Here's the reality: Some teams don't just play for championships, they play to be the best there has ever been. Others are just satisfied with doing what's required. The Colts decided that resting is more important than making a run at history. They are telling us that what they have done up to this point in the season is good enough. They are satisfied with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. 19-0? No big deal. History? Didn't want it.

Should the Indianapolis Colts go on to win the Super Bowl, do you celebrate them or wonder: What if they did want it?

Even if the Colts win the Super Bowl, there will be a damper on the season. They could have been one of the all-time great teams. Instead, they settled for being 1 of 44. Way to be. Enjoy your average, nothing special Super Bowl ring.

I also realize that if a starter or two got injured for the rest of the season in what was a non-essential game, I might be writing something different. And yet, I could admire that.

Macworld published an article called "10 Obsolete Technologies to Kill in 2010." Number 1 on the list was Fax machines. It pointed out some silliness I hadn't considered--that FAX documents begin life digitally, get converted to paper, get converted back into digital form for transmission, then get printed out on the receiving end on paper.

For instance: I create a digital Microsoft Word document. I print it out, so I can Fax it. The Fax machine scans the paper, converting it back to digital. It goes over the phone lines, and pops out from a Fax machine as a very low-quality paper document. Someone then types the information from the document back into a computer.

The easier solution: just email it. Keep it digital, and save some trees.

The rest of the list of obsolete technologies:

2. Cigarette lighters in cars. They usually don't have lighters anymore, but serve as electrical outlets. "Almost nobody smokes in their cars. Almost everybody carries phones and gadgets that need power in their cars." So replace this relic from the 1920s with a standard electrical outlet or a USB port.

3. WWW. We don't need those letters at the beginning of web addresses.

4. Business cards. These are becoming obsolete...but not yet.

5. Movie rental stores. Pam and I, as Netflix people, haven't stood in line at a movie store for 8 years. "Standing lin line? For an electronic file? come on!"

6. Home entertainment remotes. We've all got too many of them. The author suggests that apps in mobile phones would work much better.

7. Landline phones. These are obviously on the way out, at least for homes, as people use just their cell phone.

8. Music CDs. They are environmentally unfriendly, fragile, inconvenient, and have no significant advantages over downloaded music files. Everyone should move to an all-digital library.

9. Satellite radio. I didn't agree with the author, who obviously doesn't drive much. I wouldn't want to give up my XM.

10. Redundant registration. You know, providing contact info, username, and password at site after site. People are working on this, but it may be a while.

Here are a few shots from Christmas Eve at the Dennie home. I'm quite aware that my lovely wife, Pam, is not in any of these photos. Please understand that I did take photos of her, but that none would have passed her quality control.

Click on the photo on the left, and a much larger version will appear in a popup window.

	We've had this Christmas tree for around 15 years now.
	I finally cranked up our fireplace on Christmas Eve. The big wreath belonged to Pam's Dad, Chuck, who died two years ago.
	I've always loved manger scenes. Used to rearrange our manger scene all the time as a kid. Pam and I usually add a couple Fontanini pieces each year (we have around 50), but didn't find any this year.
	Pam got me a new, 6 quart crockpot with a clamp-down lid, perfect for church potlucks. Yes, I put this on my Christmas list.
	Jordi loved the smell of these peppermint candies that Pam got me. As if it were catnip.
	Molly, meanwhile, being more discriminating, loved the bona fide catnip which Grandma Barb sent from California. Really perked her up.

Pam and I went over to Mom and Dad's for lunch, and stayed until 7 p.m. We spent several hours playing Rook--me and Dad against Mom and Pam.

Rook, for the unenlightened, is the "Christian" card game. The one we could all play with clear consciences at Huntington University back in the olden days. I remember playing into the early morning hours with Steve Barber, Brad Carpenter, Ray Faber, and other classmates.

As a young married couple in Huntington, Mom and Dad often played Rook with other young marrieds--Marvin and Grace Ann Price, Jim and Joyce Howald, Bob and Fran Myers, Bob and Agnes Baker, and others. Today, they reminisced about some of those games and who usually partnered with who. I realize that one of those "who"s shoulda been a "whom," but this is Christmas, so be charitable.

We play to 500 points, and the maximum you can win in a hand is 180 points. Dad and I burst out of the gates with two 180-point hands. Got up to 470 points, and then let up, going set a few times. But we still prevailed, winning the first game.

But in the second game, Dad and I managed to lose a game to 500 points by 800 points. How is that possible? Mom and Pam ended with 635 points, while Dad and I were more than 200 in the hole.

Then Mom and Pam won game 3. And game 4. But Dad and I salvaged game 5, to end the night a respectable 2-3. Still losers, but at least it wasn't 1-4. That would have been humiliating, as opposed to merely embarrassing.

For his birthday, my brother Rick (that's him above) got tickets to an NFL game--the Arizona Cardinals vs. the Detroit Lions. Rick is a big Cardinals fan. He lived in Phoenix when the Cards moved to Phoenix, and was a season ticketholder for two years. So yeah, he's a big fan.

Detroit? Maybe not his first choice, but the only one available when his wife Dorene was looking for tickets. But turns out it was a very good game.

Rick wrote about the experience on his blog.

Pam with this year's Christmas gifts for Anchor (click photo to enlarge).

This morning, December 20, the congregation opened gifts for Anchor Community Church. We put a Christmas tree in the foyer with ornaments containing a gift idea for the church--paper towels, Kleenex, dish soap, coffee, toilet paper, staples, cleaning supplies, trash bags, reams of paper, etc. These are inexpensive, everyday items the church needs. You take an ornament, buy that product, wrap it up, and bring it to church.

All of the gifts lay at the front of the church throughout the service. At the end of today's service, the children came up and passed out the gifts to adults in the congregation. The adults unwrapped the gifts, and the children brought them back to the altar. That's the way we've always done it. It's a very festive atmosphere, with Christmas music playing and general gaiety, with children constantly running back and forth.

I enjoy seeing new people get involved. I remember one young couple, fairly new to the church, who brought gifts last year. It warmed my heart, showing me that they were invested in Anchor--that this was their church. This morning, a woman who has been coming for a few months brought her gifts to the front of the church before the service. Warm again. It's just a cheap gift, maybe only a few dollars, but it's a tangible way a person says, "I'm part of Anchor and want to support it."

Plus, it meets an actual financial need for Anchor. These items would otherwise come out of the church budget.

We've been doing this for about ten years, though we missed a few years. I actually came up with the idea, but as is usually the case in households where the husband is a lazy bum, the wife does all the work. Pam gathers gift ideas from people at church, runs off labels, sticks them on spongy ornaments she buys at Michael's, and places them on a tree in the foyer. I  do help with parts of that, but don't take much credit. It wouldn't happen without Pam.

Here are some more photos. Click on the thumbnail on the left to enlarge. A lot more photos (taken by me) can be found on the Anchor Community Church Facebook page.

	The wrapped gifts brought to Anchor today.
	The wrapped gifts for Anchor.
	We had a great attendance today.
	The children bringing gifts back to the front of the church.
	Paul and Sarah Neher with gifts they opened.
	Pam and Lisa Sutton, in the sound booth. They wore Santa hats today.
	Tom Ayres insisting on taking a photo of some old guy playing the piano with the worship team.

This afternoon I went to both the Scott's and Kroger's at Village of Coventry. I know, it sounds kind of redundant, since Kroger owns both and Kroger-branded items permeate the Scott's shelves. But Scott's didn't have what I wanted, and Kroger did.

But I'm writing about the Salvation Army bell-ringers. They were great at both places--outgoing, friendly, not overbearing. I usually welcome their presence--not always, but usually. And these guys were good. Especially the one at Kroger.

I gave a buck at Scott's, even though I left the store without buying anything. And gave another buck at Kroger.

Many years ago, I read something by Jill Briscoe, back when she traveled regularly as a Christian speaker. She said no matter what the offering was, she gave at least a dollar. If the offering plate was passed, for whatever reason, she found at least one dollar to give. I've tried to copy that principle. It doesn't have to be a dollar, but something.

So every time I pass a Salvation Army bucket, I give. Whenever the fireman are out on the road with their boots, collecting for Jerry, I grab a handful of change and toss it in. When someone's out there personally collecting, I try to help. As opposed to getting that phone call from the Police Benevolence Association, or whatever it is; I never give over the phone, unless it's Huntington University.

We shouldn't be too attached to our money. That's the principle.

I've now read four books by Joe Lansdale, and I must say, he's becoming one of my favorite authors. I wrote previously about "The Bottoms," which was a truly outstanding book. The other three books are all in the Black Lizard imprint, including these two which I just finished.

"Leather Maiden" is told first-person by Cason Statler, an Iraq war vet who returns to his home town in East Texas as a newspaper reporter. He becomes intrigued with the story of a college student who disappeared six months before, assumed murdered, and begins pursuing that story.

It's a fascinating plot, with lots of smalltown intrigue, which unravels at a nice pace and with plenty of surprises. And when Booger, a somewhat psycho friend from Iraq, enters the picture--well, this is one really interesting guy. "Leather Maiden" is a very well-written book, too. Lansdale knows what he's doing.

"Mucho Mojo" is the 2nd book in Lansdale's "Hap and Leonard" series, which dates back to 1995 and includes an entry in 2009. I would describe Hap and Leonard as a poor man's Spencer and Hawk. They're a mostly down-on-their-luck duo of tough guys bouncing around the south. Probably in their 50s, from what I can tell. Hap is a white guy, Leonard is black (and gay, but totally non-stereotypical, and only finds himself attracted to straight guys). Like Spencer and Hawk, their banter is a treasure, especially when it touches--as it often does--on racial and other issues in very non-PC ways.

I previously read "Savage Season," the first book in the series, and wasn't all that crazy about it. But "Mucho Mojo," built around solving a series of child murders, is better, and I'm afraid I'm hooked. I put the rest of the Hap and Leonard books on my Christmas list for Pam.

Last night, we had our staff Christmas party. We started with light snacks at the home of Phil and Darlene Burkett, and then headed to The New Huntington, the renovated theatre in beautiful downtown Huntington, Ind., which has been turned into a supper club.

The meal was good. The program was great. Three very talented singers doing Christmas-themed songs, interspersed with hilarious background info about the songs by one of the founders.

One song was Gary Allen's "Let's be Naughty (and Save Santa the Trip)." One of the two guys, Kyle, a nice-looking young guy with a beautiful high voice, sang this one. And for part of the song, he was on his knees in front of my wife, serenading her with these words:

Such a long sleigh ride from the North Pole
And he's already got so many places to go
We've got each other, don't need another gift
Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip

Well Santa's face would turn red if he could only see
What we'll be unwrapping underneath our Christmas tree
Well this year all I'm asking for is one little wish
Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip

He couldn't have picked a better person. Pam, as those of you who know her are aware, is a very outgoing, free-wheeling kind of person...NOT. I was sitting behind Pam, but would love to have seen her horrified face. At least she didn't have to get out of her seat.

Anyway, it made the evening quite memorable. And now Pam has challenged me to serenade her with, "Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip." Hmmm.

Interesting case in Baltimore, where jurors became Facebook friends during the trial. A mistrial may result, because juror aren't allowed to meet out-of-court. Just shows how connected we are.

I just finished two more books from the Vantage "Black Lizard" imprint.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," by Stieg Larsson, ranks among the very best Black Lizard mysteries I've read (I've read 84 to date). Henning Mankell's "The White Lioness" is the best, and then you'd have to throw in a Raymond Chandler book and Jim Thompson's "The Killer Inside Me." But this one's right up there.

Sweden, for some reason, is blessed with a lot of good mystery writers (including Mankell). This book is 600 pages (the longest Black Lizard book I've read), without a lot of action. But Larsson establishes strong characters and an intriguing mystery to solve, and I never lost interest.

Plus, there's the title character, Lisbeth Salander, who is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever come across. The book alternates between her and the mainest character, Mikael Blomkvist (who is quite interesting in his own right), and the two storylines inevitably converge. But it's always more interesting when dealing with Lisbeth.

Basically, a billionaire hires Blomkvist to discover what happened to a niece, who disappeared 40 years before. Lots of other stuff surrounds that basic task. And even when THAT mystery is solved, the book isn't over.

In short: I highly recommend this book. I noticed in B&N that Larsson has another book out, and it also stars Lisbeth Salander. Can't wait.

"The Death and Life of Bobby Z," by Don Winslow, involves a felon who is released from prison so he can impersonate a drug dealer, Bobby Z, and infiltrate a drug gang. The book moves fast, with a fairly high body count and lots of bad guys converging from different directions. It's not a great book, but it was a fun read while it lasted, which is 260 pages. I did not mourn when I came to page 260.

UPDATE: Brent Birdsall just sent this a link to an article about the "Dragon Tattoo" book, which is being made into a movie.

This is hysterical--a Youtube video about an automated Catholic confessional. I couldn't stop laughing. It was shot in Spanish, but there are English subtitles.

If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll need to click on the "View Original Post" link to see it. That'll take you to my blog.

We obnoxious Apple fanatics love to gloat. And so, I offer you the Adweek "picks of the decade."

• Top Brand: Apple.
• Top product: iPod
• Ad Campaign of the Decade: Get a Mac.
• Top Marketer: Steve jobs.

Of those wonderful "Get a Mac" ads, Adweek writes:

Apple always diverged from the 'speeds and feeds' ads associated with the computer category, but the brand really defined itself with the 2006 launch of TBWA\Media Arts Lab's 'Get a Mac' campaign. That series of 60-plus ads brought some humanity into the equation by turning the machines into live-action cartoons. In so doing, the comic spots offer transparent understanding of the aspirations of its audience and how people identify--and connect emotionally--with technology.

The genius is in the casting. The Mac guy, Justin Long, is a younger version of Steve Jobs who is casual and comfortable in his skin. PC, personified by John Hodgman, as a rounder, paler Bill Gates, is a well-meaning geek with all kinds of operating problems. For Apple, the campaign managed the neat trick of making the brand look laid back and cool while it mercilessly skewered its rival.

Google was named Technology Company of the Decade, and Youtube was named Best Website. Missing in action is Microsoft.

Tonight, Anchor held its annual "Supper with Santa." Tim Bauman, who used to be a Santa at Glenbrook Mall, and also moonlights as guitarist and lead singer on our worship team, always dresses in a Santa outfit, and families get their pictures taken with him. That's me and Pam with Santa above.

And we have food, of course, this being a supper. I brought two crockpots of chili, others brought sloppy joes, macaroni, and spaghetti. We kept it simple and kid-friendly.

It was a fun night, as always, and a good chance to get acquainted with new people.

A lot of churches wouldn't allow a Santa in the church, because they consider him sacrilegious. He's not what Christmas is all about, they insist. I understand the concept, but think they need to chill out.

Jordi loves laying under the Christmas tree, but still prefers his cat bed.



Meanwhile, Molly has become quite the Daddy's lap cat. She'll settle in for hours at a time, or until my legs fall asleep and I just HAVE to move.

Mashable posted "8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow's Journalist." The second one was "Programmer." The post said that news organizations, wanting to make the transition to online journalism, are looking for journalists who also have skills with HTML, CSS, PHP, Flash, and other technologies.

"This means being able to report and present a quality story using multimedia, and having the skills to build and manage the platforms that present the stories."

I could make the same argument regarding pastors. Ministers are primarily trained to speak--to stand at the pulpit and deliver a sermon. But our culture has gone beyond that. We value visuals and storytelling. Multimedia, and the platforms for presenting visual information, need to be part of the message. A PowerPoint presentation to accompany the sermon is the most basic example. But you can extend it to developing and using video, and to transferring sermons, announcements, and other information to the web.

Now, a lot of people will protest, "A pastor shouldn't spend his time doing that. He should delegate it to someone on staff." That works for the minority of pastors who actually have a staff, but who totally dominate the conversation. Since nearly everyone who is asked to present material to other ministers is from a multiple-staff church (because solo pastors, obviously, have no worthwhile ideas to contribute to world Christianity, so says our evangelical culture), that's the idea that prevails. Don't get me started.

But yet, the vast majority of senior pastors are solo pastors, without someone on staff who can do their graphics and web work. So wouldn't the work of the Church be greatly enhanced if all of these pastors knew how to do some of that stuff?

For instance, basic familiarity with HTML would go a long way. If a small church has a website, chances are it's the senior pastor who maintains it. The church website is now a basic, expected form of communication, yet most small-church websites look horrible and certainly wouldn't attract people

It would be great if solo pastors understood how to create a web page, how to get video in a usable format, how to create graphics for use on the internet, how to create and post a podcast of their sermon. Yes, it's nice if a staffperson with deep expertise in these areas can handle such chores. But for the other 80% of pastors, a little knowledge could go a long way. Just as it does with journalists.

It's snowing right now, the first snow of the winter. It'll be nice and slippery tomorrow. Oh fun.

Yesterday, I tried to get the snowblower going. Pulled and pulled, but nothing. So I took out the spark plug and sanded off the black stuff, which was pretty thick. I put the spark plug back in, and pulled...and pulled. Nothing.

Maybe I just need a new spark plug. So I went to the hardware store and I got one. Tonight, I went out to give it a try. I opened the compartment where the spark plug goes, and right away realized what an idiot I am. I had screwed the spark plug back in, but hadn't attached the connector. So my pulls were worthless.

I attached the connector, pulled, and the snowblower started right up. Didn't need that new spark plug after all.

This is not a mistake Dad would have made, or Stu. Rick would have, most definitely, though chances are he wouldn't have been able to locate the spark plug in the first place.

At any rate, my snowblower is ready to fulfill its mission in life, tomorrow morning.

Do we Christians cry "Miracle!" too much? David Mills, an atheist, thinks so.

When a doctor gives someone 6 months to live, and he ends up making it 8 months, or a year--is that necessarily a miracle? Or could it be that predicting when a person will die is not an exact science? Or that doctors habitually underplay things, not wanting to say you have a year to live, and then you die in six months? Or could it be that it was the skill of doctors that extended the person's life?

When a tornado rips through a town and kills a dozen people, you'll hear survivors say things like, "God miraculously spared me." Is that an accurate statement? Was it God that killed those 12 people? If so, why did he kill them but spare others? Did he send the tornado, or did it merely result from well-known weather conditions? Was God really directing the tornado's path?

In "Atheist Universe," Mills points out that we rig the system, so that we can claim divine intervention no matter how something turns out. If we pray for someone to get well, and they do--it's a miracle. If they don't get well, we accept it as "God's will" or say, "It was simply his time to go." We never say, "God ignored my prayers." In fact, we often say that when God doesn't answer our prayers, that that was his answer.

How does that look to nonChristians?

I occasionally look at the website ExChristian.net, where people who have forsaken Christianity tell their stories. I've read a couple posts where atheists told of coincidences happening to their advantage, or people getting well when they weren't expected to. They say, "If I were still a Christian, I'd say it was a miracle. But since I don't believe in God, I recognize it for what it was: that's just the way things worked out."

I've seen people claim divine intervention for some of the silliest little things, like leading a person to the fastest line at the bank because God knew he was in a hurry. People love assembling a string of coincidences into a miracle. I've done it. A person sings a nice solo in church, and then says, "I couldn't have done that without God's help." Even though she's been singing solos for years.

Consider how this looks to nonChristians.

Now, I totally believe in God's sovereignty, and I believe he's active in human affairs. I believe he answers prayers and that he brings healing. I believe that he engineers coincidences to make good things happen for us. I believe that, just because our statements may sometimes sound trite, that doesn't make them inaccurate. And yet--do we overdo it?

Mills writes, "We reserve our use of the term 'miracle' to describe only those events that we personally consider positive." So if you survive a car crash but another passenger is seriously injured, you're more likely to claim divine intervention than the other person. "If we like the outcome, it's much easier to see the event as a miracle....We are therefore highly biased in favor of seeing miracles."

He's got a point.

On any day of the week, there will be many people who would normally be at the Empire State Building, but who won't be. Maybe they had a doctor's appointment, or got sick, or decided to take an impromptu vacation day, or had a late breakfast meeting somewhere. So if a meteor obliterates the building tomorrow, all of those people could claim that God intervened to spare them. But the week before, a similar number of people had doctor's appointments, got sick, and took vacation days, but since no meteor hit, nobody talks about divine intervention. 

We American Christians, in our obsession with health, constantly claim miracles happened regarding whatever our health problem is, no matter how big or small it is. Sometimes, should the credit just go to skilled doctors? What about people who die of these same ailments in Third World countries, where they don't have access to medical care? Does God prefer to do miracles in hospitals?

Mills writes, "Witnessing 'miracles' does not evoke belief in God. Rather, belief in God evokes the witnessing of 'miracles.'" I think this is true when we are quick to see miracles in the truly trivial, banal things of life. 

It sounds like I'm raising questions about my faith. I'm not. I'm really not. I'm just trying to understand how skeptics, looking at us from the outside, view us. And I'm trying to understand what is and isn't true about the God I serve. Because that's what it's all about--knowing God, even if it goes against what our Christian culture teaches us. It's quite possible that many times, God is saying, "Hey, don't give me credit for that. I didn't have anything to do with it."

Or, maybe I should leave theological questions like this to the professionals.

I was really impressed with the New Orleans Saints last night. I do get tired of hearing commentator garbage about what a genius Bill Bellichick is, as if he's some mystical figure come down from the mountain to scowl at us mere mortals. And I think Tom Brady's over-rated, too. But what do I know? Except that I'm really really biased against the Patriots.

The Colts remain on a roll, winning most games, it seems, with come-from-behind efforts. Classic Peyton Manning. I could see them ending the regular season unbeaten. And then I could see them losing in the first round of the playoffs. Or going to the Super Bowl. Either one.

The first team I loved as a kid was the Minnesota Vikings. So I'm delighted with the season they are having, though they've let me down many times in the past. However, if they made it to the Super Bowl, that would be great, and I'd be cheering for them (unless they were playing the Colts). It would mean, of course, getting past the Saints. That would be one amazing game.

Remember how great Drew Brees was with the Chargers? I'll bet that if they had kept him, instead of clearing him out to make room for Philip Rivers, San Diego, with all the talent they've had, would have won a Super Bowl by now.

Columnist Fred Kaplan, writing in Slate, expressed his mixed feelings toward what we should do in Afghanistan in "Confessions of an Uncertain Columnist."

"When it comes to this war, I am the one thing that a columnist probably shouldn't be--ambivalent. I've studied all the pros and cons. There are valid arguments to justify each side of the issue, and there are still more valid arguments to slap each side down. And if the basic decision were left up to me, I'm not sure what I would do."

He then gives those various pros and cons, and slaps them down. It's a good column, showing the problems with any course we take in Afghanistan. It sums up well how I've felt. I've been going back and forth for months about whether we should increase or decrease our presence in Afghanistan.

President Obama and his advisers, military and otherwise, have been carefully working out a long-strategy. Tonight, we'll learn what that strategy is. I may or may not feel comfortable with it, but it's not my decision to make. Thank goodness.