Eminem's seriousness about his work

Can you think of 5 words that rhyme with "orange?" Eminem can.

I'm not a fan of his work. And you may get some comments if you cite him. But, as I was listening to a "60 Minutes" podcast this morning, I found that he takes what he does pretty seriously. He's constantly writing down and cataloging words that can be used in his rap lyrics (not all of them 4-letter words).

If you want to track it down, check the "60 Minutes" podcast for October 10, 2010 and listen in around the 36-minute mark for what he calls, "stacking ammo."

Memories or Dreams

This summer I've been reading a very thought-provoking book by Thomas Friedman called, The World Is Flat, which I picked up in the used book section of a library for $1. It's about outsourcing and globalization from an American point of view.

He veers off on the subject of the motivation and roots of terrorism as he sees it and says that a large factor is whether a country's leaders focus on memories of past glory or dreams of possibilities. From past experiences in churches, it struck me that his concept has very clear and direct implications for a church's ministry as well.

Analysts have always tended to measure a society by classical economic and social statistics: its deficit-to-GDP ratio, or its unemployment rate, or the rate of literacy among adult women. Such statistics are important and revealing. But there is another statistic, much harder to measure, that I think is even more important and revealing: Does your society have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories?

By dreams I mean the positive, life-affirming variety. The business organization consultant Michael Hammer once remarked, " One thing that tells me a company is in trouble is when they tell you how good they were in the past. Same with countries. You don't want to forget your identity. I am glad you were great in the 14th century, but that was then and this is now. When memories exceed dreams, the end is near. The hallmark of a truly successful organization is the willingness to abandon what made it successful and start fresh."

In societies that have more memories than dreams, too many people are spending too many days looking backward. They see dignity, affirmation and self-worth not by mining the present but by chewing on the past. And even that is not a real past but an imagined and adorned past. Indeed, such societies focus all their imagination on making that imagined past even more beautiful than it ever was, and then they cling to it like a rosary or a strand of worry beads, rather than imagining a better future and acting on that. (pp. 450-451).

So what do you think? Should a church have more memories than dreams or dreams than memories?

Lessons Learned in Afghanistan

Life Lessons the Afghanistan War Taught Me is a Memorial Day 2010 Washington Post article by an Army Reserve major who spent eight months serving in Afghanistan. No matter what your political views on the war may be, you'll probably find quotable insights from family ("Nothing is more important than family. Nothing") to the hunger for personal relationships and communication ("Soldiers still flock like pigeons when mail arrives." "Notes, packages and letters from Americans we don't even know warm our souls to the core.") to respect for other cultures ("The Afghan people are a giving, warmhearted group.") and more.

Misplaced Spending Priorities

Nicolas Kristof of the NY Times is a liberal columnist who often has some very common-sense things to say. This article is not to minimize the crushing poverty in many parts of the world, but it can give us another picture of the slavery of sin. I may save this article for class.

A quick summary of Moonshine or the Kids?: Even in desperately poor conditions, kids could go to school and many cases of malaria could be prevented if their fathers spent more on the needs of their families and less on alcohol, cigarettes and prostitution.

(No room for finger-pointing here; we all need to examine our own priorities.)