As I wrote this book review over and over again I was grateful for you readers who continue to read mysilentscream.com despite the typos and grammatical errors many of you have found.

I feel most grateful to those readers – you know who you are – who subscribe to mysilentscream.com.

I often see errors – or my dear wife Amy points them out to me – that are caught after I “publish”.  You subscribers overlook my errors that are silently corrected in a subsequent edit so no one else has to tolerate them.

Author and speaker Phil Callaway took an oath of honesty for one year, and wrote about what he discovered.

“To Be Perfectly Honest” is formatted as a year-long diary, with 365 entries chronicling the author’s year of trying to tell the truth.

I found “To Be Perfectly Honest” to be very good at exposing weaknesses in our lives; in MY life.

Though I was taught better, I grew up an insecure liar. As an adult I am committed to telling the truth, but I am amazed how often “little white lies” creep out unexpectedly when talking to a stranger in the phone who is not giving me the customer service I think I want and deserve.

Mitch Stokes, in his book A Shot Of Faith (To The Head), takes on the doctrines of Sam Harris, Victor J. Stenger, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins, among others.

A Shot Of Faith is not a light afternoon read, a relaxing bedside read before lights out at the end of a long day, this book is thought provoking and challenging.

Challenging intellectually stimulating atheists is not for the light at heart. Stokes takes us through three eddies of philosophical influence as he wades into their water.

Stokes argues that “there are three concepts — rationality, design, and absolute standards — connected through the notion of proper function.”

Do you know that there are unwritten public bathroom rules?  Of course you do.  I live in the Midwest United States and I’m guessing that the unwritten public bathroom rules vary from place to place, but some things are common in most public bathrooms.

I was in Budapest Hungary alone suffering through an unplanned layover awaiting my next flight.  I was tired, lonely and uncomfortable.  I hadn’t slept in more than twenty four hours and all the strange people speaking strange languages had gotten to me.

I had already walked everywhere I could through the airport.  I had already “shopped” the one small Duty-Free shop that was open.

Today is the National Day of Prayer, so, I’m thinking about praying.

Prayer Is A Mystery

God tells us to do it though…
God knows what we’ll say.
God isn’t visible.
God doesn’t guarantee we’ll get what we want.
God says it will benefit us, but the benefits aren’t always evident.

Prayer is a mystery.

Life Is A Mystery

I wondered yesterday:

Why are some of the strongest men I know also the laziest?
Why are some of the most caring women I know also the most emotionally unstable?
Why are some of the smartest guys I know also the most foolishly impulsive?
Why are some of the most street-smart girls I know still duped by smooth talkers?

I live in Minnesota and recently a local baseball player, Scott Baker, required arm surgery.

Baker, according to TwinCities.com, “was scheduled for surgery to clean scar tissue off a flexor tendon, a procedure that would have required about six months of rehabilitation. Instead, he will miss at least 12 months.”

I love mysteries.  I love pondering mysteries.  I love trying to solve mysteries.  I wonder:

Why did two MRI exams failed to detect a tear in Baker’s ligament?
What causes baseball pitchers to have such a high rate of elbow injuries?  

If you’ve been a reader of mysilentscream.com for a while you know that I use a variety of biblical translations.  I have my preferences, but I really do enjoy reading a variety of different translations.

Different translations use different styles of translating the original languages into English.

The NASB, ESV and others use a more literal word for word translation.
The NRSV, NIV, and others have a more phrase for phrase translation.
The NCV, NLT and others are increasingly thought for thought translations.
The Message and The Voice are both paraphrases; their translators are retelling and explaining the text while seeking to clarify the meaning of the text. 1

Monday I’ll write with words again.
Today I’m creating music!

Huh?!?

I’m well known for my very eclectic music collection.
I’m also well known for not being able to keep a beat.

Trivia – I know exactly when I first knew I heard the “beat” in a song. It was August 7, 1998. You can read about it here.

October 2011

Last fall I debuted a “song” for our TreeHouse teens.

I blended a techno-house beat with the text of Philippians 2:4 using an audio version of the Bible.

Did you read about my dream?

If not, please do. Here’s a link.

I dreamt about praying because I believe God is near.

In my dream I did what has become normal, natural and routine for me: I continued the conversation.

Presence

My wife Amy is right there —->

If I don’t think I have her attention I might say, “Aim!”, “Hey!”, “Cutie!” or “Amy!” to get her attention, but typically she is aware of me and her love for me when she is around me will tune her to me when I want her attention.

I had a dream Sunday night.  I couldn’t wait to tell you about it, but I did.

I was riding on a flat bottom rail car through an unnamed city.  

Our flatbed train was kind of like a ten-foot wide airport moving walkway. We were traveling in an open flatbed rail car with no safety features at all. It seemed normal. 1

I traveled with my son Josh, and a third person who was a combination of my wife Amy and daughter Shannon.  Since they are so close, it didn’t seem weird at all.