Found this fascinating little video about a pro basketball player turned urban farmer over on Brian McLaren’s blog.

This is just one example of someone who is investing their time, resources, and creativity to improve the lives of the people around them. It’s always good to see someone pursue a dream that benefits others. Their example can inspire us to live a more generous, others-centered life.  (By the way, that’s a big part of what it means to live a life patterned after Jesus, who lived “to serve, not to be served.”)

Do you know someone who is pursuing a dream that benefits others?  Share their story in the comments.  I’d love to feature them here and celebrate what they’re doing!

I saw this article over at twitterstop.com about the Peapod, a new electric car that’s supposed to be coming soon.  They describe it as a “neighborhood electric vehicle” or NEV.  And it has iPhone connectivity built right in!  It even has a cute little smile on its face (hence the “happy” in the description above).

Anyway, since I work from home and Stacey works in town, neither of us need to leave Valparaiso most days.  So I was interested enough to click through to the Peapod website… where I learned that this happy little electric car has a top speed of 25 mph.

Nope.  Uh-uh.  I wouldn’t want to do that to the drivers around me.  It doesn’t matter how cute and energy-efficient and “green” they are — I can’t imagine being stuck behind one of these, even for 5 minutes in town.

Would you?

Found on Ze Frank’s blog.

I was reading in the current issue of Time magazine about the growing number of lectures available for free online from Ivy League universities and unique conferences like TED.  The following video was mentioned in the article, and I must say… it’s fascinating!  Hans Rosling shares statistics on global health, debunking myths about developing nations “with the drama and urgency of a sportscaster,” thanks in part to some cool software his company has developed.  He’s quirky and funny and clearly passionate about what the data tells us about our world.

TED.com has lots of interesting videos on all sorts of topics, from skydiving to comedy to tech gear to business.  Check ‘em out, and if you find a favorite, share it in the comments!

I just ran across this over at Mark Beeson’s blog and wanted to share it with you.  (It’s a small part of a much longer post.)

Whether this is a Christian nation may be secondary and consequential to this poignant consideration: Am I a Christian? How many ask the former question to avoid facing the latter? How often do I find myself so worried about what everyone else is doing that the soul-searching work of fulfilling God’s purposes in my own life never gets done? No one is going to do God’s work, with God’s love, in God’s Name but God’s people. Be one of God’s people! This is no time to shrink back. There is work to be done.

Mark Beeson is the pastor of Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, where they’re doing the work and doing it well!

I’m a procrastinator.

Yeah, big surprise. But I’m not alone. Lots of pastors seem to have this problem, since so many are still frantically working on Saturday nights trying to finish their Sunday morning message. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I’m not sure which), I don’t have that option. Because Stacey works hard all week long, and her evenings are often full, too, with work and PhD classes. (Last night, for example, she was at the school from 5:45 until almost 10:00. And that was after a full day’s work.)  So if we’re going to spend any time together, it has to happen over the weekend.  I can’t spend my Saturday working.  I really need to finish my work by Friday night at 5:00.

So Fridays are for finishing. Finishing my message. Finishing the bulletins and outlines and anything else that needs printed. Finishing my phone calls and emails and reports and preparations for Sunday afternoon board meetings. Etc.

In other words, don’t expect much out of me on Fridays. If you call, I’ll be happy to talk to you, but probably not for very long. Want to get together at a coffee shop to talk about God and life and whatever?   Great!  Let’s schedule it for a Wednesday, or maybe a Thursday.  Not today.  Because Fridays are for finishing.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to work.