I am in the process of migrating everything over from this tumblr blog to a wordpress blog. All of the posts have already been migrated over, but the comments did not remain. I hate this, but the best export tool I found did great, but just apparently missed the comments. Oh well.
The web address will remain the same, please bear with me, as this is a first for me.
If things go south for a day or so check thomaswhitley.tumblr.com or thomaswhitley.wordpress.com. Hopefully I’ll be up and running full steam on the new blog platform very soon.
Also, once I am, please let me know how you like it. I think the look and feel is much better and the backside functionality is much easier to use and allows for much more than tumblr does.
Thanks for reading.
I was looking for this quote the other night, but mistakenly thought it was a Bonhoeffer quote. Glad I found it. Frederick Buechner on remembering:
When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I’m feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I’m feeling sad, it’s my consolation. When I’m feeling happy, it’s part of why I feel that way. If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” the good thief said from his cross (Luke 23:42). There are perhaps no more human words in all of Scripture, no prayer we can pray so well.
My new desktop background.
If you can’t read the quote it says:
“Understanding comes from looking backwards. One day, to those who follow us and who seek to understand us by looking backwards at out lives, by God’s grace may they understand that we made peace.”
The quote is by Dan Goodman, my mentor and friend who died in January.
I took the picture during the summer of 2006 while I was in Sweden. It is the Baltic Sea and in the distance across the water is Stockholm.
P.S. Click on picture to see it larger.
CNN has just posted an article about a disturbing survey that has just come out.
Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.Sam Harrelson and I will likely talk about this on our next episode of Thinking Baptists, but I’m curious what you think about this. Is torture okay? Should Christians have a different response than “broader culture”? Is this an issue that should not even be questioned?
30HR Famine Pictures have been posted. Click on the picture to see the album.
The highlight video will hopefully be posted soon.
This weekend me and about 30 youth and adults from my church are going to go 30 hours without eating. Why are we doing this, you may ask and, on top of that, why am I telling you about it. I assure you that I am not telling you to bring favorable eyes upon us or to gain fame or attention for ourselves. Instead, we want to bring attention to other people and an issue that is plaguing our world: hunger and poverty.
Hunger and poverty affect our world more than we sometimes realize. More than 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day; most of them from preventable diseases.* So, what are we really doing by not eating for 30 hours? How is that really going to help anyone else?
For the past few months our youth have been asking people to “sponsor” them while they fast for 30 hours, for at least $1/hour = $30 total. $30 will feed one child for an entire month. I spent more than that last night taking a friend out to dinner. All of the funds that we raise will go directly to helping feed children under the age of 5.
We also want to raise awareness. This awareness has to start with us. Ghandi is given credit for saying, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” While not eating for 30 hours our youth and adults participating will begin to actually feel a small percentage of what thousands of people feel on a daily basis. The second way that we will raise awareness works to raise more awareness in ourselves and in our community. On Saturday night of this weekend we are going to sleep outside in carboard boxes on the front lawn of our church. Now, I know that this is a bit cliche, but it will give our youth, most of whom have never needed anything in their lives, another tiny glimpse of what hunger and poverty can feel like. This part of our experience is not meant to belittle or make fun of those who are actually homeless (as I know many homeless people do not live in cardboard boxes, though many do), but rather to affect change in the lives of the youth and adults who will participate this weekend. Also, this will be a powerful visual to the people that drive by and most of all to our church members as they see this on the front lawn of their church when they drive in Sunday morning. It will be eye sore, for sure. That is the point.
I looked for a video to put in this post, but decided not to because all of the videos seem to have pictures of African children with their ribs protruding. While this is an important image and one that does not need to be surpressed, I think it allows us to still see hunger and poverty as a far away issue, one that doesn’t directly impact and affect us. Hunger and poverty are certainly real in Africa, but they are also real in my town: Shelby, NC.
This weekend we are taking very small steps to change our perception and to affect change in the world. We are asking of ourselves and of our church to give out of our excess (even as we are in a financial slump, we still have way more excess than most people) to help others. WorldVision’s theme for the 30 Hour Famine is “Will Starve for Food.” We are starving so that others can eat. How will you affect change and impact your world?
* Facts taken from 30HR Famine.
Below is a paper I have written on the “New Perspective on Paul” and that I am presenting on today in class.
Enjoy and please post comments/responses.
Paul and the Law: The New Perspective
I have updated my copyright statement as a response to a commenter to make it more clear. It now reads:
Please note that all original posts, as opposed to links to other news stories or sites, and any photographs I have taken myself are Copyright © 2008 - 2009 Thomas Whitley. All Rights Reserved. I fully support Fair Use, and generally have no problem with others using my photographs or re-publishing posts, but ask that you receive permission from me first and, if permission is granted, that you credit me as your source.
Since I have had this blog on this domain I have had a disclaimer, but have just tonight added a blurb about copyright. I have not had an experiences with copyright being abused on my site (I’m guessing my low number of visitors helps keep things this way), but know that many others have. One blog that I read on a regular basis is having to go to “members only” requiring a login to view the blog. This is ridiculous. People who steal something off of the Internet (be it pictures or information) and pass it off as their own are thieves, plain and simple. Thus, I have decided to remind you of my Disclaimer and to introduce you to my copyright blurb. Both are linked to in the sidebar and in the footer of every page.
Disclaimer:
This is a personal website. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This site is intended to provide a snapshot of a moment in time, a glimpse into the various thoughts, ideas, truths running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, or even similar, to those I may hold today.
The information on this website is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Moreover, feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I’m completely nuts in the comments section, but remember that I reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason whatsoever (or for no reason at all).
Please note that all original posts, as opposed to links to other news stories or sites, and any photographs I have taken myself are Copyright © 2008 - 2009 Thomas Whitley. All Rights Reserved. I fully support Fair Use, and am generally very happy for others to use my photographs or re-publish posts, but ask that people drop me a line first and give credit where credit is due.
I received a new follower over on Twitter (follow me here) just now and went to the person’s profile to glean from the general information on his twitter page. While I was there I had two thoughts; one I’ve had before, one I haven’t. There are two things that I “need” to make Twitter more useful for me.
Thought 1: I need some way to tell how that person found me. Was it a direct link (maybe found on my website or Facebook profile, for example)? Was it through a follower or followee of mine’s Followers/Following list? Was it through a search term? There are many ways to gain new followers and it occurs to me that I don’t know what attracts most of my followers. Now for those of you who are trying to build your following, I see that this could be especially helpful. Brands/people (which are almost the same thing these days, especially in social media) could know which keywords are most successful for them. Regular Twitter users like me (I say I’m pretty regular because I only have 125 followers and follow just a few more than that) could also (potentially) have some idea why certain people began following them and thus could begin or jump in to the conversation much more easily. I know that SocialToo attempts to help in this department, but my experience has been that it is not very helpful and it certainly does not have the capabilities that this post is asking for.
Thought 2: I need a way to who followers of mine are also following that I am following or who they are being followed by that I am also following or am being followed by. It seems to me that a feature of this nature would help to build communities all around Twitter and would only strengthen conversations and connections. I realize that this isn’t as easy as Facebook’s “Mutual Friends,” but seriously how hard can it be, especially with Twitter’s (relatively) open API.
These are very initial thoughts, obviously. Is there a tool out there that accomplishes what I am looking for that I have missed? If so, please direct me to it. If not, is this doable? Is anyone already working on this?
Would this be a helpful “tool” for anyone else?