From today’s New York Times:

Google is unveiling within Google Earth today a new service called Sky that will allow users to view the skies as seen from Earth. Like Google Earth, Sky will let users fly around and zoom in, exposing increasingly detailed imagery of some 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies.

“You will be able to browse into the sky like never before,” said Carol Christian, an astronomer with the Space Telescope Science Institute, a nonprofit academic consortium that supports the Hubble Space Telescope.

While other programs allow users to explore the skies, they typically combine a mix of representations of stars and galaxies that are overlaid with photographs, Ms. Christian said. “These are really the images of the sky. Everything is real.”

The Sky imagery was stitched together from more than one million photographs from scientific and academic sources, including the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Palomar Observatory at the California Institute of Technology and the NASA-financed Hubble.

The Sky service features different layers showing the various constellations, a user’s guide to the galaxies, as well as the future position of planets and the moon. There is even a “backyard astronomy” layer which highlights stars, galaxies and nebulae that are visible to the naked eye, with binoculars or with small telescopes.

Here is a video of Sky in action:

(Video length: 1:05)

Michael Mihalik advises you to save 50% of your salary in his book, Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money.

Have you ever asked yourself how people who immigrate to the United States can come here, get a low-paying job, and open their own business five years later? How can they do that, making around minimum wage, when you can’t, making more than minimum wage? They save. They save 50 percent or more of their salary. They don’t go into debt, they work hard and make other sacrifices.

I’m pretty sure I could save 50% of my salary if I just doubled my income!

HT: Get Rich Slowly

Jane Dratz offers some great tips for teens on sharing your faith as you go back to school for the fall.

Most students view the start of the new school year as an opportunity for new beginnings – a time for signing on with new school clubs and organizations. So step up and invite your unchurched friends to join you for youth group where they can make new friends, have some fun and explore spiritual truths about God.

Dratz gives the following suggestions to help you get the conversation going:

• Talk about schedules and plans for the new school year. Ask your friends how they decide what’s important . . . This may open the door for you to talk about how your spiritual beliefs impact how you choose to spend your time. Let them know Jesus is important to you and why!
• Ask your friends what they think of church. Listen. Then share your experience. Invite them to join you for youth group at least once, just to check it out first-hand.
• Once you know what they think of church, ask them what they think about God. Do they believe in God? Why or why not? Share what you believe.

Your school years can be fruitful years for Christian witness when you commit yourself to sharing about Christ with others. Read Dratz’ full article for some more great suggestions.

Back to school. A 94-year-old Australian woman has become the world’s oldest person to earn a university master’s degree. Phyllis Turner began studying for her postgraduate degree at age 90 and received her Medical Science Master’s Degree from Australia’s Adelaide University earlier this summer. The great-great-grandmother completed her research paper on the anthropological history of Australia prior to European settlement. Degree supervisor Professor Maciej Henneberg said, “She has a lively mind.”

Tough crowd. A new Gallup Poll finds Congress’ approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll.

Fail safe. Last week 10-year-old Daniel Jancura accidentally locked himself inside a safe on display at Sam’s Club. It took firefighters and store employees fifteen minutes to get him out. This week a 73-year-old woman was trapped in a bank after employees accidentally locked her in the building while she was looking over the contents of her safe deposit box. She was discovered unconscious by a cleaning person six hours later. So, remind me, why do we call these things “safe?”

One of the pet peeves at our home is the “Everyone’s a winner” philosophy. Yes, I know, we are probably way too competitive, but for some reason this really annoys us. We groan when we see a bumper sticker that says, “Every child is an honor student at such and such a school.” We rebel against the idea that excellence cannot be recognized and that all efforts should be equally rewarded.

Our youngest son, Timothy, entered a reading contest at the library this summer. Every time you read a certain number of books, you put a ticket in the pot. The grand prize? Two brand new shiny bicycles – one for a girl and one for a boy. Timothy was really hoping for that bicycle, so he was very excited when my wife brought him to the library last week for drawing day.

Now this contest was not even based on ability or skill. This was a simple drawing a ticket from a box. And yet the woman in charge reminded all the kids before the drawing was made, “I just want you to remember, everyone’s a winner!” Timothy sighed, “Yeah, right!” If everyone’s a winner, then why doesn’t everyone ride home on a shiny new bike?

We were talking about this at the dinner table later in the evening. Of course the motivation is good, the adults don’t want any of the kids to feel bad, but our boys said that all the kids see right through it. And it doesn’t reflect real life when these same kids will later be competing for real jobs and scholarships and championships.

I asked the boys, “What if they ran the presidential race like this? What if they told all the presidential candidates, “It doesn’t matter whether you actually become president or not. Everyone’s a winner!” I liked my son Ramon’s suggestion, “You could give them all participation ribbons!”

No, Timothy did not win the bike. So what are your thoughts on “everyone’s a winner”? Feel free to disagree.

One of the local ministries our church supports is the Springfield Rescue Mission. The Rescue Mission is a Christ-centered helping agency located in Springfield, MA. They operate an Emergency Shelter and Transitional Living Facility for the homeless, a New Life Program for men, as well as many other ministries reaching out to the spiritual and physical needs of people in the Springfield area.

Yesterday several men from the mission came and shared with our church congregation during the morning service. Staff member Joe Manna shared about the mission’s various ministries. Then three men from the mission shared testimonies of how God has changed their lives. These are men who who have all struggled with severe addiction problems in the past. They are part of the Men’s New Life Program which introduces men to Jesus Christ and provides them with Bible teaching, group support, biblical counseling and valuable training in various life skills.

This was a wonderful worship service as we were reminded once again of the awesome power of God to change lives and our responsibility to reach out to others with the love of God through Jesus Christ. Here is the Springfield Rescue Mission’s purpose statement:

The goal of the Springfield Rescue Mission is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the hungry, homeless, addicted and poor by introducing them to Christ and helping them apply the Word of God to every area of their lives.

We are happy to support the Springfield Rescue Mission as a church and glad to be a part of their mission to the people of Springfield.

Here are 10 Tips for College Students Getting Ready for Fall from college professor John Mark Reynolds. These are great tips for both entering and returning students.

1. Ignore advice to “remake” yourself the first day you get to college … Your family history and heritage matter … be wary of making big changes quickly.
2. Do something each week that puts you in contact with people older and younger than your peer group.
3. If you have a decent relationship with your parents keep it up. Remember that they are going through a tough transition too.
4. If you are going to college, then go. You are in college to learn … School is your full time job, put fifty hours a week into it or go home.
5. Find a faculty mentor during your first year. If you cannot, then your college is charging you for an education it cannot deliver.
6. Take classes that are hard from full-time professors that love to teach.
7. Secretaries and support staff are overworked, underpaid, and very powerful. You should be good to them out of virtue, but you must do it to thrive.
8. Books are not yet antiques. Go to the library. Talk to librarians … Spend hours a day reading.
9. Don’t be too quick to pick a major, but try to do so by the end of the first year.
10. Live like an adult in college which includes moderating your passions.

Those are just the main points. Be sure to read the whole article for more of John’s thoughts relating to each of the points presented above.

Chad Knudson at The Road to Emmaus blog has posted a helpful summary for each of the twelve minor prophets, including how their message points towards Christ and the New Testament.

I think some difficulty people have when learning the message of the prophets is the key themes and ways in which each book points to Christ. Thus, I would like to focus on the twelve minor prophets and provide a summary statement along with Scriptures of how each book points to and finds its fulfillment in Christ.

Chad runs an excellent blog with articles focused around the theme of Biblical Theology, or as Chad describes it: “the unfolding revelation of Scripture as it finds its fulfillment and consummation in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:1ff).”

Related articles:

• Reading the Prophets (1)
• Reading the Prophets (2)
• Reading the Prophets (3)
• Blogging with Habakkuk series

Larry Norman in concert; Saturday, 8/4/2007
Calvary Baptist Church; New York City

Yesterday I shared some personal notes about the events leading up to the concert. (Click here for Part 1.) Today I would like to share some more about the concert itself. Can you tell I’m a fan?

The following write-up will probably make more sense to you if you are familiar with Larry and his music, but either way it should give you a good sense of what the concert was like. Larry talks a lot between songs, so I have tried to summarize some of what he said during the night. I have also included snippets from some of the songs in case you are not familiar with them.

Larry approached the stage slowly. He had difficulty climbing the stairs and looked like he was not comfortable physically. (Larry suffered a major heart attack a number of years ago and has had health struggles ever since.) He joked about how he played a concert here 35 years ago and never got invited back – until now!

He talked briefly about Christian persecution in other lands and then began with his song “Peace Pollution Revolution.”

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Here is a brief audio clip of John Piper answering the question: “How can parents help their kids memorize the Bible?”

The main thing for young people whether it’s two or twenty-two … is what they see their parents doing and loving to do. In other words, Mom and Dad probably can’t take a fifteen-year-old and out of the blue say, “Now start reading your Bible,” when the fifteen-year-old is not seeing Mom and Dad loving their Bible, reading their Bibles, individually and together.

HT: Desiring God Blog

Larry Norman in concert; Saturday, 8/4/2007
Calvary Baptist Church; New York City

Larry Norman is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I first heard his music through my older sister, Sharon, back when I was a teen. If you are not familiar with Larry or his music you can read more about him at his official bio or at his Wikipedia entry. I will post some personal notes here, and then post a write-up of the concert tomorrow.

I saw Larry in concert several times in the 1970′s and 1980′s, but the last time I saw him live was in 1990. So when I heard he was coming to New York City, I was very excited. I live in Agawam, MA which is about three hours away, but certainly close enough for a Larry concert!

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How would you like to come home to this mess? The Hyde family of Lake Tahoe returned from a five-day vacation to find that three bears had moved into their home. Sounds like Goldilocks in reverse. Bear home invasions in Tahoe have become so common that the local newspaper runs a weekly report.

We don’t live in Tahoe, but we had a bear rip down the bird feeder in our backyard just 20 feet from the living room window. And my wife, Rose, encountered a bear on the street one day when she went out to check the mail. Fortunately, we haven’t had any bears in the house – yet!