Here’s the thing. Unless I’m wrong, which, you know, I’m not, Monk is the best show on television right now. Monk is a fresh mixture of comedy, drama and good old-fashioned “who-done-it,” but always with a twist. Tony Shalhoub, the actor who plays obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk, is amazing. There’s no doubt about it. He’s the guy.

Here’s what happened. My wife and I watched a few episodes and got hooked. It’s a gift — and a curse. The new Seventh Season episodes start Friday, July 18 at 9/8C. Watch it. Or pick up the DVDs and start from the beginning. Don’t worry, you’ll thank me later.

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Note for parents: Monk contains some instances of strong language. We use a language filter on our TV at home, but you may want to check out the series first before you sit down to watch with your kids.

Related post: Special Holiday Monk Episode

From the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey:

A major survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that most Americans have a non-dogmatic approach to faith. A majority of those who are affiliated with a religion, for instance, do not believe their religion is the only way to salvation. And almost the same number believes that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion.

Here is another chart from the same report showing the major religious traditions in the United States:

See related post:  Pew Forum Religion Survey Skewed?

Yesterday’s message in the Life of Samuel series was called Losing God in Religion, taken from 1 Samuel 4:1-22. If religion is supposed to bring us closer to God, then how is it possible to lose God in religion? It is very possible, and this incident in 1 Samuel 4 shows us how it happened to the Israelites, and how it can also happen to us today. Here is a brief outline of the message:

How can you lose God in religion?

1) You can lose God by emphasizing ritual over relationship (1-5)
    – Depending on human wisdom rather than God’s word
    – Trying to manipulate God for your own purposes
    – Focusing on religious objects rather than God
    – Expecting God’s blessing without repentance

2) You can lose God by following a false religion (6-9)
    – Not recognizing the one true God
    – Holding on to misinformation
    – Believing you can fight against God and win

3) Nothing is worse than losing God (10-22)
    – Losing God is worse than defeat
    – Losing God is worse than death
    – Nothing can compensate for losing God in your life

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Lori Mehmen of Orchard, Iowa took the following photo of a tornado from outside her front door. Mehmen said the funnel cloud came near the ground and then went back up into the clouds. Besides tree and crop damage, no human injuries were reported. (Click here for more photos of the Mississippi Floodwaters in Iowa.)

Marc and Angel compile a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do. Here are the first five: 1) Build a fire, 2) Operate a computer, 3) Use Google effectively, 4) Perform CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, 5) Drive a manual transmission vehicle.

Ray Ortlund is cutting back on his blogging. “I need to make some adjustments in my own life. My oxygen is daily communion with Christ through the Bible and prayer. I need to protect my capacity for concentration there. From now on, I will blog on Friday afternoons only … Blogging is good. But my soul at rest in Christ is better.”

Nancy Beach wants to learn how to text message this summer. “One of my primary goals this summer is to learn how to text with my cell phone. I realize this does not sound like a significant goal, but for a mom of teens, it’s apparent to me that if I hope to communicate efficiently with my daughters, in a language they will respond to and much prefer, then it’s time to get with the program.”

Colin Adams quotes Billy Graham on his first time preaching. “When the moment came to walk to the pulpit in the tiny Bostwick Baptist Church, my knees shook and perspiration glistened on my hands. I launched into sermon number one. It seemed to be over almost as soon as I got started, so I added number two. And number three. And eventually number four. Then I sat down. Eight minutes – that was all it took to preach all four of my sermons!”

Ross Perot presents a series of charts examining government spending and the national debt, the 2007 federal budget, and the possible consequences of continued deficit spending. “The United States faces large and growing budget deficits mostly due to an aging population and rising healthcare costs. Unless we solve the problems caused by entitlement spending, there will be little money left to do anything else in the future.” (HT: Amy’s Humble Musings)

Frank and Anita Milford celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary (Oak) on May 26th. Anita said: “Couples these days don’t last long because they don’t take enough time for each other. There just isn’t enough respect. Our advice to young couples would be to make time for a little romance every day.” Retired dock worker Frank added: “We’re very proud of what we have achieved. When we started we had low wages and worked very hard. The war years were tough — a bomb even dropped on our house. But we have come through it. Young people today want it all too fast.”

Veggie-Tales creator Phil Vischer advises churches on how they can be more relevant for kids in the media/information age. “Focus on the things you can do that Nickelodeon and Disney can’t. You can tell a story – with eye contact and audience participation. You can hug. You can take kids on adventures outside – parks, pools, etc. You can make things together. Never assume that because kids sit in front of a screen at home, they should sit in front of a screen at church. Get up and move around. Sing. Years from now, those kids won’t remember what shows they watched or what video games they played. But they’ll remember the church worker that loved them.”

John Piper expresses gratitude for power restraints in the United States. “The Supreme Court rendered a decision last week concerning Guantanamo Bay … [which] was considered a rebuke to the Bush administration … Here is what amazes me and awakens thankfulness in my heart to God. I heard the president from Rome speak these words: ‘We will abide by the Court’s decision. That doesn’t mean that I have to agree with it.’ Don’t let this go by without wonder and gratitude. Here is the most powerful leader in the world standing in public in the middle of Europe and saying for the whole world to hear that some of his decisions are nullified and his authority is curtailed and that he will submit to it. Imagine such a thing in Myanmar or North Korea or China or Vietnam or in a half a dozen African regimes. Unthinkable.”

Check out the great pictures of the Celtics Victory Parade yesterday over at The Big Picture: 2008 NBA Champs – Celtics Rolling Rally. It doesn’t look like anyone in Boston went to work on Thursday.

See related post: Celtics-Lakers: Let the Finals Begin!

SCIENCE EDITION.

Oil from bugs. Scientists are experimenting with bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol. The bacteria feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw and then excrete crude oil. Senior director Greg Pal gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”.

Fighting cancer. A cancer patient has made a full recovery after being injected with billions of his own immune cells in the first case of its kind, doctors have disclosed. Doctors took cells from the man’s own defence system that were found to attack the cancer cells best, cloned them and injected back into his body, in a process known as “immunotherapy”. The 52-year-old, who was suffering from advanced skin cancer, was free from tumours within eight weeks of undergoing the procedure. After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs.

Ice on Mars? Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it. “It must be ice,” said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. “These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it’s ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can’t do that.”

Living Together Before Marriage Series:
    ● Statistics on Living Together Before Marriage
    ● Scriptures on Living Together Before Marriage
    ● Living Together Without Sex
    ● What If We Already Lived Together Before Marriage?

This is the third post in a series on living together before marriage. The first post presented statistics which demonstrate a high correlation between living together before marriage and undesirable outcomes. The second post presented various Scriptures which prohibit living together before marriage.

Many of the Bible verses in the second post assumed that couples who live together are also sexually involved. That is usually a fair assumption, but what about those rarer cases where a couple lives together but is not sexually active? Is it okay for a couple to live together if they don’t have sex? For example, how about the couple that moves in together for financial reasons but chooses to abstain from sex until marriage?

Well, I would applaud the decision to abstain sexually until marriage, but there are still good reasons not to live together before marriage. Let me share with you three.

1. The first has to do with temptation. Let’s face it: living together, sharing a house, or sharing a bed is not the best way to fight temptation. If you are truly serious about saving sex for marriage, the last thing you should do is move in with the person whom you love and to whom you are sexually attracted. When you live together before marriage, you open yourself up for temptation.
2. Secondly there is the matter of your testimony. The Bible says we should avoid even the appearance of evil. (Ephesians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:22) How does your decision to live together affect those around you? What kind of an example does it set for younger people who are watching? How will people view your relationship who do not know about your commitment to abstain sexually? Our testimony affects how people view Christ and the church. Many have rejected Christianity because they do not see people living it out. Living together presents a poor testimony for Christ and his church.
3. And thirdly there is the matter of trivialization. Living together trivializes marriage by taking away from the uniqueness of marriage. Living together pretends to be marriage, but it is not the same thing. It is really a mockery of marriage and therefore dishonors marriage. This goes against Hebrews 13:4 which says: “Let marriage be honored by all.” I think it’s sad when a couple who lives together and finally gets married says, “It’s not that different.” They have lost out on part of the joy and uniqueness of the marriage relationship which God intended for them.

After reading these posts, someone might ask, “What if we already lived together before marriage?” Is it too late for us? Is there anything we can do to make it right?” That will be the subject of the next and final post in the series.

Check out the other posts in the Living Together Before Marriage series:
    ● Statistics on Living Together Before Marriage
    ● Scriptures on Living Together Before Marriage
    ● Living Together Without Sex
    ● What If We Already Lived Together Before Marriage?
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Make sure you go outside at sunset tonight to check out the solstice full moon. In the meantime, here is a great song by Greg Brown about the June solstice moon.

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Greg Brown; “Mississippi Moon” Lyrics (from One More Goodnight Kiss)

Click links below for more Moon related posts:

• Solstice Moon Illusion
• Lunar Eclipse over the Dome of the Rock
• Full Moon Rising over Saguaro National Park

(Learn how you can survive the Digg effect below.)

A number of you trying to access my blog last weekend may have encountered a big, fat “ACCOUNT SUSPENDED” notice instead. No, I was not delinquent on my bills. I was dealing with the Digg effect.

What is the Digg effect, you ask? Digg is a social media site where users share and promote content from all around the internet. The most popular articles get “pushed” to the front page. This results in the Digg effect, where thousands of visitors suddenly surge onto your site in a relatively short period of time. If you have a dedicated server with plenty of bandwidth and memory resources, it is not a problem. But if you are on a shared server, like I am, your server host can shut you down for consuming too many resources.

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Do you want to see a giant moon? Step outside after sunset Wednesday night and look to the horizon on the east. You will see a huge moon rising into the sky.

The full Moon of June 18th is a “solstice moon”, coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week’s high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.

Sky watchers have known for thousands of years that low-hanging moons look unnaturally big. At first, astronomers thought the atmosphere must be magnifying the Moon near the horizon, but cameras showed that is not the case. Moons on film are the same size regardless of elevation … Apparently, only human beings see giant moons.

Are we crazy?

After all these years, scientists still aren’t sure. When you look at the Moon, rays of moonlight converge and form an image about 0.15 mm wide on the retina in the back of your eye. High moons and low moons make the same sized spot, yet the brain insists one is bigger than the other.

To learn more about the Solstice Moon Illusion, visit the Science & Nasa page.

Click links below for more Moon related posts:

• Mississippi Moon (Great song about the June solstice moon!)
• Lunar Eclipse over the Dome of the Rock
• Full Moon Rising over Saguaro National Park

Click here for more Space related posts.

Here are six video vignettes starring WALL·E the robot from the upcoming Pixar film, WALL·E.  WALL·E comes out in movie theaters on June 27.

                                            Magnet

 

                                          Headphones

 

Click below for four more WALL·E video vignettes (Hula Hoop, Bouncy Balls, Fire Hydrant, and Vacuum Cleaner).

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What Women Want:
To be loved, to be listened to,
    to be desired, to be respected,
    to be needed, to be trusted,
    and sometimes, just to be held.

What Men Want:
Tickets for the World Series.
                            – DAVE BARRY