Ray Fowler .org

As we approach the end of the first calendar year for my blog, I thought it would be fun to list the top 20 posts on the blog for the year. These are the posts that generated the most interest throughout the year as far as visitors from outside links and search engines. So, if you want to re-visit any of these posts or if you missed them the first time around, here are the top 20 posts on the blog for the year 2007 (in order of publication):

1. Narnia Christmas Series
2. John Calvin Lite
3. Reading the Prophets (1)
4. A Messy Desk is the Sign of an Orderly Mind
5. Blogging with Habakkuk (23) – Trusting God No Matter What
6. 8 Great Family Rules to Help Any Home
7. Ruth Bell Graham – Poems
8. The Bob Newhart 5-Minute Counseling Technique
9. “It’s a Major Award. I Won It!”
10. “Don’t Stop Me Now, I’m on a Blog Roll!”
11. Larry Norman Concert in New York City (2)
12. Media Access for the Next Generation (1)
13. Sneaky Sam the Seagull Steals Some Chips
14. The Sins of the Fathers Quotes
15. The MPR Select a Candidate Quiz
16. Bible Curriculum for Public Schools (1)
17. Mike Huckabee’s Sunday Sermon at Prestonwood
18. To Spank or Not To Spank
19. The Golden Compass vs. Narnia Box Office Results
20. Guess the Famous Christmas Trees

You can find a list of all the posts for the year under the Archives tab at the top of the blog. Did you have a favorite post or series of posts from this year? Feel free to share it with us in the comments.

Related post:

• Most Read Sermons on the Blog for 2007

What do President George W. Bush and Senator Hillary Clinton have in common? You guessed it — they both scored highest in the Gallup poll for the most admired man and woman in the world for 2007.

For the sixth year in a row, President George W. Bush is the most admired man and Sen. Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in Gallup’s annual survey. But neither winner had a very decisive win this year, with former President Bill Clinton nearly tying Bush and Hillary Clinton barely topping talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. This is the seventh time Bush has been most admired man and the 12th time Clinton has been most admired woman.

These results are based on the Dec. 14-16 USA Today/Gallup poll, which asked Americans, without prompting, to say what man and woman “living today in any part of the world, do [they] admire most?”

Most admired women:

1. Hillary Clinton (18%) – U.S. Senator and presidential candidate
2. Oprah Winfrey (16%) – talk-show host
3. Condoleezza Rice (5%) – U.S. Secretary of State
4. Angelina Jolie (3%) – actress
5. Laura Bush (3%) – U.S. First Lady
6. Margaret Thatcher (2%) – former British Prime Minister
7. Benazir Bhutto (2%) – former Pakistani Prime Minister
8. Nancy Pelosi (1%) – U.S. House Speaker
9. Maya Angelou (1%) – author and poet
10. Queen Elizabeth II (1%) – Queen of England

Most admired men:

1. George W. Bush (10%) – U.S. President
2. Bill Clinton (8%) – former U.S. President
3. Al Gore (6%) – former U.S. Vice President
4. Barack Obama (5%) – U.S. Senator and presidential candidate
5. Rev. Billy Graham (3%) – evangelist
6. Nelson Mandela (3%) – former South African President
7. George H.W. Bush (2%) – former U.S. President
8. Bill Gates (2%) – founder of Microsoft
9. Pope Benedict XVI (2%) – Pope
10. Jimmy Carter (2%) – former U.S. President

I think a far more interesting follow-up question would be, “Why do you admire this person most?” So who do you admire most in 2007?

Update (12/27/2007): I just learned that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (#7 on the list) was killed in a suicide attack following a political rally in Pakistan earlier today.

I have posted a number of pictures from the Astronomy Picture of the Day site (APOD) throughout the year. Now APOD has posted APOY: Astronomy Pictures of the Year!

Looking back over the past year, the editors of the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) have decided to list 12 of the more memorable images that have been posted to APOD in 2007. There was certainly no shortage of breathtaking images to choose from — with robotic cameras orbiting Mars and rolling around its surface, the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, space telescopes exploring the cosmos, and ground-based imaging with increasingly sophisticated hardware and software … Hopefully, you will recognize at least one of your own favorites here!

Click here for more posts on astronomy.

The reason for the season:

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)

Merry Christmas!

Make your own virtual snowflakes at Make-a-Flake.

The Real Story Behind A Charlie Brown Christmas (and why it almost wasn’t shown).

Sharon at Daily Writing Tips explains the origin of the greeting “Merry Christmas” as well as the origins of other festive words, such as mistletoe, tinsel, wreath and turkey.

Nicole at 168 hours reminds us that not everyone is happy at Christmas time. “For many of us, we need to be reminded that not all of us are bursting at the seams with excitement this time of year … Let’s pray for each other. That those of us who have a lot of sadness in their lives this Christmas would find moments of real joy in the middle of the sadness.”

Mark Roberts posts on Christmas Carol Suprises. “Okay, I admit it. I love Christmas carols. I love the way they sound. I love the memories they evoke. And, in many cases, I love the truths they celebrate. So in the next few days I’m going to do a short series on Christmas carols. I promise that it will be informative, fun, and maybe a bit inspirational too.”

Tony Woodlief quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison letters at Christmas. “From the Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell … A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”

Tia at Desiring God shares 13 Ways to Bless Missionaries Without Paying for Postage. “Were you unable to send a Christmas present or care package to some missionaries you love this season? It’s okay. You can still bless a missionary this Christmas. Here are 13 post-office-free ideas to get you started, most of which you could do right now from your desk: Pray specific Scripture for them and their ministry, and then email it to them … Donate frequent flier miles to them … Call their local Pizza Hut and have pizza delivered …”

I have greatly enjoyed Dan Fogelberg’s music over the years and was sad to hear that Fogelberg died from prostate cancer this week. Steve Matthewson reflects on Fogelberg, his father and the gospel over at the Preaching Today blog. “The title track to Dan’s Christmas album, ‘The First Christmas Morning,’ contains a rather striking summary of the gospel. Dan penned these words after nights of listening to Christmas carols” —

The Lord in His wisdom, the Lord in His grace
Has given to man a redeemer
To save us from sin and to show us the light
That shines on this first Christmas morning
And will shine ever each Christmas morning

Can you identify the five Christmas trees in the photos below? You will find the answers at the end of the post. And the grand prize for guessing all five trees correctly is   —   a nice, warm, fuzzy Christmas feeling all day long. Tell us how you did in the comments below.

Christmas Tree #1:

Christmas Tree #2:

Christmas Tree #3:

Christmas Tree #4:

Christmas Tree #5:

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Fred R. Shapiro, the editor of The Yale Book of Quotations, has compiled a list of the Ten Most Memorable Quotes for 2007. Shapiro clarifies: “I’m not listing the most admirable quotes, the most eloquent quotes. It’s the most memorable quotes.” Be careful what you say in 2008. The words you speak may follow you around for a long time.

Top 10 Most Memorable Quotes for 2007

1. “Don’t tase me, bro!” (September 17, 2007) — College student Andrew Meyer shouted out these words as officers removed him from a speech by Senator John Kerry at the University of Florida. Meyer’s words have since become a catch phrase around the nation, appearing on t-shirts and even recorded as ringtones.
    
2. “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us.” (August 24, 2007) — South Carolina beauty contestant Lauren Caitlin Upton became a YouTube phenomenon after she gave this rather disjointed response at the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant. She was answering a question about why one-fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a map. Here is the video:


 

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Here is a Christmas poem by Keith Patman from Jeff Johnson’s Centerpoint – Poetry & Music For Christmas CD. (“An album created to prepare oneself for the celebration of Christ’s birth over the entire Advent season. Centerpoint features Johnson’s music score of traditional and original Christmas melodies (which includes flutist, Brian Dunning) with poetry by Keith Patman read by Dallas McKennon. McKennon is famous for his character voice work with Walt Disney Productions.”)

“SNOW” – by Keith Patman (©1980)

Was it a cold awakening Christmas morning
In a wooden trough,
In spite of straw and swaddling clothes and angel songs?
That was not to be the last time you’d be laid upon the wood
(There were Herods, Judases from the start
Among the stars and shepherds).
And did they smile, those simple folk,
And kiss your tiny hands and weep delight?
They’d touch those hands again someday,
Believing you through cracks and scars.
Then oh! the million Christmas mornings
When you’d lie, a babe again,
Beneath a million million trees
And hear the countless tongues chanting your name.
And oh! the white snow on black shingles
Where icy crystals capture windows
And fires glow and mistletoe is wreathed and strung.
But ah . . . will they remember crimson
Dripping from the iron nails
And will they pray and will they know
A whiter white than
Snow?

HT: Rusty Lopez at New Covenant

Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.
Click here for more Christmas related posts.

Money well spent? Scotland recently spent £125,000 (U.S. $250,000) revamping its national slogan. The brand new slogan unveiled at Glasgow Airport last month? “Welcome to Scotland.” The new phrase replaces the previous slogan: “Best Small Country in the World.”

Turn right; save gas. Last year U.P.S. cut 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, saved three million gallons of gas and reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons. Their secret? A “package flow” software program that reduced the number of left-hand turns made by U.P.S. drivers.

Creative ketchup. Toddler Freddie Linsky fooled the art world into buying his tomato ketchup paintings. “To the untrained eye, they appear to be simple daubs that could have been created by a two year old. Which is precisely what they are. But that didn’t stop the supposed experts falling over themselves to acclaim them.” Two-year-old Freddie has recently progressed from ketchup to oils on canvas.

Fresh Hobbit news straight from New Zealand: For a while it looked like New Line Cinemas and Peter Jackson were unable to iron out their differences and that the filming of The Hobbit would be entrusted into someone else’s hands. But today Jackson and and Hollywood studios New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios announced that they had resolved their legal dispute. Jackson and partner Fran Walsh will serve as executive producers on not one but two (?) Hobbit movies.

Pre-production will begin as soon as possible and both will be shot simultaneously, tentatively in 2009. The Hobbit is likely to be released in 2010 and the sequel in 2011.

Jackson sued New Line in 2005 for unpaid profits, estimated to be about US$100 million, from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which became a stumbling block to his being involved in The Hobbit.

Jackson and New Line said in the announcement that they had settled all legal action. “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line,” Jackson said. “We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle-earth.”

A decision still has to be made on who will direct the films, who will be cast and where they will be filmed.

This is great news. Jackson did such a great job with the Lord of the Rings movies that I was really not happy with the idea of someone else taking over for The Hobbit. I am intrigued by the mention of two Hobbit films in the announcement. I assume that means they will film the book in two parts. So, Tolkien fans, what do you think?

Update: According to this press release at TheOneRing.net, it looks like the second movie will be a sequel to the Hobbit rather than just the second half of the book.

Quick facts:

• The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien, was published in 1937, and tells the story of Bilbo Baggins before the events of The Lord of the Rings. It relates how Bilbo met the wizard Gandalf, fought Smaug the dragon, and found the One Ring.
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy has made about US$3 billion at the box office and another US$1 billion in DVD sales. Between them, the films won 17 Oscars.

HT: Instapundit

Last week Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit posted IN SEARCH OF HUCKABEE’S SERMONS, linking to a Mother Jones article reporting on presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s announcement that he will not make his early sermons available to the media and the public. Reynolds joked: “He’s just taking Matthew 6:6 a little more seriously than most . . . .”

Actually, Huckabee recently preached at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas and made the whole sermon available to the media. Click here for video links and a full transcript of the message (preached on November 4, 2007).

As far as Huckabee’s earlier sermons from back when he was a pastor in the 1980’s, those messages may be more difficult to access. Many pastors preach from an outline rather than writing out a full manuscript, and many churches would not still have tapes of messages from 20-30 years ago. I started preaching in 1986, and I do not have copies of my earlier messages.

Also, although all preaching should be applicable to a wider audience, preaching is also directed to a specific congregation at a specific time, and so much of Huckabee’s sermons from the 1980’s may not be directly applicable to the media and public of the 21st century.

What do you think? If Huckabee’s earlier sermons are readily accessible, should they be made available to the media and the public? Or would that be akin to asking Mitt Romney to dig out his old Mormon Sunday School lessons?

(Note: The question about Romney is merely for comparative purposes. I do not know if Mitt Romney ever taught Sunday School, or whether Mormons even have Sunday School for that matter.)

Last week we brought you The Golden Compass vs. Narnia. This week it’s The Golden Compass vs. Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The Golden Compass, dropped to the number three position at the box office during its second weekend ($9 million), coming in well behind Will Smith’s I Am Legend ($77 million) and the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie ($44 million). Alvin and the Chipmunks actually did better in its opening weekend than The Golden Compass did in its first two weeks combined.

Here are the weekend figures for December 14-16, 2007:

I Am Legend (opening weekend)

• Production budget: N/A
• Opening Weekend: $77,211,321
• 3606 theaters, $21,411 average

Alvin and the Chipmunks (opening weekend)

• Production budget: $60 million
• Opening Weekend: $44,307,417
• 3,475 theaters, $12,750 average

The Golden Compass (second weekend)

• Production budget: $180 million
• Second Weekend: $8,825,549
• 3,528 theaters, $2,501 average
• See Golden Compass opening weekend figures here.

Related posts:

• The Golden Compass vs. Narnia Box Office Results
• The Golden Compass Christian Response Roundup