Many of us were shocked yesterday to learn that the Somali pirates killed the four sailors aboard the boat named the Quest.  More of the story is coming out now.  The NY Times reports that two of the Somalis came aboard the US ship to negotiate.  The FBI negotiator did not think they were serious, and so he put them in the brig!  It is unclear what happened next, but ultimately chaos ensued among the remaining pirates and they shot the hostages before surrendering themselves.

But there is another story that has not gotten much air play.  The two people who owned the yacht were Scott and Jean Adam of California.  Scott had a career as a Hollywood filmmaker before cashing it all in and attending Fuller Seminary.  He graduated with a Masters of Divinity degree and also the coursework for a Ministry Doctorate.  This guy was religiously educated!

But he longed for the sea.  And so Scott and his wife bought a yacht and began touring the world.  They sailed to places like Crete, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Oman, and Djibouti (read here for more of their intriguing story).  And each time they went to these places, they took a large stash of Bibles in the common language for distribution.  At each port, they said that they engaged in friendship evangelism.

So how did they get hooked up with Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, the couple from Seattle?  Phyllis and Bob were “freelancers.”  They were a part of a network that linked up boat owners with those who wanted to ride.  This is not reported yet, but my guess is that the Adams thought it would be great to have the Seattle couple along with an eye toward sharing Christ with them.

Nobody knows for sure why they went as a single boat down “pirate alley.”  And nobody knows what those last few harrowing days of their lives must have been like.  But having read more about the Adams, I think they died doing what they wanted to do.  They wanted to bring Christ to those that don’t know him.  There are not many nations as “unreached” as Somalia!

Denise and I know first-hand about the Somali people.  We ministered among them in Minneapolis in 2009.  At that time, we met one of the rare Somali Christians.  It was estimated that there are just 30 Somali believers in the US.  And an exceedingly small number of believers in Somalia.

There is an old saying by church father Tertullian, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”  I pray that the death of the Adams will be part of a new awakening among the Somalis.  Maybe just one small spark?

And I pray that the Parks had time to share with Phyllis and Bob about the One who holds light and life.  Can’t you just imagine them out on the beautiful Arabian Sea one evening.   The winds are catching the sails and the boat is gliding across the water.  They have just finished barbecuing some shrimp and vegetables.  Scott has the opportunity to ask the Seattleite couple, “Tell us about your spiritual lives?”  And under that fading sun, they began an exchange about the reality of Jesus and the promise He brings of forgiveness of sin and eternal life to come.

Little did they all know…. a skiff full of men with AK-47’s would arrive at the dark of night.

One of the most interesting stories of this past week was about the IBM artificial intelligence machine that was built to compete on Jeopardy.  The machine, named Watson, competed and won against two other human opponents.

I remember a number of years ago when IBM made a similar statement by building a machine called “Deep Blue” that competed against the chess grand-champion, Gary Kasparov.  I remember feeling at the time, I did not want a “machine” to win.  As if I needed to protect humanity from the onslaught of machines!  Was there some Luddite in my blood?  For young people who don’t get that last reference, click on the Luddite link to learn about it.

Today, the “Win of Watson” was almost greeted with a yawn.  Big deal!  I think this goes to show how much we now embrace computers and machines as integral to our lives.  We are no longer competing but cooperating.

Watson was not perfect however.  Or better said, his programming was not perfect yet.  In the gaffe of the tournament, in the category of AMERICAN CITIES, Watson was asked, “Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second largest for a World War II battle.”  Watson replied, “What is Toronto?”  Oops, basic geography hiccup.  The right answer was Chicago.

But let’s face it, “he” knew most of the answers and got to the buzzer much faster than his opponents.  His ultimate victory was a landslide,  winnings of $35,734 compared to$10,400 for the nearest challenger.  His programmers had succeeded in the difficult area of actually understanding the nuance of human language.

So where am I going with all this?  Machines are an extension of our brains.  They can be programmed to do some pretty amazing things.  And they represent a tremendously creative streak flowing from people.  What other animal or being on the planet can even conceive of this?  The Bible comes to mind, “we are fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139:14.  We reflect some spark of the Divine and often times this shows up most in our creativity.

Here’s the point,  we also wish to make things that reflect the Creator who gave us life.  It’s in the genes.  Whether it is huge ships, impossible bridge spans, space voyages, or computers named Watson, we churn out a dizzying array of things that are pressing new frontiers.

To learn more about Watson, check out this entire website posted by IBM.  IBM Watson.

Clarity is the fruit of intentional quietness.  It comes from carefully studying something for a prolonged time.  It comes from mulling things over.  It often comes as an ah-hah moment after waiting and listening.

Its no wonder that we all struggle for clarity today.  We face busy lives.  We face a myriad of choices.  It is tough to stay “on track.”  Few of us would define our lives as “quiet.”

I was reminded of the importance of this recently in meeting with a good friend (thanks Scott).  He gave me this video by Dan Cathy, CEO of Chic-fil-A.  And as a side note, if you have never been to this restaurant you are missing something.  When we lived in Denver, it was one of our favorite places to get a salad.  And their waffle fries are pretty good too.  We always appreciated that Chic-fil-A was closed on Sundays, but they were still one of the most successful fast-food chains in the region!

Anyway, my friend gave this video about vision and clarity from Dan Cathy.

Proposal night on sailboat in Ventura Harbour

Twenty four years ago I met my bride.  It was one of those God coincidences!  I was in Sacramento raising a support team to become a missionary.  I had a friend and supporter who sent me a check for my birthday in January.  He told me to take someone special to dinner.

Denise was a senior in college at Sacramento State.  I met her at a party with some other students who were part of Campus Crusade.  I needed a ride home and my buddy, Jay, arranged for Denise to give me the ride.  Can you say “jackpot?!”  Before I got out of the car, I told her the story of the gift and asked if she would like to do dinner.  She offered a quick yes.

I still remember the restaurant, The Spaghetti Factory.  Mizithra cheese pasta and spumoni ice cream.  But I only had my eyes partially upon the food.

We would enjoy a number of months of picnics in the park, walks, and more meals together.  Finally, I “shipped off” and we maintained a long-term relationship.  I would propose to her on my birthday one year later in January 1988. We married in May that same year.  No long engagements for us!

Denise has been an incredible wife and remarkable person.  She has been a constant at my side through thick and thin.  She is one the most steady and consistent people I know.  I love this about her.

She is a gorgeous person inside and out.  God calls women to adorn themselves with “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (I Peter 3:4).  Denise has this in spades.

She remains my God-given valentine.

Many of you know that last week, I used a clip from the Roadrunner and Coyote in my sermon.  I used this cartoon to prepare us for an important lesson.  When we watch the Coyote get walloped, we squeal with laughter.  It becomes quite clear who is the villain and who is the hero.

Last week we studied the story of Ehud the left-handed judge who went to kill (in graphic detail) fat king Eglon.  A Jewish listener would have had joy hearing every turn of the story and thrust of the knife, knowing that the “devil got his due.”

Now for the fun part.  I had a member of my congregation give me this link today.  It is an ancient cartoon given an upgraded feel!  Watch this and I think you will get the point.

Wow, eye-popping!  But the verdict is still the same.  Coyote goes down in flames, just like fat king Eglon.

I listen to the radio in the car.  I know “old-school.”  I don’t even own an iPod.  Go figure.

Anyway, I was tuned into NPR a few days ago and heard the story of people who are playing a game called Farmville.  I have not played the game, but I have heard of it.  I think most people play the game on Facebook.  The idea of the game is that you grow virtual crops.  I have a hard enough time growing peas and beans in my own garden. Growing a crop online sounds like a lot of extra work.  And people actually pay real money to buy items to use on their “farm.”

The news piece on NPR was called, “Is That An Ad Growing In Your FarmVille Field?”  The story was about an insurance guy that got the bright idea to place an ad inside the game.  He convinced the game’s maker to produce a Farmer’s blimp.  People could get the Farmer’s Insurance  Blimp for free and have it hover over their fields for 10 days.  The whole time it was over their fields, their crops would not wither!  Imagine if the blimp worked like this for your tomato plants!

Okay, so here’s the sad part.  A lady said that she was so happy for the Farmer’s Blimp because, “it allowed me time to see my grand-kids.”  Yikes, that is feeling strangely like an addiction.  I’m wondering if it registered with her when she said it out loud?

I’m no fuddy-duddy when it comes to gaming.  My son has an XBox and I have been known to shoot a few bad guys or use the brand new Kinect.  But I am not one who subscribes to the theory that the online environment is a replica of real life.  Sorry, I still believe in spending time in the flesh.

There’s a virtual world out there and it will continue to grow.  But there will be an increasing opportunity for real connections through “live” relationships.

Okay, I watched the Super Bowl.  And I took in all those commercials.  To be honest, I thought there were really a number of duds this year.  I kept on saying, “They spent $3 million for that!”  I will say that the beaver was my favorite however.

I admit that a number of the ads went over my head.  I found myself saying, “I don’t get it!”  And it was evident that many of the products being hawked were for people in a different season of life than me.

On Monday morning, I read a very interesting article.  It began to help me understand what had just happened.  The article, written by Stuart Elliott of the New York Times called “Super Bowl Ads Mine Decades of Americana,” claimed that you need a PhD in American culture to follow all the ads.  Elliott said that these ads mined six decades of American culture.  You had to have a working knowledge of pop icons, TV shows, history, and political leaders just to name a few.  No wonder I felt a little clueless at times.

But there was a silver lining for me.  I’m not just a student of the Bible; I love the Bible. And at times, I’m reminded that it can be a pretty deep book.  Different historical contexts, languages, literary genres, and life situations are all presented in the sixty-six books.  Sometimes, I worry that people, swimming in a pretty much Biblically illiterate culture, will be overwhelmed.

Fear not!  If people can invest enough time in Americana to understand Super Bowl commercials, they DO have the bandwidth to dig in and understand the Bible.  Yup, it takes time.  Yup, it takes “soaking in it.”  Yup, it is not necessarily easy.  In fact, it is probably easier to simply go with the cultural flow to understand who Eminem is.  But I came away with the firm conviction that it is possible for people to love not just the words of the Bible, but all of the nuance, history, and depth underneath it.

Let me give an example.  Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:14 saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” Jesus was telling Nicodemus about inheriting eternal life. In his words preceding this, he spoke of being “born again.”  And in the words immediately after this, he gives this infamous John 3:16 which is held up on signs at sporting events.  But what about this bronze serpent?

This is a reference in the Old Testament found in Numbers 21:9.  Wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites had grown impatient with God and Moses.  So God allowed snakes to come and bite them for their disobedience!  But the people quickly confessed their sin and ask for the removal of the snakes.  So God commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and place it on a pole.  People were told to look at the snake, “When anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”  Think about the medical emblem and hypocratic oath that doctors take, but that is another bunny trail.

Can you see how much is going on here that the casual reader would miss? Can you glimpse the depth and even enjoy that there is so much going on?  Super Bowl commercial watchers, you have the tools!

I will not give up this dream.  That once again, the Bible will rise to the spot in our land where it is not just tolerated but cherished.

There is the old saying that the Bible is “shallow enough at its edges that a child may drink safely and deep enough for greatest intellect to be submersed.”  May we feel joy to enter the safe end, but feel the challenge to swim to deeper water.

I wish to applaud a group of men who begin a new journey tomorrow night.  They will join together in a fifteen week experience called the Men’s Purity Group associated with my church, Community Christian Fellowship.  Together they will explore their compulsion for pornography with the goal of experiencing Christ as He gives true delivery.

The internet is the leading vehicle to feed this growing addiction.  It is no surprise that pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US.  Some estimate that as much as 25% of all internet traffic is related to explicit sites and images.  The average exposure for first-time pornograpy viewing on the internet is now 11 years old.  All of this is documented by Jerry Ropelato at Internet Pornography Statistics, toptenreviews.com.  Is it any wonder that men find it relatively easy to become tangled here?

The church in my opinion has been silent about this for too long.  Through counseling sessions with men who want and long for change, I have been mentored not just about the problem, but also some good classes that are offering lasting change.  Victory takes more than just putting “blocking software” on your computer.  Although this is a good step, it does not address the root of the problem.  Men also report that merely feeling ashamed and vowing not to do it again usually does not work.  And that’s where a class like Men’s Purity, and often times ongoing personal therapy, come in.  Men must engage and uncover not just the actions of their addictions, but the issues which are injuries in the soul that lead them to this as a numbing agent.  I know it sounds strange that I would call pornography “numbing” because men usually associate it with an extreme rush and even exhilaration.  But at the root, addiction is about escape and numbing pain that we don’t know how to deal with.

And so I am in prayer for a group of men who meet tomorrow night.  They are men who are taking the bold step of saying, We know we have a problem and we long for God to help us into lasting recovery.  We know this is no quick fix, and that we need each other for the ongoing battle.  These are BRAVE MEN.  I tip my hat to them as they embark on a new journey of discovering God and themselves for the next few months.

For a number of years, I have resisted a “permanent” blog.  Life has been busy enough.  And quite frankly, I’m sympathetic with the desert father, Arnesius, who said, “I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having remained silent.”   And so it is with some trepidation that I begin this journey.

I have actually enjoyed some blogging in the past.  It has predominantly been around short missions trips.  In fact, here’s some posts I have written in the past.

• Missions Trip Among Somalis in Minneapolis (2009)
• Missions Trip to Malawi, Africa (2010)

So here we go.  I’m ready to share and interact in an increasingly “connected” world.