I just read this book by Jon Krakauer and I found it absolutely fascinating. It is soon to be made into a movie so I’d read it before then if you have the chance. It tells the story of a guy named Chris McCandless whose body is found dead in an abandoned bus in a remote part of Alaska (I’m not giving anything away here, it says this on the cover of the book.) It is the story of the…

My wife and I have had an ongoing irony in our marriage from day one. She has a passion for coffee and loves Starbucks and has even worked at at least three different stores in two states. But I never really “acquired the taste.” This has been much to the frustration of my wife and many others. Still, I have sat on the sidelines intrigued by the success of Starbucks even though it was never my thing. Recently, I read…

In his book Simply Christian, N.T. Wright spends a chapter discussing the church as it should be. I think he hits on some very true insights especially with the wave of people today who believe that social justice replaces the ministry of the church and that house churches are the extent of Christian fellowship and community that we need. “…it is as impossible, unnecessary, and undesirable to be a Christian all by yourself as it is to be a newborn…

A recent study has found that today’s college students are more narcissistic (characteristic of those having an inflated idea of their own importance) than previous generations. They attribute it to things like MySpace and YouTube. It raises an interesting thought. Does our current cultural love of things like personal web sites (MySpace), shows about our peers and possibly us (reality tv), and websites where we can be famous for our own home videos (YouTube) foster an attitude of narcissism? Even…