by Marc Buxton | Oct 18, 2010 | General
I recently saw a TV commercial from Black & Decker. They have a new iron that doubles as a handheld steamer. Pretty cool concept. But this is not a review post. I hate ironing. The point of this post is not to discuss the product, but the commercial.
In the commercial, the tagline for the new “variable steam” iron is “evolution of the iron”. In addition to using this phrase, the voice on the commercial uses the term “redesigned”. This caught my attention. Did the iron evolve or was it designed? This may be just semantics with this silly example, but when we are talking about the origins of the universe, it is a different story.
I think this question is representative of many real life assertions that we encounter everyday. In discussions concerning the universe, these two ideas – evolution and design – are contradictory. As Ben Stein proved so adeptly in his documentary “Expelled”, Intelligent Design and Evolution are, in fact, sworn enemies. Yet I will often hear proponents of evolution slip up and use terms like “designed”, “designer”, “engineered”, etc.
My theory? These “slip ups” are just the manifestation of what we were made to understand: to have a design, you must have a designer.
What about you? Have you ever heard someone use these two ideas in a self-defeating way? Please comment.
by Marc Buxton | Oct 5, 2010 | General, Technology
I posted awhile back about some of my favorite iPhone apps. That was before I had acquired this little gem. The official Adobe Photoshop app – PS Express – is now one of my favorite and most used apps. It allows you to do a variety of things with your photos including:
Crop, Straighten, Rotate, Flip
Change your Exposure, Tint, Contrast, etc.
Add Effects and Borders
For someone who has little experience in photo editing and no experience using Photoshop, I found this app a breeze. It has allowed me to increase the quality of the pics I upload online. And I can edit a pic using this program in under 3 minutes. Very cool.
If you have an iPhone and you upload pictures, I would highly recommend you try this app. Did I mention it’s FREE?
Here’s some example of pics I’ve edited using the app:
by Marc Buxton | Sep 14, 2010 | General
I don’t post too often about our missionary travels/life. I try to keep things diverse and interesting. But it’s always good to stop and let my readers and friends know what is going on….
This week we are in beautiful San Antonio, continuing to raise support for our ministry on deputation (see my blog post about deputation). We have had a wonderful time in just a few days here in Texas. This past Sunday, we shared our ministry with a church in the area, and they were so moved by what God is doing that the church voted – on the spot – to partner with our ministry financially. That is a rarity! We give all the glory to God for that.
Monday is usually my day off, and yesterday was no exception. It was exceptional, however. We were able to visit one of America’s most historic landmarks, The Alamo. I learned a lot of cool history about the fight for Texas independence, and was quite pleased to learn that the commanding officer and hero of the Alamo was a fellow South Carolinian (Travis).
Our historic trip to the Alamo was also a family affair, as we were able to share the weekend with my wife’s brother and his family. Luke and Kelly Lyons are also missionaries (www.impactingasia.org) and were in San Antonio at the same time. It was great to see our two little boys, cousins who will grow up together in Manila, hanging out for the first time.
Deputation is full of ups and downs, trials and rewards. This weekend was mostly ups and rewards, and it was a wonderful blessing as such. In fact, in just the last week we have had two churches start supporting our ministry financially, helping us reach more people with the gospel of Christ. If you would like information on how you can help our ministry, visit www.join360.info.
Please share your prayer requests in the comment section below, and I will pray for them. Will you pray for us as well?
If you’d like to see more posts like this one, check out the “Missionary life” category to the right.
by Marc Buxton | Sep 7, 2010 | General, Technology
There is a daycare playground that I pass almost every day. On the playground sit two plastic space shuttles – of the springy, bouncy, fun variety.
I believe in American exceptionalism. America is great, not because of skin color or cultural nuances, but because of her principled freedom and resulting achievements. The ultimate example of this is the U.S. space agency – NASA – and her crowning achievement: the Space Shuttle.
I have a family member that works in the space program, and there has been much talk of President Obama’s plans to cancel the space shuttle. NASA, and specifically the shuttle program, represents America’s best and most innovative work. Many of the things we use everyday were created or perfected by NASA scientists: scratch resistant lenses, memory foam, ear thermometers, cordless tools, and water filters. But in addition to these things, NASA gives us something greater: the ability to explore the unknown world of space, and the resulting innovations that benefit all mankind.
I listened yesterday as my friend’s son, 5 years old, explained to me the workings of the space shuttle toy that he was so proudly exhibiting. He had me “countdown” for the launch, and then lifted the space shuttle and rocket boosters up, up, up towards the ceiling fan. I was amazed when the rocket booster fell away at precisely the right moment, and he indicated that a “parachute” would open and bring them back down. NASA is the stuff dreams are made of – exploring the unknown. American dreams. No other country could produce a space shuttle. We should not stop launching them, if only for that reason. But further still, NASA provides an outlet for dreaming the impossible, and making it reality.
Imagine if one day on that playground, a little boy asks his teacher, “what’s a ‘space shuttle’?”
by Marc Buxton | Aug 13, 2010 | General
How do you decide what movies and TV shows to watch and what not to watch? What is good and what is bad?
In thinking about this, I’ve determined 3 things:
1) You cannot trust the movie ratings system
Hollywood is not getting better. The movies that are rated “PG-13” now would probably have received the “R” rating just a few years ago. I’ve even seen some ‘PG” movies that weren’t quite family appropriate. And don’t even think about trusting PG ratings from the 80s (yikes!).
2) You cannot trust the previews
Hollywood is getting wiser. They realize that there is at least some moral pulse left in America, and so they aren’t going to show you all the bad stuff in the previews. When is the last time you heard a curse word in a preview? Side note: don’t you hate it when the previews contain all the best/funniest parts of a move? I hate that…
3) You cannot trust your friends
I know this sounds harsh. I have a lot of friends that I would trust to recommend a movie as “family-friendly”. I also have a lot of friends that I would not trust. Because their definition of “family-friendly” is much different than mine, I’ve learned not to trust word of mouth alone.
So what is the solution?
For several years now, I have been consulting a website called “Kids in Mind” (kids-in-mind.com).
The site offers reviews, not of the storyline, but of the content. They rate movies on a scale of 1-10 in 3 categories: “Sex & Nudity”, “Violence & Gore”, and “Profanity”. I find this site very helpful in determining what movies we are going to watch and more importantly – which ones we aren’t.
This site has been helpful to me as a single guy, a married man, and now as a father of young children. I imagine it will be even more helpful when I am the father of teenagers….
I challenge you to check out your movie on Kids-in-Mind before your next viewing, and ask yourself a few questions while you read the review: Is this movie appropriate? Do my children need to see this? Would God want me to watch this?
What about you – how do you determine what movies to watch?
by Marc Buxton | Jul 30, 2010 | General, Technology, Time Management
I love my iPhone. Not because it’s cool looking. Or the most revolutionary device since the home PC. I like it because I can be more productive with it. Now that’s a good toy.
Actual screen-shot of my iPhone
Here’s a look at some of my favorite apps:
MailChimp – I use mailchimp for our ministry newsletters, and this app lets me see up to the minute stats on how our email campaigns are doing.
FlightTrack – helps me keep track of all the flights we are taking, and if any are delayed.
Skype – I pay the $5.95 monthly fee, and I can cal l from anywhere in the world that I can get a wi-fi signal. Used my cell to call my mom from Outback in Manila one time. Sweet.
Dropbox – I use dropbox all the time to share files with people. This little app lets me see those files, and edit them, right on my phone.
Carbonite – If you don’t have Carbonite online backup, you should. Their app is even cooler than their protection service. I can see any file that’s on my PC right on my iPhone. They should charge for this app, but they don’t.
YouVersion Bible – I use this all the time to reference verses, bookmark verses, etc. I even use it to keep track of my weekly Bible memory verse. The only downside is that people think you are playing Pacman on your phone if you decide to use it in church.
There you have it. Some of my favorite apps.
by Marc Buxton | Jul 23, 2010 | Family, General
My wife recently gave birth to our first child, Reece. Here’s some things I’ve learned…
1 – Babies do not like cold, wet anything touching them, at any time, for any reason.
2- Until you’ve been a father and you’ve held your child, you can’t explain it. It’s awesome.
3 -It is impossible to sleep in a hospital, even if you are just visiting. Don’t even attempt this.
4 – Our health care system is just fine, thank you very much Mr. President.
5 – My wife is an amazing woman.
by Marc Buxton | Jul 14, 2010 | General
I thought I would lighten things up a bit on the ol’ weblog, and share with you one of my favorite dishes. This is a Filipino dish that my wife (who was born and raised there) makes quite often. If you like Japanese Teriyaki chicken, there’s a good chance you’ll like this. Enjoy!
Chicken Adobo
1.5 lbs chicken cut into cubes
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube (Knorr brand)
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
Mix all the ingredients in a pan and cook about 20 minutes over medium heat. Cover and let boil until the meat is tender. Serve over white rice while hot.
by Marc Buxton | Jul 13, 2010 | General
If you haven’t been following the Ergun Caner controversy, you can find background info on my blog, as well as James White’s blog here.
As of June 30, Dr. Ergun Caner is no longer the President of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. After the investigation, Liberty released a statement that Caner would be replaced. Here is how I see it:
Caner is a man of God. Do you think Jerry Falwell would have appointed someone head of the seminary who he did not know, had not vetted, and didn’t trust? Come on. Listen to his sermons, read his books, attend his classes, and tell me he is not sold out for Christ.
Caner is a dynamic speaker, an entertaining speaker. I’ve heard him on several occasions. He has a great sense of humor, on stage, in classroom lectures, and I imagine, at home. As I see it, giving Caner the benefit of the doubt, he misspoke in his excitement on several occasions. As someone who speaks quite often, I would imagine that I have given facts, figures, etc. wrong on occasion. I’m human. Here’s the point: if someone would just come up and ask me, I would be able to clarify why I mispoke (“Oh I didn’t realize I said that”, “I said that? I meant to say”, “That’s true…let me explain…”, etc.) No one asked him. They blogged instead. ( I have my theories on that. Maybe I’ll share them later). And if you comment on this post, arguing with this point, and have never spoken on more than one occasion to over 500 people – your criticism is invalid.
In short, there are several problems here:
1) Caner was viewed as guilty until proven innocent.
2) Caner’s Christian accuser’s ignored the process of Matthew 18 for settling problems such as this.
3) Caner’s primary attackers were either Muslim or Calvanist – both of which dislike Caner for his positions.
4) All of the “lies” can be adequately explained, as shown by Dr. Norman Geisler.
I think that Liberty University and the semimary are playing a bit of politics with their decision. Which is fine. As I’ve said before, Liberty is bigger than any one person (including the name Falwell). I think that Liberty decided it was best for the school to remove Caner and avoid any further smears in the media. The school will survive. Check that – thrive. However, Caner will stay on as a professor. Doesn’t this say something? I think it says: “Look, we are tired of the accusations from kooks with too much time on their hands, but to avoid hurting our school we are removing Caner from the spotlight. He’s too controversial for such a position. He is, however, irreplaceable in the classroom, which is where he will stay”.
As for Caner? I think justice has been served. His passion is teaching. He has said that, clearly, over and over. And if you believe his story about how Falwell surprised him at graduation by introducing him as the next seminary dean, it was not a role he had too much time to think about anyway. But he did his job – the seminary has grown leaps and bounds in the last several years, and now it can settle in and build on that growth with a less “controversial” dean at the head. Perhaps now Caner can return to his true love – his students.
Go Flames.
by Marc Buxton | Jun 19, 2010 | General
Now remember, this is not me saying this. It’s God. Global warming, as seen as a threat to life on earth and the planet’s continued existence, is a hoax. Or at least incorrect. A hoax is a claim perpetrated by someone who knows it isn’t true. Unfortunately, I think most people actually believe this one. But I’m not writing to give a political discussion. (I think it is, entirely, a political fabrication). If you don’t agree with me, however, read on. Maybe you will agree with God.
2 Peter 3: 5-7
5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The Bible says that God is preserving the universe by His word. Is God stressed out about greenhouse gases? Is “climate change”, caused by man, going to throw God’s entire plan for history out of the window?
Let’s say I accept global warming as fact (I don’t). But let’s say I do. According to this passage, it doesn’t matter anyway! God is in control. Not Al Gore. But to accept this precept requires accepting God’s Word as truth. Not everyone is willing to do that, I understand. But for the Christian, scientist or not, it cannot be taken any other way: Man is not going to destroy the world through his actions. It is contrary to God’s Word. God’s judgement will bring fire and destruction to the earth. And He is keeping the earth in balance until that time.
What is your take on this passage and its application?
