January 29th, 2009 | Categories: Disciplemaking, Entertainment, Practical Discipling, The City Gate | Tags:

I must preface this post by stating that I am in no way an expert on manga; I probably don’t even qualify as an aficionado. I’ve read very little manga in my time, and while I am interested in the medium from a visual standpoint, most manga storylines hold little interest for me.

A few weeks back, an article on the Gospel-as-comic-book came across my feed reader. Basic summary of the article from Christian Today: Manga Messiah is a 300-page retelling of the Gospels from Jesus’ birth to His resurrection. During this past Christmas season, copies of MM were distributed around Japan – a sadly unevangelized nation.

To my limited understanding, manga is a wildly-popular medium throughout Japan, with adults and children alike regularly reading the books. We Americans think of comic books as primarily the domain of children and teens, but I get the impression that manga is to the Japanese as sitcoms or reality shows are to Americans: much of the popular culture is disseminated through the medium and they form the basis of much “water cooler” discussion. I occasionally enjoy Western-style graphic novels (I particularly recall a comic-book Macbeth that I found in the University library while I was in high school), but I’ve not had a chance to see a copy of Manga Messiah.

When looking for more information on Manga Messiah, I came across a review by Manga Life, a seemingly general-purpose site discussing manga of all types. In their review, Manga Life encouragingly suggests that MM is a “very faithful adapation of the four Gospels” but that some of the artistic choices (including the extensive use of color) would likely turn off regular manga readers, relegating the publication to an audience of Christian teens who are already familiar with the Gospel from Sunday School.

While I must reiterate that I have very little understanding of manga culture in Japan, the Manga Life review seems to me very dismissively Western in its approach. In my opinion, they suffer from a lack of vision – while Western audiences may not connect with MM, might this be a way to crack into the decidedly non-Christian culture of Japan? I don’t know how accurately the Gospel message of salvation through Christ is presented in MM, but anything that can penetrate the popular culture of such a lost and globally-influential society as Japan must certainly result in some good.

I am reminded of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:22b – “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.” The Gospel presented as manga is certainly becoming all things to the Japanese people; if by that means the people behind Manga Messiah can save some, I rejoice at the harvest. Now if we could just encourage more television and movies to present Christ…

January 15th, 2009 | Categories: Illustrations, News | Tags: ,

A recent article published in Newsweek highlighted a phenomenon noted around the world by wildlife researchers: as trophy animals (the ideal specimens of a type) are hunted for sport or food, those that remain are the “weak and scrawny.” Essentially, the observation is that Darwin’s ’survival of the fittest’ gets perverted when a more cunning power (i.e., man) is added to the equation. Decades of “selective hunting – picking out individuals with the best horns or antlers” are resulting in changes to the species, as the less genetically-superior animals are left to propagate future generations. The worst danger is that the “losers tend not to be very good breeders, meaning that this demographic shift ultimately threatens the viability of a species.”

I can see a parallel to the Christian life here. Someone told me once that if Satan is attacking you, you know you’re doing something right. Satan is a cunning hunter, roving about in search of trophies, and he won’t waste his time on a “weak and scrawny” specimen of a ‘Christian’. (Besides, it’s typically easier to round up and overcome the weak ones after the robust individuals are out of the way).

Are we losing our viability for future generations through the strong and mighty succumbing to the tactics of the Devil? Is our culture of tolerance and acceptance, coupled with the wearying effects of an increasingly busy life, resulting in strong Christians becoming easy fodder for Satan’s hunting parties? Are Christians today “weak and scrawny” as a result of our paragons being attacked by Satan?

The call to you today is 1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world.” Stand up and become a target of the Devil, resisting him with all the armor of God and proving a strong example for future generations. We will prevail in the end; our God is bigger than any of the weapons of Satan.

Don’t court the Devil, but be such a strong force for the right side that his resources can’t help but to be diverted away from your weaker brothers and sisters; perhaps that will be just the respite they need to re-fasten their own armor and step up alongside you in the fight for the souls of the world.

Kudu photo by Arno & Louise via Flickr – CC:BY-NC

January 10th, 2009 | Categories: Planning | Tags:

I was asked yesterday about my philosophy of ‘good planning’. For so long in my professional career, good planning has been a moving target based on whatever an individual client had expressed through their needs and desires. Consulting is a service industry — while we are expected to contribute our professional expertise, ultimately the client pays and the client receives what is paid for.

That said, I’ve not given much thought to my own personal philosophy of what makes for good planning since sometime early on in grad school. The difficulty I find now is separating the basic concept from applications of that concept. To state that I follow the tenets of, say, Smart Growth or New Urbanism is to muddy the waters, I think (especially since applications of planning theory engender strong opinions).

I responded with something along the lines of the following:

Good planning means balancing the activities of daily life (living, working, recreating, shopping) with protection of the natural environment that allows a high quality of life to be maintained.

I’ll revisit this more in the future. What do you think good planning means?

January 8th, 2009 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags:

Since being introduced to “birding” as a pursuit (rather than simply birdwatching) back in 2000, I have loosely maintained a life list of birds. Such is presented below, based on AOU’s latest supplement, and personalized with a few species from London and Nigeria in 2006. I am also planning to update my eBird list, although that’s just for the US and Canada, so I don’t get to include any of my lovely Tico birds!

I really hope to be able to carve out more time for birding this year. The feeders (and my $15 investment in PFW) are somewhat of a bust – primarily because I’m never home to watch them! — but we have attracted a bunch of Blue Jays, BCCs, juncos, and a Downy Woodpecker.

  1. Great Tinamou Tinamus major; CRI
  2. Little Tinamou Crypturellus soui; CRI
  3. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis; CRI
  4. Snow Goose Chen caerulescens
  5. Brant Branta bernicla
  6. Canada Goose Branta canadensis
  7. Wood Duck Aix sponsa
  8. American Black Duck Anas rubripes
  9. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
  10. Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
  11. Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Peninsula, TX
  12. Northern Pintail Anas acuta
  13. Canvasback Aythya valisineria
  14. Redhead Aythya americana
  15. Greater Scaup Aythya marila
  16. Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis
  17. Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata
  18. Black Scoter Melanitta nigra
  19. Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis
  20. Bufflehead Bucephala albeola
  21. Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula
  22. Common Merganser Mergus merganser
  23. Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator
  24. Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
  25. Gray-headed Chachalaca Ortalis cinereiceps; CRI
  26. Crested Guan Penelope purpurascens; CRI
  27. Great Curassow Crax rubra; CRI
  28. Ring-necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus; March 2003; Ann Arbor, MI
  29. Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus
  30. Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
  31. Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata
  32. Common Loon Gavia immer
  33. Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
  34. Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus
  35. Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena
  36. Brown Booby Sula leucogaster; CRI
  37. American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
  38. Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
  39. Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
  40. Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
  41. Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens; CRI
  42. Bare-throated Tiger-Heron Tigrisoma mexicanum; CRI
  43. Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
  44. Great Egret Ardea alba
  45. Snowy Egret Egretta thula
  46. Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
  47. Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
  48. Green Heron Butorides virescens
  49. Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
  50. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea
  51. White Ibis Eudocimus albus
  52. Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus
  53. Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Peninsula, TX
  54. Wood Stork Mycteria americana; CRI
  55. Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
  56. Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
  57. King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa; CRI
  58. Osprey Pandion haliaetus
  59. Swallow-tiled Kite Elanoides forficatus
  60. White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
  61. Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
  62. Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
  63. Cooper’s Hawk Accipiter cooperii
  64. Common Black-Hawk Buteogallus anthracinus
  65. Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
  66. Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus
  67. Short-tailed Hawk Buteo brachyurus
  68. Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
  69. Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
  70. Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima
  71. American Kestrel Falco sparverius
  72. Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus; 8 April 2006; Ann Arbor, MI
  73. Clapper Rail Rallus longirostris; 30 May 2007; Poquoson, VA
  74. American Coot Fulica americana
  75. Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis; aft 2002; Michigan
  76. Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
  77. American Oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Flats, TX
  78. American Avocet Recurvirostra americana; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Flats, TX
  79. Northern Jacana Jacana spinosa
  80. Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Flats, TX
  81. Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
  82. Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
  83. Willet Tringa semipalmata
  84. Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
  85. Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa; 27 December 2008; Bolivar Flats, TX
  86. Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
  87. Sanderling Calidris alba
  88. Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima
  89. Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
  90. Bonaparte’s Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia
  91. Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
  92. Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis
  93. Herring Gull Larus argentatus
  94. Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus
  95. Black Tern Chlidonias niger
  96. Forster’s Tern Sterna forsteri
  97. Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
  98. Black Skimmer Rynchops niger; 30 May 2007; Poquoson, VA
  99. Rock Pigeon Columba livia
  100. Ruddy Pigeon Patagioenas subvinacea
  101. Short-billed Pigeon Patagioenas nigrirostris
  102. White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
  103. Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
  104. Common Ground-Dove Columbina passerina
  105. Ruddy Ground-Dove Columbina talpacoti
  106. Blue Ground-Dove Claravis pretiosa
  107. White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi
  108. Buff-fronted Quail-Dove Geotrygon costaricensis

Country Codes (ISO 3166-1): CRI = Costa Rica; NGA = Nigeria; GBR = United Kingdom

January 7th, 2009 | Categories: Illustrations | Tags: , ,

So here I go, breaking the resolution in my last post already. Work is slow – lousy economy translates into not much billable time.

I just came back from lunch, praying that something would change to relieve the pressure of making my hours. I sit down at my desk, and my supervisor walks up with a site plan to review – guaranteed 4 hours of billable work. Praise God!

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