I have recently had a good bit of disdain towards the iPhone, throwing comments around like ‘If I were in the market for a phone right now I would not get the new iPhone’ and ‘I am tired of Apple’s shenanigans with the app store and monopoly over the iPhone’.  It has even extended in to the realm of their other products (I currently own a MacBook, Airport Extreme and Express) and I have recently found myself with the desire to expunge everything Apple and go back to a Windows world with an Android phone because it is just simpler.

Funny thing is, after reading an article today I realized, thanks in part due to God’s grace, that most of it had to do with my lifelong desire to be on the cutting edge of things and my uncanny ability to become bored with something after having it for a short amount of time.  You see, most of my complaints were really ways of convincing myself that it is okay to purchase more and satisfy my worldly idols.  Once I chewed on the article for a few minutes I realized that if I were to have made that switch, I likely would have regretted it shortly after.  After a few months of playing around with these new items, I would realize that there were so many things that I loved about the iPhone and the simplicity of OSX.  In the whirlwind of wanting to rid myself of the ‘trendy’ and what everybody else has, I would make my life, and subsequently my wife’s life, more complicated.  Now don’t get me wrong, changing phone and OS platforms will not spell the ruin of my marriage, but it would continue a long tradition of me changing something that Alyssa has become accustomed to and thus causing her more stress.  It is easy with us both having iPhones.  We can share apps and we have already committed money to apps that would be for nothing (for me, at least) if I changed platforms.  And that is just the iPhone.  I cannot even think of how much I have put in on licenses for software we commonly use on the MacBook.

But back to the point…

It is just so apparent that my life is full of idols and I will try anything to appease them.  Hopefully 2010 will continue the trend of the the Lord reveling more of my idols by the power of his Holy Spirit, and I pray that he does the same for you as well.  I am grateful for Dr. Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods, for helping me come to terms with so many of the things that I tend to put before God.

This song was sang during communion this morning.  One of the men in the church, Paul Duffin, wrote a new arrangement for it a la Indelible Grace.  It is one of my favorites, especially the second verse.
At the Lamb’s high feast we sing Praise to our victorious King, Who hath washed us in the tide [...]

For those of you that actually look at what I am currently reading on the ‘Current Reading’ page you will notice that beginning in 2010, I will take down the page and replace it with a link to GoodReads.com where I will continue to track my current, past and to be read.  If you are [...]

I have decided not to do a top 10 of 2009. There are a couple of reasons for this, first and foremost is that I think I let music go from being an awesome gift to an unhealthy obsession and idol.  As confessed earlier this year, I think I need to re-evaluate my consumption and [...]

The Transfiguration – Sufjan S…
When discussing Sufjan Stevens most people point to his two most widely known albums Welcome to Michigan or Come on Feel the Illinoise as their favorites, however for myself this is not true. I began listening to Sufjan shortly after the Michigan album was released and while I thoroughly enjoyed [...]

One of my all-time favorite bands, Jawbox, re-united for a one-time (supposedly?) performance on the Jimmy Fallon show to help promote the re-issue of their classic release, For Your Own Special Sweetheart.  NBC was nice enough to not only upload the broadcasted performance of Savory, but two other tracks performed by the band afterward, 68 [...]

We are heading up to Austin for a long weekend with our good friends.  I am looking forward to good food, good beer and good times.  The primary reason for going will be for the Spicewood 10k that is happening on Saturday morning.  Of course, the weather likes to play with our emotions.  According to [...]

Read this earlier while spending some time on the Word and wanted to post
It here.
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your [...]

The notes that are coming up from me in Facebook are linked from my blog. I have not gone back on my decision to go dark on Facebook and Twitter during the season of Advent. Just wanted to clear up any confusion.

Today is a day that many beer lovers in Houston have come to love, the day that Saint Arnold releases one of their small batch experiments under the moniker of Divine Reserve.  Initially launched in in late 2005, the small Houston brewery has since given us 8 unique brews, some better than others.  Since Saint [...]