Steubing.me

We, The Created open mic night @ austin java !

// March 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal

Google launches person finder after Chile quake…

// March 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal

(Credit: Google)

Google is using a tool to help people locate friends and loved ones who might have been affected by Saturday’s 8.8.-magnitude earthquake in Chile.

Google Person Finder allows users to search for information about people by name or leave information about people in both English and Spanish. As of Sunday morning, the page said it contained 22,900 records. However, the page cautions users that all data input would be viewable and usable by all and that the company plays no role in verifying the information. Google had set up a similar Person Finder tool after Haiti’s recent earthquake.

Click HERE for the full story, via CNET.

Waking a spiritually slumbering generation

// February 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // Church

The Church Report.

Waking a spiritually slumbering generation
By: David Klinghoffer
The Church Report
September 28, 2009

Link to Original Article

Polling data suggest that in 20 years, a quarter of Americans will profess loyalty to no religion at all. Those unbelieving Americans aren’t European-style atheists. Instead, they find all the available institutional religious choice unappealing, which is why they are sometimes called “nones” as in “none of the above.”

Believers are failing to reach an ever-increasing segment of the population. What can we do differently? Let me point out to you one possible approach to the problem, based on an ancient tradition about the earliest evangelist in history.

The first of the Jewish patriarchs, Abraham, lived in a time of total alienation from God. The Bible provides fragmentary information about how he discovered, or was discovered, by the Lord. Jewish oral tradition, conveyed in the Talmud and Midrash, fills in many gaps. Among other things, we learn that Abraham shared the lost knowledge of the One God with “thousands and myriads” of other people.

That information comes from the great medieval rabbinic sage Maimonides who drew other much older traditions about Abraham together into a single narrative, recorded in his Mishneh Torah. What made Abraham such a great evangelist was his flexible approach. On one hand, he aggressively argued for the truth he had found: “When he recognized and knew [God], he began to formulate replies to the inhabitants of Ur Kasdim and debate with them, telling them that they were not following a proper path.”

On the other hand, he was able to suit his teaching as appropriate to individual seekers: “When the people would gather around him and ask him about his statements, he would explain [them] to each one of them according to their understanding, until they turned to the path of truth” (emphasis added).

King Solomon would later formulate this idea in the book of Proverbs. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” as the King James Version translates the verse (22:6). The Hebrew literally says we should train a child “according to his way,” again indicating an individual approach, here based on the child’s unique personality and inclinations.

Committed Jews and Christians need to be careful readers and interpreters of our culture, sensitive to the unique spirit of the time, which is one of doubting and questioning. Evangelists for atheism have made inroads, but those have been limited by the fact that the most aggressive secularists make their case in such starkly dogmatic terms.

Darwinians like Richard Dawkins, the bestselling atheist biologist, insist they have got everything all figured out. The history of life can be fully explained as the product of unplanned, purposeless churning by purely material, chance-driven natural forces.

Traditional believers have responded with an avalanche of books seeking to counter the remarkably influential Dawkins. However, perhaps more closely attuned to the spirit of our age is the reply to the New Atheism from mathematician David Berlinski, a Jewish agnostic.

In The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions, now in paperback, Berlinski compresses, with his characteristic elegance and wit, a line of argument he has been pursuing for the past 13 years. A critic both of intelligent design and of Darwinism, Berlinski’s basic point is that whatever many scientists may say, along with their boosters in the media, science does not have it all figured. Icons including Darwinian evolution, but also theories about the human mind, the Big Bang, the origin of life, the origin of matter — these are all open to doubt:

“The claim that the human mind is the product of evolution is not unassailable fact. It is barely coherent.

“The idea that man was created in the image of God remains what is has always been: And that is the instinctive default position of the human race.”

This is real skepticism, not the fake but popular kind that doubts God but concedes all to anyone claiming to speak in the name of science.

Berlinski’s skeptical voice may be the one that many in that growing population of “nones” most urgently need to hear, because he speaks as one of them, according to their understanding. They cannot hear professions of certainty. There is a real sense, too, in which Berlinski’s skepticism speaks not only to a demographic group but to the spiritual condition of modern man.

Solomon’s Song of Songs expresses this with the image of the beloved not waiting in anticipation of her loved one but, instead, having fallen asleep: “I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh” (5:2).

Ours is a spiritually slumbering generation, more than any in a very long time. Religious believers can’t force the knock to come. We might be better off, as would the doubters and “nones,” if we appreciated that.

##

David Klinghoffer is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture and the author of The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism (Doubleday) among other books.

We, the created…

// February 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Design Work, Personal

I’m a Christian. I haven’t been one for too long, or rather,  I haven’t understood what it is to be a Christian for very long… maybe 4 or 5 years…and of those, the last two are the meat and potatoes of my faith… the years where I’ve really given God my life to mold me and make me what I should be.

My struggle from the beginning was always the question “How can God fit around my life?”. I liked to drink, I liked to lust, and I liked to party… God does too… right?It wasn’t until a couple of years ago and everyday since when my question changed to “How can my life be fit for God?”… How can I live each day for my Creator… kind of like what JFK said, but this is much more important.. Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for God? How can we glorify him daily? It’s too easy to fall into old ways… One drink won’t hurt… then it’s two… then you stopped counting because you’ve already made up your mind that tonight you are going to enjoy yourself…. Those shoes look nice… I don’t have enough pairs of shoes… Ooooooh, look at what she’s wearing… hardly anything! Hmmm….

I have been far too content with how I serve our God. There are those certain times in my week when I can be “blatantly” Christian. Sundays, Wednesdays and every now and then Fridays when I go to worship @ a different local church. But I fail God with my lack of service the rest of the week… those hours at work… or when I’m around long time friends who haven’t experienced what God offers them… you know.. the ones where my logic is “Don’t freak them out Joshua with your ‘God talk’ or ‘Jesus’ speak…” … Both sides tend to preface their words with a thought of “How can I be sensitive to their belief?” which typically makes the conversation more awkward than before!!! I’m a fan of dialogue and discussion. Rather than avoiding our differences, let’s face them and discuss them!

It’s pathetic how one name can silence a room into awkwardness… Saying “Jesus” around non-believers can lead to more awkward silence than shouting out “F***” or any other profanity… which sometimes leads to “Whoa… who does this guy think he is? Talking about Jesus… he’s probably judging me… You think you’re better than me because you’re sober and I’m not? Don’t judge me! Hypocrite! Liar! Ignorant, homophobic, fascist pig!”. And the worst part is, some of the biggest “figure heads” of Christianity live up to those accusations! Those who knew me before my acceptance of Christ probably (with good reason) don’t know how to take it when I am different than what they remember… for the record though I was such a liar in my youth that you probably didn’t know me anyway as I didn’t even know myself.

But in Christ I have found purpose. My talents are tenfold what they were when I was doing it for myself. When I put my efforts towards God, I find my efforts blessed. After dropping myself in favor of God, I’ve found that every day is another day to live for God and every talent I possess is because of him and I am obligated to use them for His works.

So… how?

www.wethecreated.com is a new site I am working on with the idea of creating a community of Christians sharing our culture with the world. Yes we are Christians! Christians that (giving thanks to God) write poetry, compose music, take photos, Tweet daily updates, blog life stories and take on the world one day at a time. We can’t afford to let the devil control influential media…and the internet is as influential as it gets! We, the created sons and daughters of God, can live in a secular world and not succumb to it but, rather, take it back!

This site isn’t exclusive. All are welcomed and encouraged to join and see what inspires us as Christians… And if we are serving God as we are told to in the Bible, they will find Truth and they too will contribute to growing God’s kingdom.

So please, I ask for your prayers. I hope you check the site out these next couple of weeks as it nears it’s launch and I hope you join our (growing!) community online @ www.wethecreated.com

- joshua

Aimless Gun CD Release Party

// February 12th, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal

Tomorrow night is going to be the CD release party for a great Austin local band: Aimless Gun. I’ll be at the show, so come stop by and say hi to me while enjoying some of the better music Austin has to offer! Click HERE to get full details for the show.

KUMC Reverse Garage Sale!

// February 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Church, Personal

Straight off it’s facebook page, here is some info for my church’s upcoming “Reverse Garage Sale” event…

REVERSE Garage Sale

Description

WHERE- Kyle United Methodist Church – 408 W. Lockhart Street
http://kyleumc.com/

WHEN- Saturday February 13,2010 from 7a.m.-3p.m.

(FOR) WHO- The Pathfinder’s Residential Program, part of the Burke Center in Driftwood, Texas & the New Life Children’s Center in New Braunfels, Texas

WHY- Both of these facilities provide a safe, structured living environment for abused and neglected children. Our goal is to ‘sweat the small stuff’ for them by collecting the everyday items that these kids (ages 11-17) are in need of. The items listed below are on their ‘Wish List’.

WISH LIST:
pillows- new
twin sheet sets- new
socks (calf for boys, no-show for girls)
men’s and women’s toiletries-no sprays or glass
sports and gardening equipment
gently used current clothing
men’s undershirts, round neck, all sizes
brightly colored yarn
lip gloss
school supplies
journals- no metal spirals
stationary

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=327050205294&index=1

God on my mind.

// February 9th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Church, Personal

We sang this song Sunday and I’ve been humming it ever since… Do yourself a huge favor and give God 5 or so minutes (at least!) everyday, whether with music or in silence, and just be in His presence… pretty amazing..

Big Bend South Rim Video

// February 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal, Vacations

Big Bend 2010: COMING SOON!!!

// January 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal, Vacations

Come this late February or early March, I will head out again deep west into Texas to take on the chihuahuan desert and chisos mountains. Last year, Christy and I had a blast as we camped and hiked a week in the basin of the mountains. This year, with Christy being preggo and all, I hope to get a small group of guys to venture with me and backpack the south rim trail. The weather is getting beautiful and I’m getting anxious planning, so for now I’ll post some pics from last year and can’t wait to bring back some pics from Big Bend 2010.