Random Thoughts 11/02/07

• What is the fastest Windows Vista notebook computer of 2007? A MacBook Pro of course, according to PC World. Apple makes a great computer.
• Kansas (8-0) is ranked 8th in the BCS, the AP, and USA Today polls. And that's their football team! The men's basketball team is ranked 4th in the nation, though the season hasn't really started yet (KU played an exhibition game last night). K-State is ranked 25th in the AP poll, the first time they've been ranked in years. Texas and Texas A&M also made the top 25 in pre-season polls.
  
• Did you see the final play of the Trinity (TX) Division III football game that included 15 laterals and at least that many missed tackles? The play takes a full 60 seconds to develop and goes 60 yards, the long way around. There have been similar plays in football history, but I can't imagine one that lasted longer than this (about 10 times the length of an average play).
  
• I went to a Lutheran funeral this morning, which was interesting. In many ways it was not unlike a funeral I would do… at least theologically speaking, but the methodology, well, it unfolded much more like a Catholic funeral than a Protestant one. The liturgy, vestments, responsive readings, candles, tone, atmosphere, and duration were somewhat alien to my Evangelical experiences. I imagine that the family could be comforted by the standardized format of that style of funeral but that's just not how I would approach it. Death is a fascinating mystery that forces us to deal with the most important thing about Jesus Christ (his death and resurrection). It seems right to me that each individual ought to be uniquely contemplated in that light, clearly and plainly talking about who they were whenever it's possible to do so.
• One other methodology note: If Jay-rod, or worship minister, announced in our church that the congregation was going to sing "all EIGHT verses" of a hymn, he'd be mobbed before the first word was sung. We're definitely of the "first and last verse" tradition of hymn singing.