Nathan Diehl

I am going on vacation, so this blog will become silent for a few days. But never fear, it will revive with vengeance when i’m back…

Emily and I are going to Cliffty Falls State Park and Madison, Ind. We’ve never been there before, and are looking forward to it. the weather is supposed to be very nice, especially on Monday! Monday is our two-year anniversary–boy has time flew by!

I would like to bring up a question which came up in a blog a couple days ago. In my recent blog titled Bono on Grace and Karma, it was discussed about his profanity. I asked the question, where is the line. Check out the comments, and leave your thoughts. I think it is a very interesting question, and i’m not sure i know the answer…

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Last night (April 25), Bono said this (in part) on a special two-hour American Idol: Idol Gives Back:

“People say you can’t be the generation that ends brutal, stupid poverty, but we can and we will.”

“I have been in front of 70,000 people here in L.A. and its a pretty amazing feeling. I can’t think of any feeling better except perhaps the feeling that you can save somebody’s life and there is not one person watching this program tonight who cannot save a life.”

Bono is co-founder of ONE, The Campaign to Make Poverty History: Millions of Americans united in ONE voice to fight against extreme poverty.
Partners of ONE include:
world concern
world vision
plus more than 50 other partners (including several denominations)

To find out more about ONE and take action, log on to one.org.

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on Sept. 2, 2004, Bono appeared as a guest on the O’Reilly Factor. Here are selected excerpts from that conversation:

O’Reilley: You want American drug companies then to send to Africa all the drugs they can possibly…
Bono: I’m not asking drug companies to behave like philanthropists. I’m saying we, our governments, United States and Europe, have to deal with this problem. If we don’t, we will reap a very ill wind. This is — it’s not just being bleeding hearts here. The strategic implications. There’s 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa right now. There will be 20 by the end of the decade. 12 right now. This is chaos. This is a consummating (ph) havoc, and the war against terror, which you talk about every night, is bound up in the war against poverty.

O’Reilley: But it’s not their fault when you’ve got the war on terror so intense and so — look, if 9/11 didn’t happen, you would have a much easier time with your crusade.
Bono: Yes. I disagree. Two things happened on 9/11. There was — the one that’s reported, of course, is the attack on America. But the one that has not been reported, and reported with less disgust, is what happened in the aftermath, which was those pictures around the world of people jumping up and down, celebrating the Twin Towers turning to dust. One of the most disturbing — they were the most disturbing images for me as a fan and a person who loves America.
A lot of people and this great country went. I don’t care who you are, a politician, you stop that. How did this happen to us? How did this — and this is the America that liberated Europe? Not just liberated Europe, we built Europe with the Marshall Plan which cost, by the way, 1 percent GDP over four years. That’s when “Brand USA” was at its brightest.
Right now “Brand USA” has taken some blows and some knocks. And I’m saying there’s an opportunity here. The Marshall Plan rebuilds Europe as a bulwark against Sovietism in the Cold War. It was smart. It wasn’t just goodness of heart, which it also was. It was smart. And I’m saying in a hot war, here’s a chance now to redescribe ourselves and be a bulwark against other militarism.
O’Reilley: And you believe that the world’s negative opinion of America would change if America took the lead to save people in Africa?
Bono: One hundred percent. They are. America is taking the lead.

O’Reilley: You’re certainly doing God’s work. I mean, I admire you very much for what you’re doing.
Bono: God must have a great sense of humor to have me on board.
O’Reilley: No. No. We need people like you to command a worldwide audience and to get people at least thinking about this. And then we need the politicians out here in the convention, in both conventions to come up with a strategy. I do agree that if America could take the lead, it would turn public opinion around and help us in the war on terror.
Bono: It a really, really important time right now in the world. And I’m a fan of America, and my band comes here and we love it here. But it’s dangerous around the world. We travel around the world.

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Shortly after the Madrid train bombings of March 2004, Bono and French music journalist Michka Assayas had a series of conversations. Here is a selected excerpt:

Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?
Bono: Yes, I think that’s normal. It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
Assayas: I haven’t heard you talk about that.
Bono: I really believe we’ve moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace…You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics–in physical laws–every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.
Assayas: I’d be interested to hear that.
Bono: That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep s – – -. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.
Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.
Bono: But i love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled…It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.
Assayas: That’s a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that far-fetched?
Bono: No, it’s not far-fetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I am God incarnate.” And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he’s gonna keep saying this. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we’re talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we’ve been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had “King of the Jews” on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I’m not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that’s farfetched …
…
Bono: If only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. …When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s – – – and everybody else’s. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut? And there it is, and that’s the question. And no one can talk you into it or out of it.

what are thoughts on Bono’s thoughts?

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In a recent interview with Relevant Magazine, Eugene Peterson was asked: “How big of an ego-kick was it to hear that Bono was quoting you on U2’s Elevation tour? He quoted your version of Psalm 116 to introduce the song “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

Eugene Peterson’s response:

I have to confess that when my students told me that this was happening, I had to ask, ‘Who’s Bono?’ They were astounded because this was the biggest thing that had happened to them. I have since come to realize that he is a person who uses his celebrity status in a committed, compassionate, socially Christian way. We don’t have many people like that. A lot of celebrities do benefits. That’s not what he’s doing. He has a broad strategy for AIDS and does his best to involve world leaders. He’s not afraid of the word Jesus.

Your thoughts?

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Is it possible that i am always right?

Just today i was speaking with a mentor, someone who really energizes me. i told him what i was thinking, and he gave me his thoughts, and pulled me back into more of a balance on the issue. he didn’t tell me i was wrong, he just gave me his opinion, and what he thought would happen if i carried out my idea. It was refreshing to get energized while finding out i was wrong…

Are you always right? It would be nice, wouldn’t it? But do you have someone in your life who can pull you back to reality when you’re off a bit (assuming you’re not always right, that is)?

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Today is April 20. 4:20. National Cannabis day.

I remember several years ago i was a sophomore at University. After morning practice (starting at 6 a.m.!), i would take a nap in the union before my 9 a.m. course. following morning classes, i would walk back to my car on the other side of campus (near where my practice started).

Well, on April 20, a guy stopped me and handed me a paper flier promoting a 4:20 party at a local ‘tobacco paraphernalia’ store. I was honestly naive. i asked, ‘what is 4:20?’
The guy was taken aback and just answered, ‘it’s just a day to celebrate our freedom together.’

It was only later in the day my teammates filled me in about what 4:20 really was…
I have linked to wikipedia’s entry on 4:20, for your intake. The https://www.sacredkratom.com website is a great source of knowledge on these things as well.

I’ve never used marijuana, and don’t ever plan on it. I’ve certainly been around it, been offered a puff or two on multiple occasions. i certainly don’t endorse its use.

God loves those who celebrate 4:20, too! (even if he maybe doesn’t like the behavior–he still absolutely loves the people!)

question: what did you think the first time you heard the term ‘4:20’?

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Do you remember the movie Multiplicity?

The Michael Keaton movie features Keaton’s character multiplying exact duplicates of himself to get more accomplished. Eventually, one of the duplicate clones then clones himself, and that clone likes to say ‘Hi Steve.’

It’s a rather good movie.

But this weekend at New Hope, we’ll be talking about the myth of Multiplicity. Will it be confirmed? Or Busted?
It will be pretty cool, as our resident Myth Busters Jamie and Adam tackle the myth head-on.

Don’t miss out on this one: Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 8 or 10:30 a.m.

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I recently upgraded our office to Microsoft Office Small Business 2007. Utilizing Microsoft’s Open licensing, the upgrade was very cost-effective.

Small Business includes, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Publisher. (actually, Accounting Express is included, but i have no idea what that is!)

Each of these programs has undergone a major upgrade from their previous version (2003). The menu structure was stolen (err, i mean, borrowed) from Apple, and is much more intuitive–like all things Apple. Things actually make sense now. It is very easy to find things, and that is a good thing.

I actually made the switch back to Word 2007 from OpenOffice.org‘s Writer.

I’m fairly happen with Word 2007, although i still heavily prefer using Adobe InDesign. But for portability within the office, I have found Word very much easier to use than its predecessor.
Excel likewise introduces the intuitive menu structure.
The one thing I dislike about excel is its graphs. in a line graph, it produces very thick (like 10 pt) lines instead of thinner lines. It makes for a fairly heavy graph, and isn’t as good for smaller details because of the lines. i haven’t been able to get the lines to thin down any.

Office 2007 also introduces a new file extension, adding an ‘x’ on to the end of the extension. So now word documents are of extensions ‘.docx’. This is kinda annoying…earlier versions of Office need to apply a patch to be able to open this new format.

All in all, Office 2007 is probably the best product Microsoft has ever offered. It certainly isn’t its most innovative product or its most useful product, but it’s a very good product.
I do recommend the upgrade if you are still using an older version.

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Google has recently announced it is offering FREE Broadband Internet via TiSP. Google TiSP is currently in BETA, but is freely available via the free installation kit.

Find out more at google.com/tisp.

Happy web surfing!

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I love perry noble.

Today, he posted about some rumors. I was enjoying it, and then got to the newest rumor he just heard–flipping hilarious. you need to read his expository on that rumor. funny stuff!

Check it out: You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me!

He also has some advice for dealing with rumors, too. It is a beneficial read…

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