By some nimble surfing I discovered that there are two new “Glory Golf Balls”! The new balls have “those who seek me diligently, find me” and “But, seek first His kingdom” on them in bright red ink. Here are some pictures:
The manufacturer produces these as well as “Holy Socks”! Get yours today…
Since my U2 and Africa blog entry, Live 8 has come and gone. A Billboard .com daily music news article (noted by culture blogger Jeffrey Overstreet) reports that its organizer, Bob Geldof, and its main celebrity supporter, U2 lead singer Bono, considered it a success:
[Bono] and Geldof praised the world leaders attending the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, for pledging to double aid to Africa to $50 billion, saying the move will save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who would have died of poverty, malaria or AIDS. “The world spoke and the politicians listened,” Bono said.
Not everyone is quite so sure of whether or not Live 8 made much of a difference, though I don’t see how it could have hurt! Any event that raises the profile of issues such as world poverty should be lauded.
If you weren’t able to attend the Live 8 concert in your country (as I wasn’t), QuickTime videos of all the main performances are available for free download here (Thanks again to Jeffrey Overstreet for the link).
Here is an excerpt from story from the scotsman.com called “Bible text balls promise a holy hole in one“:
GOLFERS feeling below par and in need of divine inspiration could do worse than attend a church exhibition in the Capital. The Scottish Christian Resources Exhibition (CRE), at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre, will feature a set of three Glory Golf Balls, each inscribed with Bible text. One reads: “. . . but each shall go out straight ahead”, Ezekiel 46: 9; while another says: “Lift up your eyes on high and see . . . not one is missing”, Isaiah 40:26. The third reads: “I have finished the course. I have kept the faith”, 2 Timothy 4:7.
I could have used some of these balls — especially a bunch with the Ezekiel quote — for my round of golf on the weekend!
Update: After publishing my blog entry I noticed that Jim West over at Biblical Theology blog also noted this article, though he didn’t see the humour in it! (Of course, perhaps the sad thing is that many sincere people (including the manufacturers?) don’t see the humour in stuff like this either! This sort of “Jesus Junk” reminds me of an excellent book by Colleen McDannell called Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (Yale University Press, 1995; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com), in which she examines the role these sort of material artifacts have played in Christianity and Mormonism.)
No this is not a paid advertisement for Travel Alberta! Now that I got that cleared up, I must say my family had a great weekend at Crimson Lake. The weather was great, the lake wasn’t that busy, and everyone had lots of fun. The kids had a great time searching for minnows and leeches off the dock, paddle-boating, kayaking, playing on Splash Island, eating s’mores around the campfire, and just being together with their buddies. Perhaps the highlight of the weekend for them was tubing. They had a blast! My oldest girl received the dubious honour of the only kid being flipped out of the tube — and she loved it. My other younger daughter was almost bounced out of the tube, though her bronco-bucking skills kept her in the tube. My four-year old boy wasn’t quite so adventurous! I got some reading in (though not much), but managed to get in a round of golf at a picturesque course near Rock Mountain House, as well as some cribbage and a game of chess. All in all it was an awesome Alberta weekend.
Here are a few pictures:
Here is a shot of our friend’s cabin from the dock.
Here is a shot from the cabin porch in the morning.
My two daughters are sitting on the outside…
OK, my youngest daughter is barely sitting!
She’s holding on for dear life.
My youngest daughter and her friend enjoying some waves.
I want to wish everyone a great weekend. I won’t be blogging the next few days as my family is heading to Crimson Lake, Alberta, for a long weekend full of tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and putting my feet up and reading on the beach.
Shalom!