What caught my attention today

Here's a really interesting thing I saw on BoingBoing today: a water pump driven by a kids' merry-go-round. It's really ingenious.

Brad sent the following link to a list I'm on and I thought I'd share it with you. It's an opinion piece about politics and faith. The writer articulates something I've been concerned about for many years: what should Christian involvement in politics look like? Those of you who are of a more conservative persuasion please note, the writer is not bashing anybody. He's voicing a concern and a caution. (And he is actually following a good approach to editorial writing -- clearly stating why he believes what he believes and making a call for change at the end.)

I like the following paragraph:
"Likewise Jesus spoke to political power, but he did not try to become one. He rejected a role as a political messiah. "My kingdom," said Jesus, "is not of this world." He did not mean that he was disinterested in this world, in favor of some spiritual "other" world -- far from it. He was passionately engaged in this world and among its suffering people. "My kingdom is not of this world" did, however, mean that he would not play politics the way that insiders and power seekers play it."

I don't often venture into political discussion, but this is something we need to be talking about -- talking, not shouting and accusing as often happens when people of different political persuasions disagree. God's ways are not men's ways and sometimes I fear the Church has forgotten that.