I have now been blogging for one year. Actually, the anniversary was last Friday, but real life got in the way of blogging. This is a good time to reflect on where I have been, what I have learned, and where I am headed over the next year.

Where I have been…

According to Wordpress, I have written 104 posts. That is a good start, averaging exactly two posts per week, which is about the blogging frequency for which I was aiming. There are some very good blogs that have at least one good, substantive post every day. I’m not sure where the authors find the time to do that!
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The ESV web site offers iCal Subscriptions for Bible reading plans. You can now download a Bible reading plan into Google calendar or other iCal compatible calendar. (sighted on Scott Yang’s site)

Tim Challies writes about Preparation for Communion. These meditations from Puritan writer Jeremiah Burroughs challenge our usual rather casual approach to the Lord’s Supper.

Here’s a great cartoon that explains why the Mona Lisa is smiling. (This cartoon appears on the Investors Business Daily web site)

Tim Challies has an excellent article on Accountability Through Visibility. We value anonimity in our society, but most of the time it is used to hide things we shouldn’t be doing. He challenges Christian bloggers to let their real identity be known so as to provide accountability.

There are more than a dozen books and many web sites by Christians answering the claims made by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code. Some will question why anything in the book needs an answer, since the book is fiction. But from the start Dan Brown claims that much of the book is based on fact. When asked in an interview on The Today Show on 10/10/2005 how much of the book was based on reality, he replied “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies—all of that is historical fact.” He tries to blur the line between fact and fiction, hoping that we will accept his basic premise that the organized church has suppressed the real truth about Jesus.

But many of his historical “facts” are questionable to say the least. We should take movie’s promotional slogan of “Seek the Truth” to heart and carefully examine the claims made in the book nd the movie. There are many excellent Christian resources on this topic. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the historical basis of the Christian faith and to share the Gospel with the many who will be asking questions after seeing the movie. Here are some helpful resources:

• Da Vinci Code FAQ by Dr. Ron Rhodes
• Jesus and Da Vinci: Who was Jesus, Really? (includes many links to other resources)
• The Da Vinci Code: A Myth of Christian Origins by Andreas J. Kostenberger
• The Da Vinci Opportunity by Mark Roberts: Section 1, Section 2, Section 3. (This is an extensive collection of articles. His FAQ is a good placeto begin.)
• Second Thoughts on How to Respond to the Da Vinci Code Film by Brian Godawa
• For those who prefer video clips, Lee Strobel has put together a list of questions and answers about the Da Vinci Code (the answers are all video clips).

I have tried to glean the best of the best for this list. Please let me know if you have suggestions for something else that should be listed here.

You can also listen to the sermon that I preached last Sunday on this topic.

Added on 5/25/06:

Harvard professor Harvey C. Mansfield has written a book on Being a Man. Some of what he says about manliness may surprise you.