Author: Allen Bingham

I am a follower of Jesus, husband, father, and pastor of Haymount United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA.

We Have Lost 93% of Our Food Variety in 80 Years via IdeaFeed @ Big Think

In the last 80 years, we have lost 93% of the diversity in our food seeds, according to National Geographic. The industrialization of agriculture as well as our current trend toward genetically modified foods has steadily put emphasis on a seed’s ability to generate the highest yield per acre. “In 1903, we had almost 500 varieties of lettuce. By 1983, we had just 36. Radishes, peas, and beets have fared no better. In fact, the most steadfast of the crops has been the tomato, which, probably due to the popularity of strange and tasty heirloom varieties, only lost about 80% of its seed diversity.”

via Big Think

I have never been a culinary expert of any kind, except for an occasional dip into coffee snobbery, but this should make all of us stop.

 

For Better Health, Build Your Work around Your Play via IdeaFeed @ Big Think

New research reveals that losing sleep could be a significant contributor to obesity. In a study at the University of Munich, surveyed the sleep habits of more than 65,000 adults and found that “people whose weekend and weekday sleep schedules differed were three times more likely to be overweight than those who went to bed and awoke at the same time each day.” When people are low on sleep, they tend to eat less healthily and rely more on alcohol, caffeine and tobacco to keep them going. And those who eat while their body should be sleeping will be met with a slower metabolism, contributing to weight gain.

via Big Think

Great Coaching Questions for Your Next Adventure

Seth Godin continues to be one of my provocateurs. His short blog posts raise more questions than they answer. Below are several questions he raised over with someone getting started in a new business. These are excellent coaching questions for any of us.

A few things came up over coffee the other day. His idea is good, his funding is solid, there are many choices. Some of the questions that don’t usually get asked:

  • Are you aware of your cash flow? …
  • Are you trying to build profit or equity? …
  • What’s your role? …
  • Are you trying to build a team? …
  • Which kind of risk is okay with you? …
  • And finally, and most important, why? Why are you doing this at all?

Check out his original post with his commentary on “Question for a New Entrepreneur.”

Thoughts About 100 Years of Ministry in Kinston

The following column appeared in the Kinston Free Press one week after Queen Street United Methodist Church celebrated 100 years of ministry at the corner of Queen Street and Peyton Avenue in what is now downtown Kinston, North Carolina. I love being in ministry with saints and sinners of Queen Street and look forward to the challenges of another 100 years of ministry in Kinston.

Column: After 100 Years, Looking Forward or Reminiscing

This past Sunday, Queen Street United Methodist Church marked 100 years since our foremothers and forefathers walked from the corner of Caswell and Independence to the corner of Queen and Peyton to launch a new ministry.

While the move was only two blocks west and four blocks north, it represented a move in keeping with Kinston’s growth. I have been contemplating that move and remembering two heroes of scripture who made a much longer journey — Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham was called by God to leave the comfort of kin and homeland at the age of 90 and invited to “Go West” until God told him to stop. When he “arrived” at God’s spot some years later, God further promised Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars.

We have to remember that Abraham and Sarah were an ancient (Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 89) and childless couple when this promise was made. Abraham must have felt like a fool. It’s one thing to travel to literally “God only knows where”; it’s quite another to start a family at the age of 100!

The writer of Hebrews sensed that Abraham understood what it was to be a part of the larger human quest. The writer says that as Abraham traveled west he “was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

As several institutions in our town turn 100 this year, what would “looking forward to the city” look like in our time? As Kinston rebounds from watching one industry after another leave town and even get dealt the blow of losing our Kinston Indians, are we “looking forward to the city” or just reminiscing? Are we dreaming God-sized dreams of what could be or languishing in stories of what used to be?

As I get older, I find myself leaning into the future with my kids.

I choose indoor plumbing over outhouses, air-conditioning over oscillating fans, iTunes over 45s, the Internet over chain-letters, and pesky mobile phones over shared party lines.

I choose a city that looks to what can be instead of what used to be.

I choose a city where God is the builder and architect and where the citizens seek the prosperity and peace of the city as a whole.

That kind of place will prosper, and my hunch is that her descendants will be like the stars.

This is true perfection …

This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because we fear punishment, like slaves; not to do good because we expect repayment, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by enforcing some business deal.

On the contrary, disregarding all those good things which we do hope for and which God has promised us, we regard falling from God’s friendship as the only thing dreadful, and we consider becoming God’s friend the only thing truly worthwhile.

-St Gregory of Nyssa

via Simply Orthodox ☦.

How Coffee Might Save Your Life (via The Daily Beast)

A new study suggests that drinking coffee significantly reduces our skin-cancer risk. There’s a raft of other research that’s piling up evidence that regular cups of joe—six-ounce servings packed with antioxidants, polyphenols, and other health-boosting chemicals—can prevent everything from diabetes to depression to cirrhosis of the liver to stroke. Intracranial aneurysms, not so much. Scared of superbugs? Pour yourself another cup.

via Coffee Health Benefits: How Coffee Might Save Your Life – The Daily Beast.

Quotes on Humility #4

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.

—JOHN SELDEN, Table Talk

From The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations. (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1992). 207.