I was up pretty late watching the USC/Texas game. (Still can’t believe USC lost, amazing.) But my point is that my family who went to be by 9:30 is still sound asleep. Even Stoney is still asleep in his dog bed. It’s just me and the cat and I have to leave for work in 10 minutes. Amazing.
Our house needs more light. If we lived any further north they would sleep all the time.
Tonight my talk at Light Force is going be pretty dark. We’ve come to the point in our study of Luke that we’ve reached Luke 8:26-39 where Jesus heals a demonically possessed person. Scary stuff if you ask me.
A couple of points I’m really facinated by in studying this bit of Jesus’ story. [The talk will be available for download in "my talks" by clicking the link on the left]
– Context is everything. When you keep in mind what Jesus is doing, showing his disciples that he has power over the natural world, demons, illness, and death, the whole thing just makes more sense.
– The demonic world is real. Since Christians can’t be indwelled by demons… if you don’t know Jesus and are not indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you are at risk.
– Even if you are being attacked by demonic powers, Jesus has the power to heal.
There is no such thing as a "sheep too lost." Tough message, not "geeked" about teaching it, but it is going to be really good.
We all awoke today to the tragic news of what happened in West Virginia. To make matters worse, there appears to have been a terrible rumor or misinformation. [Watch CNN video]
Listening to a later man talk on CNN this morning it seemed clear that there was a awful combination of hoping for the best and a lie by someone at the church. It made for a terrible scene when the families members went from waiting for their loved ones to come to them on the porch of the church, singing "Amazing Grace" and "I’ll Fly Away" to hearing the governor and the CEO of the mining company tell them that their loved ones were gone, that there was only one survivor. Absolutely saddening.
The federal government has already said that they will include the misinformation in their investigation of the tragedy.
I spotted this on a Florida youth pastors blog. [Go here] I thought it was worth passing along.
Last night we had our first Pizza Worship and Prayer night. It was an
idea I stole from a blog I read by Adam Mclane. It was great. We
started off with kids just hanging out and munching on pizza. Then we
moved into a time of awesome worship. I intersperesed praise songs
with meditation elements from Sacred Space. It went really well and I
think the kids needed it. I think it was cool to combine the pizza
with the worship. Traditionally I usually only did the Pizza and game
night thing, which is cool, but the early church new what they were
doing when they combined the meal with the worship. It worked out well
and I think we will do this on the first Sunday of each month.
In the ministry world, when someone "steals an idea" it is a compliment. You see, we youth folks are all about sharing ideas that transform lives. There is almost nothing I look forward to more than the monthly COP&P.
Today we got a card from Discover card. It said "We want to be your trusted credit card" and on the inside it read "again." You know, I am so excited to start 2006 free of consumer debt. I hope we finish 2006 in the same situation.
I’ve gotten hooked on a podcast by Mars Hill Church in Seatle, WA. I’ve been so intruiged by this that we are looking into it as a church. Might be pretty cool to watch a film and talk about it, eh?
OK, if you don’t watch SNL then you likely missed this. But it is wicked funny. [Watch the video] Basically it is two white guys rapping about picking up 13 cupcakes on their way to see the Chronicles of Narnia.
Warning: If you can’t handle making fun of Narnia and if you don’t want to hear the F work bleeped out… please don’t watch the video.
When we launched YMX on December 2nd, we also decided to have a logo contest for members to submit a fresh looking logo for the new site. The deadline for entries was 12/31/2005 and we now have some finalists.
We’re going to turn it into a vote by the membership and we’ll see which one wins.
Inspired by a Flip that House marathon on the Discovery Channel, Kristen and I started messing our kitchen. There were some "country looks" that drive us insane and well, they had to go. I’d rather look at raw drywall than that old nasty country looking wallpaper. Here is what is on tap.
What a crazy way to start the year!
Not only is vacation officially over (which I am happy to be rid of) but today is obviously the start of 2006. As we look backwards I see a fantastic 2005. Major accomplishments galore… perhaps the most important being that we are out of "consumer debt" and so many more that I couldn’t even list them. (OK, so I already have!)
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Well, I don’t do them. Let’s just say that my goal for 2006 is the same as 2005. I want to be a man who honors God with my life in all that I do. I know that isn’t profound, but it is what it is.