As I sit here writing this post, I'm reminded of the famous philosopher Charlie Sheen when he said, "I'm bi-winning. I win here. I win there." You see, tonight I am going to play some basketball with some friends, and there will definitely be some winning. Will I win? Probably not, but someone will win. Also, another win for me today...I get the day off! Tomorrow is Good Friday and the offices are closed, but my day off is usually Friday, so I get to take my day off today! Its going to be a "winning" weekend. I'm going to color Easter eggs, make rice crispie Easter eggs, and take Christine to the driving range for the first time (she might not win that one). But all I know is that it is going to be a winning weekend.
As I said earlier, tomorrow is Good Friday, and two days later it is Easter! I remember when I was younger, my brothers and I would get so excited to get up Easter Sunday and look for eggs! *Disclaimer* *If you are under the age of 8, please quit reading for your own good* *Disclaimer* My parents were really good at hiding eggs! There were always 1 or 2 eggs we never found because my dad had found too difficult a hiding place for us to find them. But I used to have a great time on Easter. And what kid doesn't like Candy?! That is what Easter is all about, right?! But now that I am older, Easter eggs and candy are not the first things to come to mind...
Every Sunday at LIFT, our middle school program at church, we have a time where we take communion. Usually Cody or I get up in front of the students and give a little spiel about communion, and this past week it was my turn. As I was trying to think of what to say, I was reminded of what Christine's dad says to her when she is getting ready to leave. Rick, Christine's dad, quickly says the words, "Don't Forget" before Christine leaves to go somewhere. When I first heard this saying, I thought she had to go pick up something at the grocery store and her dad was just reminding her not to forget to pick up some cereal. But after time I started to notice that he said, "Don't forget" almost every time she left the house. Finally I asked Christine about it and she said, "Oh, he wants me not to forget that he loves me!"
As this story played in my mind last week before communion, I could hear Jesus saying to me, "Don't forget..." Every week we go to church and we eat this stale, small piece of bread (unless you go to Carterville Christian Church in Missouri...best communion bread ever!) and drink a small cup of grape juice that is barely enough to get the stale bread taste out of your mouth...why? So that we "Don't Forget."
Tomorrow is Good Friday. I sure hope we don't forget about it because without Good Friday there would be no Easter. Without Jesus dying on the cross on Friday, He could not come back to life on Sunday. So tomorrow as you are going about your day, and for the rest of your time on earth...Don't Forget. Don't forget that he died for you and that He loves you.
My friend Adam, Christine's brother, wrote a blog Post about this a while back, and I don't do it justice compared to him. I Hope you guys have a good Easter holiday this weekend. Love you all!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Lessons From Plastic Army Men
When I was younger I used to love to play with my little plastic army men. I would go out in my front yard and build forts out of tree bark, leaves and sticks. For hours my friends and I would build the best and strongest fort we could. Then we would take turns throwing bombs (small rocks) at the other person’s fort, and whichever fort was left standing won.
Unfortunately now that I am older I don’t play with plastic army men. I have resorted to going to coffee shops and living a boring, mature life. But I think a lot of Christians live like they are the army men I used to play with getting bombarded by rocks, so they create this fort to protect themselves. They have this plastic army men fort mentality when it comes to living in the world.
I think it all comes down to how we want to respond to culture. Will we barricade ourselves into a fort so we don’t’ interact with culture? Will we just go with the flow of culture? Or will we drive culture?
Lately I have seen a lot of the first option. Christians are barricading themselves into their holy huddles so that they don’t interact with the culture around them. Instead of trying to escape culture, they actually create their own culture. This takes the shape of Christian t-shirts, Christian businesses or Christian music. I have heard of churches having a MORP. This is the opposite of the Prom. They dress up, bring flowers, take pictures and sit in church listening to Michael W. Smith. Some Christians think that culture is evil. They feel the need to create their own healthy version of culture.
But I don’t think this is the best way to go about it. Tom Shefchunas is the middle school pastor for North Point Christian Church and in his blog Coach Shef, he talks about this idea of Christians driving culture instead of hiding from it or creating their own culture. He says that 75 years ago, Christians were the ones driving culture, but things changed. In his blog he writes,
For most of Christian history that is exactly what we did (drive culture). It wasn’t until the last 50-75 years that we started to quit thinking offensively and started getting defensive. We gathered our flocks and went and hid behind our walls. We now longer sponsored Woodstock…we made our own little own Christian Woodstock. We stopped proclaiming truth through our art and talents and started pointing out what we didn’t believe was art.
What if we stopped making Christian music and created great music that proclaimed truth? I found this WEBSITE for Christians who want to listen to secular music but want the Christian alternative. It is just sad, because Christians aren’t driving culture. We are trying our best to look like culture, but we are just creating something that isolates us from the world we are trying to rescue.
What if Christians stopped getting offended and we became offensive? What if we stopped having the plastic army men fort mentality when it comes to living in the world? What if we started to drive culture again?
Unfortunately now that I am older I don’t play with plastic army men. I have resorted to going to coffee shops and living a boring, mature life. But I think a lot of Christians live like they are the army men I used to play with getting bombarded by rocks, so they create this fort to protect themselves. They have this plastic army men fort mentality when it comes to living in the world.
I think it all comes down to how we want to respond to culture. Will we barricade ourselves into a fort so we don’t’ interact with culture? Will we just go with the flow of culture? Or will we drive culture?
Lately I have seen a lot of the first option. Christians are barricading themselves into their holy huddles so that they don’t interact with the culture around them. Instead of trying to escape culture, they actually create their own culture. This takes the shape of Christian t-shirts, Christian businesses or Christian music. I have heard of churches having a MORP. This is the opposite of the Prom. They dress up, bring flowers, take pictures and sit in church listening to Michael W. Smith. Some Christians think that culture is evil. They feel the need to create their own healthy version of culture.
But I don’t think this is the best way to go about it. Tom Shefchunas is the middle school pastor for North Point Christian Church and in his blog Coach Shef, he talks about this idea of Christians driving culture instead of hiding from it or creating their own culture. He says that 75 years ago, Christians were the ones driving culture, but things changed. In his blog he writes,
For most of Christian history that is exactly what we did (drive culture). It wasn’t until the last 50-75 years that we started to quit thinking offensively and started getting defensive. We gathered our flocks and went and hid behind our walls. We now longer sponsored Woodstock…we made our own little own Christian Woodstock. We stopped proclaiming truth through our art and talents and started pointing out what we didn’t believe was art.
What if we stopped making Christian music and created great music that proclaimed truth? I found this WEBSITE for Christians who want to listen to secular music but want the Christian alternative. It is just sad, because Christians aren’t driving culture. We are trying our best to look like culture, but we are just creating something that isolates us from the world we are trying to rescue.
What if Christians stopped getting offended and we became offensive? What if we stopped having the plastic army men fort mentality when it comes to living in the world? What if we started to drive culture again?
Friday, April 1, 2011
Follow Friday
I started my blogging journey in August 2008. When I first started But On A Serious Note, I didn't realize how popular it would become. Everyone was reading my blog...and by everyone I mean my mom and my best friend. But when I first started this thing, I really didn't read anyone else's blog except for David Heffren's blog. I didn't know how many people blogged! But now I sit here typing this almost three years later, and my ignorance of the blogging-sphere has changed. I just wanted to share with you guys a couple of the blogs I follow, and I hope you guys find them helpful for you!
First of all, I use a website called iGoogle to follow my blogs. For instance, if I want to follow the blog of Charlie Sheen (that would be an interesting/crazy/mind-numbing/inappropriate/time-wasting blog to read), I would put in his web address into my iGoogle account. Then from that time on, every time he posted a new blog, it would pop up on my iGoogle! It is very handy, and I would recommend to anyone who wants to start following people's thoughts on the internet.
Second, remember that these blogs are on the internet so people can post whatever they want. So be careful who and what you follow, because there is no accountability to what people are writing. They could be writing total nonsense, but they have no one making sure what they are saying is legitimate. Be sure to keep this in mind when deciding who to follow!
Now here is a list of blogs that I have found to be interesting, insightful and...(oh, what is another "i" word), intelligible.
TonyMorganLive: Tony Morgan writes about the church and more specifically about leadership.
Stuff Christians Like: Jon Acuff uses Christian satire to point out funny things about the Christian faith. I have found this blog to lighten up my day!
Michael Hyatt: Michael Hyatt's blog is all about leadership. I have found this site to be one of the most practical blogs on leadership.
Donald Miller: Before Donald Miller writes a book, he writes about his ideas on his blog. He places a lot of importance on story, and he focuses on the Christian walk. Good stuff.
The Resurgence: This is Mark Discoll's blog, but he collaborates with several other writers. These guys focus on the theological side of the Christian faith, and it is very insightful.
Coach Shef: Tom Shefchunas is a middle school pastor for North Point Christian Church, and his blog a great resource for someone who focuses student ministry!
There are different blogs I follow too! There is David's Blog andAdam's Blog. These guys are two of the wisest guys I know, and I'm glad they blog! I hope this list helps you guys. What blogs do you follow?
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