13
May

My 10 Favorite Films

I hardly ever do these.  In my mind blog memes are the equilvalent of forwarded junk email.  However becuase Doug tagged me I will do this one.  I was tagged by Doug Jones who was tagged by Dan Mayes to list my ten favorite movies.  First a posting of the rules.

The rules of the “game” are simple:
1. list your top ten favorite films (in no particular order).
2. if you’re tagged, you’ve got to post and tag 3-5 other people.
3. give a tag back (some link love) to the one who tagged you in your post
4. give a hat tip (HT) to Dan

So here we go… My Top Ten Favorite Films (in no particular order):

1.  Awakenings

2.  Shawshank Redemption

3.  To End All Wars

4.  E.T.

5.  A Beautiful Mind

6.  The Matrix

7.  Mars Attacks

8.  The Rundown

9.  Tommy Boy

10.  Elf

So there they are.  MY 10 favorite movies.  This one was a tough one for me.  My movie library is up to almost 300 now so narrowing it down took me a while.  So Doug if you’re reading I’m sorry to not put any superhero type movies in this one.  While I like most of them that come out they don’t usually make it into my “favorites” list.  Haha.  Nice try though.

So now I tag Jason, Adam, Chris and Ben.

12
May

Ex Nihilo

I love reading various blogs.  One of the blogs I have been recently is that of Vicky Beeching.  Vicky is a tremendous worship leader.  Today I saw her post on “ex nihilo” and thought she had some great things to say.  Here’s a clip;

That means none of us can ever say we are disqualified from serving God, or that we need to become better or holier before He can use us. He is the Creator and is the inventor of creating life, beauty and color “ex nihilo” - out of nothing!

Do you ever feel like you need to be better, holier, more ’sorted out’ before God can really use you? Is that really just legalism? Are we trying to engage in ’self improvement’, rather than asking for God’s divine empowering to take the dust of who we are are and make us into something with His power?

It’s a great post.  Go here to read it.

12
May

Respecting Parents

I have learned alot over the past few years while serving as a youth pastor about respecting parents.  I think it really comes in various forms and was reminded of it again this weekend.  Sometimes I think as youth pastors we don’t give parents enough credit with the decisions they make.  Sometimes parents make ground rules at home such as “no video games allowed in our home” and how do we deal with that?  Do we allow their kids to play video games at youth group or in our own homes without the consent of those parents OR do we simply let it slide without consulting them first?

One thing I do (if I know in advance of certain parameters in students homes) is I honor the parents rules.  Sometimes that means not allowing a student to play video games without me first talking to the parents.  What I usually find is that parents are really against video games (or something else) rather they see the negative effects that something like this can have if not handled appropriately.   I think we really have to go out of our way to honor the decisions of parents especially when they are trying hard to be Godly parents and raise Godly children.

07
May

Out of town

I will be out of town from tommorrow morning until late Sunday night.  I’m not sure if I will be able to blog where I will be or not.  If I can look for the updates.  If not I’ll be back this Sunday night late.

Have a great weekend.

07
May

Someone broke into my apartment this morning!

This morning I went in and did an hour of cardio on the treadmill.  I’m so close to being at 4 mph but not quite there.  So this morning I go to the gym.  Then I go home and fix my lunch and breakfast for the day.  I go to leave.  Walk outside and over to my explorer and realize that I don’t have my keys with me.  I LOCKED MY KEYS IN MY APARTMENT.  Luckily for me I have years of experience of breaking into things so I did what I know to do best.  I broke into my apartment and got my keys.  I would tell you how I did it but then you could steal my stuff.

05
May

Ahhh summer movies…

I found this video on Adam Mclane’s blog.  Unfortunately this isn’t the full version but you can see it here.

05
May

I am a real man…

This morning I come into the office and immediately start receiving crap from our lead pastor. Evidently my new shorts aren’t manly enough for him. I think he’s just jealous that he’s not secure enough in his manhood to wear shorts like these…well shorts really for that matter. So what do you think? Are my shorts to girly?

For some reason the feature to add in media isn’t working on my blog this morning. But if you click HERE you can see my manly shorts…

04
May

It just feels sooo good…

Today I went and played a couple of rounds of disc golf.  It has been at least 6 months since I’ve played a lot of disc golf.  So today we went up and shot a few rounds.  The last round was pretty sweet.  I was 5 under going into hole #9.  I stepped up and as soon as I released the disc I knew it was a good throw.  I stepped to the side and watched it float right into the basket.  It was only 222 feet to the basket and definitely not my farthest ‘ace’ to date but still it feels sooo good when you get an ‘ace’ on any course.

03
May

Why We’re Not Emergent

I started the book Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be’ last night. So far I’m through the first couple of chapters and I really like it. Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck do a great job of handling the topic so far. Once I’m done with it I’ll post a full review of the book. If the rest of the book is anything like the first few chapters this book will be a must read for anyone who is in church leadership.

So far my favorite thought is this one,

“Thus McLaren writes, “In one of my previous books, I said that clarity is sometimes overrated and that intrigue is correspondingly undervalued. But here I want to say - clearly - that it is tragic for anyone, especially anyone affiliated with the religion named after Jesus, not to be clear about what Jesus’ message actually was.” So intrigue and ambiguity are good when the ideas in questions are ones emerging leaders don’t particularly care for or about, but when it come to making their point, clarity.

03
May

I REALLY dislike my neighbors…

So last night wasn’t the first time they have thrown a party waking me up at 1:30am.  So i did the only other thing I knew to do.  I called the cops.  They were supposed to come over and talk to them but I’m not so sure they did.  I saw their car drive by a few times but I’m not sure they actually stopped.  Around 2am everything seemed to calm down.  So i fell asleep again.  Then at 3:40am they were back at it.  So today I’ll make another call to my landlord I guess.  I’m so frustrated and not really sure what to do.  I could start being th obnoxiously loud neighbor in the morning after their parties but then it would just add fuel to the fire.

Does anyone have any great ideas?