Purpose Driven....

Ok what I am about to share with you is something that I have been pondering over and eventually become convicted about over the past 2-3 weeks.

Christian literature, media and music. I think that we would all agree play an important part in helping us define our spiritual lives as well as differentiate us from the world. Now while here at Bethany Bible College I am bombarded with all of these things day in and day out now for the past 3 years. Needless to say I had been getting really tired of hearing about Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Whatever and John Eldridge's Epic Journey of a Wild Heart...and needless to say there are probably others out there in ministry today or perhaps studying for ministry that felt/feel the same way I did.

However one Sunday at my church, who is doing the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, I had, what was at the time, the disappointment of sitting through the simal-cast for the second time having already seen it here in Sussex. And even though I had a bad attitude because I was tired of everything to do with Rick Warren, I found myself listening to every word that he said. I don't know why either. I had already seen it once, it was old, heard it all before, yada yada yada. But there was something there, even after all I already knew.

And it wasn't something that I had missed before, it was actually something that didn't change. The truth in the things that Rick was talking about. Now there are some things that I do question in the 40 Days thing-ma-bob but overall there was a great sense of truth in what he was talking about. Then it hit me. Just because I am tired of hearing about a book, or a song or a movie or whatever doesn't mean that everyone else is. Yeah sure we in ministry are overwhelmed by the Tomlin's, Perretti's and Warrens. But the people that we are ministering to/going to be ministering to are not. They don't hear about it 24/7 like we do, and for some maybe not even at all.

So how are we going to help our people if the stuff that is geared for helping them, we are sick of and have negative tones about? I think that we maybe need to start looking at the positive things and the impact that they have on our spiritual lives, and if not our lives, then the lives of those who don't know Jesus. I think that we might be losing sight of what is important if a book that tells people they were created by God for a purpose makes us groan.

What Happened To Our World?

So last night I was traveling to Moncton to pick up my lovely girl-friend Kate at the airport. For those of you who don't live on the east coast, there was a huge snow storm which pretty much shut some stuff down, including canceling her original flight earlier that day. However she was able to make a plane that was coming in later that day around midnight. A friend of ours here at school (Kutz) was nice enough to let us use her car to go to the airport to pick up Kate. So both Diana and I left the school around 10:30pm, giving ourselves time because of the road conditions and such.

As we were traveling I made reference to transport trucks and how the rules of the weather seem not to apply to them or something. I mean rarely do you ever see a transport slow down for anything, except when it hits a moose or a rest-stop. And that night was none different. Transports flying by us left and right. Then there was one who passed us, blew up so much snow that we lost the road and as a consequence we ended up in the ditch. Luckily someone was nice enough (a transport driver, not the one that caused the accident though) to stop and see if we were ok. He then called a tow truck for us, which I thought very nice of him. This is where my question comes into play...

See being college students, or regular people for that matter, when it came time to pay we failed to have the $75 cash that the man wanted. Now I don't know how these things usually work but I would think that a billing system would work much better. We told him that if he would give us an address or something that we would get the money to him. But he wouldn't bite. He needed his money then and only then. I mentioned the fact that we were Bible College students and that we were good for it. Still no bite. Finally we convinced him that we would pay (and we did), leaving him the money latter that night at a truck stop he mentioned.

My point is this (copying Meeks here). This man, who which was very nice, could not take our word that we would pay him. The world has gotten so bad that people are beginning to expect people to lie to them. Or maybe what's worse yet, the fact that we were Bible College students didn't change anything. Not that it should give us special privileges, but I think there was a point in time in society that the clergy were respected and dare I say even trusted. But this is not so anymore...kind of sad really. What has happened to our world?

PS - Well at least in our world we can still have ladies that grow old and have lots cats...click here. Why don't they keep something more interesting then cats? Maybe some kind of bigger cat? A puma maybe?

What The?

Wearing: PJ's
Listening To: Stryper - To Hell With the Devil

Inspired by the one, the only Chuck Meeks I ended up taking this online test. Here are the results.

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Yep, apparently I am the movie Schindlers list. Now I am not so sure how I feel about being associated with a movie that takes place during one of the most horrific moments in history. What do you think?

Now on to a totally different topic. These cheesy personality tests, what's the deal? I guess they are just another way to waste time on the good old internet. I mean I am not sure what good the result from this test will be to me in my future years as a member of the human race. I wonder what kind of things that I could accomplish if I took all the time I wasted on the internet and put them to good use...Nobel Peace Prize? Naw, peace is over-rated.

Circumstances...

I was in the midst of doing a collateral report form from my Church Music and Worship class, and I wrote this down on my sheet. It was inspired from a section in Matt Redman's book The Unquenchable Worshipper. I don't know why I wrote it this way but when I re-read it, I was blown away by the meaning and it's truth. God speaks to us all the time, even through our homework.

"We worship God because of his worth; and that worth never changes due to our circumstances."
- Billings

I hope this encourages someone because it sure did me. God Bless,

Where to Draw the Line...

So I found this story on CNN. Journalist Seymour Hersh said on-air during CNN's "Late Edition", maybe with Wolf Blitzer...what a name, that the United States was doing reconnaissance missions on possible nuclear targets for air-strike and short-term commando missions as early as this summer.

The White House released a report saying that his story was "riddled" with errors and that there were no such reconnaissance missions happening for these "air-strikes." However they did not make any mention to the commando missions that Hersh also talked about. Slight over-sight? Or a sneaky way of getting around the subject? It's hard to say but at the least I think it is worth questioning.

Hersh says that his sources come from very senior officials, and really why shouldn't you believe him? Or maybe a better question is, why should you believe the Pentagon? You're right what am I talking about, after all, the Iranians may be harboring Weapons of Mass destruction just like Iraq...oh wait...

How Could He Not Know???

Ok, I have heard some weird things over the span of my 22 year earth career, but I think this one may take the cake. A guy in Colorado who worked on a construction site went to the dentist because he had a toothache, no big deal. Until the x-rays came back with the reason.

Yeah a nail in his freakin' skull. The guy, like I said is a construction worker and was using a nail gun one day when it back-fired. He saw a nail fly back and into a piece of wood, but failed to notice one enter his mouth, shoot through his head, narrowly missing an eye. Oh and by the way...he had it in there for 6 DAYS!!! Correct me if you think I am wrong here but I don't think that would be a hard thing to miss. But apparently he had no idea, and when the dentist came back with the x-rays and told him he thought they were joking. Yeah I guess I wouldn't have believed them either...if I was so head numb not to notice a nail enter my skull! Click the title for the full CNN story.

New American Idol?

Ok I have to point out that I am beginning to become fond of a new TV show. Now while I am at school it is hard for me to catch it to watch but I get to watch clips of it here.

This show is the one, the only, The Daily Show. Yes it is quite possibly the best show on television today. This show, which stars Jon Stewart, takes a satirical but yet very true look at the world and the news that happens in it. Everything from politics to sports and even religion. I would heavily suggest that if your are a Christian and are reading this Blog that you should check out the clips of "This Week in God" segment of the show. It will give you a comical insight into some things as well as serve as an awakening to how the world views religion in general.

"And remember to keep the faith, unless it's heresy." -- Steven Colbert The Daily Show

It's Been Awhile...

Well I am finally back. Here at school for another semester of fun, fun, fun. Kinda glad to be back because I was getting really bored at home. However while at home I got to do a bit of my topic today, photography.

I love photography. Now I am no pro at it by any means however I do dabble. And I was thinking today..."What is the meaning of pictures?" I mean some people go crazy with them, and this is even easier to do with digital cameras now. You can take pictures of anything, people make a living from talking pictures and some defile people with them. But why put such an emphasis on them?

I believe that it is our way of trying to stop time, our attempt at reaching out and trying to grab a moment to hold on to. These moments mean something to us. They are different for everyone too, birthdays, graduations, friends or even just nature. I myself, as much as I love people am into nature. Mostly the sky and clouds. There is just something that is so amazing when you actually take time to look up to the heavens.

Each of these pictures means something to me. And I don't know why, they are just pictures of things that have come and gone. Is there any use in putting so much time and effort into things of the past? Are we not supposed to look forward? I do think there is some validity in that point however the past is what has shaped us and it is important to remember our roots, where we came from and what made us who we are today.

Striving for Mediocrity...

...and doing an exceptional job at it, or so it seems.

Sitting in a church service at an undisclosed location on Sunday this thought struck me, "Is the church's plan to reach people by striving for mediocrity?" There were many things that brought this thought to my attention. First was the powerpoint presentation. Do you know how difficult it is to follow along to a song when the slide doesn't change for a whole verse? Even more so for those new to the church who may not know the faithful hymn that should be being displayed. Another powerpoint difficulty that I have seen at many churches are misspelled words in songs, ones that are very obvious.

Lack of practice by the worship band is another one that can be seen sometimes. Would it be too much to ask someone to put some more thought into what songs are played, the order and whether or not the band knows them? Maybe I am picky but I think to most people things like these look sloppy.

So why is the church this way? (Speaking in generalities here, I know that your church may not be like this...) Should we not care about what we do enough to want to do it well? Do we use the phrase, "we'll let the Spirit do a work" way too often? I think so.

Change of target...

So it may seem by my last post that I was bashing the U.S. so I have decided to change targets if you will, and will focus instead on Russia...who beat the U.S. in hockey last night.

Ok, so I don't know how many of you are watching the World Junior Hockey championships on TSN this week but yes the U.S. got their butts handed to them by the Russians by a score of 7-2. I believe that the U.S. had a good team, except for their goaltending, let's face it Al Montoya sucked it up the whole tournament. And although I find some joy that the Americans got beat on their home soil, the after goal displays of the Russians made me wish that the U.S. had won. (What am I saying?) But seriously, after scoring the fifth and sixth goals in a game that was obviously out of reach for the Americans some of the Russians did something that deserves a punch in the face. They taunted the Americans. Now I realize that this is a sport and some of that stuff goes on all the time, trash talking, etc. but this was over the top. First they mocked the fans, and then proceeded to skate by the American bench and to taunt them repeatedly. This was uncalled for. And I applaud the American players for keeping generally cool through the whole thing. Sure I make fun of the States a bit, but one thing is for sure they showed some class in their response last night.

The Gold Medal game is tomorrow night at 9pm Atlantic time, and I assure you that I'll will be watching very intently. Let's go Canada!! Give it to those Russians!