So many times I see myself evaluating others. I will sit and hear something a person has said and my insides will curl. For the most part I must keep my mouth shut because I know what I will say will neither up lift the person I am speaking to or give honor to Christ. It is sad when I am like this. I almost get angry. We have conviction and need to voice those, but at what expense? In seeing this in myself I was wondering something else. How much do I invest in Christ. I am so worried about what a friend has but do I really worry at what Christ has said.

In the Bible there is John that wrote both the book of John and Revelation. Focusing on the book of Revelation we see that John has been imprisoned on the isle of Patmos. Here John has this amazing encounter with Christ. He is suppose to write to seven churches through out the area: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

I really want to focus on Revelation 3:14-22... The church of Laodicea. Have we heard of this name before in Scripture? Yes… Colossians 2:1, 4:15 and Revelation 1:11. If the church is mentioned in Colossians this means Paul knew of them. If you look in those scriptures you know that Paul had not had the opportunity to meet them in person.

Look at the Revelation 3:14-22... What is going on? It starts out by saying that Jesus wants to spit them out of His MOUTH!!!! Holy cow! There was one time when I was at my grandma’s. It was one of those hot summer days in Kansas. I was craving something nice and cool. So, as any 7 year old would, chocolate milk was it. I had to make it myself. I remember walking to the fridge, grabbing the milk and chocolate syrup. As I find a large cup I get the spoon for stirring as. I pour the milk to about 1/3 inch away from the lip of the cup and start to stir in the chocolate syrup until it fills the cup. I am so proud of myself, look what I have done as a “big boy”. As any self-respecting man would do I took the largest drink ever. As I swallowed I felt my gag reflects kick in… I had used buttermilk. I do know if you have ever experienced such awfulness as this, but man it was horrible. I was wanted to spew it out of my mouth. This is much what Christ wanted to do with the church of Laodicea.

Why would Christ want to puke this up? It had to be pretty disgusting. As we read on in this section we find out that the church was rich, wealthy and needed nothing. Who does this sound like? It sounds like me. I am not considered rich or wealthy in the United States standard of the two words, but if you think about it I am. The average person in the world today lives on 2 bucks a day… My wife and I spent $11.57 for lunch alone. I fillled my car up for $30.75. The DSLR camera I would like to have cost $520.95 on amazon.com. Do not be get me wrong it is ok that we are able to do such things. I had to think about how wealthy I really am. I am able to pay my bills, have food on the table, go see a movie and even type on this computer and still have money leftover at the end of the month.

Christ goes as far to tell this church that they are blind, miserable, naked and poor. Why is this? Because they are investing into the wrong thing. We can assume from this little passage that they were investing strictly in what the world had to offer.

But what is great, even though Christ wants to spew them out, He offers an alternative… Christ. Christ wants the church to invest in Him. Christ is telling them to repent and turn back to what He has. He loves them and disciplines them much like a father disciplines his child.

I encourage all of us to check ourselves and see if we are investing in what the world has to offer. Which in turn Christ wants to vomit over or are we investing in Christ and growing in Him?

until next time...

SATURDAY SILVER SCREEN SCRUTINY...

It is that time again... For all that read this wonderful thought-blog, SATURDAY SILVER SCREEN SCRUTINY!!!

Is the Blind side worth it???? YES IT IS... A movie that will touch the hearts of all. It is most definitely the feel good movie of the year. I have always been a sucker for the base-on-true-story flicks (i.e. "Remember The Titans", "Miracle", or "Radio"). All of these movies need to be praised.

But the Blind Side has a different feel. What I mean by this is the blatant Christianity through out. It is not an out pour of "Jesus Freakishness". But in this movie we follow the life of Micheal Oher (or part of the his life anyway). He is this high school aged kid that has no home. We start out by seeing him being introduced to a Christian Academy. This Academy is impressive. What I mean by this is the library (for instant) looked more like a the "hippest" College campus than what I was ever use to growing up. My schools library consisted of metal book shelves and poorly put together wooden tables and chairs. Dont get me wrong I was educated (how well is a different question) but not in the likes of these.

Anyway we find out that Micheal Oher is a large individual, 6'04 250+... Big man. I thought the movie was going to be solely focused on him but I was pleasantly mistaken. We can not talk about Micheal Oher without speaking of the Tuohy's. A family that has all. They are of the upper echelon of Memphis TN. They are the fast food kings and queens, owning many of the TB and KFCs (and others for sure). We see them start taking an interest in this young mans life when he is walking "home" in the rain. As you may know (just from watching the previews) that Micheal ends up becoming part of this family and doing really well for him self. So much so that he ends up playing pro football for the Ravens. Do not get me wrong this movie is not all about the feel good. We get to see where Micheal comes from and how no one wants to claim him as their own. We see flash backs of what he went through and the hard ships conveyed. This movies does such a great job (as many of them) of you rooting for the underdog.

This movie would not be what it was with out the cast. We have Sandra Bullock, who plays Mrs. Tuohy, who does her best performance ever. The Oscars were right in awarding her the best female actor award. This movie would of been good with out her but it became great with her. Then we have Tim McGraw as Mr.Tuohy. Jae Head as S.J. Tuohy (he stands out in his own right), the kid was dynamic and funny. Lily Collins who plays Collins Tuohy. We can not forget Kathy Bates character Ms Sue. Last but not least Quinton Aaron who plays Micheal Oher.

All in all this movie was one of the best family films ever. I recommend everyone to lay eyes on this film, you will not be disappointed. See what sacrifice and love looks like. I give this movie a 4.7 out 5 stars.

until next time...

the everyday...

I sit and think... As many people do. I seems to get me in trouble sometimes, I believe this is why we are to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5). Our thoughts are persuaded by the craziness of this world that is falling apart. Do not get me wrong we are to think and meditate on things certain things (i.e. Christ, homeless, the sick...) This does not mean that we sit and just let all pass us by, because faith without deeds is useless (James 2:17).

Through the week I will get up in the morning and go to work (of course I will get ready, brush teeth and things of that sort). I will be "productive" at work , go eat lunch, come back to work and then go running and lifting. We get home from our workout, that lasted approximately one hour, and shower. Then we will eat some grub and watch the tube. From this point on our evening consist of me either taking a nap, looking at soccer things on the internet or watching even more TV (sometimes I will play the Wii). That is it, my average week in a nut shell.

I am sure most of you that read this, might of thought "Man, that is the most exciting week ever" or "Look at all he has accomplished"... NOPE!!! I know this is not what you thought or at least when I read over the week it is not what I would say.

How sad, my weeks are truly sad. I, as so many of us do, get into a routine and find it satisfactory. That is it, simply satisfactory. Where is the sacrifice in this monotonous routine? I am unsure. Yes, because I am a minister I have to devote more of my time toward the congregation of people that I am hired to help guide. DO not get me wrong, there is some sacrifices. But if this were not my job would I make the same sacrifices? Would I go to church an hour and half early to pick people up on the bus? On Wednesday, would I take two hours out of my day to go drive the bus for the church? Would I be willing to prepare a message for a bunch of students, that never listen, if this was not in my job description? I would love to stand and say "YES I WILL"... more than likely it would more of "Let me pray about that"! What a cope out!!!

How lazy I have become... There is a song out, from the Passion Conference, by Chris Tomlin called Awaken. In this song there is one line that helps me see what I should pray... "Like a rising sun... Awake my Soul".

I challenge you all to pray this. We are stuck in the "everyday" routine of life. When are we going to let our Souls be Awaken to more than just the everyday. May God awaken our souls to change the "everyday" around us.

until next time...

SATURDAY SILVER SCREEN SCRUNITY...

I know it is Sunday... I wanted to go ahead and write this review. The reasons why? This movie is great... the movie you may ask "Equilibrium"

This movie I would label a "man" movie. When I say "man" movie I am speaking of those movies that make you stand and say I only wish I was able to do that, or ouch, or I feel more manly after watching that movie (dont get me wrong I am secure with the man that I am).

Anyway...

In this movie we follow the life of the Top Level Cleric (Elite Solider) of all... John Preston (Christian Bale). In this post world war 3 world we find out that there is a man named "Father" that has a totalitarian grip on all. Now we see that all is being held into order by elite soldiers. Of course in any movie that has one ruling force there is an underground that is trying to over through the "father" of their world. The one that is trying to control all must use some kind of brain wash to control the minds of the minions. In this we see that all that are under the control has a shot that they must inject themselves. We see early in the film that any history is to be burned because it can drive emotion. Also we find out that John Preston has no remorse when He has to kill his partner (Sean Bean) for having a book. After this surprising kill John Preston is coupled with Taye Diggs' character Brandt. Now Brandt seems to have a man crush (or just admires) John Preston... But there is more than meets the eye with this one. A twist starts to occur when John Preston drops a dose of the mind control and starts understand the concept of Feeling... Take the time to watch this highly action packed suspense movie.

This 2002 flick was over shadowed by the likes of "the Matrix". The graphics are not the greatest but the film is great. I rate this film a 3.2 out of 5 stars.

Until next time...

A Small synopsis of the past week...

I decided this past week I decided to lay off the blogging... I see myself getting sucked into this montage of words... But we will continue again with this small synopsis of the past well...

1. Home alone
2. Lost 3 lbs (down to 193)
3. Watch a few movies
4. Played soccer
   
5. Taught about Jesus
6. Went to get my wife
7. Went to the St. Louis Zoo
8. Came home with my wonderful wife

Interesting right? I am sure... I forgot I also ate and slept as well...

until next time...

SATURDAY SILVER SCREEN SCRUINTY...

Once again the time has come for SATURDAY SILVER SCREEN SCRUTINY...

Today we will be discussing the movie "HARD CANDY"....

On the right is the poster for the film... odd and intense all the same.

To say this is a story of a quick witted girl, Hayley (played by Ellen Page, Juno), gives no justice for this film.

In this film it starts out with what seems to be conversation of adult portion. There is Hayley (played by Ellen Page, Juno) and then there is Jeff (played by Patrick Wilson, Watchmen). In this conversation you find out they are going to meet, for some coffee and scones. One thing that we are unsure of is how old each character is. When they arrive to meet we find that Hayley is an "innocent" 14 year old girl and Jeff is a 32 year old "hip" photographer. We can see that Jeff has more of an infatuation with Hayley... then, what you know is coming, Jeff has her come over TO HIS HOUSE...WHAT?!?!? Ya you heard it, a 32 year old asking a 14 year old over... WRONG!!!

Anyway, more about the film... While they are at the house he speaks of photography and what he does. There is a scene in this movie where she is making "screw drivers" and both are getting "drunk". He gets his camera to take some stills of the 14 year old girl and while this goes on he becomes outraged with her and then passes out...

Then the tables turn, we find out that the 14 year old girl is not as "innocent" as she comes across. She has tied Jeff up on a computer chair. Through out the next hour of the film we find out that she has had this planned long before they ever spoke on-line. I do not want to ruin the movie for you but let us just say Jeff's "manhood" may be "cut short"...

Believe me when I say this is not a film for the faint of heart. Language is rough and most likely over the top... Topic of pedophile is rampant through out the movie... please think hard about watching this movie before you do... This is not a family film, date film or informational film... It is straight up intense thriller type flick...

I rate this 3 out of 5 stars...

until next time...

Exercise...

I have friend that is doing amazing with working out. he has lost something like 26 pounds. It is awesome. I Salute you 1010in2010... He is having a challenge that he is calling Blogger-Made Home Workout Challenge In this challenge he is asking us all to do his work out for a week. He will start on this challenge on Monday. I am really going to try on this. So bring it on... I hope I am able to make it...

Until next time...

Age and Circumstance doesnt matter...

First Read 1 Timothy 1:12 and then read Hebrews 11.

Have you ever had someone look at you and say you are to young to be apart? I have. There were those times where I was to short to ride the roller coaster at the local theme park. Or I was in the awkward stage of finding shoes... you know where you are unable to find the shoes size you need in the children's section but they also seem to lack when you go to the adults shoes as well. To many times growing up we find ourselves in this predicament. It honestly doe not matter what age you are people are looking at you as if you are too young.

My wife and I have many friends that are older than us. I know it bothers my wife more than it bothers me but when we expose our age it is almost like we failed in life. People end up speaking to us differently and do not think we can understand certain things because of How old we are. Do not get me wrong there are something we do not understand yet because we have not experienced it (i.e. having a baby). My wife and I think we know something about having a Child but we honestly do not.

I remember growing up and always wanting to go to Wal-Mart to check out the last toy (things havent changed now it is electronics). I would ask by brother to take me and you guessed it he said no...

Look at the first scripture I gave you. Paul is writing to Timothy (he is young and he is preaching). In this letter, Paul is trying to encourage Timothy to stay strong, teach good doctrine and just because you are young doenst mean you can not encourage and lead people toward Christ. I came across this video... click here to watch it.

Guess how old this girl is??????? She is 11. That is it 11. She has grace the presents of Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhal, Hillary Swank, Minnie Driver and the list goes on. She has been on the show HOUSE M.D., Croy in the House, CSI New york and not only this she is going to be in 5 featured films in the next 2 years (information found @ www.imdb.com)

With all of this Hollywood "glory" surrounding her she still lives her faith out. She is not letting Her age affect how God can use her... When are we going to realize our age doesnt matter?

Take a look again at Hebrews 11. I want you to think of the hall of fame of some sport or product or show... what ever that hall of fame is that is kind of what is represented here in Hebrews 11. This is the "HALL OF FAME OF FAITH"... These are the big guns of the Old Testament. Let us talk about a few of the people that are mentioned:
--> Abraham -- promised generations would be linked to him. He is the father of many nations... He lied about his wife being his wife, twice, said she was his sister.
--> Moses (you know the one that help set the Hebrew nation free from the Egyptian rule)... He was a murder and was afraid to speak in front of people.
--> Rahab (back in this time women were looked at more as property than people)... She was a woman, a Gentile (someone that was not a jew) and then she was a Prostitute.
--> David (the one who slayed Goliath)... he was a murderer, adulterer, and children plotted daily to kill him. (information found from "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan)

All of these mentioned were found in Hebrews for their faith. That is wild... These people did some very messed up things. I am not telling you to go and kill someone or lie about your wife or become a prostitute. I am telling you that your circumstance does not have to define who you are... Yes these people did some awful things but they lived out their faith. They did not let they did control the outcome of their faith. A great example of someone who did not let their circumstance effect them is Jason McElwain. To watch the video click here or his name. He did not let his "circumstance" effect his performance.

I Challenge you all to not let your age or your circumstance effect how you are going to live for Christ.

until next time...

Burning the Fat Monday's...

I have decided to start working out, I have done many workouts before. What makes this time so much more interesting is the fact I am going to be documenting how this weight-loss/workout will be going. I was really inspired by my friends blog http://www.1010intwentyten.blogspot.com/. He has done amazing with weight loss and getting into great shape. This is for the purpose of having a better way of life. None of this: "I cant walk, because I am to tired." or "I cant have my wife because I am to out of shape." or "I dont feel like doing something because I have no energy." I do not want my family genes(my family gains weight pretty easily) to wear the pants in this war on weight... get it pants - genes... Never mind, bad joke.

Here is what I weigh, ate and exercised:

Weight --> 195

Breakfast -- 2 eggs (scrambled without milk) and one slice of toast 1/3 serving of margarine

Lunch -- 1 serving of Taco bake, small amount of mac/cheese and salad

snack -- one granola bar

Supper -- One boneless chicken breast grilled with bbq sauce, one serving of green beans and one serving of scallop potatoes.

Workout --
Treadmill --> 6 mph, 24 mins, 2.2 miles, 296 calories burned
Weights --> 3 sets of 8
--> Bicep Curls
--> Hammer Curls
--> Concentration Curls
--> Bench Press
--> Incline Dumbbell Press
--> Push Up
--> Tricep Pushdown
--> Tricep Kickbacks
--> calories burned weightlifting -- 260 Calories burned
--> Total calories burned --> 556

Not to bad I dont think... I am unsure at how many calories I ate... that is something I will need to become more aware of.

Until next time...

Saturday Sliver Screen Scrunity...

From now on, on Saturdays, I will be giving reviews on different movies that I have seen... who knows it may give you all some insight on what to see... With out further a due... SATURDAY SLIVER SCREEN SCRUTINY!!!

Today My wife and I went saw the much anticipated movie by Tim Burton (you guessed it) "Alice and Wonderful"

A little review of the movie (I advise you there will probably be spoilers).

We see Alice all grown up (19 to be true). She is no longer the little girl that fell into the hole from Disney's perspective. She has been guaranteed to be wed to a yuppie. While speaking with the her soon to be mom-n-law Alice notice's a "rabbit". Not just any rabbit... The rabbit that had the old pocket watch. As we know she follows along and falls. But this is a very different "underland" than we were use to as a children.

Alice meets all the nostalgic characters that flew through the movie long ago. Johnny Depp does an excellent job of being the Mad Hatter... the thing I couldn't get past was the Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissors combination to make up this lovely character. The Queen of Hearts, played by Helena Bonham Carter, was done to a "T". She pulled off this retched character like none other. Ann Hathaway played the white queen and did a superb job as well (kind of reminded me of Giselle in the movie Enchanted, just not as perky). Then there is Mia Wasikowska, who played Alice. She did a fine job of portraying the Character of Alice. We see her go from this unsure about herself girl to standing against greatest odds.

Alice in wonderland is all about not Letting the imagination die and to not let anyone hold you back. If you have a dream go for it. It had a feel good theme with a classic Tim Burton quirkiness threaded through it. All in all I rate the movie a 3.7 out of 5.

That is the SATURDAY SLIVER SCREE SCRUTINY for today... until next time...

We swing and miss to many times...

I remember growing up playing baseball. I was the kid that would swing at the tee ball and end up hitting the tee. Later on I was the kid that could field but when it came to hitting the ball, I struck out.

As Christians we swing and miss all the time. Today I started to read the book "The Gutter" by Graig Gross. He is the co-founder of XXXChurch.com. In this book He starts out talking about a time, as a youth minister, that he felt like he was going and doing the work that Christ wants of Christians. The only thing was he swung and missed. In this story he tells, he speaks of how him and his youth group decided to make sack lunches for the local homeless group. In the process of handing out the brown bag special he and his youth found out they were not meeting any kind of need. A block or two from where they were was a homeless shelter that gave food everyday. What did giving the bag of food do for the homeless? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! As you read on you find out something interesting... "Their refusal of our lunch stunned me, leaving me discouraged by rejection. It was pretty worthless offer, after all. My students and I hung our heads and began to retreat, and our defenseless posture must have irked the leader, because he suddenly lashed out, 'How can you think your sandwich would help us? Look at her feet. Do you think your lunch can warm her feet? Can it?'"

They were shown the need... shoes. How many times do we miss our mark? I know I have countless times. It seems it was one of those situations that he felt was a great idea but did not research the real need of the people.

Christ went into the culture knowing what people needed. He would not only offer salvation he would offer healing (physical, spiritual and mental). Recently here at church we had a couple come to us saying they need help. Churches are a huge target for free money. So we had to be careful. But as the couple told us what was going on, our guard has slowly gone down.

Their story consist of this... They came from Michigan. Where they lived in Michigan was becoming pretty rough. Drugs, violence and the works. They want to start a family and establish them in a place that is not falling apart. Well they ended up in a small town here in south-east Missouri. The only thing with this small town is they treat African-Americans like dirt. Not only this She is white and he is African-American. This spells trouble for them in this small town. I couldn't believe it (that such racism still is around).

Well they decided to move to Poplar Bluff Mo. They only had a few bucks and no where to live. They went to a church and ask for help as he looked for work. The church offered to pay for 2 nights stay in a hotel, supper and some gas. Well this lasted only for a bit. They have only been here for 5 days. They stopped by our church and ask if there was any work that needed to be done. Well just so have it we are painting the inside of the youth building. So, we gave them 40 bucks and they painted for 2 and half hours. They even offered to come back today. They have done such amazing work. We paid them again and if the money doesn't hold over for a couple of days, my wife and I are going to have them stay at our house (we have an extra room).

It is wild when you hope to do Gods work. He will have you do it at the most unexpected times. Pray and see what God wants you to do.

until next time...