A Christmas CD Must

If you were to look at my I-Pod you would find most styles of music…the collection is a bit odd.

The one type I did not have until last week was Christmas music.

To be honest, Christmas music drive me crazy!

I am a big Sufjan Stevens fan (also a Hope grad)…his music is…um…interesting.  If you have heard it you know what I mean.

So my recommendation this Christmas is Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas.  You even get stickers with it!    You might want to give it a listen before you buy it…don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Favorite Christmas Gifts

In what is hands down the best Christmas movie of all time, “A Christmas Story”, the main character wants a Red Rider BB Gun.  The classic phrase everyone keeps telling him is that he will “shoot his eye out”.

I was thinking about the best Christmas gifts I have received in the past.  Here are just a few that top my list in no specific order.

• Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks tickets.  It was my first Red Wings game.
• Electric Train Set.  The train not only glowed in the  dark, it stuck to the track as the ran up the wall.
• GI Joe and MASK toys…MASK were quite possibly the best toys ever.
• And now that I look back (even though I was bummed at the time) a fake Cabbage Patch Doll.  When I was a kid everyone wanted Cabbage Patch Dolls (yes, even guys).  I remember standing in a check out line crying when my parents said I could not have one.  One year my grandma and grandpa bought all of us grand-kids a fake Cabbage Patch Doll.  I’m impressed with their effort and thought they put into the gift.  I now appreciate it. 

What were some of your favorite gifts?
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Radiant Light

“The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” -Psalm 19:8

It is inevitable, as we learn and grow, we see things differently. As we study God’s word and understand his heart the psalmist writes that it brings joy to us to see through God’s eyes.

One of the hardest things for me as I have grown as a follower of Christ is to see the brokenness around me. At one time I saw the homeless man on the street as an eye sore and nature as something simply to consume for an example.

But understanding the heart of God I see a man with a heart, with desires, with dreams who needs help. I see the beauty of God’s creation and understand my responsibility to care for the environment.

At the beginning of this same passage, David is writing about how the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. It is seeing the beauty of God all around us.

When I woke up this morning, I looked out my window and saw the sun rising over the frozen snow covered lake. The color of the sky was purple, orange, red, pink and all sorts of other colors I do not know the names to…

By understanding God, we are better able to understand the world we live in and are a part of.

The Kingdom of God

I have recently been studying this topic. Jesus very often in his gospels talked about “The Kingdom of God” and “The Kingdom of Heaven”.

Jesus when he was talking about it would say it is near, within you, at hand, like yeast, like a merchant, belongs to children, seek it first, etc.

If I were to ask you to tell me about “The Kingdom of God” and “The Kingdom of Heaven” what would you say? Would you describe a place far away that you are going to one day or is it something now and tangible?

Maybe it is a little bit of both?

Dangerous Christmas Movie?

It’s Alvin and the Chipmunks!

The original post can be found here at the Wittenburg Door. As they suggest…maybe the Golden Compass is not the only “bad” movie this year? We all need a little sarcasm every once in awhile. Enjoy.

p.s. Just between the two of us…I can’t wait to see the movie because I loved the cartoon growing up!  I still have my Alvin stuffed animal.

 

Snow Day

 

(this is not our church in case you wondered)

On Sunday we were snowed in. I do not remember a time in the past six years that I have been at FBC where we have closed the doors due to weather. It was odd being canceled. I was supposed to speak on Sunday too but we will have to figure out if that message will fit at another time.

 

I opened my kitchen door on Sunday morning to dig out the cars and I had a good 12 inches blown up against my door. There really was going to be no hope in getting our cars down the road. Finally at about 5PM Joanna and I chose to go to the store and see how the roads were. Our road still had not been plowed out but there were car tracks that we could drive on.

 

In my opinion, if we have to have snow, let’s have a lot of it…next time I hope it is not on a Sunday.

Almost Two Weeks

It has been almost two weeks without a single fast food item.

I honestly have only craved fast food once…those stinking McDonald fries.

There are few others around the country who are on this journey with me…stay strong!

What Would Jesus Buy?

Over the past few weeks I have been working on a message that I will be sharing this Sunday. I have watched this video numerous times and it has spurred on thoughts for Sunday. Did you know that the average American family spent $907 on Christmas last year.

Do you even remember what you received last Christmas?

The trailer above is from a documentary called “What Would Jesus Buy?”. It should be interesting.

Reverend Billy is not a professing follower of Jesus, but his message is one that more churches need to be sharing with their congregation. Materialism and consumerism is not only having harmful affects here in the states but it is taking away money that could be put to better use across the world.

I hope to add some more commentary about this after Sunday.

I’m Finished!

The the reading is complete, the reviews are done, and the final paper has been turned in. I am finished with MT520 at Fuller. Three classes down, 15 more to go.

I have about a month off until my next class starts in the new year.

To my Fuller classmates, thank you for your prayers and I will continue to pray for all of you as you finish and turn in your papers today.

As for my weekend…spending time with Joanna relaxing and getting a little bit of work done on the master bedroom on Saturday.

Enjoy your weekend and I will see you all next week.

On a Lighter Note…

The last two posts were a bit heavier so I thought we could use a break…

We are at 33 weeks with the baby on Thursday! Just a few more weeks and you will be able to meet Baby T (as our niece says)

Last night I was laying next to Joanna and had my hand on her stomach. The baby was VERY active last night and it was amazing just feeling it kick.

Then I noticed a hard lump. I tapped on the spot and it moved away, then returned, tapped, moved away, and returned. This went on for a minute or so as the baby responded to the touch.

So either last night was the first time that the baby and I played together or it was the first time that I annoyed the baby.

Have a great day! Blessings.