My Return

Wow! I didn't realize how long it had been since I blogged until I logged on and saw my last was on Sept. 11th, over two weeks ago. Part of being MIA was due to the fact I was on vacation for a week and had no cpu access, the other part was a combination of busyness and laziness. So here comes an extended edition of "Jesusgreek" complete with movie reviews, book reviews, vacation highlights, and a much needed rant. Enjoy.

Book Review: "Left for Dead" by Beck Weathers
Beck was one of the survivors from the '96 Everest tragedy. His story has been well chronicled as he was "left for dead" as the title suggest. He miraculously survived minus both his hands, toes, and nose, all lost to frost bite. The book itself did not live up to my expectations. The feelings of sorrow for Beck I had before reading the book quickly changed. He was not a very good guy. He was an alcoholic that ignored his family and it took almost dying to wake him up. Don't get me wrong, I still hate what happened to him but even he doesn't paint a favorable picture of himself. The one thing that stuck with me was through it all, he never once acknowledged that God could of had anything to do with his surviving. He eventually and seemingly reluctantly admits that a higher power may have been involved, but most of the attention is on how he found the will to live and how he beat the odds. When he does finally touch on the role faith played in his experience, he gives a sad but true commentary on those that call themselves "Christians". When discussing the Buddhist Sherpas that helped him up and down the mountain, he says, "These are people who live their religion; it is part of their every motion. They just don't practice on Sunday morning and Wednesday night, but each hour of the day." Rating: 1 1/2 stars

Movie review 1: V for Vendetta
To be honest I wasn't expecting much, but since I had a night at home alone (Beth and the kids had already left for the beach) I decided to take a chance. I was sure glad I did. "V for vendetta" turned out to be one of the best rentals I have watched all year. It's not just an action movie (though the action scenes are pretty decent). The plot is political and you could apply the same ideas to our current world. If you care about dialogs, you'll love this movie. It's one of those movies that is much more than just fights and killings. It reminded me a lot of the movie "1984". If you're looking for an Oscar winner, look someplace else, but if you want a solid entertainment for 2 hours, get this movie. Rating 3 1/2 stars

Movie review 2: Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2
I'll go on record again in saying that I am a big Quentin Tarantino fan. I loved Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs so I really don't know what took me so long to check these films out. To clear up something right off the bat, "Kill Bill Vol. 2" isn't a sequel in the Hollywood sense of the term, the two films were shot as one and released in two chapters. The first film was about revenge. The second one, believe it or not, is about love, a Tarantino kind of love. Yes, there is blood involved, but it's a love story, nevertheless. A terrific and masterful piece of action, drama and story telling. I highly recommend viewing this set especially if you are a fan of Tarantino. Rating: 3 stars (Not as good as Pulp but as good as Dogs)

Vacation Review: Garden City, SC
The family (myself, Beth, Jacob, Maria, my parents, Amanda & her family) spent the better part of a week in Garden City, SC which is just below Myrtle beach. My parents have time share and was able to trade in for a 3 bdrm condo on the beach. Beth, the kids and my parents stayed from Sat.- Sat, while I only stayed Sun.- Thur. I'm not a huge fan of the beach, but this was one of the best beach trips I've taken in some time. I think it had to do with the place being basically deserted so we had the beach, restaurants, and other attractions to ourselves plus the kids are getting to that age where they can start enjoying the beach and ocean. I built a lot of sand castles just to see hurricanes Jacob and Maria wipe them out. We took the kids to Alligator Adventure which was a blast. Jacob loved seeing the giant alligators, snacks, and turtles. When Beth asked him if this one huge gator could get daddy, Jacob replied "daddy could beat him up". It's good to be adored by at least one person, even if they are only 3 and doesn't know any better. On my way back, (I came back Thursday by myself) I made it from garden City to my home in 3 1/2 hours!! Great Time. Plus I was driving the Honda so I was able to do it on a half a tank of gas. That record will never be beat.

Sports Update:
Wake Forest: 4-0
My three fantasy football leagues: 3-0, 2-1, 1-2

My Rant: Watch out for that plank
"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." - Jesus

I've never really thought that I gave much ammunition for folks to judge me with. I'm not saying it's because I'm perfect, but I'm just not the condemning type. If I call someone out for something, I make sure that area of my life is clean enough so that they respect my opinion and not view me as a hypocrite trying to point the blame at everyone but my self. I also understand that as a pastor, I live in a glass house. fair or not, it just comes with the postion. I say all of that to say this, I've never been judged harder than I have since I've started blogging. Some folks can't believe the movies or TV shows I watch, others can't believe my opinion on things, and others can't believe that I have links to other people's blogs that might actually say a "gasp" cuss word or have an opinion that differs greatly from theirs.

The same excuse is given every time someone condemns me because of this blog, they say, 'Do you think a pastor should be saying, reading, linking, watching, etc.. stuff like that?" And my response is basically, "What do you care?". It does me good to know there are so many other people better equipped to be pastors then me. To which I say to all of them, "If you think you can be a "better" pastor, take my job." I'm real. I'm not some phony, hide behind a mask, make people think you're a perfect person that should be put on a pedestal pastor. I know I'm a work in progress. So was Moses, Noah, David, the disciples, Paul, and so on. Where did God leave this handbook that tells what "good" pastors should say and watch? I really need to get my hands on that thing. I am who I am. I'm raw. (no, not Eddie Murphy kind of raw but you wouldn't know it by some of the comments I get)

To everyone who has ever judge me because of my blog or anything else I might say / do, thank you for being so perfect. Thank you for setting the example for the rest of us to follow. And the next time you want to comment about me, save it. I won't hear a word. I'll be to busy staring at that huge plank in your eye.

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