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Showing posts from May, 2008

His Story: Loose Change to Loosen Chains

My Must See Summer 2008 Movies

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With the release of "Prince Caspian", the summer blockbuster season officially began for me. Seeing that it get's really hard to have a night away from the kids for Beth and I to have a date night, we'll probably only see 3 or 4 of these in the theater. Below is my list of the top movies that are must see for me. 1) The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan, need I say more?) 2) The Dark Knight (After M. Night, the Nolan brothers are my favorite writers/directors) 3) The Incredible Hulk (Name me a bad Edward Norton movie, plus we need something to erase the memory of the last Hulk movie) 4) Prince Caspian (Lion, witch and wardrobe was great, this is suppose to be better) 5) Indiana Jones (Can my childhood hero live up to my childhood memories) 6) Step Brothers (Go watch the trailer for Will Ferrell's newest film and you'll see why it's top 10) 7) Hancock (As with # 3, name me a bad Will Smith movie) 8) Get Smart (Steve Carrell = Funny stuff) 9) The Mummy 3 (We

His Story II: New Nooma Video Preview "Shells"

From now until Wednesday, Nooma is offering a free preview of their newest video on facebook. You can check it out here: NOOMA's Videos: NOOMA Shells 020 Rob Bell Facebook

His Story: Ministry or Job?

My friend Sam sent this to me. I think it's something good to ponder on... "Is it a Ministry or Just a Job?" If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry. If you are doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you are doing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry. If you will do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you are committed to staying with it, even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry. If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job. If you stay with it even when no one seems to notice, it's a ministry. If you do it because someone else says it needs to be done, it's a job. If you do it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it's a ministry. It is hard to get excited about a job. It is almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry. People may sa

My Seinfeld Season 2 Quotes

George: I think I swallowed a fly! I swallowed a fly! What do I do? What can happen? Jerry: He's a doctor. You gotta pay what he says. George: Oh, no, no, no. I pay what I say. George: I think you absolutely have to say something to this guy. Confront him. Elaine: Really? George: Yes. Elaine: Would you do that? George: If I was a different person. Elaine: Did you get a haircut? Jerry: Nope. Shower. Elaine: You're a little homophobic aren't ya? George: Is it that obvious? Jerry: I hate anybody who had a pony growing up. Manya: I had a pony! Jerry: Well, I didn't mean a pony per se… Manya: When I was a little girl in Poland, we all had ponies. My sister had pony, my cousin had pony. So, what's wrong with that? Jerry: Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just expressing… Helen: Should we have coffee? Who's having coffee? Manya: He was a beautiful pony. And I loved him! Jerry: Well, I'm sure you did. Who wouldn't love a pony? Who wouldn't l

My Office Quotes: Goodbye, Toby (Plus my thoughts on the Finale and Office Spin-off news)

After a subpar season of The Office (I'll blame the writers strike for that), last nights season four finale was not only the best Office finale yet but one of their best episodes ever. From the awkwardness, gut wrenching conversations and situations, to the many surprise twist and the multiple story lines being set up for season five, there is no way the writers could have pulled off any better of an episode. Well done!! 4 Stars! Spin-Off News NBC has confirmed that there will be an Office Spin-off show debuting next season. The current thought it is will begin after the Superbowl. Here is the NBC link http://www.nbc.com/Primetime/The_Office_Spin-Off/index.shtml Now to the quotes... Michael Scott: Today is Toby Flenderson's last day. I couldn't sleep last night. [cuts to clips of Michael dancing around the empty office] I came in extra early, so much energy. There's certain days that you know you will remember for the rest of your life. And I just have a feeling that

My Heavenly Question About Eternity

Simple question: "If there was no promise of an afterlife. If there was no spending eternity with God / Jesus after you died. Would you still make the decision to become a believer and follow Christ?" I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll share mine in a week or so.

My Thoughts On Religious Critics (Part Deux)

I'm not a controversial person. My human nature side tends to try to avoid controversy if at all possible. I think it has a lot to do with the introvert in me. So you can imagine the surprise when my previous "religious critics" blog caused a bit of a stir. I didn't write it to to cause division or confrontation. I was simply sharing my heart as I am about to do in this new "controversal" blog. The previous blog was written to address my feelings on the countless personal attacks I'm hearing and reading against some of today's most popular Christian pastor's and preachers. Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, Joel Osteen, and even Billy Graham seem to be walking around holding a ten foot lighting rod now-a-days. 99.9% of the attacks are made by people who have never met or even spent the least amount of time around these guys or their teachings. The critics read a quote here and a blurb there and end up throwing the baby out with the bath water

My Seinfeld Season One Quotes

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I was trying to look up a specific Seinfeld quote today and realized how limited those sites are. So I've decided to go through all nine seasons and give the world one of the most complete Seinfeld quote collections around. Enjoy. Season One Jerry: I swear, I have absolutely no idea what women are thinking. I don't get it, okay? I… I… I admit, I, I'm not getting the signals. I am not getting it! Women, they're so subtle, their little… everything they do is subtle. Men are not subtle, we are obvious. Women know what men want, men know what men want, what do we want? We want women, that's it! It's the only thing we know for sure, it really is. We want women. How do we get them? Oh, we don't know 'bout that, we don't know. The next step after that we have no idea. This is why you see men honking car-horns, yelling from construction sites. These are the best ideas we've had so far. The car-horn honk, is that a beauty? Have you seen men doing this?

My Brother Where Art Thou

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This past Saturday night my church served a thank you supper to all the firefighters of our town. As the night went on and our church members had a chance to chat and listen to our local heroes, one thing became obviously clear, the firefighters of Kernersville have a better idea of what it means to be a church more than most churches do. One example was told in a story of a fellow firefighter that was in the process of moving when they were injured. Out of 65 firefighters in Kernersville, over 50 showed up to help them finish moving. The comment was made by one of our volunteers that there wasn't a church in our town that would have 50 people show up to help a fellow church member move. We could learn a lot about community from watching the men and women from our local fire and police departments. As I was sharing the story with Beth, another thought hit me. Not only was there a since of community between the fire departments but there was a feeling of brotherhood almost like a fr

My Office Quotes: "Job Fair"

Michael Scott: Come here. [talking about Pam] I would never say this to her face, but she is a wonderful person and a gifted artist. Oscar: What? Why wouldn't you say that to her face? Pam Beesly: Michael. Do you remember you specifically told me to bring one sheet of paper. You said it only takes one sheet to make a difference. I said, 'are you sure Michael?' And you said, 'Pam! Pam! Pam!' And then you sneezed in my tea and then you said, 'don't worry it's just allergies.' Do you remember that? Michael Scott: Yeah, I'm trying to lure these kids into my booth. But, uhh, kids are very weary of being lured, these days. Thank you Dateline. Michael Scott: Yeah kiss her. Kiss her good. Andy: Short cut! Short cut! [goes flying out of a golf cart] I fell in the sand trap. Michael Scott: Today I am headed over to the job fair at Valleyview high school to find some new interns. Get some fresh blood. Um, euthanize this place. Andy: Hit about twelve

My Shema

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 The Shema – meaning: to hear and to act upon Sometime after the Israelites returned from captivity, the Shema became a central part of daily Jewish life. During the second temple period, these verses were recited every morning and evening fulfilling the words, and you shall talk about them when you lie down and when you get up. (Deut. 6:7) In the Mishnah, the oral teachings of the sages, the rabbi’s referred to the recitation of the Shema as “receiving the Kingdom of heaven.” The Shema was a daily way of acknowledging God’s personal rule in your life, a way of making a personal reconfirmation of the covenant with God. The rabbis made it clear that one could not carry out the teachings of God as an obedient follower without first accepting that God’s Kingdom was above all others. Recitation of the Shema brought the King

My Thoughts on Religious Critics (part one)

On the opening night of The Orange Conference, main session speaker and TOC leader Reggie Joyner made a statement that I had never thought about before but couldn't agree with more. He said, "If Pharisees were alive today they'd all be bloggers". Let that sink in. What was the main goal of Pharisees anyway? To keep the laws as they interpreted them and make sure eveyone else did too? They made life as difficult as possible for Jesus and his gang of trouble makers who dared live out God's word differently then the righteous Pharisees. The Pharisees took every possible chance to tear down the ministry of Jesus by trying to prevent Him from healing on the sabbath, speaking with prostitutes, and dining with sinners. If Pharisees walked the earth today they'd be spending their time blogging about the short comings or heresy of guys like Rob Bell, Andy Stanley, Donald Miller, or Joel Osteen. These modern day Pharisee-bloggers are basically a group of folks who have

My North Carolina Voting Experience or My No. 325

Today was our NC primary, which in every other year has meant very little since our primary comes so late. But not this year. This go around we're the feature on every national newscast. But since I'm registered Republican I still didn't have a chance to effect the outcome of the closest nomination battle in recent memory. So I did the same thing I've done for the past two primaries, I cast my vote for president to Mr. Alan Keyes. http://www.alankeyes.com/ I did make a few observations while I was casting my vote: 1) I was never asked to prove who I was. I gave the lady my name, she looked it up, then told me to move to the next table. Isn't this how voter fraud happens? I should have went back in a few more time to vote for Alan. 2) When I got to the next table the guy asked me if I was Republican or Democrat then gave me the matching voter form. I really believe if I had told him Democrat I could have voted for Clinton or Obama. 3) The guy at the table then hands

My Gift of Worship

While I was looking for a video clip for my message this week on "A Passion For Worship" I came across an absolutely amazing video by Sermonspice. The video is put to the song "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle.

My Orange Conference 2008 Review

My buddy Daryl and i started a tradition last year of attending one ministry conference a year together. last year we went to 'Thirsty", a college pastors conference hosted by North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA and run by Louie Giglio and Passion. This year we chose to attend The Orange Conference in Duluth, Ga led by Reggie Joyner (on staff at North Point). Not being what to expect I had no (high or low) expectations. So what I got was an amazing time of teaching and worship. Stats: 5,000 people Gwinette Arena (yes, the same place I just was for Passion '08) 5 Main Session 4 Breakout groups Not to bore you with all the details I will just hit my highs and lows from last week: Highs: Donald Miller - This was my first chance to hear Donald live and he far exceeded any expectations I may have had about him. I've loved all of his books an I was afraid he would be a below average communicator because he is such an amazing author. Listening to him speak was lik

My Office Quotes: Did I Stutter

Dwight Schrute: [pushing Michael's face into the wet cement] Force it in as deep as you can. Michael Scott: [muffled] That's what she said. Michael Scott: Ok, so dig this. You're on the street, and one of your gang disses you. Darryl: Oh my goodness. Michael Scott: Yeah. Right. So what do you do to get 'em to make it right? Darryl: Well see, um, in a gang world, we use something called fluffy fingers. Michael Scott: What is that? Darryl: That's when someone really gets in your face, you know you just, start ticklin' 'em. Michael Scott: [pause] Really? Darryl: Yeah. And he starts tickling you. And pretty soon you laughing and hugging. Before you know it, you've forgotten the whole thing. Y'all just go to church together, and get an ice cream cone. Michael Scott: I would have never though that.. gangs would be tickling each other. Darryl: Oh. It's a fact of life. Michael Scott: Alright everybody-- [noticing Pam's glasses] Oh. My. G