Questions!

When will we have a college football playoff? Answer: Not soon enough.

When will the Razorbacks be competitive again in basketball? Answer: Not soon enough.

When will we have true unity in the body of Christ? Not soon; oh, wait -- probably never.

When will we truly honor this thing called autonomy? I don't think we ever have.

Several churches have been removed from "The Churches Of Christ" book by Mac Lynn. The book has several categories - "non Sunday school," "one cup" "non institutional" and so on. Now, they have removed Richland Hills Church of Christ from the book because they have instrumental services - while keeping several assemblies acappella.

Why can't they simply create a new category - "those with instrumental services"?

Don't get me wrong - I think it silly that we put churches in "categories" to begin with. But, most of them aren't "salvation" issues anyway, so I understand what they are trying to do.

Christians are the only canabals that are still allowed in mainstream society.

no wonder non believers are disenchanted with the church. Many times, so am I.

When will we get better at this thing called Christianity? I hope . . . .

President Obama

Thoughts as you watched Obama being sworn in as the 44th President?

Don't know if you voted for President Obama or not, but I hope that you will keep him lifted up before the Father today (and on a regular basis).

"heaven"

Teaching a class this spring at Southside on "heaven". I'm using several resources, including the book by Randy Alcorn, "Heaven". He gives a very untraditonal view of heaven. He does make his case with tons of Scripture to back it up. I'm still chewing on it. Should be a very thought provoking class for sure! I'm really looking forward to it.

What is your view of heaven? Will we know each other? Is it worship 24/7?

Do you think we get our view of heaven from Scriputre of from our hymns we sing? (I think it is the later, to be honest).

Looking forward to preaching Sunday. After looking at how huge God is, we'll discuss the fact that God is in the "details" of our lives. In other words, how "small" God is!

Hope you have a great weekend.

Season premiers

Loved the first part of the four hour season premier of "24" on Sunday night. Have the Monday night episodes taped and ready to go. I'll wait until Thursday to see part 2; gotta make the "24" thing last!

Looking forward to season 5 of "LOST". Only one more week!

My family are big "American Idol" fans. Some enjoy the audtion part of the show; some do not. I do. Its fun to see if we can pick out the next finalists.

Looking for a good novel to read. I mean, a real page turner. Have a great book to recommend?

Touring an LDS temple

Took a tour of the new LDS Temple in Draper, Utah on Saturday. Very interesting for sure! The whole concept of temples in contemporary Christianity seems to me to be counter intuative to what Jesus taught.

However, there is much that I appreciate about the concept of "temple". What I like is their emphasis on being quiet. In one room, no talking whatsoever is allowed. The atmosphere calls you to be still and quiet before the Lord.

I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to find a place of still and quietness.

I know that being quiet doesn't equal being reverant. I get that. I do need a place to be quiet. God has told us to be still and to know that He is God. Where do you do that? Do you have a certain room in your house? A park you go to? Where is your quiet place?

To be honest, there is a lot more that distrubs me about their temples. But the sense of quiet I really do admire.

If you ever get a chance, take a tour of an LDS temple. It will open up future converstion with an LDS (Mormon) friend or neighbor.

A movie, a sermon, a goodbye

Rented "Ghosttown" last night. It came highly recommended by my secretary. When I heard it was from the creators of "The Office" - I was in. It's very funny, but that's not why I liked it. It has a very good moral to the story. Do you yourself a favor and rent it.

I'm exicted about tomorrow's sermon. We're talking about the universe and how big God really is. If God really is that big, is He "big" enough to take care of you and your problems? Part 2 is how small we are - is next weeks sermon. I was inspired by some talks by Louie Giglio. Should be fun to see the children's eyes when we show some eye popping powerpoint slides on the universe.

What I'm not looking forward to is saying good-bye to my daughter who heads back for her final semester at Oklahoma Christian. A month for Christmas break just isn't long enough. We just got used to her being back - when she goes back! Saddest of all is our eight year old who just loves her oldest sister.

Did I call the championship game or what? Now, I did think it would be higher scoring than it was, but I did believe that Florida was the better team.

A four hour season premier of "24" this Sunday and Monday nights!! Can't wait!

Gators or Sooners?

Finally, the championship game is here! I've gone back and forth on this one, but I think the Gators will take 'em. Florida's defense and special teams will be the difference.

Great to see my beloved Hogs beat the Longhorns in hoops on Tuesday night! The passion is back in Razorback basetball! They should be ranked after beating the #4 and #7 teams in a seven day period.

One of my 52 goals for the year is to loose 9-10 pounds. I must confess, I enjoyed all the goodies of the holidays!

You do you think will win the game tonight?

Best of 2008

Here are some of my best things from 2008:

Favorite Movies:
1.) Fireproof
2.) Batman - "The Dark Night"
3.) "John Adams"
4.) Prince Caspian
5.) Iron Man
6.) Valkyrie


all in all, a weak year for movies

Least favorite: Momma Mia, but my daughter loved it, which made it worth it!


Favorite Christian Books:
1.) "It"
2.) Rubber Band Leadership
3.) "Eat This Book" (Started)
4.) "In A Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day" (Just Started)
5.) Humility

Favorite Novels:
1.) "The Shack"
2.) Divine Justice
3.) Between Sundays
4.) Grace

Favorite non-fiction book: The Devil In The White City. (I read it in 2008)

Your favorites? Anything I've left off?

52 new goals

Making my new goals for the year. I will write my 52 new goals this week - one for every year I've lived. Started this practice last year, and I love it! I didn't fulfill the whole list, but I did a lot of them!

One of them is to blog 3-5 times a week! I know, I know, I've said this before . . . but this time I'll do better at writing posts.

Do you make goals? Does it work for you? or not?

Power of Remembering

Great victory for the Utes in the Sugar Bowl against mighty Alabama! Didn't think they could pull it off. Good for them! The four million dollar coach was out coached! You gotta love that.

One thing that our associate minister began when he came to Southside was he calls a family banner. Each month we celebrate the events of the past month. We make patches of baptisms, activities, significant events, etc. Tomorrow is our final patches for 2008.

So, the theme for tomorrow's sermon is "Remembering". I think it's significant that God tells his people time and time again - remember! God told them to erect altars, monuments, observe feasts - all to remember!

For the most part, our churches don't realize the importance of remembering. We don't value physical symbols that can remind us of God's grace and goodness. The danger is in worshiping the symbols themselves, but we go overboard the other way and ignore the power of symbols.

Anyway, tomorrow promises to be a good day of worship. Looking forward to it.