Focus

Say what you want about Kobe Bryant, but there is no doubt that he is the most focused and dedicated basketball player in the game today. No dancing, no rapping, no movies on the side, this guy is focused on one thing.............winning championships and becoming the greatest basketball player in history. He knows he has to at least tie Jordan's six rings if he wants to be in that conversation, thats why his concentration is unmatched.

Maybe he's too vocal with teammates, maybe he's too arrogant, but look up laser focus or desire to win in the dictionary, and there should be a picture of this guy.

With all that said, I ALWAYS root against him and I hope Boston kicks LA'S butt!!!!!!!

shortcuts

"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life---to God!---is vigorous and requires total attention" Matthew 7:13-14 the message bible

I love this verse. I think it embodies so much of what is happening in our "christian" American culture. Walk into any bookstore and you are immediately flooded with how to have "your best life" "the good life" and basically "the easy, care free, fit God in their somewhere" life of your dreams. Is that really what it's all about?

There is always the temptation to compartmentalize your life. Everything put neatly into little boxes. A home box, work box, family box, and church "God" box. We want God in the boxes where and when we need His help, but pass when we think we can handle it just fine on our own. God doesn't want to be first in your life, He want to be the center. God is not a task on a list that you check off after you've had devotions, He is to be the reason for EVERY thought, decision, and action that you do in life. God annoints lives, not boxes.

There is no shortcut to that kind of relationship with God, and you will never truly be satisfied with less. Your walk with HIm will eventually become frustrating and leave you feeling like something must be missing. Don't look for a shortcut to intimacy. Any lasting, authentic relationship must be developed, and God is no different. In Poker, the term "all in" represents when you put it all on the line. Every last chip goes in the middle and you realize this is a make or break moment. I want an all in relationship with God and I'm convinced that total surrender is the only way. Remember, intimacy with Jesus is not a destination you finally arrive at, but a direction you continuously travel.

"There is a God that we want, and a God that is--very rarely are they the same"---Patrick Morely

proud mini van owner

Yes I have a mini van, and no it is not nearly this cool. I know that toyota is taking a major PR beating for all of the recalls and such, but this vid is pretty funny and could have the ole mini van bringing "sexy back"

fun run for rabies awareness meets karate kid

Forget Mr. Miyagi and Jackie Chan, this guy is the real karate sensei!! He should have gone for the crane kick right away, but I think he was trying to soften the fox up with a roundhouse or two first.

I think it's worth mentioning that Michael Scott has long been an advocate for Rabies victims and even subjected himself to a fettucini alfredo waterless 5k to show his support. What a visionary leader he has proved to be. I have to get me a "support the rabid" wristband=)

the over thirty crowd

A friend of mine tagged me on fb with this and I thought it was pretty funny so I stole it and put it on my blog!!! Props to you Mo!!!



If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with
walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot...
BOTH ways yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was
going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it
and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look
around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean,
compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got
it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card
catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a
pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the
mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
That's 10% of our $1.00 weekly allowance.

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of
fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts!
Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you
had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would
usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD
players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and
"eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it
useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and
somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you
just didn't make any calls or receive them. You actually had to be out of
touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH!!! Think of the horror... not being in
touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please!
You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no
idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your
bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!!
You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space
Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually
had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens,
it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just
kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just
like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You
were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your
backside and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh,
no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday
Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons,
you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to
use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no
electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were
doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on.
If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last
moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well
that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back
in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

personal legalism

le·gal·ism 
–noun
1.
strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, esp. to the letter rather than the spirit.
2.
Theology.
a.
the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works.
b.
the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws.

Ephesians 2:9 makes it clear that salvation is not by works, but rather comes strictly thru faith in the grace of God, offered as an unearned gift. Adding "rules" to the word of God is exactly what made the Pharisees walk in self righteous pride and ultimately miss Jesus.

Here's what I believe. Some things are sin and need to be addressed as such, and we (the church) should not be afraid to teach that. However, as a church, we need not impose specific rules (legalism) on all people corporately. I would never stand in the pulpit and tell everyone not to see movies, even R rated ones. Neither should the church tell people they can't drink or dance, and we shouldn't judge people, even christians, that do. Drinking is not a sin, drunkenness is. Dancing is not evil, ( unless you do it as badly as I do, then you could make a solid case for its inherent wrongness), and as soon as you pass judgment on someone who does, you are committing the deadliest sin of all, the sin of religion.

I'm not saying Christians should roll up to the club, sippin on cognac with fifty cent bumping in your pimp my ride, sittin on "dubs" that you bought with your tithe money............So are we "free in Christ" or not? Here's where personal legalism come in.


Paul said that just because some things are permissible, does not mean they are profitable. In other words, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should. I remember a few years back a young man came up to me at youth feeling very guilty because he had been drinking. He explained that after football games, a bunch of kids would go to another kids house, where an older brother would pass out beers. He never got drunk, but he would often have one to "fit in" and he felt badly. I explained to him first of all that underage drinking is illegal and that alone makes it sin (romans 13, obeying govt.) I then suggested that he not go to that kids house after games anymore. He looked at me cross-eyed like I had just quoted Ezekiel 23:20 at him. "What's wrong with going to my friends house!!!" he yelled in disbelief. Nothing, and I would never make an announcement at youth group corporately "none of you should go to your friends houses ever again, there is too much temptation in the world!!" But In light of your experiences there, I told him, it's not a WISE thing for YOU to do, even though inherently it may not be "wrong".

Roman 13:14 " but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify it's desires"--in other words, avoid situations where you provide yourself opportunities to sin.

For this young man, going to a particular friends house was "making provision for the flesh" and he needed to stop to have victory.
I think too often Christians are so worried about a particular thing they do not being WRONG, they forget to ask if it is wise for them.

If you struggle with alcohol or addiction, even if it's not "illegal" or "wrong", you have no business drinking or going to a bar.
If you struggle with Porn, you need to have your computer monitored and in the open. Maybe you don't even go on it.
If you struggle with gossip, maybe you can't have coffee with a specific person or need to stay off facebook
If you struggle with anger, maybe watching MMA fights isn't the best pass time for you.
In the basement with your girlfriend sharing a sleeping bag with your parents gone watching the notebook, is not a good time to try to draw "how far should we go physically" boundaries if you know what I mean.


But that doesn't mean these things are necessarily "wrong" for everyone else, (except that part about the notebook, if your not married, that idea is always wrong) that's why I call it "personal legalism" What is God saying to YOU??!! When he speaks, listen and obey, even if the issue your dealing with isn't in and of itself "wrong", is it wise?

Ephesians 5:15--Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

We'll talk more about not being a stumbling block to others with our freedom in a later post. I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and views on this so leave a comment and we'll dialogue!

mothers day

Here is the video we showed for mothers day at church on sunday.




Here are the "outtakes" of the same video shoot. Yes that is me yelling like a pageant dad in the background for Addy to take her fingers out of her mouth at 1:15ish. =) And for the record, I thought it would be funny if Ava said Mommy "TACKLES" her dad, you know as a reference to how big I am and small she is...........Ava thought I said "tickles" =)