This is seriously one of the coolest accapella groups I’ve ever seen (Listen to the whole thing, it’s not what you think based on the beginning):
HT: Musicguy
Monthly Archives: December 2007
Merry Christmas!
I know, I’m a week early to be wishing anyone a Merry Christmas. But in 4 hours, I’m supposed to be waking up from sleep that I have yet to begin in order to get to the airport with sufficient time to make it through security and catch my 6:45 am flight.
I’m going home.
I’m so excited! I get to see my mom. My stepdad. My daddy. My grandma, grandaddy, and brother. Granny and Papa. Pretty much my whole family. The people whom I love more than anything else in the world but only get to see once a year. I’ll be in North Carolina for 11 glorious days.
You may remember how horrible Christmas was for me last year (although in retrospect I don’t think I posted about it). Essentially, a close friend died, there was a blizzard that shut the airport down causing me to miss the funeral and a family Christmas gathering. Then I ended up miserably stuck without transportation in the middle of nowhere with a grandparent who made me cry. Yeah. It sucked.
This year? So far, so good. The snow is holding out until Friday. No friends in danger of death. Rental car so I won’t get stuck anywhere.
This is going to be a great vacation!
So I hope you all have a fantastic holiday season, however you may celebrate.
See you next year!
Posted in Personal
Pigeons in a Bag
My roomie and I experienced something odd today at work. We were stuck in the mailroom (fighting with the folder/inserter machine), and we happened to see a man on the roof of the factory across the street. That, in itself, isn’t odd. What was odd was the fact that he was in a cage. With a bunch of pigeons. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the man was catching pigeons in a net and putting them in a bag. Then he fed and watered the remaining pigeons and disappeared back inside with the bag of pigeons.
It was…odd, to say the very least.
First, we can’t figure out why there would be a cage of pigeons kept on a factory roof. Then we can’t figure out why they would catch them. And why on earth do they need pigeons?
Have any of you ever seen anything like that? Do you know what they may have been doing?
Posted in Randomness
Jesus is greater than…
Jesusgreaterthan.org is an organization trying to further the kingdom of God here on earth by raising awareness to some issues we believe to be crucial. We are trying to answer the cries of the oppressed by taking action. There will be many movements in the coming days, but the first is our Jesus>War campaign. We believe that there is a third way to all things; and that way is Jesus Christ. All proceeds generated during the Jesus>War campaign including donations, shirts, stickers will pay for multiple scholarship funds for children who have lost a parent while serving during war. Other movements will be Jesus>Poverty, Jesus>Hunger, Jesus>Thirst, etc. In each movement, JesusGreaterThan.org will financially support issues within the problem. It is time for a change. We can make it happen. – J>
They have shirts available that simply say “Jesus>War.” I want one! This is a great vision.
HT: Brody
Another nakedpastorism
Once in a while the realization that the human religious enterprise is seriously flawed comes crashing in on me.
I wish I could say that realization came to me only once in awhile. It’s kind of a daily occurance. Especially lately. And it usually starts with me. Some thought will go through my head that stems directly from old habits that just won’t die, and I remember how screwed up we all are. Even though we tout our religions as something to fix everything, it’s still all screwed up.
nakedpastor says some really great things. True things. But some really hard things. Things we don’t want to hear. I haven’t found a Christian this honest about the state of Christian hearts in a long time.
I don’t think we can escape our religious impulses or the communal expression of these impulses. But we have to confess that for the most part we are the gathering of hypocrites. I sound severe, but I am only saying this because I know myself well enough to say it.
During this Christmas season it is good to applaud expressions of good will. However, we all know (please, don’t we?) that we only need to lightly scratch the righteous surface to find the dirt. We are prize specimens of the art of veneer. This can’t be helped. But let’s admit it! It’s like I told someone years ago who had committed a horrible, shall we say, “sin”. It wasn’t days after his confession and repentance that he was already back on his feet and ready to go again. I said he was like a cat! But we are all like cats. We all have learned how to land on our feet. It’s uncanny! Maybe it should be so. But can we at least admit it? That’s what I’m asking.
I truly think that if we could just admit our inevitable tendency towards hypocrisy and our finely-honed skill at readjusting that it would take the religious pretension out of our personal and corporate lives. Yesterday I came home from church reassured again that we are not interested in the renewal of the mind, but only in the rearranging of its thoughts. We will acquire new thoughts and toss old ones, only if it will serve our unconscious and hidden selfish agendas. We are only interested in renovation, not re-creation. Again, this is our human and religious tragedy. But can we at least admit it?
Pretty much.
You Might Be Misrepresenting God If…
Kudos to this guy for putting this list together.
If you think that America is “God’s chosen country” and that everything America’s foreign policy represents is ordained by God, you might be misrepresenting God. If you think that the Republican party is “God’s party, you might be misrepresenting God. If you think that religion and Christianity are compatible, you might be misrepresenting God. If you think that you can only “cooperate” in ministry and missions with people who have been baptized by a pastor in your same denomination, you might be misrepresenting God. If you think that true Christianity is only represented by a particular denomination or systematic theology, you might be misrepresenting God.
That’s only a sample of this pretty awesome list. Check it out!
I am not a Nice Person
I have a love/hate relationship with the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. If you don’t know, these amazing books have been turned into movies (the sixth of the series premieres tonight on the Hallmark channel).
I love both the books and the movies. They give me the warm fuzzies. Seriously.
But I hate them, too. They show me how awful I am. They bring to my attention that I’m a selfish and mean person. And I am.
That was also brought to my attention by two people this week. Two.
I’m mean.
That means I’m not a nice person.
And that’s pretty crappy considering how I’m supposed to be following Jesus.
Why can’t I be more like him? Why can’t I treat people the way they should be?
An Atheist’s Journey to Faith
This is an interesting article about an atheist who came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
How Should Christians View Politics?
I read something today that really inspired me.
If we love God, then we’ll love people of other races.
If we love God, we’ll love the poor.
If we love God, we’ll figure out how to reach out and help those addicted to various substances.
If we love God, then we’ll love people…all people…bottom line.
And surprisingly enough, that was in the middle of an article about politics.
We say we want God to reign in our personal lives, and in our communities; but how many of us are willing to put aside political party loyalties, and look at candidates that are truly going out to help the greater good of mankind.
How many of us are as concerned with the health and well being of the homeless as we are of prayer in school?
How many of us are willing to reach out and help those in prison, as much as we are passionate about the infant’s right to live outside their mother’s womb?
This is one of the most controversial topics today, and I’ve already taken on a new life of criticism for even thinking these thoughts; but I believe it’s time that we just scoot down to the bottom line and decide if we are truly going to ‘do what Jesus did’ instead of trying to live within the boundaries a few political demagogues have created for us.
It’s almost like the two major political parties in America have boiled the hot button issues down to a value meal similar to what you might find when you drive through a major fast food restaurant.
If you’re pro-life, small government, lower taxes, you can order a #2 Republican value meal.
If you’re a pro-choice, pro-immigrant, pro-homosexual marriage, you can order a #3 Democrat meal, and supersize it with some education!
What have we become? Why have allowed the system to dumb us down to a relative happy meal and fries?
He makes really good points. And this is why I have the political views that I do.
I am anti-abortion.
I am anti-death penalty.
I am pro-gay marriage.
A lot of people think that those views don’t go together because they don’t fit a party. But they fit me.
