Could We Forget Easter?

So tonight I was reading a favorite Bible story of mine, that of King Josiah. I don't know why, but I'm always drawn to it.

Quick recap, an 8 year old is made king. After a few years he decides maybe Israel should start following God again and rebuilds the temple. While rebuilding the temple they find the Book of Law. He reads it aloud to everyone, they decide to follow what's in it. They celebrate Passover and all is well.

Cool. Great. But it just boggles my mind. How did they lose the Bible? I mean really, a Holy Book that is the cornerstone to the entire civilization is lost. (If you want to see what things were really considered important to those involved, read how the guy who finds the Bible gives it to someone to give the king, and that guy reports on all the money being spent on the temple, then adds, "Oh yeah, and we found this book...") Can you imagine us today losing the Bible? It just seems so messed up.

But then I read about the Passover. They celebrated Passover. Why is that important? Because they hadn't been celebrating Passover. It's like us forgetting Easter. Really? Forget Easter? Just forget there's a holiday on that day? It's like our holiday, big meal, day off work, family time, just forgotten. They even add in the midst of the story that Passover had not been celebrated like this since Samuel was a prophet. Okay, seriously? That was 450 years ago!!

I just wonder how that happens. Obviously it's not an overnight thing, it took possibly hundreds of years and lots of bad leaders. But could it happen to us. I mean, could we actually lose the Bible and forget Easter in a country that says we're a Christian nation? So how did it start? Possibly by taking the Holy Book out of the classroom, by removing it from the place where laws are made and/or upheld...?

Just thoughts...

T

Still Hate Cell Phones

So I was going to answer one of Rich's questions on the discussion boards or talk about the fact I couldn't believe how many celebrities are in town for the 500 (I saw Mrs. Brady!) but this one topped it, sorry.

For those that don't know, I hate cell phones. Well, not so much cell phones, but those who use cell phones. For some reason we now cannot make decisions for ourselves and are obsessively lonely and need constant communication. Well, here's proof:

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/05/22/teen-jailed-for-courthouse-call/?icid=100214839x1202815782x1200111808

I mean really, someone phoning is more important than you being in court?! Learn to hang the stupid things up.

T

I'm Back

Okay, so it's been a crazy two weeks with family here and with just everything going on at church (you'll get to see a new video Sunday morning if you're here) so it's been a little bit nuts, sorry I haven't been on.

But I will say this, I had a great time with my mother-in-law here to visit and then more great times with my family, mom, step-dad, sister, brother-in-law and niece/God-daughter. I'm glad they were able to make it and had a safe trip home (even though there was a long delay at the border, shocker there).

That's what I've been up to. Rich put some ideas of things to blog on the Fire & Water website discussion board (www.fumcfireandwater.com/forum/). If you have anything else you'd like to hear my opinion on (and it's going to be mostly that, I ain't that smart), feel free to post it on the "blogs" forum.

For now, I say adieu and continue updating the calendar on the website (so much fun).

T

It's Over

My Montreal Canadiens lost, the season is over (and they finished in first too!). The colors are gone, the sky is grey. To help console you I leave their beloved mascot Youppi. Type in some stuff like shake and dance...

http://www.youppi.ca/index_en.php

T

Too Fun

Gotta love it when musicians focus on more than themselves :)



Enjoy.

T

History Of The Fountain Pen

In our Drink Deep times for Fire & Water (to decode, our Sr. High time in our student ministry at our church) we've been talking a lot about failure, what it is, how we can learn from it, etc. This week we;re talking about learning from our failures and how bad times can be good for us.

So here's a little story that goes along with that I found cool but didn't have room for it on Sunday.

"In 1883 a New York insurance broker named Lewis Waterman handed his new fountain pen to a client who was about to sign a major contract. The pen not only didn't write, it also dumped its contents onto the paperwork, ruining it. By the time Waterman returned from his office with another contract, the client had signed with someone else. Waterman vowed never to let that happen again-to him or anyone else. It took him a year to do it, but he invented the world's first properly functioning fountain pen, which used capillary action to send a steady and reliable flow of ink from the reservoir to the "nib", or point, of the pen."

If it hadn't been for someone's failure and him not being content with the current situation, we wouldn't have pens today that click, so I can annoy people with them in meetings...

T

Apparently We Were Almost Extinct...

So after talking about new life, by the sounds of it we almost lost ours. Read it here-

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/study-says-humans-neared-extinction/20080424163709990001

Sorry, I don't buy it, but interesting thought, and makes life seem a little more precious now, like maybe we should do something to help those who need it.

T

New Life

I was going over to the church today, and I saw something up in the tree. You see, we've had this really fat robin hanging around our house for the past week. Now we know why. This is was taken from our driveway:

I climbed the tree but she's well hidden. But when we get some birdy babies, we'll try to get more pics up :)

T

Martin Luther King Jr. Video

Yeah, I must be in a blogging mood tonight...

I just saw this video, a remake of a U2 song honoring Martin Luther King Jr. I don't know what it is about that man, my dad always loved him and I read some of his writings in high school, it just amazes me that any human being can look down on another for a reason as small as color, and individuals like Dr. King opened eyes to the truth that you can't.

Imagine what our world would be like if he were still here today...



T

That Horrible Letter "F"

Sorry, one more before I head to do the dishes (yay procrastinating).

I was getting the bunny ready for bed (insert joke here, say what you want, I have to feed him and clean his litter box) and the new Gossip Girl commercial came on, for the billionth time.

For those that haven't seen it, it's basically tons of pictures of half-naked teenagers having sex with the letters "OMG" flashing. Classy. Here's the part that annoys me though. Many don't know, but this is an edited commercial (hard to believe, yet true). The first version of the commercial intended to have the letters "OMFG" flash, but for those that don't know, OMG stands for oh my God, while the letter F, you can guess that one. So people got upset and took the moral high road and protested the commercial until it was edited.

Really? The letter F was our line in the sand? Yes, I don't want swearing on TV, and this one, although only implied, yeah, a little much, but so is taking the Lord's name in vain while flashing pictures of half-naked teenagers having sex! But apparently all of that's okay in American broadcasting, as long as you don't allude to the F word...

BBL

T

Procrastination

I usually try to get things done right away, if I can, if I remember, if I don't think it will take too long, yeah, okay, the list goes on. But it was funny today. There were two major things I've been meaning to do and I've been putting them off, both seemed like too much work. The amazing part is both were easy and took about 15 minutes each. So in half an hour I had both those things done.

Yeah, I should stop procrastinating... I have dishes to do now...

T

My First Earthquake

Just as exciting as it sounds (for those who have done it before, shut it). I was up late last night, but that didn't mean I slept soundly. Lorie and I both woke up at 5:39 to our bed shaking...

Okay, as I just typed that, we had an after shock. Cool. Back to the story...

So I woke up, thought it was either a big truck passing our house (it will shake a little, but not this much) or a plane overhead, but the funny part was it was totally silent. But still a little shaking going on.

Overall everything was cool. I checked the house and the church, no fire alarms or anything crazy. But it's just weird to realize the ground is moving that violently beneath you...

T

Hypocrite

This just caught me as too funny, even though it shouldn't be, but you'll understand what I mean.

I was reading about Hitler (I know, just wait), and apparently Hitler was a vegetarian. Why? "He believed that killing and eating animals was inhumane and cruel. He believed that by respecting the animals' rights and abstaining from eating meat, he was saving innocent lives."

Isn't it just funny what some people get all ethical about, while leaving the plank in their eye?!

T

"That Was Church"

This past Sunday we had a family in NewSong that generally goes to the traditional service (their daughter was our Confirmand reading for the day). After, they were heading out and the younger son asked if they were going to church now. Mom told him they just had church and he looked at her wide-eyed "That was church?"

Wouldn't it be nice if more people enjoyed church that much they weren't waiting for the service to end, or even more so, if people who worship one way would understand that some worship another way, and both are considered "church".

I hope he had a good time and enjoys church next week :)

T

Master Of The Universe

Last night I was reading through Chronicles, one of those books that can seem to bog you down, so I made sure to try and pay attention to all the names. After all, God thought they were important enough to be remembered forever, maybe I should put in a little effort. And then I saw two I don't remember seeing before:

Heman - I Chr. 2:6
Sheera - I Chr. 7:24

Still no sign of Skeletor...

T

Stations Of The Resurrection

Many of you who were at our "Stations Of The Cross" liked it, well here's something else for you. I found it by accident, it's an online "Stations Of The Resurrection". Give it a try :)

http://www.dualravens.com/spirituality/stations/oftheresurrection/

T

I "Get" To Go To Church Today

I was sitting thinking about this in that few minutes before the alarm goes off where you try to decide whether to get up and get it over with or wait for the predetermined time you said you'd get up marked with that screeching electronic noise.

I get to go to church today.

There are millions of people who are waking up now, or have just woken up, or are waiting for their alarms to go off who will wake up, close their eyes really hard and say to themselves, "*Sigh*, I've got to go to church today." It's the chore they have to perform. To all of you, I'm sorry your faith is so dead that you are forced to go be with others who believe in Jesus and sing and have fun and hang out with friends and learn how to make your faith even stronger and deeper. As for me, I get to go to church today, and I gotta go get started right now :)

T

Are We Just Having A Sale?

Funny yet interesting blog I was directed to from a friend about the top things Christians like. This post interested me:

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/04/107-sunday-sunday-sunday.html

Basically to summarize, it says that churches treat Sundays like a big sale and it doesn't work. It's like a store that promotes a big sale, most of the people coming will only come back to that same store if you have another big sale, they haven't been shown why to be true customers. The idea is that churches do this (and student ministries), we promote some big thing, Easter play, Back To School Bash, and get lots of people, but those people haven't been really introduced to Jesus, just they hyped activity and won't come back to church unless there's another big event like the one they first came to.

Interesting thoughts, I'm starting to wonder if they're right. We've all seen it before (the two big events mentioned about are our big spikes at Fishers UMC). So how do we get people to open their mind enough to try coming to church, but then introduce them to Jesus so they want to come back...?

T

#1 Baby!

So what's America's favorite book? The Bible. Far and away the favorite. All the others had different demographics, different ages, different regions, but the Bible was number one across the board, many more votes than #2. You can see here at: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN0835916320080408

Psalms 119:81b ~ ...I have put my hope in Your Word.

T

To Be Like Wally

The reason I haven't posted for a few days was my mini-vacation with my wife and her family to Frankenmuth, Michigan. Besides being a little German town with all the German fan fair (I ate more meat and fudge this past weekend than in the last year), it's known for one thing, Bronner's Christmas Store.

Now Lorie and I have been there before, but it's just so crazy. I am not a huge fan of little ornaments, but when you walk through this store separated into 17 categories and see the miles of nativity scenes, you have to respect the amount of work that went into it. But this weekend was a little different. Last week, Wally Bronner, founder of Bronner's Christmas Store died.

The funeral was today, but I saw enough this weekend to know I liked the guy. There were signs everywhere of stores and people saying they'll miss him. We even happened to be in the town information center when the ladies were talking about the town newsletter and they came upon his copy, wondering if they should send it to his wife or hold off. But everywhere was the same message, thanking Wally for what he had done, his two ideals he lived by.

Wally had two main ideas he promoted in his store. It be Christmas all year round, and keeping Christ in Christmas. Think about it, that means making everyday as important as the day Christ entered the world, remembering every single day what Christ did to be a part of our lives.

Great ideals to have Wally. I didn't know you, but I'll miss you.

T