Awesomeness.

I have done this too much lately - but when you watch this video… you will understand. If you don’t laugh, you have no soul. It is that simple.

When I say that I want to teach people about awesomeness - this video is what I was talking about.

Tuesday Night

Laura Beth and I had the opportunity to go and have dinner at the Owen’s house. Carson and Ivey are apart of the student ministry I work with. Lance and Andrea opened their home and blessed us with a completely vegetarian meal - complete with “Boca Meat.” Basically - we got some soy meat. You would never know the difference. Dinner and the conversations that followed were wonderful. We really had a great time.

But - then something went terribly wrong.

Let me set this up. Laura Beth is not an animal person at all. She doesn’t like dogs. She hates cats even more. I want a dog. I love dogs. I even like cats. There aren’t many animals that I really can’t deal with. Honestly, I have never met a dog that I didn’t like - until tonight.

This chihuahua was vicious. It yapped - which was expected. But this unrelenting ball of energy decided that I was some kind of threat. Growling and barking at me was only the beginning. It was very interesting. Wow.

I say that things went terribly wrong - but it wasn’t bad. The dog just didn’t like me. It was insane. Dogs usually love me and hate Laura Beth. Weird.

Reality

On Tuesdays, Donny, Cliff, and I sit down for our weekly staff meeting. These meetings are incredibly top secret. There are no jokes, funny stories, or even slightly off-topic conversations to be had in these meetings. All we do is business, business, business. That is how it is when you are in the ministry. Meetings (especially staff and business meetings) were designed by God to suck the life out of every individual in the room. Most of what I just typed was a lie.

We have fun in our meetings - and today was no different. The thing that was really struck me most though was what something that Donny said in his prayer that closed the meeting. He said something to the affect of “Thank you, Jesus, for letting us see reality for what it really is.” That is probably no where close to what he actually said, but it really made an impression on me. (Some of you are thinking - “Must have made a real impression because you don’t remember what he really said!”)

Some people are so worried about this or that and all of their time is spent trying to do so much that they let their life pass the by. We discussed the inner workings of the church and how we can improve upon things from week to week; but we are not so enthralled in church work that we realize that there is something greater that we are called to. Sure, I can hear you thinking - “What is more important than church work?” And I can see your point. (Others of you are thinking - “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”) But we must not get so busy with “church work” that we forget about “Church work.”

While church work is tied to things like meetings, paper work, Sunday morning services, and things like that, the Church - the Body and Bride of Christ - is more focused on simply loving others. As we do the Church work we are spreading the gospel.

Some people may think these things are synonymous or that I am ridiculous for splitting them apart. I probably am ridiculous - but not for this. Let me know what you think.

YouTube = Amazing

I saw this last night. I had to share. All I can really say is “wow!”

Christmas in Late October

I know that it is merely the 28th of October, but Christmas music and the jolly occasions of the Yule time are nearly upon us. I thought about this video when I someone told me that he had heard about a man spending $300,000 on Halloween decorations. In no way can I justify spending much more than $100 on holiday decorations - especially Halloween decorations. This man better have made a full-fledged haunted house, and he better charge people at least $10 to walk though it. However - if I were going to go all out on decorations, I would only hope that I could do it like this man.

On a probably completely unrelated topic, I am a “youth minister” at Freedom Fellowship. Things are going really well. I am getting to know students - the really are pretty awesome. I really love my job. God is blessing me and teaching me all kinds of things - because I have no idea of what to do at all. The good thing is that I have to rely on God for everything. I love it.

Happy Birthday Self

Today, if you didn’t know, is my birthday. Really was a great birthday. I guess a bulletted post will be appropriate.

• Laura Beth (my amazing and beautiful wife) kicked things off last night by giving me a pair of black Rainbows. Rainbows are my main form of transportation.
• This morning I downloaded an album from one of my guilty pleasure bands. A 27 track double album - wow.
• Of course, I got many posts on my Facebook wall. The only problem here is that people who don’t care anything about me are writing saying “Happy Birthday bud!” Why waste your time or mine? But from those true friends - thanks.
• Jay called and we were able to talk for a while. I love talking to him.
• I got a few random birthday calls. I really felt the love all day.
• Random friend from elementary school who keeps up with me is in town - I really hope we can get together.
• LB and I went to Kanpai tonight. Wow. I hope God is part Asian and cooks Japanese food in heaven.
• I got a starter set of disc-golf discs. I am super excited about these.

But basically this has been a great birthday. On top of all the greatness and what have you - when I sat down to write my message out for tomorrow night, God took control of my fingers. I really felt like everything that ended up on my computer screen was from God. That is a great feeling. God is so good. He is so faithful. Thank you God.

Recently Played

I want to take the time to let all of my blog readers (all 3 of you) know what I have had trouble getting out of my head or off my iTunes playlists.

Chase the Light - Jimmy Eat World
This album dropped last Tuesday and can I say - wow. If you have ever listened to Jimmy Eat World, then Chase the Light will not disappoint. Not a very “poppish” album - but you won’t want to stop listening if you start. Big Casino and Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues are catchy and captivating tracks.

Rocket Man - Elton John
I work part-time at a restaurant called Trio in downtown Greenville. Good food. Come tip me on Thursday or Friday for lunch. Anyway - Elton John is frequently played through out the restaurant. I never knew that I loved his music. Rocket Man has his “definative hits.” With songs like Benny and the Jets, Tiny Dancer, and Philidelphia Freedom - you’ll be singing along thinking… “Wow, I love Elton John too.”

I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child - Manchester Orchestra
This is one of my favorite albums of all time. With very spiritual lyrics and amazing melodies - it won’t take any indie rock fan long to fall in love. Colly Strings and Now That Your Home are songs worth finding. But to truly experience Manchester - find a way to see them live. Wow.

I think these will be the only albums I “highlight” with any detail. Here are a few more albums that you should check out if you haven’t already. I am seriously… I really just keep listening to these albums. I can’t help it.

Sam’s Town - The Killers

Do You Feel - The Rocket Summer

Direction - The Starting Line

Deja Entendu - Brand New

Tell All Your Friends - Taking Back Sunday

So people - if you don’t know me or do know me, check out some music. Support the indie-rock scene. Check out most all of these bands on iTunes or on purevolume.com.

God is Here

On Sunday, Cliff talked about the importance of understanding that our faith is portable. We choose whether or not to take our faith with us in every situation. So many times though, we lose sight of the fact that our faith is portable and God is not. God is everywhere. We say to one another – “Take God to school with you.” And you put your Bible in your backpack and feel good about yourself. God is there. Or (and I find myself guilty of this quite often) sometimes we pray for God to show up and do something. “God please come to our Bible study tonight.” Uh. He is already there. God is everywhere. So now the challenge has moved from “how do I take God somewhere?” to realizing that God is everywhere and as Christians acting accordingly. We no longer waste our breath asking God to show up… God can’t help but to show up. We should live in our schools, jobs, and homes with the realization that God is there. We need to go into a worship service not asking – but thanking God for being there. God is ubiquitous.

And now, I will join the ranks of notorious bloggers who have bulleted blogs to inform the world of my awesomeness.

• Our students volunteered at Daily Bread Ministries on Sunday. We provided a meal for about 75-100 people who otherwise would not have had one that day.
• Picked up a random hitch-hiker for the first time in my life. This guy was interesting… to say the least.
• Someone found my blog from a comment a left on someone else’s blog. It almost makes me feel as if I have taken the next step into blogging awesomeness.
• Laura Beth made an awesome pumpkin pie the other night. I love her.
• I finished Ender’s Game last night.
• Drove to Barnes and Noble to get the next book in the series – Speaker for the Dead.
• My birthday is less than a week away. I don’t have any idea what anyone is going to get me since there is nothing that I really want.
• LINC is tonight – and Ben is going to be talking to about living a lifestyle of worship. He is going to look at the life of John the Baptist.
• This may seem dumb… but on Craig Groeschell’s blog – he commented on one of my comments saying that it was “Great insight.” That may sound dumb to you, but this guy is my “church hero.”
• A “church hero” never trumps Jesus. Jesus rules.
  And with that you know a bit of what is happening in my life.