I had a good day today. I find that I can get a whole lot more studying and planning done when I get away from my desk and break up my normal routine.

Today was anything but normal.

I met up with a couple of area ministers for an extended lunch date. We left about mid-morning and boarded the east bound train (TRE) into downtown Dallas. We spent the 45 min. trip studying and listening to our iPods while high above the railroad tracks in a double decker train. I used that initial part of our journey to read through the first big section in Job. (BTW, Job… now there’s a whole group of posts right there) When we arrived downtown we walked to the West End and although we had a not-so-great lunch we did have some great conversations.

After eating, we hopped back on the train and road it into Ft. Worth then back to Dallas and then back to our starting point (Richland Hills). All in all, we were on the tracks from about 1:30 until 5:30. We studied, bounced ideas off one another, got to know each other better, laughed together, and had a wonderful time. And it only cost $4.50.

I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t get a lot done but I was wrong. Most of the day the trains were pretty empty. The other passengers were friendly and the passenger cars were clean. I found that reading on the train came naturally and, at times, I forgot that we were moving. There is just something about unchaining from my desk that breathes new life into me. My creativity was flowing today.

Scripture tells us that “As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.” Those words were etched into my heart today. Yes, today was a good day.

I hated Miracle Whip long before I watched this clip.
Gross with a capital G.

link

It should be an interesting Monday morning. Don’t know what to make of this right now but Al Capone’s Vault keeps coming to mind.

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you ‘The Titanic’ is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he’s sinking is Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn’t resurrected –the cornerstone of Christian faith– and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it’s not a re-make of “The Da Vinci Codes’. It’s supposed to be true.

Let’s go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.
Israel’s prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn’t associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn’t afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.

There was also this little inconvenience that a few miles away, in the old city of Jerusalem, Christians for centuries had been worshipping the empty tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Christ’s resurrection, after all, is the main foundation of the faith, proof that a boy born to a carpenter’s wife in a manger is the Son of God.

But film-makers Cameron and Jacobovici claim to have amassed evidence through DNA tests, archeological evidence and Biblical studies, that the 10 coffins belong to Jesus and his family.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,”King Kong”, whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel, Britain’s Channel 4, Canada’s Vision, and Israel’s Channel 8, has been a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite: Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and skeptics. Stay tuned.

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There are two over arching themes that keep popping up in and around everything I am watching, reading, listening to, and talking about. You could chalk it all up to coincidence but I believe that it is God whispering something important to me.

He’s saying, “Don’t miss this! If you didn’t see it there, watch this! If you couldn’t hear me there, how about this! Check this out. Did you see it?” God wants me to know something and he doesn’t want me to miss it.

The first whisper that I’m hearing is that Life is Meant to Be Lived in Connection.

In What I’ve Been Watching
The entire third season of Grey’s Anatomy has revolved around connections.

George’s father died and his need for connection sent him and Callie running to Las Vegas for a weekend wedding. Izzie is still reeling from losing Denny and struggled with losing the only connection she had left with him: an 8.7 million dollar check. Burke and Christina spent the first half of the season in an intense secret that kept their relationship intact but their pride has kept them from reconnecting since their secret was revealed. Merideth and Derek’s relationship has grown over the last few weeks but death threatened to take that precious connection away. And in the latest episode Merideth and her mother were finially able to connect if only for the last time. And these are just the main story archs.

Heroes has proven that the world hinges on our ability to connect with one another.

Even the producers of Lost have come to this realization and have tried to reconnect with their audience. When Lost returned this February, the producers were featured in a “here’s-where-we’ve-been-please-don’t-quit-watching-we-can-catch-you-up” special. It seems to have done the trick.

We are all connected. We are called to connect.

In What I’ve Been Reading
Andy Stanley has done it again with his book Creating Community. The book has me rethinking what I’ve traditionally called community.

We are all connected. We are called to connect.

In What I’m Listening To
I’ve been listening to Pink Floyd’s Is There Anybody Out There?. This live album is the audio chronicle of one of the wildest musical concepts in rock ‘n roll. During the concert, a wall was constructed that seperated the band form the audience. Talk about losing connection.

We are all connected. We are called to connect.

OPEN the door!

I had dinner tonight with the guys from LifeChurch.tv. Their leadership is in town for the Creative Pastors Conference and offered a dinner invitation to 30 area church leaders who might be interested.

I was more than interested.

The people over at LifeChurch are doing some very creative and very interesting things.

First, they are doing the satellite thing and they are doing it well.

Second, they began offering not just podcasts and not just video podcasts but they created OPEN, a website offering all of their videos, artwork, and teaching to churches completely gratis. Unheard of in the world of ministry. Big props for OPEN.

Finially, they are growing like gangbusters and yet whenever I hear from one of their leaders they are quick to say three things:

• To God be the glory.
• This is working for us.
• This might not work for you.

Tonight’s dinner was great and I’m still processing a few things (which is always a good sign). It was a real treat connecting with different ministers and different ministries from all over the country in such an informal and intimate setting.

Big thanks to Bobby and the rest of the LifeChurch.tv leaders. Have a great conference and a safe trip home.

1Kings 19:1-13 TNIV

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””

Who would have blamed Elijah for looking for God in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire? Certainly not me.

One chapter ago, Elijah was riding high on seeing the LORD nuke the holy snot out of his sacrifice on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal found themselves completely humiliated in their false service to a false god and it was all down hill for them from there.

Then along comes Queen Jezebel’s threats and Elijah runs away hiding himself in despair.

Elijah wanted to die he was so depressed (19:4-5). Although angels attended to his physical needs something in Elijah was still lacking. Anyone who has ever suffered through a season of depression knows that it is your spiritual needs that must be met in order for you to move forward.

In this need, the LORD showed up.

After the display on Mount Carmel Elijah would of course be tempted to look for God in the loud roar of the wind or in the rocking of the earth or even in the heat and sulfur of a great fire but if he had only looked in those things he would have missed that gentle whisper. He would have missed the LORD.

Over the last few months, I have been trying to remind my heart that while God can be found in the big and amazing things going on around me He can also be found in the gentle whisper of the rhythms and patters of life.

While I have stood in awe of some amazingly huge God moves recently, I have been more humbled by the whispers of God in my life. In being humbled I have grown closer to my Father and my heart has become, day by day, more sensitive to His ways and more sensitive to the world around me.

So what have I been hearing? Where and how do I hear the faint cries of the Almighty? What is the LORD trying to say to me through this season of life and ministry?

If I told you now I wouldn’t have something to post for later.

For right now, just take some time and do a heart check.

Are you only looking for God in the big things- the wind, the earthquake, the fire- or are you open to the whisper?

Part of my job as a youth minister is to create an enviroment where teens can feel free to ask questions and a place that helps them answer their questions. While reading Youth Ministry Mutiny by Greg Stier, the protagonist provided 30 questions that his youth ministry centered all of their teaching around. The minister said that, “Every teen and adult should know, live, and own the answers to these questions as a result of our ministry in their lives.”

Here they are:

• Who is God and what is He like?
• What is the Trinity?
• Who is Jesus?
• Why did he die on the cross?
• How do I know he really rose from the dead?
• Who is the HS and what does He do?
• How do I get plugged into the power of the HS?
• Is the Bible really God’s Word and how does it apply to my life?
• What is truth and can I know it with certainty?
• What is sin and how does it impact my life and my relationships with others?
• Why does God allow evil in this world?
• What is a Christian and how does a person become one?
• If Jesus is the only way to Heaven, are all other religions wrong?
• What about people who have never heard about the Gospel?
• What is the Great Commission and how does it relate to me?
• Is the really a heaven and a hell and what are they like?
• Is there a judgement day and what difference should it make in my life?
• Can I really be forgiven for all my sins, even the really bad ones?
• Will God ever leave me or forsake me?
• Who are Satan and his demons?
• How do I engage in spiritual warfare?
• What is Church and why should I be involved?
• What are spiritual gifts and how do I discover mine?
• How should the return of Christ impact my life?
• What is prayer and how do I do it?
• Why should I study my Bible and how do I do it?
• How do I defend my faith?
• Who am I, where did I come from, and what is my purpose?
• Which is true creation or evolution, and why does it matter?
• How can I worship God in everything I do?

As I looked over these 30 questions I felt like they covered just about everything I’ve tried to pass along to my students. Of course this list isn’t/shouldn’t be exhaustive but they gave me a great jumping off point. What do you think? Anything you’d add? Anything you’d take away?

Yesterday, XM and Sirius, the two and only two satellite radio companies, announced their plans to merge the two outfits into one $13 billion dollar company. While the press release assures shareholders that it will be a win-win situation (XM Shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of SIRIUS for each share of XM they own) the press release answers very little of the questions that the typical consumer of satellite radio might have at this point.

Guess what: I’m a typical satellite radio consumer and I have some questions.

Three years ago, I decided that I really wanted to get a satellite radio. We were living in an area of the country that was, um, let’s say, lacking in terrestrial radio choices. In fact, they were terrible. The city we were in had weak signals and it was difficult to find nationally syndicated shows that we enjoyed listening to. So I went about learning everything I could about Sirius and XM Radio.

In the end, I chose XM over Sirius.

I liked the XM exclusive content like MLB (Sirius has NFL), Talk Radio, as well as XM Confidential and I liked the XM playlists for their music channels. At the time XM had a great selection of receivers than Sirius. However now both companies offer a greater number of high quality and visually pleasing receivers. Finally, the decision came down to usability. I found XM to be the most user friendly satellite radio company out there. I purchased a receiver and was up and running in a matter of minutes.

I enjoy my XM radio very, very much. I love listening to the Starbucks channel, Glen Beck, Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan, Deep Tracks, Buried Treasure with Tom Petty and The Message CCM channel. Every one of those programs and channels are exclusive to XM. Am I going to lose my favorite channels and shows because of this merger? I feel a little confident that I might get to keep my channels because it seems that XM will absorb Sirius. XM closed at $15.50 yesterday while Sirius closed at $3.93. XM has been that more financially sound of the two.

The press release did not speak to this but only created more questions.

Greater Programming and Content Choices — The combined company is committed to consumer choice, including offering consumers the ability to pick and choose the channels and content they want on a more a la carte basis.

Ug. This sounds like I’ll have to pick and choose my channels and content. It also sounds like there will be a price structure on a sliding scale instead of one flat fee. Satellite radio will be the new cable television. Great.

Accelerated Technological Innovation — The merger will enable the combined company to develop and introduce a wider range of lower cost, easy-to-use, and multi-functional devices through efficiencies in chip set and radio design and procurement. Such innovation is essential to remaining competitive in the consumer electronics-driven world of audio entertainment.

Will the player that I have now be able to connect with the new company or will I have to purchase a new, more expensive reciever with this new “chip set?” My cynical side already knows the answer to this question.

Enhanced Financial Performance — This transaction will enhance the long-term financial success of satellite radio by allowing the combined company to better manage its costs through sales and marketing and subscriber acquisition efficiencies, satellite fleet synergies, combined R&D and other benefits from economies of scale. Wall Street equit analysts have published estimates of the present value of cost synergies ranging from $3 billion to $7 billion.

More Competitive Audio Entertainment Provider — The combination of an enhanced programming lineup with improved technology, distribution and financials will better position satellite radio to compete for consumers’ attention and entertainment dollars against a host of products and services in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving audio entertainment marketplace. In addition to existing competition from free “over-the-air” AM and FM radio as well as iPods and mobile phone streaming, satellite radio will face new challenges from the rapid growth of HD Radio, Internet radio and next generation wireless technologies.

This is merely a positive short term analysis. Without competition economic growth will slow and customer care will wane. Look back at cable television. You can argue that cable tv faces opposition from movie theaters, DVD, satellite tv, as well as iPods, computers, and game consoles. Yet, rather than meet these challenges head on with great programing, awesome customer service, and revolutionary technology cable tv providers treat consumers with no respect. They act as electronic Don Corleones making us lose-lose offers that we can’t refuse. They control content and only allow us a peak at it with high costs and sliding price structures that change at their whim.

I hate having to chose channels and wade through my cable bill. I’m afraid that the fate of satellite radio will closely resemble this antiquated enterprise.

Of course all of this merger business will be in the hands of the SEC. They are not big fans of consolidation so the merger isn’t a lock by any stretch of the imagination.

I just hope that I won’t lose one of my favorite gadgets. If I do, I guess that I’ll just have an extra 13 dollars a month. That and a receiver that will stand as a monument to a great invention that was marred by corporate greed and bad ideas.

A Long Way Gone is proving to be one of the more difficult books I’ve ever read. It is hauntingly beautiful in the way the Beah writes his account but it is also vivid in its descriptions of the horrors witnessed and perpetrated in this West African nation.

My heart has been aching as Beah and his friends have been fleeing through the bush with little to no respite from the soldiers and their bullets.

Last night I read how Beah barely escaped death for what seemed like the third or fourth time in 43 short pages. I would finish a chapter and think, “Ok, I’ll just read one more.” In the end I had to stop reading because I was overcome with grief and anger.

“It was during that attack in the village of Kamator that my friends and I separated. It was the last time I saw Junior, my older brother.”

With that I rolled over but sleep did not come to me quickly.

An estimated 300,000 child soldiers now fight in the more than 50 violent conflicts raging around the globe. Far removed from the world of pundits and journalists, policymakers and diplomats, a 13-year-old boy names Ishmael Beah became one of these young warriors in Sierra leone, Africa. Now in his mid-twenties, he courageously tells of the horrific road that led him to wield an AK-47 and, fueled by trauma and drugs, commit terrible acts. In poignantly clear and dauntless storytelling, Ishmael describes how he fled brutal rebal soldiers, traveled miles from home on foot and gradually regressed to a life of raw survival instncts. Yet, unlike so many of his peers, Ishmael lived to reclaim his true self, emerging from Sierra Leone as the gentle, hopeful young man he was at heart. (Reading Guide)

Childhood is a precious and sacred thing yet it can be taken away in one fell swoop by evil men intent on taking power by any means necessary.

Ishmael Beah and I were both born in 1980. While I grew up in the comfort and security of this country Ishmael and his family were living thousands of miles away in the African nation of Sierra Leone. While I was going through the supposed trials and tribulations of junior high, Ishmael was living through a very real hell fleeing from rebels in a land torn apart by war and unspeakable savagery. In 1993, Beah was kidnapped and forced into an army made up of his peers- mere children. The whole idea of children forced into fighting a war is despicable yet this evil happens everyday. The only way to stop this treachery is to become aware of it and to become vocal about its abolition.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishamel Beah is his account, in his own words, of his capture, torture, and malipulation by the hands of his captors into becoming a child soldier. Beah was able to escape but the same cannot be said for the thousands of other young boys snatched from their homes and huts everyday. Beah story is harrowing and needs to be told.

A Long Way Gone is on sale now at your local Starbucks. Pick up a copy and get educated. There is also a reading guide bookmark available at the POS.

Over the next couple of days, I will be blogging through the book. I will be posting additional information on how you too can get involved. If you would like to read it with me drop me a line and let me know that you are interested. Also, on March 6, I am planning on attending the book signing and conversation with Beah at the Starbucks on Greenville Ave in Dallas. Let me know if you are in the area and you want to attend with me.

There are fires burning that need to be put out. It’s time to let your actions speak loudly.

It’s outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor.
Outrageous the crime some human beings must endure.
It’s a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain
It’s outrageous that a man like me stand here and complain.

But I’m tired, 900 sit-ups a day.
I’m painting my hair the colour of mud, mud, OK?
I’m tired, tired, anybody care what I say? NO!
Painting my hair the colour of mud.

Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Ah, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?

It’s outrageous the food they try to serve in the public school.
Outrageous the way they talk to you like some kind of clinical fool
It’s a blessing to rest my head in the circle of your love.
It’s outrageous, I can’t stop thinking about the things I’m thinking of.

But I’m tired, 900 sit-ups a day.
I’m painting my hair the colour of mud, mud, OK?
I’m tired, tired, anybody care what I say? NO!
Painting my hair the colour of mud.

Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Ah, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?

God will, like he waters the flowers on the window sill.
Take me, I’m an ordinary player in the key of C,
And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity

Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will, like he waters the flowers on the window sill.
Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?

Outrageous
Paul Simon

Ralph Winter Prods. is producing a bigscreen adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel “The Screwtape Letters” with Philip Anschutz’s Walden Media.
Pic will be produced via Walden’s Bristol Bay Prods. banner (”Ray,” “Sahara”).

Producing are Ralph Winter, Randy Argue and Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham.

Wow, this is pretty cool news. Winter produced a little franchise called X-Men. It didn’t make much waves at the box office… oh wait… yeah, it did!

“The Screwtape Letters” is a great book and I hope that it can translate well to film. With Winters behind it I’m sure that it will.

link

1. What’s Going On (Original Detroit Mix) / Marvin Gaye
2. Uptight (Everything’s Alright) / Stevie Wonder
3. Stop! In The Name Of Love / The Supremes
4. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg / The Temptations
5. Reach Out, I’ll Be There / The Four Tops
6. Got To Give It Up / Marvin Gaye
7. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) / Marvin Gaye
8. Love’s In Need Of Love Today / Stevie Wonder
9. I Can / Nas
10. Changes / Tupac
11. The Thrill Is Gone / B.B. King
12. Everything Is Everything / Lauryn Hill
13. ‘Round Midnight / Thelonious Monk
14. Georgia / Ray Charles
15. What’d I Say, Pt. 1 / Ray Charles
16. Could You Be Loved / Bob Marley
17. Abide With Me / Thelonious Monk
18. People Get Ready / The Chambers Brothers
19. Didn’t It Rain / Mahalia Jackson
20. Freedom Road / The Blind Boys Of Alabama
21. Morning Yearning / Ben Harper
22. Please Bleed / Ben Harper
23. It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World / James Brown
24. A Change Is Gonna Come / Sam Cooke

I was way off.

None of my Grammy predictions came to pass except the Dixie Chicks for Song of the Year.

D’oh!

The 49th Annual Grammy Awards are this Sunday. As any good music fan and observer, I have my own ideas about who will take home awards and who will leave empty handed. Below I’ve listed the big award categories and my picks. I’ve added a little color commentary as well. Let me know what you think. Am I right or wrong? Who do you think will win?

Album Of The Year

My pick for album of the year is John Mayer’s Continuum. This is his best work to date and the album stands over and above anything else released this year. The music is textured in beautiful melodies and complex emotions. Will Mayer win though? I’m not sure.

I’m afraid that the award for Album of the Year will go to the Dixie Chicks for Taking the Long Way. While a decent album, it doesn’t live up to repeated lisening like Contiuum does. I think the Chicks will get a win, they just don’t belong or deserve to win in this category.

Consolation: Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium

Record Of The Year
Record of the Year goes to the artist and to the producer(s) of a particular track. Again, this award has a chance of being (wrongly) given to the Dixie Chicks. This award should go to Gnarles Barkley for their summer anthem Crazy. The record was everywhere this year. Of course, Mary J could sweep in and take this award but I’m not convinced that will hapen

Song Of The Year
Now, if the Dixie Chicks deserve any award this year it is this one. Song of the Year is a songwriter’s award and it should go to the Chicks’ Not Ready to Make Nice. The only competion that the they have is Carrie Underwood’s Jesus Take the Wheel. Both songs a very well written but Not Ready packs a much bigger punch.

Dark Horse: Corinne Bailey Rae’s Put You Records On

Best New Artist
Hands down, Best New Artist belongs to Corinne Bailey Rae. She has incredible talent and has been blowing up every since her album dropped stateside this past summer. I have a bit of a crush on Mrs. Rae so I might be a bit bias.

So these are the 4 big awards that everybody cares about. I am no expert so I expect to wake up Monday morning only to find that I was way off on my predictions. We shall see.

I listed a couple of other Grammy picks below. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. See ya Monday.

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
One- Mary J. Blige & U2

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
The Saints Are Coming- U2 & Green Day
or
Talk- Coldplay

Best Rock Song
When You Were Young- the Killers
or
Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
See the Morning- Chris Tomlin

Best Reggae Album
Youth- Matisyahu

Official Grammy Website
Yahoo! Grammy Page
Complete List of Awards