The teens showed this one time at Fuse. One of the funnier videos I have seen. Good stuff.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
animals with british voiceovers
The teens showed this one time at Fuse. One of the funnier videos I have seen. Good stuff.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
let this mind be in you
So I've been reading Philippians a lot lately as I have been taking this class on the prison epistles and attempting to memorize Philippians. And the verse that have really just kind of been stuck in my mind are 2:3-10 where Paul says:
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;"
Man if we would just embrace these verses and live these verses out and have "this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" can you imagine how much different our families would look? Can you imagine how different our churches would look? I am convinced that if we are truly want to have an impact on the world, if we truly want to be salt and light in this world of darkness, if we truly want the world to ask us about the hope that we have within us, we need to embrace these verses.
Think about it, if we truly esteemed others better than ourselves and we not only looked onto our own things but on the things of others. When would we ever gossip? When would we ever fight with someone? When would we ever be stingy of our money? When would we ever be selfish?
Jesus humbled himself by laying down his crown and his place in heaven seated next to the Father and became a man, suffering as we do, being tempted as we are and even humbled himself so much that he became obedient to death on a cross. He had every right to call down the angels of heaven to take him off of that cross but He put aside His power and died in the extreme example for us all of humility. Jesus, the Son of God with all the power and majesty and deity. The one by whom all things were made came not to be served which was definitely His rightful position, but the Bible says he came to serve. Why? To be an example for us all.
This seems so straight forward and obvious but how many of us live like this? We are all selfish for our time. We are all looking out for our own interests at the expense of others. But man, this is exactly what the world would be impressed by. This is exactly the type of radical lifestyle in which we will truly be lights in this dark world so that the world will "see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16)
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;"
Man if we would just embrace these verses and live these verses out and have "this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" can you imagine how much different our families would look? Can you imagine how different our churches would look? I am convinced that if we are truly want to have an impact on the world, if we truly want to be salt and light in this world of darkness, if we truly want the world to ask us about the hope that we have within us, we need to embrace these verses.
Think about it, if we truly esteemed others better than ourselves and we not only looked onto our own things but on the things of others. When would we ever gossip? When would we ever fight with someone? When would we ever be stingy of our money? When would we ever be selfish?
Jesus humbled himself by laying down his crown and his place in heaven seated next to the Father and became a man, suffering as we do, being tempted as we are and even humbled himself so much that he became obedient to death on a cross. He had every right to call down the angels of heaven to take him off of that cross but He put aside His power and died in the extreme example for us all of humility. Jesus, the Son of God with all the power and majesty and deity. The one by whom all things were made came not to be served which was definitely His rightful position, but the Bible says he came to serve. Why? To be an example for us all.
This seems so straight forward and obvious but how many of us live like this? We are all selfish for our time. We are all looking out for our own interests at the expense of others. But man, this is exactly what the world would be impressed by. This is exactly the type of radical lifestyle in which we will truly be lights in this dark world so that the world will "see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only
So tonight we had our young adult small group and we are watching Francis Chan's Basics Series. Tonight he was talking about Following Jesus and he made this great illustration that really struck a chord within me. In talking about following Jesus and obeying His commands he said something to the effect of this. Imagine I told my daughter to clean her room. I would expect her to go clean her room. If she came back a little while later and said to me "Daddy, guess what. I memorized exactly what you told me to do. "Go clean your room"." Or maybe she'd come back and say "Daddy, guess what, not only did I memorize what you told me to do, I also learned how to say it in Greek." Or maybe she'd come back and say "Daddy, my friends and I are going to get together every week and really study and discuss what you meant by "Go clean your room" and really dissect the words that you used so we can really understand what you meant by that.
His point being, that sounds ridiculous, right? But how much different are we when it comes to what God has told us to do in His word. I mean He has some pretty clear commands and yet sometimes, in fact not only sometimes but quite often, we resort to memorizing, meditating and studying His words and reason within our minds that those things equate to actually doing what He says. I am as guilty of this as the next guy. I try to spend time memorizing verses and really studying them and thinking about them but I don't spend enough time actually doing them.
James 1:22 says "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." It is so easy to passively read the Bible or to even actively read the Bible and yet not do what God commands us to do.
The scary thing is when you look at the Bible and time and time again it says that the way that you know that you are a Christian is if you obey His commands. If we aren't obeying the commands of Christ, we need to question whether we are a true disciple of Christ. Doing what Christ commands us to do, doesn't make us a Christian because we cannot earn our salvation by works. However, doing what Christ commands us is a natural reaction of a heart that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit so that our greatest joy becomes obeying Christ and bringing God glory.
His point being, that sounds ridiculous, right? But how much different are we when it comes to what God has told us to do in His word. I mean He has some pretty clear commands and yet sometimes, in fact not only sometimes but quite often, we resort to memorizing, meditating and studying His words and reason within our minds that those things equate to actually doing what He says. I am as guilty of this as the next guy. I try to spend time memorizing verses and really studying them and thinking about them but I don't spend enough time actually doing them.
James 1:22 says "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." It is so easy to passively read the Bible or to even actively read the Bible and yet not do what God commands us to do.
The scary thing is when you look at the Bible and time and time again it says that the way that you know that you are a Christian is if you obey His commands. If we aren't obeying the commands of Christ, we need to question whether we are a true disciple of Christ. Doing what Christ commands us to do, doesn't make us a Christian because we cannot earn our salvation by works. However, doing what Christ commands us is a natural reaction of a heart that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit so that our greatest joy becomes obeying Christ and bringing God glory.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
imagination or lack thereof
Our little girl, Olivia has to be the most entertaining thing in the world. I find myself mesmerized by her imagination. I mean she'll just sit there and entertain herself for hours. It's just funny to watch her and to listen to her have a different voice for her doggy and her kitty and her turtle and so on. She'll just create conversations between them. Or it's funny how sometimes she won't eat or won't do this or that but if I create a voice to be her caterpillar or her monkey and tell her to do the same thing that daddy just told her to do, she'll do it (not sure if this is a bad thing or not). Or her new thing is to talk about the snakes or ants that are coming to get her and then we proceed to run through the house as they chase us. Or the "cute dinosaur" pet that she has. It's just crazy because you really wonder, does she see these imaginary animals? Does she hear them talk? What does it feel to have that kind of imagination? And the question I keep asking myself is, when did we lose this imagination?
At what point in our lives do we lose our child-like imagination? I mean, what causes us to lose that imagination? And as I search for the answers to these questions, I can't help but wonder, what would the world be like if we still had the imagination of a child? How many more things could we accomplish if we let our minds wander and we didn't set limitations on what we could accomplish?
Or perhaps that type of imagination for adults would lead to nothing more than us all having our imaginary friends to keep us company? Perhaps you'd randomly see grown adults running down the streets from an army of talking snakes? I mean how fun would that be? We wouldn't need TVs to entertain us because we could sit and play in a box all night and be content. We wouldn't need to waste all of this money on "big toys" and instead would find ways to use blankets, cereal boxes and rope to become MacGyver and build an entire town.
Sometimes I wonder if life would be better if we all had the imaginations that we had as kids. Perhaps there is a way to get imaginations back...if we could only figure out how we lost them in the first place...
At what point in our lives do we lose our child-like imagination? I mean, what causes us to lose that imagination? And as I search for the answers to these questions, I can't help but wonder, what would the world be like if we still had the imagination of a child? How many more things could we accomplish if we let our minds wander and we didn't set limitations on what we could accomplish?
Or perhaps that type of imagination for adults would lead to nothing more than us all having our imaginary friends to keep us company? Perhaps you'd randomly see grown adults running down the streets from an army of talking snakes? I mean how fun would that be? We wouldn't need TVs to entertain us because we could sit and play in a box all night and be content. We wouldn't need to waste all of this money on "big toys" and instead would find ways to use blankets, cereal boxes and rope to become MacGyver and build an entire town.
Sometimes I wonder if life would be better if we all had the imaginations that we had as kids. Perhaps there is a way to get imaginations back...if we could only figure out how we lost them in the first place...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
We will remember (9/11)
9/11. Those three numbers elicit such vivid memories for everyone. Everyone can probably tell you precisely where they were on that infamous day. I remember that I was walking to my first class of the day at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. I remember getting there and the professor was late (which never happened). Then, he walked in and explained to us that a passenger plane hit the World Trade Center in New York and that class was cancelled for the day. I recall slowly walking back to my dorm trying to let my mind process what I had just heard. I remember sitting in our dorm suite with some guys watching the TV, our eyes becoming dry because we refused to blink and then we saw the second plane hit. Just then the words "terrorist attack" and "hijacked planes" starting being repeated again and again.
I had never experienced anything like this. Others generations remember Kennedy being shot or Pearl Harbor being bombed. This would become my generation's Pearl Harbor. This would become that day we would never forget. I remember watching TV for countless hours, taking in every word that news anchors had to say. All of the theories, all of the stories, all of the speculation. I couldn't pry myself from the television because my brain could not quite process what my eyes were witnessing. I was witnessing a day that would change the world as we know it. Airport security would change the way we travel. A select few of a certain religion that masterminded the attacks would provide new heights to stereotyping.
And today as we remember 9/11 and it's 10 year anniversary, we are all brought back to that day. I was confident that that event would always be the only thing that would come to mind when I hear 9/11. However, that all changed a couple of months ago. Now 9/11 means something so much more personal. 9/11 hits so much closer to home that it did before. Today (9/11) was the due date for our Gabrielle who we lost earlier this year. 9/11 will now always be the day my baby should have been born. I can still remember that day that we found out that we lost our baby and the doctor telling us there was no heartbeat. I remember walking down the hall to where my mom was to tell her that we had lost our baby but not being able to get any words out and just sobbing uncontrollably. I can still remember holding our tiny lifeless baby in my hand as if it were yesterday.
Today as we wait to bring home our baby from Ethiopia, I can't help but think of the baby we should have with us today. Yet, as I think of our baby, I realize that our baby is in a much better place. I realize that our baby is in the arms of a father that is far more loving and far more good than I can ever dream to be. I realize that even though it still doesn't make sense to me why our baby isn't here, God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. I realize that 9/11 will always mean something different to my wife and me than it will to almost everyone else in the world. I also realize that God is good. I realize that He alone is my strength and He alone is my hope. I put my trust in Him alone.
I love you and miss you Gabrielle. I wish I had gotten to see you grow into a beautiful woman but I know that I will see you someday. Until then, I hope that by your death, God will be glorified. I pray that He will use the life that you had for such a short time to give a life to someone that only He could give.
I had never experienced anything like this. Others generations remember Kennedy being shot or Pearl Harbor being bombed. This would become my generation's Pearl Harbor. This would become that day we would never forget. I remember watching TV for countless hours, taking in every word that news anchors had to say. All of the theories, all of the stories, all of the speculation. I couldn't pry myself from the television because my brain could not quite process what my eyes were witnessing. I was witnessing a day that would change the world as we know it. Airport security would change the way we travel. A select few of a certain religion that masterminded the attacks would provide new heights to stereotyping.
And today as we remember 9/11 and it's 10 year anniversary, we are all brought back to that day. I was confident that that event would always be the only thing that would come to mind when I hear 9/11. However, that all changed a couple of months ago. Now 9/11 means something so much more personal. 9/11 hits so much closer to home that it did before. Today (9/11) was the due date for our Gabrielle who we lost earlier this year. 9/11 will now always be the day my baby should have been born. I can still remember that day that we found out that we lost our baby and the doctor telling us there was no heartbeat. I remember walking down the hall to where my mom was to tell her that we had lost our baby but not being able to get any words out and just sobbing uncontrollably. I can still remember holding our tiny lifeless baby in my hand as if it were yesterday.
Today as we wait to bring home our baby from Ethiopia, I can't help but think of the baby we should have with us today. Yet, as I think of our baby, I realize that our baby is in a much better place. I realize that our baby is in the arms of a father that is far more loving and far more good than I can ever dream to be. I realize that even though it still doesn't make sense to me why our baby isn't here, God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. I realize that 9/11 will always mean something different to my wife and me than it will to almost everyone else in the world. I also realize that God is good. I realize that He alone is my strength and He alone is my hope. I put my trust in Him alone.
I love you and miss you Gabrielle. I wish I had gotten to see you grow into a beautiful woman but I know that I will see you someday. Until then, I hope that by your death, God will be glorified. I pray that He will use the life that you had for such a short time to give a life to someone that only He could give.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
But God...
So our friend's Jeff and Emily just got back from Ethiopia. They went there to meet the child that they sponsor through Compassion International as well as to bring back video, information, etc to raise awareness of both the children that need our help in Ethiopia as well as for Compassion International itself. I am really excited to see how God works through them and the time that they spent there.
They had us over for dinner the other night and showed us a bunch of video and pictures of Ethiopia and man did it wake me up a bit. I mean, you always hear about the poverty in Ethiopia as well as other countries out there but until you see video and pictures from someone you know personally, it really doesn't quite sink in, or at least it didn't for me.
They showed us the "marketplace" which I imagined would be like a market place here in the states where you have people in booths selling vegetables and fruits and breads and such. They did sell the same things in the Ethiopian market place but their booths were replaced by the back of pick up trucks or simply on the dry, dusty ground. There was rotting food all over the place and dogs eating food out of dumpsters and everything.
Then they showed us video of the shacks that those lucky enough to have a house call home. Shacks that are about the size of half of my bedroom and they are the home to entire families. And then you have the countless others with nowhere to call home except whatever space they can find on the streets to sleep. Here in Ohio, you have to drive downtown to see any homeless and even then, you only see a couple here and there but in Ethiopia they just cover the streets. The poverty is unbelievable.
Then you hear the statistics of how many children die each day because of preventable things such as lack of clean water or diarrhea. Children die each day for lack of clean water meanwhile, how many of us (including myself) refuse to drink tap water but either have to have spring water or filtered water?
As they showed picture after picture and video after video of children there, I couldn't help but wonder if one of those children is our child that God has picked out for us. Even if one of them wasn't our child, I couldn't help but see our child in their eyes. I couldn't help but just want to fly over there and bring a child back with us right away so that they didn't have to go through the disease and hunger and thirst anymore.
But as I think of the destitution and poverty over there and how it seems like most of the children are in a hopeless situation with no chance of getting themselves out, it makes me think...I was once like that to God. I was once a orphan. I was once completely hopeless in my sin with no chance of getting myself out. Ephesians 2:3 says “we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” I had no way of being healed or rescued unless God intervened. I was a complete enemy to God and completely dead in my sin, but then in verse 4 we see two of the greatest words in all of the bible, "BUT GOD!"..."But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-" (Ephesians 2:4-5)
I thank God that he didn't leave me as an orphan but he came to me (John 14:18).I thank God that while I was dead in my trespasses, while I was dying from a far worse disease than malnutrition with a far worse future than living life in an orphanage, God chose me to be adopted into His family so that I can be called a child of God and not only that but a co-heir with Christ.
They had us over for dinner the other night and showed us a bunch of video and pictures of Ethiopia and man did it wake me up a bit. I mean, you always hear about the poverty in Ethiopia as well as other countries out there but until you see video and pictures from someone you know personally, it really doesn't quite sink in, or at least it didn't for me.
They showed us the "marketplace" which I imagined would be like a market place here in the states where you have people in booths selling vegetables and fruits and breads and such. They did sell the same things in the Ethiopian market place but their booths were replaced by the back of pick up trucks or simply on the dry, dusty ground. There was rotting food all over the place and dogs eating food out of dumpsters and everything.
Then they showed us video of the shacks that those lucky enough to have a house call home. Shacks that are about the size of half of my bedroom and they are the home to entire families. And then you have the countless others with nowhere to call home except whatever space they can find on the streets to sleep. Here in Ohio, you have to drive downtown to see any homeless and even then, you only see a couple here and there but in Ethiopia they just cover the streets. The poverty is unbelievable.
Then you hear the statistics of how many children die each day because of preventable things such as lack of clean water or diarrhea. Children die each day for lack of clean water meanwhile, how many of us (including myself) refuse to drink tap water but either have to have spring water or filtered water?
As they showed picture after picture and video after video of children there, I couldn't help but wonder if one of those children is our child that God has picked out for us. Even if one of them wasn't our child, I couldn't help but see our child in their eyes. I couldn't help but just want to fly over there and bring a child back with us right away so that they didn't have to go through the disease and hunger and thirst anymore.
But as I think of the destitution and poverty over there and how it seems like most of the children are in a hopeless situation with no chance of getting themselves out, it makes me think...I was once like that to God. I was once a orphan. I was once completely hopeless in my sin with no chance of getting myself out. Ephesians 2:3 says “we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” I had no way of being healed or rescued unless God intervened. I was a complete enemy to God and completely dead in my sin, but then in verse 4 we see two of the greatest words in all of the bible, "BUT GOD!"..."But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-" (Ephesians 2:4-5)
I thank God that he didn't leave me as an orphan but he came to me (John 14:18).I thank God that while I was dead in my trespasses, while I was dying from a far worse disease than malnutrition with a far worse future than living life in an orphanage, God chose me to be adopted into His family so that I can be called a child of God and not only that but a co-heir with Christ.
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