Check out this clip from the new season of American Idol:
{Pay special attention to Simon's response to the family celebrating success}
What did you think?
Post your thoughts as comments below, and I’ll share my take on it in the next post.
They are here!
Beau Maddox was born Jan. 7th at 10:01am weighing 6lbs 13ozs 20in long, & Rhys Kamden (pronounced Reese for all you traditionalists :) at 10:03am weighing 6lbs 8 ozs and 19in long.
They did great! After birth they had a short stay in the NIM “neonatal intermediate care unit” to make sure they were maintaining the correct blood sugar levels, but were still able to go home with us on Thursday the 10th.
Here are a few pictures of them!
(I video taped the C-section, and I thought about posting that, but it’s not really for the faint of heart… :)
It smelled like shit. The walls were practically painted with the stuff. Those that had obviously deposited the décor lazily looked over as we frantically searched for a clean place to sit down. None could be found.
In the midst of the shit and animals and straw and more shit, we cleared away a bare spot thinking, for some reason, the dirt had to be cleaner than the animal laden carpet. “Am I a bad husband? Should we have traveled so far away from home? What am I supposed to do now?” all anxious questions that raced through my mind. Her screams pierced through the fog of my thoughts. With one hand she reached up and griped my forearm while the other dug into the earth beside her swollen belly. Sweat beaded up on her forehead slowly grouping together and dripping down her anguish stricken face. With her eyes closed she gently moaned and sobbed and every few minutes her back would arch and her sobs would escalate into screams of pain. “How could this happen? How did we get here? Are the people in this town really such tight asses that they won’t even let a man and his pregnant wife into their home?” again my thoughts interrupted by her cries of agony. As she held her breath and the bulging veins in her neck rhythmically pronounced the racing beats of her heart, this time, I could begin to see his head crown forth from her womb. Blood continued to spill out and coat the dirt with a slippery crimson hue and I could think to do nothing but reach my hands out while mumbling soothing words in a desperate attempt her ears would find some resemblance of comfort in the midst of what seemed like torture. “How long would this last? How much could she take? Why would no one help us?” I thought, somewhat glad her eyes were closed so that she wouldn’t see the fear that seemed to engulf me. For what seemed like hours I could just see the top of his head as the cadence of cries and moments of rest repeated through the night and then in a matter of seconds his head slowly emerged followed by his tiny arms and torso, legs and feet. I pulled his fragile body into my arms and the cries from his mouth met his mother’s as they drifted into the night air and I wondered if this was how it was supposed to happen.
It was there in the shit, and blood, and sweat, and pain, and fear, that God entered into our world and became flesh, like one of us. It was there that the savior, the messiah, the promised one was born. I wonder what Joseph and Mary would think of 450 billion dollars spent in malls each holiday season and the amount of debt raked up in one shopping spree, and the suicidal thoughts of those who have no families or the pressure put on single moms to buy their kids gifts they can’t afford. I wonder where the idea that happiness is something you can purchase got mixed into the ways we celebrate the birth of God into our midst. I wonder if there are different ways to celebrate. Different ways that don’t involve pressure and debt, yet include the poor and those that often get pushed to the margin of our society and most pretend don’t even exist. Different ways that breathe hope into the lives of people around us like God breathed hope into our world that one Holy Night.
Here’s a very cool video from Adventconspiracy.org
Whether or not you agree with anything said above, please take a few minutes and watch this video:
[AC] Advent Conspiracy from Jon Collins on Vimeo.
check out this sweet blog:
http://www.thelongbrake.com/blog/i-am-the-church/
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
"As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
1 Peter 2: 4-5
What if church is a little messed up?
What if church as we know it has a few flaws?
What if, in a real practical sense, you focus more on me than Jesus? Isn't that a little messed up?
What if Jesus would have some of the same harsh words to speak to us as He did to the pharisees?
Are you willing to ask those kinds of questions?
Are you willing to make the changes when you find the answers?
I think I'm ready.
Below is a funny video I found.
As you watch, wonder about the homeless guy three blocks from this building, or the single mom in the neighborhood across the street who struggles to feed her kids, or all the other needs within blocks of buildings just like this, and then ask yourself, "what if this church thing is supposed to look different?"
Amy and I rented The Best of Will Ferrell on SNL this week. It was hilarious. Click "read more" to check out our two favs.
"More Cow Bell"
"Get off the shed"
Have you seen the forwarded emails? Have you heard the debates?
...killing god...the anti C.S. Lewis...protect your kids...boycott the theaters...
Click "read more" to watch the trailer, and read some of my thoughts.
I laugh at the forwarded emails only because of how heated they are. In general, it seems that "Christian" parents get so offended, and so worked up about their kids watching an hour and a half movie that may or may not have any impact on their lives, yet care very little about their kids watching them "kill God" everyday by the way they live their own lives. I'll be a parent in a few months, so I'm really new at it, but I know that my words, and actions will ultimately have the single most significant impact on the lives of my kids. I guess I’m not too surprised that parents who let TV raise their kids are offended when stuff like this comes around, but maybe it’s just a reminder that they need to be the ones raising their kids…not the media.
Will I see it? Will I let my kids see it? Maybe, maybe not, but the focus of my attention, and the energy I put into protecting my kids will not be put into creating or passing on forwards. Instead, I will get heated and offended about my own actions; about my own words; about the picture of God I give to my kids in the way I care for them, in the way I love their mom, in the way I talk to the waitress at Applebee’s; in the way I spend money; in the way I cook pancakes, or drink beer, or treat the dog…and I could go on and on and on…because I know that some of my own most insignificant actions or words will have much more weight in the lives of my kids than this movie.
Here’s a quote from Philip Pullman, the author of the Golden Compass:
“I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away.
Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them.”
I think kids have a much more believable, tangible, picture of what it looks like to kill God in the real life movie they experience everyday than a vague fairy tale about armored polar bears and golden compasses and dying gods.
