Rick Nier...Woo!

It's really too bad that the word epic has been overused and likely lost some of its power. It's also a shame that when I tell you Numbers 16 is epic, most of you will roll your eyes and choose not to believe. But this would make for some really cool scenes in a movie. Here it is; Moses is being opposed by his followers and this time it's not about food and water. This time it's old-fashioned jealousy. The main guys opposing Moses are Korah, Dathan and Abiram. The Levites can't stand that Moses is so holy. Moses can't stand their whining, so like every smart child, they take it to the parent, in this case, God. So God sets up a showdown. Everyone lights a censer, though they won't be needed, and are told to appear at the entrance of the Tent. God shows up and tells everyone to step away from Korah, Dathan and Abiram. It's at this point that one has to assume it's either because they are super-holy and no one should stand near them. Or it's becaus...

If Darwin Prayed appears to be a resource book. I'm not sure it's one I will use. Written by Bruce Sanguin, it is subtitled Prayers for Evolutionary Mystics . Bruce offers prayers for every season in Church life. Are you looking for something that hasn't been overused for Christmas, Easter and everything in between? You'll find that here. But you may not like what you find. Bruce begins by offering an explanation for what he has offered. He's just a pastor trying to ensure that prayers and liturgy offered up match what he believes to be true. But he's done a lot more than change 'thee' and 'thou' to 'you'. Convinced that Darwin was on to something and offered theology a gift when he made Christians consider how science and theology match up, Bruce decries that it's taken too long for our worship to catch up. Thus, the new prayers. I'm sensing that my own bias is starting to come through. Yes, I believe I may have to differ with Br...

I have a cousin who was once an extra for a big movie. Let me re-state that. I have a friend whose cousin's sister's best friend was once an extra in a made-for-TV movie. Yeah, that's right. I have connections to Hollywood. You may now commence admiring me. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone like that? They know someone who knows someone who landed a spot in a big crowded scene of a movie. "Yeah, I was the third person to the left of the truck in the way back when (insert real star here) went walking by. You have to look real close and be sure not to blink, but I'm there." It's not exactly the 'big break' that we make it out to be, is it? And yet we'll talk for years about that one scene, especially if it was us in the scene. Then maybe we'll talk about it for a lifetime. Thinking about this led me to this question; Have you ever watched a movie and hoped it was about one of the extras? Of course not. It would be sheer madnes...

I have been thinking about the differences between motorcycles and moped recently. This is because I purchased one. Which one will be revealed as you read on. Here are the differences I thought of. When you buy a motorcycle you also purchase a leather jacket and a helmet, preferably one with flames on it. When you buy a moped your wife laughs uncontrollably when you mention buying a leather jacket and a helmet with flames on it. When you buy a motorcycle you do not ask questions. When you buy a moped you ask your wife how fast she's comfortable with you going on said moped. When you buy a motorcycle you pity any animal that gets in your path. When you buy a moped you worry that any animal might cause you to flip, then laugh as it continues across the road. When you buy a motorcycle people hear you coming from a mile away. When you buy a moped people wonder what that buzzing noise is until they hear you honking your horn that is reminiscent of a clown horn. When you buy a m...

You must understand that as a regular reader of Jon Acuff's blog Stuff Christians Like , my walking into a Chik-Fil-A was filled with expectations. He has written about them several times, but you can read the first by clicking here . He's written more, but linking you to all of them just may distract you from reading my blog today. Plus, do I have to do everything for you? His blog has a handy search button. (See, there I go again talking about his blog....where was I even going with this?) So as I walked into the Chik-Fil-A I was expecting it to be like a church service. I wasn't disappointed. This, despite the fact that there weren't greeters at the door. The greeters at my church aren't usually at the door either. But here's a few other ways I did find similarities. 1. Once there, it was my choice whether or not I was fed. Now obviously I was there to eat. And I was plenty hungry. But just because I knew my need did not mean that I had to fill it. It was my ...

I should probably start this out with some understandings about this post. First, I have not read Love Wins . I titled my post in a cheap attempt to drum up traffic to my blog. Second, I have read many other blogger's responses to Love Wins by Rob Bell. Lastly, reading what other bloggers said about a book does not even remotely make me an expert. But it would seem as if all the ruckus is about Bell's beliefs, specifically regarding Heaven and Hell. So I listened to Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. While I am normally behind the times, I am not (usually) this far behind. I had a 5-hour drive and the audio version comes in at 4 hours in length, making it a good choice. It seems to em that people having a problem with Rob Bell's theories now from Love Wins should have spoken up about 10 years ago. The same ideas are all right there. They may not be spelled out as distinctly, but isn't that part of the problem. In Velvet Elvis , Rob seems pretty comfortable at throwing what hav...

I remember "those bad kids" that seemed incapable of staying out of trouble for longer than a week in elementary school. Oh, we might have a couple of days go by without incident, but sure enough, they'd soon be spotlighted for something mischievous. They were kind of like Disney-star-turned-pop-music-superstar in that way. My mom always said they were bad because they needed more attention from adults. I guess that explains why my sisters always got more attention than I did.* I was generally a well-behaved kid, which means I had to do good things in order to receive attention from teachers at school. It sounds like I am patting myself on the back. I'm not. The truth is, good or bad, it could be said that every kid was performing for their share of attention. It shouldn't be that way. This is not a diatribe against our education system or the way teachers do their job. The simple fact is that if we were all comfortable with who we are, the performance wouldn...

Scot McKnight has written a very useful tool for youth pastors and their students. The Jesus Creed for students is a quick 100-page read that walks teens through the Great Commandment. First of all, I love books that keep it simple. This premise is very simple. We should be loving God and loving others. No, it's not always simple to do that, but when we keep the simple goal in mind, we can always deal with a little complexity. Scot, along with co-authors Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas, keeps it practical by encouraging teens to begin and end each chapter by reciting the Great Commandment and the Lord's Prayer. Without being explicit about it, they walk the reader through the Sermon on the Mount. It's hard to argue against that for good practical teaching. I think this would be a very useful tool for youth ministry. The brevity and the breakdown of the chapters would lend itself to a small group study. While not written specifically in curriculum format, there are discussi...

Home. It’s where we come back to at the end of the day. It’s where you hang your hat. It’s where you leave the rest of the world behind and rest. That’s not a bad thing, but… What if you go home and ignore the needs that must be met? What if the world is being neglected because everyone is hiding out at home? That’s the start of what’s going on in Israel when the Jews are allowed to return to their homeland. Their focus and their priorities become crystal clear to God. When a prophet named Haggai jumps on the scene, it’s been 16 years and the Jews have only managed to build their own homes. God asks the question that shouldn’t have had to be asked. ‘What about ME?’ (Gulp) The people were building and tidying up their own houses and left God’s house a pile of rubble. What’s up with that? That’s what God wants to know. It’s not that He needs shelter from, well, from anything. But it does say something about a people who were chosen by God that they just haven’t gotten around to...

It's not too often when I can say that I starved myself and it was one of the greatest feelings of the year. This past weekend it was my distinct privilege to participate in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine with my youth group. I had 12 teenagers agree, without a gun to their head, to go without food for 30 hours. With some incentives along the way, they raised $2,025! I am so very proud of them. It would be very easy for me to sit back and applaud myself and my group that this event went very well. But that would be very unlike the insignificance I seek. My response will be like the servant Jesus talked about in Luke 17:7-10, "[I] have only done [my] duty." See, what we did was a good thing. I have deep hope for the money to have great impact. But we are not the first. Nor will we be the last. We did not raise the most or suffer the greatest. My hope is for us to be counted worthy of serving God in a long line of those who have given up something so that God can be glor...