Rick Nier...Woo!

It is no secret that Hollywood is out of ideas. For all the money exchanging hands out west, we are still presented with reality shows involving Vanilla Ice and Amish people. You'll have to search for that yourself as I refused to do that to my search engine.  But I am actually okay with this when it means that a classic gets remade into something genuinely awesome. Of course, being who I am, I didn't discover this while it was actually happening. But back in 2010 a new version of Scooby Doo was being made.  My kids just recently discovered  Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated ,  a series that takes what was most laughable from the 70's version and combines it into something that is actually watchable. This version gives us a lot more information about Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby, perhaps more than we ever wanted to know. Instead of each show being a stand-alone, this series connects and has overarching themes and plots.  And the villains ...

People might look at me and laugh. -That's the point. But I don't want them to laugh. - But they won't be laughing at you. They'll be laughing with you. No.  And that's where the conversation with my 6-year old ended that day. A stubborn refusal to stand out and an unwillingness to be laughed  at . Or  with , as I was trying to convince her.  This was Crazy Hair Day at their elementary school, meaning the choice had no long-lasting implications. I did encourage her to not worry about what other people think. In this way, it is interesting to note how different three children can be, even when they share the same mom and dad.  On a day when crazy hair was the goal, our oldest daughter still strove to stand out and be noticed. Our son, always a bit quieter in crowds, went halfway. A couple of faux-hawks adorned his melon, something crazy but replicated by several boys. But the 6-year old would not be coerced into being a stand-...

A while I ago I ranted about the speed of ketchup . You probably figured I got that out of my system and was done pointing my ire at the ketchup industry. I know they hoped so. But I'm not. After all, they don't just put ketchup in bottles now, do they? Nope. When you want to be somewhere and feel less like home, they give you these travel packages of ketchup. Think fast food. Fast being the key word. You're at the fast food restaurant for speed and convenience. It's not for your health. It can't be for your health. So when it comes to ketchup distribution, speed and convenience should also be of primary concern. This, of course, is why they don't use the bottle. Most packets have a perforation. This saves you time in knowing not only where to tear, but in being able to tear. But I have seen an increasing number of ketchup packets that have no pre-perforated tearing point. This must not be tolerated. Ketchup packets that have no perforated ripping poi...

"Who wants some pizza?" Since the dawn of time, every youth pastor has proclaimed these words to their youth groups. But once the dodge ball game was over and the pizza was gone, the youth pastors would say something else. "You must own your faith!" To be clear, this probably originated when Aaron the priest said this to Joshua.  "You will have to own your faith, Josh. After all, Moses goes along with too many things that his brother and sister do. It's gonna get him killed." Every youth pastor has said things like.... Your parents can't believe for you. Someday you will move away from home. Then what will your faith look like? Your childhood Sunday School answers won't suffice for real life. Any youth pastor could have written a book about this. But it was Ryan and Josh Shook who did write this book. And they did a great job of making the case for a firsthand faith, which is where the title comes from.  Firstha...

This is not so much a fellow blogger's post, but a sermon illustration provided to me by one of the many newsletters I receive. Many of them I file away for a sermon yet to be prepared, but this one fit the main thrust of my blog, I wanted to share it directly with you.  Woo! Matthew Eldridge has appeared in numerous high-profile movies, but you'll never see his face or hear his voice. That's because Eldridge serves as a "body double." Recently, for instance, his hands, feet, and body were used as stand-ins for the actor Jason Bateman in the film  Identity Thief . But Eldridge doesn't mind that Batemen gets most of the attention and fame. Here's how Eldridge explained how he sees his role: Bateman has become a household name, growing up a child star and moving on to lead roles in  Arrested Development ,  Juno ,  Horrible Bosses , and others, but you've certainly never heard of me, Matthew Eldridge, though you may have seen my hands on screen....

This one goes out to all my youth worker friends out there. It seems we share a common problem. No, it's not too much pizza. That's not a problem for me. It's not late nights and teenage drama. That's what we signed up for. It's our desire to see teens get interested in the Bible. The problem, clearly, is not our desire. We want to see teens open up God's Word and actually be excited about doing so. Solutions abound, from teen Bibles and devotionals to reading plans and even prize motivators. But I have an idea that I think trumps them all. You won't need to plan an entire lesson around it. You won't need to make it a special focus for a month. Just plan what looks like an unintended tangent in an otherwise normal lesson. Oh, and use the word 'emasculated'. That's right. Emasculated. Intrigued? Here's how it works. I was teaching on healthy relationships when we started talking about the unhealthy examples we see around us and por...

7  But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.   8  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ   9  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.   10  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,   11  and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. ~Philippians 3:7-10 It would be really easy to get my preacher on and just take off, ranting about all the things in this life that we find value in. After all, who doesn't enjoy their stuff and look for an opportunity to add more to t...

When reviewing a book such as Manners in a Digital World , I want to be careful not to be rude. But you may be, like I was, wondering who Emily Post is and why she gets to write about manners. That is, you'll be wondering that if you are among those born after 1960, the year Emily Post died. But as you can find out here , Emily Post made a name for herself by writing books on etiquette. This book on digital manners takes that same spirit and brings it into our new digital age. Daniel writes about manners on all things internet, including social do's and don'ts with cell phones. He tackles Facebook, Twitter and the myriad of dating websites. But he doesn't stop there. Daniel approaches large portions of this book for people who are, not to put anyone down, clueless. He walks people through the expectations, both for them and from them. At points, this made the book a bit slow to work through. Overall, however, this is a good resource. Manners are an important ...

Except for the grace of God, I would have been a single father. I'm not trying to be melodramatic about this, but upon this realization, I had to stop and praise God. Then I instantly felt the need to share this story with any who would listen. My wife went to a conference last Thursday. She took 4 co-workers along with her. From point A to point B was a bit over two hours. No more than thirty minutes from home, they heard a thump, thump, thump. Being somewhat near a guy they knew could help check for things, they made an unscheduled stop. The guy, a dad of one of the co-workers, checked it out. They checked the tires. It wasn't a flat. He took the truck out for a spin and couldn't hear anything. Perhaps it was just 5 ladies hearing things. (Just kidding, ladies!) With the thumping gone, they continued on. As they continued on, the thumping came back. On Saturday, the thumping grew worse. Thinking it was engine trouble, they decided to trek on home and figure it out t...

We are divided over so many dumb things. I think The Office is still funny. I know many who think the show died once Steve Carell left. And if I so desired, i could find a thread somewhere where we could argue over this forever, all the while degrading one another's intelligence. It matters that much. Or we could discuss our need to divide over many others things in fandom. If I root for one sports team, it necessarily means the fans of the opposing team are morons. Men vs Women, Star Wars vs Star Trek, DC vs Marvel, PC vs Mac, Catholic vs Protestant, Republican vs Democrat, Alien vs Predator. Okay, clearly some of those are more important than others. But the point is that we seem to enjoy drawing up the battle lines and standing divided. It's kind of stupid really, but acknowledging our penchant to divide doesn't automatically bring us together. It's merely one more way of noticing our differences and trying to decide who is better at..well, anything. For Christians, ...

This high profile bloggers says one thing. That high profile blogger says another. But what are we (including me, the non-high profile blogger) supposed to think? Every once in a while, my kids and I will have the same thought at the same time. You can accuse me of thinking like a child all you want, but I believe this is a direct result of great teaching, from me to them. Anyways, we may end up saying the same thing at the same time. This inevitably leads them to declare that great minds think alike. Whenever I hear this, my memory recalls my college Saturdays when I, of course, was watching One Saturday Morning on ABC. It was a collection of cartoons and shorts, one which included the Genie from Aladdin. Still voiced by Robin Williams, someone would spout some common thinking with the adage that 'great minds think alike.' Then the Genie would appear and declare, 'No, great minds think for themselves!' I couldn't agree more. We come across so many ideas an...

It's a regular day at work. You're cruising through your normal sources for the latest in news, Facebook, Twitter and various blogs. One does have to wonder how much more we might accomplish if it weren't for sites like these. But I digress. You're scrolling through for news when you come across a picture linked to a story. Possibly about a missing dog belonging to a veteran or a spider that eats dogs. But the story that really gets you is the one warning of impending changes in the law that will force us all to have chips implanted in our hands. Share. Like. Retweet. Off the story goes. A comment here, indignation there and the fears are spread. It only really gets my attention when someone warns of impending doom to my Facebook account, because of recent changes made that will cause all of us to unwillingly share our favorite colors and our first dog's name. All we have to do to stop the madness is change all of our settings and share it with everyone. The real ...

It's no secret I enjoy reading books. There are always books lying around my office and home. There are stacks by my side of the bed and on shelves throughout the house. There are even a couple usually on an end table in our living room. All that to say, the kids are pretty used to seeing books lay around. In fact, this has modeled a love of books on their part. So they normally have stacks lying around their bedrooms. Every once in a while, a cover from one of my books intrigues them enough to ask about its' contents. The most recent was Firsthand  by Ryan and Josh Shook. (I'll have my review coming on that book soon.) The simple explanation of the book that I gave my two oldest, 11 and 9, was that the book was about owning your faith. I explained that teenagers often come to a point of skepticism. They will even, sadly, leave their faith behind. But the positive message of the book is that we need to have a firsthand faith that we own, rather than to simply mimic th...

You can look through the historical documents now known as my previous blog posts and see a long-standing series of posts in which I demonstrate, using scripture, how God should come first and man should come second. But in today's post, I will show why man should probably slink away from receiving any second place ribbons. It is very much like what is taught at the Cobra Kai Dojo, made famous from the Karate Kid . Put simply, second place is no place. It doesn't seem so bad at first. Take a look. “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. ~Isaiah 43:25 At first, this sounds like it is about us. Our sins get wiped out. Hooray! But it says it is for God's sake. Now it sounds like something from this blog. God didn't do this because of us. He did it because of Him. For His sake. And let's keep in mind the action happening here. God, for His own sake, is removing our sins. In case you've forgo...

I've had a series of rants recently, arguing for those much needed improvements in life, such as a new car horn that really communicates, stores that collect too much information and the study of ketchup . Yes, ketchup. Yes, it's the major things in life that motivate me. Well, I've realized that there is a need for being thankful as well. And there are many things that people are overlooking. So, once again, I will raise the bar and go where others feel is a waste of time. So, where to begin? Since I've recently taken a couple of trips, my mind wandered to cruise control.  Seriously, when I can drive for hours on end using less limbs than all those other poor saps out there on the highways. This also frees me to be less patient when that car with the inferior driver speeds up and then slows down and then speeds back up. They can look at me all they want with their irritation, but my cruise control is set. I'm a constant. I'm a rock. You, my friend, ar...

Raising your hands in worship is something like a toddler running recklessly to his mom or dad. You've seen this run. They are running at breakneck speed. That is, breakneck for a kid. Which is to say, faster than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter.   They may fall along the way. They look very goofy. And invariably they begin to stumble and are about to fall. But they don't fall, do they? No, because their parent catches them. Just like our Father catches us when we worship with reckless abandon. But more often than not, our hands are not raised in this way. No, our hands are somewhat raised, or halfway raised, or in some other controlled state of being raised.  But I don't believe this is what our Father desires from us. If being a father has taught me anything, it's that I enjoy my children depending on me. And as much fun as it is to watch people fall, that humor ends when it is my own children.  Your children? Sure. Mine? Not...

There are many things that makes me less than thrilled with life. Dare I say there are times when death would seem like a welcome rest from life. Some of those times would include; Snow days once Spring has officially begun. When the 6-year old asks to play  I Spy  for the hundredth round while waiting for the wife to come out of the store. Watching an entire season of  My Little Ponies  when that same 6-year old is sick. Actually, watching any of the number of TV shows made to entertain children. Thanks to over-acting and and a seemingly endless supply of money funding these child actors, I have several times uttered, 'Just kill me now.' Numbers 11:15 tells us of a time when Moses asks to be killed if he has found favor in God's eyes. It seems like an unusual request of someone who likes you. Moses: Hey God, You're my friend, right? God: I Am. Moses: Well, then could You just off me? Seriously, and make it quick and painless please. I've ...

Yesterday we reviewed a post from a year ago, talking about what significance isn't. Today, let's discuss what it is. Just what is insignificance? Insignificance is understanding The dictionary definition of insignificance is lacking in importance or consequence. Sounds kind of dreary, doesn't it? I can almost hear you asking why we would be searching for this. In the interest of full disclosure, I heard you in the voice of my young son, who asks why he has chores and why he can't just play video games all day. Yeah, it's kind of a high, whiny voice, but I felt like I needed to be open with you. While I'm not going to attempt to redefine the word, I think we put too much emphasis on being important and having consequence. If we understand our real role in this life, then we will understand that we do not need importance or consequence to fulfill it. Insignificance is accepting What are we accepting? We're accepting our secondary role. And when I ...

Every once in a while, it is good to review your purpose. Here is a post from last year where I defined what I was focused on.  I started talking about the purpose of insignificance and this blog and how I can both achieve and fail at my goal of finding insignificance by building a bigger platform for this blog. And I was just about to sell you on joining me in this journey when I decided you'd read enough of my words for one day. So here we are now, and you're ready for some more words. Words of what? I'm not sure yet. I'll write some words, you read them. Then you can decide and tell me what kind of words they are. Then, if necessary, I'll cry myself to sleep. If I told you I was on a journey for some big treasure, you might wonder what kind of treasure. You might ask me questions about how long the journey would be, what we need to take along, or if I'd been watching too many Pirates  movies. These would all be great questions. But I'm going to st...

Oh my family of five, how you cause me such pain! Before you start to wonder why I would call out my loved ones, keep in mind that it is the number I struggle with, not the individuals themselves. Is that better? No? Allow me to explain. Much of this world seems created for a family of four. Tableware and silverware are sold in sets of four. Vacation packages are sold in groups of four. My scooter can hold….oh wait, never mind. Anyone with a third child has learned how irritating booking a hotel room can be. Jennifer and I learned this again as we looked to book a room for our recent trip to the Creation Museum. The room rate for four people was decent. The room rate for five people was not as nice. A phone call to the hotel caused more frustration. They told me the extra charge was for the extra person. ~ But the extra person is really small and hardly takes up any room. Sorry, that’s policy. ~But she’ll probably sleep in my bed?!?   A few transfers later, ...

A friend reminded me recently that what I endorse is connected to other things. Things, perhaps, that I would not wish to endorse. She understands the difference between accepting the truth found in something and accepting everything else. But it is with that thought in my mind that I comment on this latest book I read, Behind the Mask: Adolescents in Hiding by Dennis Rozema. Dennis is an adolescent therapist and crisis counselor and he has a ton of stories to share. In this book, he shares mostly about the stories that are still in the midst of struggle. He discusses teens who, like most of us, wear masks to protect themselves from the realities they don’t want to face. You might not want to face it either. This book could probably be given the same disclaimer that we give the Bible. It’s full of truth, but not everything on the page sis pretty to look at. Dennis shares from the pages of journals of teens he has worked with, with permission of course. And since these teens are i...

Getting to Easter Sunday is not an easy thing for pastors. Clearly, our focus, even as pastors, should not be racing to the finish line that is Easter. Our goal should not be to survive it, get through it, look past it or even forget about it until next January. (Yes, that's when pastors begin thinking about Easter.) But Easter Sunday was never intended to be an end. It's a beginning. It's new life, it's the beginning of the Church and it's the reason we have hope as Christians. And, as with anything that is important, it's all about Jesus. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:17-19 Get it? Jesus loves. We grasp. God does all the work and simply asks that we try to keep up.  ...