The Lakehouse

I went to see this movie this afternoon and really liked it alot. It's not a sappy love story. I love movies that are out of the ordinary and this one is. It makes you think. It deals with the idea of one person being 2 years ahead of the other person and how their lives connect. Kind of like Butterfly Effect or Memento if you've seen those movies. It doesn't hurt that Keanau Reeves is in the movie :)

Identifying true worship

I haven't been able to go to church for the last 2 weeks and I've missed it. I realized just how much when I went tonight.
The message was given by the worship/arts minister, Phil Wing. I thought he did a great job defining true worship.
He used the verses from Roman 12:1-2 and Hebrews 13: 15-16

True Worship...what we are made for..daily living out the glory of God in your life.
Alot of people put such an emphasis on the music that they miss the mark...what true worship is

1 True worship is marked by the cross
It's God's way of showing us how amazing He truly is. This is the foundation

Ask yourself .. Do I see the big picture?

2 True worship is For God
It's not about us. This was my favorite point.
If our focus is truly on God what would our conversations be about after church....they wouldn't be about criticism of the band,sound,etc or that "we didn't connect to the message" .
He talked about heart of worship ..the songs of our heart need to match the songs of our lips.
We shouldn't be "consumers" ...we should be "consumed".

Ask yourself.. Who am I trying to please?


3 True worship is marked by transformation. It should lead you to change and to grow. If you're not growing in your faith ..are you truly worshipping God?

Ask yourself... Am I being changed?



4 True worship is marked by demonstration...sharing with others. Are you reaching out and serving others?

Ask yourself What am I sharing with others through words and actions?

We went to The Garage after church and I got to connect with some of my friends from Southwest who I've also missed the last 2 weeks . I got to hear Megan/Ashlie sing as well as Charis (Abi and Crystal) from Apex.
A really good evening :) and they make a great vanilla latte..:)

This made me laugh:)

My dad sent this to me and I thought it was cute considering I just went through this at LAX

My new purchase

Yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a new laptop. I've always used PC's so going to a Mac is a big change for me.
After alot of discussion and listening to pros/cons from various people who use both, I chose the black MacBook.
It's definitely been a learning curve for me. I have to think of things in different terms ie. safari vs explorer, system preferences vs control panel,... I love having a portable computer. I love the fact that I don't have to wait 5 min for my screen to pull up. I love the fact that I don't have to constantly update for viruses or run Ad Aware everyday. I love the fact that I'm not fighting 2 other family members to use the computer :)
Luckily, I have my Mac resources to go to :) I couldn't figure out how to get my email onto this computer and Mike Box was nice enough to come over and help me. We also tried to take my songs from my itunes on the old computer and put them on this one but it wasn't cooperating. If you know a way to do that let me know. If you know if I can just hook my ipod up to this computer without losing all of my songs let me know :)
So I am off until next Wed from work and I'm going to playing alot until I comfortable with it.

This frustrates me

I read about this on Dan Kimball's website There are some interesting comments related to this article I just find it really frustrating and sad



Sunday school teacher dumped for being female

WATERTOWN, New York (AP) -- The minister of a church that dismissed a female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job -- outside of the church.

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on August 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." (Watch Church Lady say her dismissal came without warning -- 1:43)

The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city manager who runs the city's day-to-day operations is a woman.

"I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to" outside of the church, LaBouf wrote Saturday.

Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given for Lambert's dismissal.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Lambert has publicly criticized the decision, but the church did not publicly address the matter until Saturday, a day after its board met.

In a statement, the board said other issues were behind Lambert's dismissal, but it did not say what they were.

How to know if your boat is too small

Back to Lee

Kristen goes back to Lee We're actually leaving tonight when Darrell gets home from work and driving 1/2 way and then the rest of the way in the morning. I can't believe the summer is over already. :( I always have a hard time with goodbyes. This one is really hard but it's easier than last year. A year's experience helps. I also have 2 coworkers who are going through the same thing. Cindy sent her daughter to UK last Sat and Mary takes her daughter on Sept 11. Always helps to have someone who knows what you're going through.
Next year it will really be empty nest syndrome :)

"Critical Spirit" is not a spiritual gift

I thought this was a really good article. How many of us are guilty of a "critical spirit"?



Cool Yesterday, Hated Today

Trinity Jordan

I was shocked! Displayed on the computer screen in front of me were the web stats for our church website. The shock wasn’t the fact that I was checking the stats, but our one-day stats were double what we had done in any one month! Who in the world thinks we are cool today?

Our stat system is pretty nifty for a non-tech guy like myself. Simply scrolling down the list of stats I came to the spot that tells us what websites our visitors are coming from. Excited, I clicked on the first link that showed the largest amount of visitors. As the webpage came up, my heart sank.

I began reading the blog entry that linked our website and realized I had stumbled upon one of those criticizing Christian websites. You know the ones. Those who make it their calling from to dismember every ministry in the world, even the ones they attend. Anger and hatred rushed off the pages. I don’t know what I had expected. Not what I was reading for sure; I would have been less shocked if it was a girlie site or something.

I did what I should have never had done. I read every word of the blog and comments against me, my newfound church community and the staff that served with me. They picked apart our visual communications of the gospel. They picked apart my personal bio and family, criticizing everything from how young our staff was and even calling us heretics who serve a different Jesus than the Bible teaches. Entry after entry rang with anger and hatred.

This was the first time that I had others publicly criticize me. Probably wouldn’t have been so bad, but these were other brothers in Christ. It wasn’t the last time either.

I learned a lot from that day.

I learned that I am part of a very dysfunctional family called the Church. We (myself included) can be some the meanest people, especially hiding behind a computer screen. We have masked judging each other within the body of Christ in sanctification of methods and theology, not ever really doing either. We have added “a critical spirit” to our list of spiritual gifts.

I learned that I was just as guilty as those that attacked me. I had foolishly criticized so many other Christian leaders and ministries during my lifetime, dogging them out of my ignorance and anger, making knee-jerk decisions. I was fast to point out the imagined speck in their eye, thinking that I held some Holy insight and perspective. My problem was my angry reactions to things I didn’t like about them, but it doesn’t really matter what I think.

I learned that criticism is healthy if done correctly, especially in a dysfunctional family. Abuse is usually covered over and silence rules the discussion on the situation. Yet, when abuse is present, the healthiest thing to happen is to discuss the situation correctly. There is a right and wrong way to handle the confrontation.

I need to learn how to look at others correctly. In the New Testament writing of Luke, Jesus tells an amazing parable of a man who wants to take sawdust out of his friend’s eye, but he has a plank in his own eye. What if the very thought of looking for fault in others is “the plank” in our own eye? And the perceived speck in others is really just the plank in our own? The critical eye is blinded by ignorance and self. The arrogance of having it all figured out and being the referee on a matter that God never called us to ref.

I need to also learn how to take criticism. In the Old Testament, there is a story of King David being criticized by a man named Shimei. He is cursing and throwing stones at “a man after [God’s] own heart.” David’s servant Abishai says, “Let me go over and cut off his head.” As I read the story, I would want to cut off this guys head for messing with God’s servant, but David saw things differently. “No, if the Lord has told him to curse me, who are you to stop him?”

As we, the younger generation of the followers of Jesus, begin to mold the Christian landscape for today and the future, let us be quick to mercy, grace, forgiveness and slow to cast stones, judgment and angry criticism. We need to define ourselves by what we believe in (Jesus) and not define ourselves by what upsets us or what we dislike. Let's not trap ourselves into being offended over godless chatter and foolish arguments (2 Tim. 2:14-16). Let's center everything on the Lord Jesus Christ, examining ourselves everyday, criticizing every avenue of our own life and committing ourselves to being who Jesus created us to become.

By our love for each other they will know that we are followers of Jesus. Hope the world doesn’t read Christian blogs.

"There's no place like home"

Well after a long day of airplanes and airports I'm home. The LA airport was absolutely crazy ! We did curbside check-in which turned out to be the quickest way. Security checks weren't as crazy but they had extra security at the actual gates to randomly screen carry ons. Our plane from LA to San Francisco was delayed because of a "baggage issue". They never said what it was. The rest of our flights were delayed but uneventful. Flying over the west is very beautiful. The mountains and lakes..We saw Brice Canyon and Lake Tahoe and the Golden Gate Bridge. I got to Dayton around 11:15 last night. It was nice to have Darrell,Kristen, and Zach waiting for me. They bought me flowers to welcome me home :)
You don't know how much you miss home and family until you leave and come back.
I am glad I got the opportunity to go but it was really a sad city. It was such a different lifestyle. It was good to get out of my own comfort zone and see the true needs that are out there.

In LA

I've been in LA for the last few days at a National Diabetes Convention. LA is a very INTERESTING city to say the least. Very busy ..a totally different world It's been non-stop from the minute I've gotten here. I do get to go on a dinner cruise on the pacific ocean tonight which should be fun. There is a little bit of anxiety here related to the terrorist alert though I fly home on Sunday so I'm just praying that it goes smoothly..I found out I have to get to the airport at 6am and that the national guard has been called in to the airport for security purposes. Should be an interesting trip home :) If you read this just remember to say a little prayer for us on Sun am :)

Prayer for a soldier

Please keep Josh in prayer as he fights for our country in Iraq Read his last post and the comment by his mom...it will touch your heart

"If I lay here...."

I LOVE this song,this video, and this group
( If you love Grey's Anatomy, they have a special video with this song on abc.com


"If I lay here...if I just lay here..would you lay with me and just forget the world"



Chasing Cars

We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lay with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lay with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lay with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lay with me and just forget the world?

Silence...listening for God

If you've got a busy out of control life take a minute and read this




Deafening Silence

Chad Jarnagin
If we step back from our busy lives for a moment of reflection we will start to hear a deafening silence. The ironic thing will be that it is truly the still silence that is so deafening. Everyone that I live in community with has struggled with a noisy, crazy, hectic schedule running from meeting to meeting, coffee to coffee, service to service.

Let's come back to the opening sentence. Step back from your busy life for the few minutes that you read this and reflect. After you read this, take five minutes, and sit in silent solitude. No phones (texting, etc), no computer (AIM, MySpace, etc), no music, no XBox 360, no talking. Nothing but silence. If you haven't experienced this in a while, the sound will be loud, and you'll see what I mean.

In the book Facedown by Matt Redman, Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek, asked, "Is the ambient noise level of my life low enough for me to hear the whispers of the Lord?"

A.W. Tozer once said, "In some instances, absolute silence might well become our greatest act of worship." I don't believe the silence Tozer is talking about just happens in our worship service times. The worship service of life is where the rubber meets the road—what, how and why we do what we do in our daily life.

Everything in our culture is screaming at a DB level that is dulling our hearing to the Creator's voice. When people come into worship on Sunday, let's try to remember that life is fast and loud. It can be voluntary or involuntary, but our communities still live in the fast and loud. If we are living there as well, how can we lead them into the Holy place?

When I come into church, I need the music to help lead me to a place of silencing and help me to yield my world in order to seek God in everything. I think we know that God is everywhere and in everything, but how often do we live acknowledging that? We usually let our little worlds dictate our response to the Almighty.

In order to effectively lead people into worship of God, we must be clear to hear where He is leading us. We can't always be clear to hear if we aren't seeking Him in silence and solitude, waiting and listening. Application of a true “quiet time” or “silent time” is the only means of execution here. Writing, reading or doing will only delay the secret place that God is calling us to seek. He will be in the secret silent place. It probably looks differently for everyone. Let us all go there to hear and learn from the Father for His glory and fame.

Rob Bell in Indy

Mike and Michelle and Kristen and I went to see Rob Bell speak in Indianapolis on Sat in The American Cabaret Theatre . He chose venues that were out of the ordinary
It's set up similar to La Comedia with table and chairs . There were approximately 500 people Unfortunately the chairs weren't the most comfortable but otherwise it was a great place to see him. He talked for about 90 min. You can see from the pictures that he used a huge whiteboard and used alot of visual analogies. It's hard to put into words everything he talked about. He started with Genesis as a Hebrew poem and tied alot of things back to creation,faith and God being tied to everything physical.
The thing that really surprised me is that he is very tall and thin. You can't tell that from the Noomas. If you look at the picture of Mike and Rob , Mike is 6 ft. so I'm guessing him to be around 6'3 or 6'4 . He has alot of energy and was very open to meeting people after.
The only down side to the day was that I got sick after I got home because Kristen and I ate at Ponderosa and I ate way too much :)!

Resting at the top of the hill

These are pictures of SW youth group on their trip to Gatlinburg They climbed to the top of this mountain..not an easy thing ...

Seeing these pictures reminded me of something Rob Bell talked about when I went to see him this Saturday in Indianapolis. He did an analogy of how we climb and climb to top of the mountain and when we get to the top ...we don't spend enought time just "being" on the top and resting. We are too concerned about how to get up there and when we get there,we worry about how to get down. When God created the earth he rested on the 7th day. We need to do the same thing.

I think this is where I am right now. Trying to figure out where my next step is. Not taking time to enjoy where I am right now.