You Can Know God

The Great Goat Giveaway

There's a write-up in the local paper about $3,000 that was raised during the Great Goat Giveaway.  The school systems sold $1 raffle tickets and the top earning school got $300.  Cartersville High School raised $1,000 and the the fund raiser was dubbed  a success.

I think this was an interesting way to raise money, and it sounds like a lot of fun.  I think Dot Frazier's teacher grant program is a wonderful idea.  And I'm for giving as much money as possible to our schools.  I'd just like to point out that our church contributes nearly twice as much as this entire fund raiser in the form of rent...EVERY MONTH.  And no livestock is involved.

In and around Jacksonville, Florida (where I spent Thanksgiving), all three counties rent facilities to churches.  It's obviously a great partnership that is working well across the country.

How To Make a Boring Movie

Over the holidays, Jennie and I went to see August Rush, aka the most boring movie I've seen in quite some time. It was a made for TV movie that I was tricked into paying $9.50 to see. It's the story of a prodigy kid who gets into Julliard, writes a raphsody in a few months and has it performed in Central Park, all so his mother (whose Father forged adoption papers when he was born) could find him.

• It seems like musicians instead of writers wrote the script. The dialog was terrible. 10 minutes into the movie, I knew I was in trouble.


• 60% of the movie was someone staring out a window, out a taxi, up a subway grate or through some other transparent surface.  The reflective look is effective once, but not throughout an entire movie.


• The promise of good actors (Robin Williams, Terrence Howard) was wasted on a poor story.


• It was a movie that should have just been a soundtrack. Or something that should appear on Lifetime Television for Women.

Confession Video #3

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=nS_17zPqVeY]

Florida State vs. Florida

I'm going to the FSU vs UF game in Gainsville today. Anthony said that as long as I am with a Florida fan, I will not get beer or insults thrown at me while walking around the stadium. But I should not wander off on my own.

Speaking of the Seminoles, it appears that a few years ago we had good players but bad coaches. Now we have good coaches and not so much on the players. I think we are a head coach (Bobby needs to retire and FSU should steal Mark Richt from Georgia) and a top QB recruit away from competing seriously - but the FSU program will one day rise again.

I think going to this game is kind of like being a missionary. First, I'm the holy one going into the pagan culture of the University of Florida. I'll do my best to help these sinners see the errors of their ways and repent.

Friday Five: Books

I like to read all different kinds of books. Here's five recent reads that I'd recommend.

1. The Year of Living Biblically. A.J. Jacobs is the editor of Esquire and an agnostic, but he tries to follow every rule in the Bible for a year. It's insightful and very funny. Just like his previous book, where he read the whole encyclopedia.

2. Quiet Strength. Tony Dungy is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a Christian.

3. UnChristian. This book looks at what young adults think of Christianity. It's filled with stats and analysis and it's a great look into culture.

4. Raising Respectful Children in a Disrespectful World. We have three kids and I want to be a good dad. I read quite a few books like this, and I do recommend this one if you're a parent.

5. Words to Live By. This is a little CS Lewis compilation. It's full of great nuggets and super quotes. CS Lewis really makes me think.

And even though today is Black Friday, and people are shopping before the sun comes up, you could order these books from Amazon in the comforts of your own home at any hour of the day.

A Nice Laugh on Thanksgiving

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPsUmhqncAg&eurl=http://www.terrystorch.com/]

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm in Florida with my family - we're visiting my parents and my wife's parents.  One thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and another one today.  In anticipation of eating too many desserts, I tried to run this morning, but it started raining.

It's pretty cool for my kids to be able to visit both sets of grandparents here in Jacksonville.  I like this city, and I'm glad I got to come down for a visit.   For those of you that might be checking in this holiday season, Happy Thanksgiving.  And no matter what, don't be one of those crazy people and go shopping at 4 am tomorrow.  They have this thing called the Internet where you can buy stuff in the middle of the day.

Bitter Old Football Players

I think it's somewhat funny and sad to see the members of the old Dolphins team (the last team that went undefeated in the NFL) sit around waiting for the Patriots (currently 10-0) to lose. They are hoping for it, and they are whining. They just don't want to let go of their record and they can't be happy for a team that might break it.

Not to mention that the 2007 Dolphins are also having a perfect season. They are 0-10. These old guys need to stop trying to wiggle their way back into the spotlight and need to stop complaining about thing and longing for the good old days. If you can't be happy for the next guy to break your record, you didn't deserve it in the first place.

Confession Video #2

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBbq8vjWDAQ]

Humor in the Bible

Big surprise that some of the folks with the watchdog blogs didn't find my confession video that funny. (I saw a bunch of incoming clicks on my blog stats). Apparently, I wasn't acting like a pastor when I created that video. That could be true - because too many pastors don't have a sense of humor.

The Bible actually contains a good bit of humor. Psalm 2:4 says that God laughs (a laugh out of a kind of sarcastic anger). In Exodus 14:11, the Israelites ask Moses, "was there a lack of graves in Egypt so that you had to bring us out to the Wilderness to die?" That's kind of funny. In the book of Judges, God sarcastically asks His people if the pagan gods will help their plight.

Elijah's response to the prophets of Baal is filled with sarcasm. Yell louder, he tells them, maybe your god is sleeping, or traveling, or maybe he's going to the bathrroom. (there you go fellas...there's bathroom humor in the Bible, so my video is not without precedent.)

There's humor, sarcasm, wordplays, funny names, and crazy situations throughout the Word of God. The Bible is obviously not a joke book, but it's okay to be a Christian and still have a sense of humor. In fact, Proverbs 17:22 says that a joyful heart is good medicine.  And if we can help people laugh in church, I think that's a good thing.  We should talk hard about sin, but it's not a sin to have some fun with God's people in God's house.

Sometimes, we need to get serious. And sometimes, we just need to lighten up and laugh.