ministry of movies

Here is a very cool article with Denzel Washington about his faith and how he walks it out in Hollywood.  Definitely check it out. I love that I get to categorize this as both faith and film… thats cool.

shalom

My good friend Shannon is in Israel right now touring with a team from Bay and he’s teaching short lessons at each stop on the trip. He’s been blogging all these as they go and they are awesome lessons and insights that I’ve never thought about or heard before. Shannon lived over there for about 5 years so he’s got an understanding of Jewish customs and Old Testament history like no one I’ve ever met. You should definitely check it out… here.

favorite quote…

…at the moment of course.  I came across this in one of my files, and it messed me up a little…

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I don’t remember who said it… if you do leave it in a comment. 

shiny new coat

Just now, as I was rocking Bella before her afternoon nap, I noticed the bookshelf we had put in her room. We had gotten it from a friend and I had worked very hard to paint it to match Bella’s other furniture. I was disappointed to see that the paint that I had worked so hard to put on it was starting to peel, all 17 coats. Then it hit me that when I painted it, I never sanded off the old clear coat that was on it before I painted it. Yea I know, the son of a ex-house painter should now better right?

A few thoughts on this… first off, before the pretty, shiny, new paint can be applied, there has to be a cleaning off of the old. And it’s really hard work. If you choose my method of skipping that step your next problem is that anything can scratch off that shiny new coat of pretty paint, revealing the true condition of that piece of crap furniture. Secondly, I realized that I’d never noticed this peeling before today because the shelf stays full of stuff… so I never see those exposed places. These rough patches have been hidden by the clutter and chaos. But its ironic that all stuff that is actually pulling off the paint. Its the excess of the books, baskets, toys, and all the other “stuff” that is revealing the true nature of this old, piece of junk shelf that we just tried to pretty-up the easy way.

Apply it however you want… I got a lot out of it, hopefully you will too.

engaging in worship

In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis says that we delight to worship and we can’t help doing it. It’s true, think about how easy it is to praise anything you like or enjoy. It’s so easy for me to praise my little girl, as spouses we praise our lovers, most pet owners (not so much me) adore their pets. I can’t tell you how often I spontaneously praise a good movie, book, blog, quote, or anything else that tickles my fancy. It’s common to hear people praise their favorite sports team, restaurant, or celebrity. We honor our heros or people with absurd amounts of talent.

I believe that in the same way, if we were to truly encounter God on a daily basis, that we would be overcome with his glory and we wouldn’t be able to help the words or attitude of worship that would spill from our lips. C.S. Lewis also said this,

The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But… these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.

It’s so easy for us to view worship as a Sunday thing or a corporate experience… but its not. Typically when I think of “Worship” I think of large crowds, lights low, eyes closed, arms raised and singing loud. Yea that is worship, but that’s not were worship ends. We should be worshiping God one-on-one and experience the power and priviledge of worship every day, privately engaging God. Then when we come together corporately as people who’ve worshiped privately, then we’ll see worship taken to the next level. It wouldn’t come through a special night of worship or a new song, but from a collection of hearts that are already primed for worship because that’s how they live life.

never stop discovering

Several months ago we took Bella to the beach for the first time and she loved it. I will never forget how big her eyes got walking out toward the water, how much she loved the sand and the birds, how she would stare in awe at the water as it pounded the shore. It was amazing to watch her eyes light up, and the massive smile that would consume her little chubby face. She was discovering the beauty of God’s creation for the first time and I was there to witness it. As I was sitting there I realized that I couldn’t remember the last time I was blown away by God’s creation. The beauty of God is all around us, and at one time I saw it, recognized it and were truly in awe. But honestly I have a hard time remembering those times. I’ve been a Christ-follower since my teen years and the magnitude of Gods beauty has sadly worn off. I loved watching Bella’s face because she was discovering all of this beauty for the first time. I wish I could regain that feeling once again.

There is so much of God in the world, but after being a believer for so many years the only place I look anymore is within the walls of the church. There is so much of God that we miss out on because we are looking in the wrong place. I mean if you were God would you hang in the church all the time? Uh no. I believe that enjoying the beauty of God produces true revelation and creativity from God. My goal is to catch more sunsets and think about how amazing God truly is.