Random Ranting Friday #86

Welcome back peeps and peepettes to the 86th edition of Random Rantings Friday!  I’ve got family in town and questions of Boomba and Bam abound! So lets dive in like Louganis… just don’t hit your head!

Last year in August I was watching the Rangers vs. Orioles game where the Rangers scored an historic 30 runs to Baltimore’s 3. At some point during the 8th inning as Texas added 10 more runs I just so desperately wanted to see Baltimore call the game. It was just sad watching them fight so hard to try to win a winless game. I feel the same way watching Hilary these last weeks… Hilary, just call the game! Barack is only scoring more runs!

A woman in Norwalk Connecticut files a claim that her outing with her son was ruined by dog feces. She is actually suing the city because her son stepped into Doggy doodoo. Saying it ruined his shoes and her day- her claims were met by the judge with the phrase “poop happens”

I hit my head while painting my kitchen- I sued the cabinet.

Ministerial update: My new jobs and roles around the Missions Base are taking on a life of their own. I’m now a section leader during 6am-12pm in the Prayer room, mostly overseeing our small groups and small group leaders. Then I’m Assistant Directing our youth camps this summer, and helping start a student ministries department that will have impact globally. Along with starting a media department, packaging the gospel and other sermons in the form of video blogs, podcasts, and other presentations. Not to mention teaching at a Worldveiw class at a charter Highschool next year. The nice thing with all of that is I’m getting my own office here in a week or so! eeeoow!

[Queen] “…Bump Bump bump and another one bites the dust” Bit Torrent friend- Torrent Spy gets sued for $110 million in copyright infringements. Just another in the long line of sued file sharing software peeps. Just goes to show that the FBI warning at the beginning of DVD’s isn’t just there for annoyance.

So its out! The “Evangelical Manifesto” that is. I’ve been waiting for this all week. It came out Wednesday. A group of Evangelical ministers got together and and decided something that I’ve long been saying here: 1. That the term Evangelical needs to be defined theologically as people who are of the gospel, not defined politically or culturally as it has been. 2. They call for repentance in the way we have walked out the gospel in the World. I agree, and repent. We (evangelicals) have made our faith more about single issue politics then we have made it about preaching the gospel. I’m all about seeing abortion ended, but Our charge is preach the gospel first. If we believe in the resurrection power of Christ the way we say we do, then our preaching the gospel will be way more effective than all of us trying to be William Wilberforce. Which for a few is fine, but as a whole we MUST declare Christ and Him Crucified and not let it get lost amongst political agendas. I don’t agree with everything in the manifesto, but I endorse those 2 points for sure!

I just found out that 150 years ago the acre of land my house in on, was the site of a giant civil war battle. It was part of the Battle for Westport. That battle is considered the Gettysburg of Missouri. The land I live on is where the Confederates retreated to. I’m thinking about getting a metal detector and looking for artifacts.

Growing up friends of mine always wanted to get tatoos and piercings. I never had a problem with it, I just never really wanted to, though my mom always thought I should. How many people can say that?

Carrie’s parents are in town this weekend, as is my Mom. Carrie graduates tomorrow from FSM. I’m so excited and proud of her. Listen to my future wife talk about the divinity of Christ is like a vacation in Barbados; simply beautiful. She is so brilliant.

My best friend and confidant Kyle Gebhart, wrote an great post on “The Hidden Danger of Christian Patriotism.” very good post, check it out!

With Oil breaking $126 a barrel, commuters in places like SoCal, people are turning to public transportation. I think there may be something to that. Maybe instead of lobbying the Feds to lower taxes or bring the prices down, we should lobby locally for our cities to get better public transit systems as an alternative to having to drive to work every day. Obviously doesn’t help those in rural areas, but cutting the demand for gas down in major cities, will bring down the cost of supply… just a thought.

When I was 5 years old I had an imaginary friend named Bob. I think I named him Bob because my parents watched the Bob Newhart show, and I always thought he was funny.

I’ve averaged a good couple hundred hits a day on the “Lakeland Revival??” post, and received even more e-mails, lots of questions about what we should do with what is happening. I’m living in Switzerland on this one (staying neutral). But here is what I will say this: The way Jesus deals with the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are key to understanding how we should respond to the church in this day amidst questions and supposed misconduct. Also the way Paul wrote to the Chruch in Colossai (they were worshiping Angels) the way he responds to them is an outline of how the amount of graciousness and love needed. All of us will come away from this humble, and admitting our weakness and need for Christ before Heaven.

Jesus Christ made a way for us to enter into the Holy of Holys. We ONLY have entrance into that place through the blood of Christ, for He rendt the veil with rending of His flesh so that we could encounter the living God. But it’s only through Christ and His Holy Spirit that we have entrance to those things that are in the heavenly realm. He has become the Great High Priest, we are in Him through faith. Where He is so also are we. But our entrance to things supernatural cannot be found anywhere except in The human man who is God and is returning to the Earth; Jesus Christ.

From Randomness to the gospel… that’s how I roll. much love to you all.

I’m out like drilling in ANWR!

Need a Great Awakening

The ironic thing about not being able to sleep one night when in the morning section, is that during the prayer room at 6am you can’t stay awake! That’s me today. I’m meditating on Galatians 5. I close my eyes to pray and a few minutes later Steeno is hitting me in the shoulder to wake me up.

However today is going to be fantastic as my mom and Carrie’s parents are in town for the weekend! But I first must make it through Galatians, the mountain of meetings this afternoon, and the projects with unchecked boxes next to them. If you are a friend pray I get a second wind…first wind at some point today!

Praise the Lord for Espresso!

p.s. 6. 6 is the number of times I nodded off while writing this post…

The woman who taught me all I know

Today is one of my favorite holidays; My Mother’s Birthday.

One night about 7 or 8 years ago my mom and I were having one of our many late night conversations about my life. I had graduated from High School, and was now working at a Meat Packing Plant in the mornings and was doing pretty much nothing the rest of the day. I was kind of depressed about the whole scenario. My whole life I had wanted to do great things, I had visions of changing the world, yet I was doing nothing. My mom had always encouraged my to dream big, to shoot for the moon, that nothing was out of my reach. Instead I was working a blue collar job wondering if it was a glimpse of what life was going to look like.

I remembering breaking down and crying while I was talking it out with her. I was going through all the things I wanted to accomplish, all the things I wanted to do but I had no idea how to do them all. Once I had stopped ranting, I hung my head and continued to cry. My mom said gently but soberly, “Son, look at me.” I wiped my eyes and lifted my head to make eye contact. “I don’t care what you do. You can be famous and impact the world, or you can work at McDonald’s the rest of your life. I only care about one thing, that you love Jesus with all that you are. You do that, and I will always be proud of you no matter what you accomplish.” These words changed my life. She never cared about how talented I was, or how many great things I could accomplish, though she rejoiced in them. She only ever wanted one thing for me; to know and love Christ with all I am.

This is the picture I forever carry of my mom. She is a wise woman. One of the most well read people I know. I would often catch her up late at her desk, with her glasses pushed down on her nose, peering over the rims and reading some book. My mom has much wisdom and has done many things. She has been to more countries than I can count. Every year she’d be off to some far off destination, whether it be for exploration, or ministry. No matter what she did, no matter her fault, no matter the circumstance, no matter how much wisdom she accumulated, she has still only ever cared about one thing; Loving Christ, and those around her. She loved both very well.

I remember when I was in Junior high and high school, she would always go to some far off nation to minister. Turkey, Croatia, Russia, Venezuela, etc. One thing I always adored about her was when she returned her wedding ring would be missing. Some times she would inform us that it was gone, sometimes my dad would just notice. The story was always the same. She met some old lady who had nothing of value and had lost everything. My mom would be praying for her and want to leave her with something of value, so she’d take off her ring and give it to her. Mom was always so generous with what ever she had. She doesn’t care about accumulating things of value, she’d rather give them away and accumulate a treasure of love for Christ on the inside.

My mom is also cool. I mean the coolest! Growing up I went through many phases of musical taste. She never made me go to my room to listen to it, instead she’d tell me to crank it up in the living room where we all were. Sometimes it was Rap, sometimes it was Harcore/ metal, I even went through the 2 month Ska phase I think everyone my age went through. My mom liked whatever I played.

My mom introduced me to the art of tepeeing houses, the joy of dancing your heart out to your favorite music in the kitchen, the beauty of good theater, and the ability to enjoy life no matter the circumstance or hardship one is facing.

If I gain any respect, any honor, any stature in this life, it will be because I have had parents who showed me that the best way to live life is to be broken and resting in the grace Christ. That love and humility is more important than honor and accomplishments. My mom is a woman who truly fears God, and loves Him with all her heart. She’s taught me all I’ve ever really needed to know. I grateful to her for the man I am becoming.

I love you momma! Happy Birthday!

Video Blog: Adventures in Lawn care

Enjoy

Wedding day manifestation HA!

Father bless this guy… I about busted my gut. I love my charismatic brethren.

Shakesphere?

So today it’s 7:49am and my blog has gotten 52 hits from people searching Shakesphere. Some how getting to a post I wrote a year ago mentioning Shakesphere in it.

What’s the deal? is it like national Shakesphere day? Is it his birthday? I just thought it unsual that all of a sudden 52 people this morning decided that searching “Shakesphere” was important. How they got here, I don’t know. Either way I thought it strange.

Video Blogging debacle

Sooo… I’m not that good at video blogging just yet. So far the only philosophy I’ve employed is press the capture button on my laptop then press upload. It’ll get better. In fact I’ve been playing around with informal video blogs for the purpose of something I’m working on. Based on people’s response I kind of answered my own question. It’s the answer most people never admit but always rings true: People want structure.

So structure in video blogging you shall have. We can only go upwards from here.

peace

still painting

So here we are, and here is a little clip i recorded as a break in the action… enjoy!

If my people who are called by my name…

If you haven’t thought about joining us at The Call DC, you should think about it. Having been on days the last month or so I’ve been able to witness something I’ve always known about Lou Engle; He’s for real.

I’ve often stated my thoughts on the church getting involved in politics (It should never happen) Yet this is how we can be a light, this rally.

God desires to end abortion. All across the nation people are being raised up by God to be a voice to stop this injustice. This rally is a chance to make the ending of abortion glory for His name, as opposed to glory for human effort. (though human effort is important) The gathering at The Call is hundreds of thousands of people joining Jesus in intercession for the 50 million babies that have been slaughtered. What we are doing is joining our Great high priest as He petitions our Father in Heaven. In doing so, when he acts, we act. This increases the possibility for Glory for His name and gives us a chance to know the Heart of God as he allows us to partner in His government by joining Jesus in prayer. This rally isn’t about us changing God’s mind about abortion. God hates abortion and injustice but (Luke 1 He works righteousness and justice for the oppressed for those who cry out day and night, if we pray and not lose heart. Just a little theology behind it from those who were going to ask

watch the video, and come.

Random Rantings Friday #84

Greetings folks and welcome to the 84th edition of Random Rantings Friday! I went back and counted, I can’t believe I’ve done 84 RRFs! Can’t wait until edition 100… I plan to make that the longest one ever! ok ok on to the randomness:

My Beautiful sister took Carrie and I’s Engagement photos Sunday. They turned out really good. Sarah really may have a career as a photographer ahead of her. If she wanted to be one that is. I will post some of them on a page here later… so look for it.

A man mowing his lawn in Cedar Rapids, Iowa found a 7-10 foot hole in his back yard. No Joke. He said he always noticed that that part of the yard was soft, but he had always just blamed the rain. As he was mowing his foot sunk into the ground up to his calf. He grabbed onto the mower so as not to fall all the way in. He dug around the area and found a giant hole nearly 10 feet deep. Wonder if thats what happened to Hoffa?

I’m so excited about ATC this summer . Its going to be so much fun working with teens again. There is something that is rather heavy to me about it. I taught a class for a group of teens at IHOP last week. I was hit with the brevity of teaching a group of impressionable young people. It makes me want to be that much more sound in my understanding of the Word so that I can help guide their young hearts to Christ properly.

So Martin Luther left the Catholic Church and started the reformation. Not because of just doctrinally beliefs, but the “church” wasn’t actually a church. They weren’t preaching Christianity, so he left. Today there are those who think the reformation is still going on. That we need to “reform” every area of doctrine to their expression. I plead that we need to unite in our common belief in Christ so as to present a unified front to the lost. I want to see the gospel preached with power. It’s hard for that to happen if we are always divided. Least the cross of Christ be emptied of it’s power…

Spam turns 30 on May 3. I hate spam. No…not hate loathe. I find that “food” disgusting. No… repugnant. In Highschool for some reason Spam was cool, because it was so gross. We did things like held “spam sculpting” contests. Or “Spam-O-lympics”. It was weird. Well uh, happy 30th Spam! May you continue to be repulsed for ages to come.

So the last 6 or 7 decades our society and culture has been driven by marketing. Now days, it’s not only the most graduated field out of college, it’s the thread used to weave the fabric of our society. Turns out we aren’t the first ones. 8,000 years ago the Mesopotamians also were a brand and advertisement driven society. Wonder if they used Taradactels to carry banner ads in the sky?

How the Texas Polygamist thing went down is very interesting. On one hand I’m grateful that they went in, because I don’t like what was going on. On the other hand (WARNING: I’m going to sound like a liberal here. Please don’t call Rush) Constitutionally, the police had no business going in. Now I only have the reports I’ve read, so I could very well be wrong. But they had one informant tell them that something fishy was going on. They had women and children in their homes, wanting to stay in their homes. The women wanted to stay and the men were willingly coming out, and the police had no warrant. Did they need tanks? Artillery? Tear gas? Had the police in that state learned nothing from the debacle of Waco and how they burned and killed tons of innocent people to get one psycho? Was what was going on right? No. Should it have been handled differently? oh heck yes.

I have the nicest finger nails on the planet. No joke. Somehow I got blessed with remarkably beautiful finger nails. Girls always see my nails and wish they had natural nails like mine. Weird eh? They are always shiny, the tips are always perfect white, and they are straight and strong… yeah I know I just lost like 5 man points.

Christianity Today did an interesting article on something that I’ve always wondered about; the story of the prostitute that Jesus forgives in John 7. The “He who is without sin cast the first stone”. The thing is the story isn’t in any of the first manuscripts of the John letter. In other words, most believe John didn’t write it. It started getting tacked on at the end then found it’s way into the book. It’s interesting to me concerning the stories significance.

Obama the Anti-Christ? Well apparently in the secular world that rumor is flying around. Which is simply amusing to me. Here is an urban myths site refuteing Obama as the AC: here

UM… so hypothetical question. Say you are stealing a car from someone, and you are forcing them to drive you around at gun point. Do you think it would be a good idea to make the driver stop so you can ask a side walk news reporter on TV for directions? Well thats what this 19 year old car-jacker did. As you guessed- he got caught. Next time plan ahead bro… by that I mean get a job and save up for a car!

I hope to finish remodeling the kitchen tomorrow! When I say kitchen, I mean dinning room and office as well. See the project started out as one thing buuuuuuut carried over into other things. Good news though! I’ll have a wonderful looking new living area soon, ready for my beautiful bride to move into and enjoy!

To all who read, including the nice guy that said hi to me this morning, bless you all! Happy Weekend!

Here is one of the pics from our engagement photo shoot!