Archive for October, 2007

From Fellowship to Hospitality

Living in community with each other is vital. I’ve talked about this before. But,if all it ever becomes is a inwardly focussed Moose Lodge meeting then we’ve missed half the point. Yes, community is where we digest Truth and mature to be more like Christ. But Jesus spent a lot of time with sinners. An awful lot of time. So much so, that he made everyone around Him uncomfortable.

In scripture we see both the idea of fellowship (Gk. koinonia) and hospitality (Gk. philoxenia). Hospitality is more than being in relationship with other Christians. Being open, vulnerable, relational. Hospitality is fellowship extended to strangers. Hospitality should be a natural outgrowth of fellowship. You simply allow your Christ-centered community to extend beyond the church walls and encompass your neighborhoods, workplaces, and daily encounters with the lost world in which we live.

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Weekend Thoughts

It was an interesting week here at Live.awake. I wrote a post on Saturday about Joel Osteen and it turned into the hottest post I’ve ever done (aside from the How to Sell a House in Over 6 Months, but I don’t count that because it was from a once-in-a-lifetime link from a major real estate site). The funny thing is that the post was something of an afterthought on my part. From now on I am going to find a way to work the name Joel Osteen into every one of my posts… ;-)

Here a few bullet points to heave you head first into the weekend.

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Pastor Appreciation Month

Heather is working today so she won’t be able to post until tomorrow. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to thank everyone at KCC for the gifts on Sunday.

Apparently, October is pastor appreciation month. I didn’t know such a thing existed until this Sunday. We got a big basket of household items (presented in a creative way by Debbie and Bethany). We also got a card signed by everyone and a boat load of cash inside. I mean a boat load.

You guys are giving well beyond what could be expected.
Heather and I were deeply blessed by the whole thing.

Thank you!

Armchair Quarterbacks Unite!

Watching a football game with my brother is an experience. He’s a sports fanatic when it comes to football and basketball. I, on the other hand, have never really gotten into it. But occasionally I will sit through a game with my brother and other friends because that’s what everyone wants to do. I’d rather hang out with friends watching a game that I don’t care about, than sitting at home with nothing to do.

From my perspective, it appears that every sports fan believes that they could be a pro quarterback. They complain about the plays he calls, discuss the flaws in his quarterbacking philosophy, compliment him when he does things that they would have done “in his shoes”, and pretty much blame him for the team’s failures. When he makes a great play, he’s their hero. When he fumbles, they yell at the tv calling for him to tarred, feathered and crushed by a linebacker on he opposing team. Everyone has their favorite quarterback too. It may not be the quarterback on their favorite team, but they have one.

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Joel Osteen Bashing

Joel OsteenHave you ever watched or heard something that you thought was good at first, but just didn’t sit right for some reason? During my Friday post I linked to a video of Mark Driscoll giving Joel Osteen what-for. My brief comments indicated that I thought Driscoll was right in all that he said. All day I’ve been rethinking it and I thought I would turn this into a longer post with a more complete and balanced perspective.

First, watch the video so you will know what I’m talking about. I’ll make some comments following.

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Weekend Thoughts

My friend Ben Goodman is coming to preach Sunday. I spent about 1 hour today working on a sermon for Sunday when I realized I didn’t have to because he’s preaching. It’s scary how much I’m a creature of habit sometimes.

Here are some random thoughts to get you started on the weekend.

  • I’m sitting here with my wife watching Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t get it. Am I the only one who doesn’t find any of the characters on this show at all compelling? All of them are sad, whiny, and completely clueless. I just don’t get it. Maybe Jack Bauer should make a guest appearance and shoot up the place. Dr. McDreamy could be the tragic casualty dying slowly from nerve gas inhalation while the other doctors try to save him in the stylishly lit O.R.
  • Mark Driscoll finally gave Joel Osteen both barrels this week. You know he must have been debating doing this for a long time. He actually played a clip of Osteen during his sermon and then spent a few minutes after dismantling it. I would embed the video here, but I’m afraid the same people that got mad when I slammed Josh Groban will get equally mad if I diss on Osteen (or Clay Aiken for that matter). So, here’s a link to the video. Now you can’t send me hate mail.

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Things My Kids Have that I Want

Being a grown up is cool. Really, it is. I get to drive by myself, dress myself, pastor an awesome church, drink coffee and buy beer without sending my creepy uncle into the Quick-E Mart for me (kidding… my uncle isn’t creepy). But there are a lot of things that my kids get to do that I don’t. Sometimes I get a tad jealous.

  • Feet pajamas. You know the ones. The full body, one-piece pajamas that have the feet built in with the slippery pad on the bottom. They usually have cool designs on them too like baseballs and baseball bats or Spiderman shooting his web. I’ve looked for them for adults with no luck.
  • No tears shampoo. Once they figured out how to take the tears out of shampoo, why the heck didn’t they do that to ALL shampoo? Are adult eye balls somehow impervious to the stinging torture of regular shampoo? Cmon, L’Oreal, get it together.

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