In Case You Were Wondering

Yep!
Romans 5:8, 10:9-10, John 3:16.



Saw this on the way back from CofC this AM, where I dropped off R and her mom for orientation. P and I are hanging out, goofin' off, etc.

If you look closely, the word "chapel" is right underneath Grace. Not sure where the chapel went, but the sign, as it stands now, is still true.

Me, Myself and Bob

Just finished Me, Myself and Bob — A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables, by Phil Vischer. A good read for anyone. Phil was the founder of Big Idea Productions, which brought us VeggieTales. He built the company, and, basically killed it. “I have dusted the body for prints, and they are all mine.” The first part of the book was about how VeggieTales came to be, complete with interesting details about technical stuff he used to make it happen. The last part is about how he got ahead of God—thus managing to bankrupt the company—and what he has learned from it all. There are spiritual lessons and business lessons.

My children grew up with Bob and Larry. We laughed along with them. I can still sing you parts of the songs from the early videos. I still think some of the earliest ones are the best.

There were some thought-provoking lines. Here are a few:

• “Externally, everything looked groovy. Internally, chaos abounded.”

• Vischer relates how he is pretty sure his business goal “emanated suspiciously from my own noggin in response to a business book exercise, as opposed to from God after much prayer and reflection.”

• The real question to ask in any failure, of course, isn’t “Who should we blame?” but rather “What did we learn?” (p. 207)

• “If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you—the dream or him.” [From a message by Richard Porter].

There is lots of humor mixed in with what turned out to be a sad story. You’ll be informed, and you’ll also be encouraged to get your direction from God rather than your own head or a man.

• “The more I dove into Scripture, the more I realized I had been deluded. I had grown up drinking a dangerous cocktail—a mix of the gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American dream.” (p.237)

• God doesn’t love me because of what I can do for Him. He just loves me—even when I’ve done nothing at all. (p. 247)

Parts of the dénouement of the book (like that word?) challenges the frenetic pace we Americans live, and that includes American church people. Are we more frenetic than faithful? Maybe if we stopped long enough, got quiet enough, and in His Truth enough, we’d get a revelation instead of a good idea.

You'll love the humor. You'll grow from the story.

Both Ends of a Conversation

The other day I was in one of my favorite fast food places. It was after the lunch rush, and so the place was fairly empty. So, I guess to liven up the place, two different people at different times and different tables spoke on their cell phones. Not unusual. But they pushed SPEAKER, I guess so we wouldn't be in suspense about the other half of the conversation–like we were interested.

Cell phones in restaurant rules:
1. If its a long call, excuse yourself and go somewhere away from people, especially if you think you have to yell in your cell phone to be heard.
2. Never yell in a cell phone - it doesn't make the signal any better on the other end. (Turn up your volume so you can hear the other person better. Yelling tends to be a function more of the insensitivity of your ears than of the phone.)
3. Don't hit "speaker." We don't care.

I Dreamed A Dream

A few months ago, an audience, a few judges, and a lot of the world were taken aback by an incredible voice hidden behind a very average face. You probably saw Susan Boyle sing the song from “Les Miserable,” entitled “I Dreamed A Dream.” (If you haven’t, you can see it now.) The actions and then the reactions of the audience and judges are worth noting, because they reflect most of our natural inclinations to judge people by appearances.)

“Les Miserable” tops my list of “favorite plays I have never seen.” I have the music from the Royal Albert Hall performance from a few years ago. Hearing Susan got me to listening to the music again, and catching the message. It has always been of interest to me how the themes of grace and forgiveness permeate the musical when, I am told, the author of the book was far from a Christ-follower.

Maybe its because I have done media stuff for so long, but when I really listen to a song, I see pictures in my head to go along with it. Some of the pictures are ones I have already taken, and others are just conjured up in my imagination. As I was listening to “I Dreamed A Dream” images of very special Romanian orphans came to mind. For some of them, the song is way too close to their reality. For others, it simply speaks of the childhood dreams of safety, security, love and acceptance — that they missed.

For nine summers, starting in 1999, groups from our church went to Romania and worked with Livada Orphan Care (www.livada.org — For current news, check out the Livada Blog. ) to provide the message and the love of Christ to some of these kids. Many of them we saw year after year. We got to know them and a few of their stories. The door is currently closed on that work for us. I guess it is God’s timing, but I have to tell you, those children, many who have grown to become young adults now, are still on my mind. And when I heard the song, many of those faces came sharply back into focus. (Note, a couple of those kid’s photos are in the header to this blog.)

This summer, while groups are not in the picture, two of our college guys are investing their lives with these children. At a time when many are thinking about scaling back, they are pushing forward with the vision (dream?) that God has given them, thus impacting the dreams of nearly a thousand children and teens they will serve, lead, love, and encourage. Go guys! You are obeying scripture and, in some ways, being used of God so this life will not kill the dreams these children dream. (Song reference)

I think it no accident that scripture clearly speaks to orphan care. “Pure religion and undefiled is this, that you care for widows and orphans, and you keep yourself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27) Sometimes, Jesus intends for our hands to be His hands… If you think that is the only reference to widows and orphans in scripture, go to BibleGateway.com and do a word search for those two words.

Keep watching this blog. Maybe I'll be able to put together a "dreams" video one of these days.

Mid Year Resolution

Okay,

It has been months since I posted anything. That is about to change. My goal will be once a week. May start back with some thoughts that have been rolling around since the end of February, but most will be "new" stuff.

For now, let me just say that I have been reminded again how much time we spend thinking, talking, viewing, getting, attaining, and/or fussing over things that a few minutes, days, weeks, or years will not make any difference to us or anyone else. May we learn what it means to "redeem the time." Ephesians 5:15-16.

Back Soon!