Bono on Worship Music

My fellow blogger and pastor Bob Franquiz has this great quote from U2's Bono.

“All music is worship. It could be worship of self, of women, of God, but it’s all worship."

Christmas Wish in July

I saw these online tonight and just have to get a pair. I guess if I saved a dollar a week for two years then I can run barefoot and free for the rest of my life since my feet have virtually stopped growing. Link

What do you do when you are in a valley?

I love to watch survival shows on Discovery channel. My favorite was Survivorman, a Canadian guy who would lose himself somewhere and video tape his escape by himself, but he must be lost somewhere in syndication now. Man vs. Wild hosted by Bear Grylls is the new top survival show. He is followed by a camera crew, so he is not as destitute as the other guy, but he is much cooler, and better looking, plus his resume includes being the youngest Brit to climb Everest. All that being said, I was reading C.S. Lewis describe life's ups and downs and how that it is all part of life and the it only matters what we do with those ups and downs.

All this started me thinking about the survival shows and what they did to survive the long hikes out of the wilderness and back to civilization. This is the nugget of truth that I learned and want to share with you. When Bear is dropped off, the first thing he will do is to climb to the peak to gain perspective and catch a vision for his walk. However, he cannot remain on the mountain top because 1. He will never reach his destination and 2. There is no food to sustain him on the mountain top. Application: When God allows us to reach mountaintops in life it is only for perspective and direction, not a place to camp out, no matter how great the view. (Read Matthew 17:4 for Peter's thoughts on this)

Bear knows that life sustaining water is actually in the valley and if he is going to live and complete his journey then he is going to need to pass through the valleys. Spiritually, we tend to depress the valleys. We talk so much about how we pass through the valley of death and how miserable it is to be in a valley, but maybe we are not thinking correctly about the valleys. Maybe we need to change our thinking about what we do when we are in a valley? Bear takes time to get fresh water in the valleys. The pools of water on mountain tops are often riddled with bacteria, but the springs of the valley give pure water. He will also build a shelter for a place to rest, the weather on the mountain top is too extreme for rest, the valleys are the best place to rest. Finally he will gather food for the journey in the valley. Because of the water in the valley, there is fruit for him to carry with him.

So what do you do when you find yourself in the next spiritual valley? rejoice! No, you can't see the future from here, but this is the place to find living water, rest and nourishment for the journey ahead. So when you find yourself in the valley, take some time to rest, spend some time to refresh yourself with the Living Water, and gather the fruits of the spirit into your life for the journey ahead.

Tall meets small

FOX News posts this picture today of the World's tallest man in a meet and greet photo opt. You can read the story here. In all the bad news in the world it is good to see that we can put away our differences and be friends.

Holy Land Experience Under New Management

I have loved the fact that we have such an experience here in Orlando. If you have never been, then it is a must see. The difficulty for HLE is that it lacked return visitors. For many of us locals it qualifies as a "been there, done that" park. Not that the musicals were not amazing, the Tabernacle was not cool, the Temple model was not exquisite, and the Scriptorium not vast. But it could never convince me why I should pay $32 to return.

It was announced Tuesday that TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network), the largest Christian TV network with over 12,000 TV stations is buying the property. They will increase its development to be more like a theme park. A dream that Marv Rosenthal originally had for the property, but unable to accomplish financially or personally. I do not say this to deride Marv, but he was very conservative in his views and would not have promoted the park in such a way as it would have harmed the integrity of the park in his eyes. He desired that the park should be attractive on its own merits, not through TV promotion etc. In the end I believe that the Holy Land Experience will be salvaged and for that Marv and I should be happy. The marriage of TV Networks and Theme parks is a well proven business model, and as American as apple pie. Just ask our friends at Disney and Universal and they will tell you that this is a match made in heaven. You can read more on this here.

Hog Wild

Here is a story from Fox News about a Hog that was harvested by an 11 year old boy in Alabama last week. That is one big pig. FYI There are still lots of pigs in the Green Swamp and our area orange groves. Keep your eyes open, you never know when you might need an 11 year old to come to your rescue.

Scott Kirppayne wins American Idol Song Writing

Last night Scott Kirppayne, a Christian Singer/song writer won the song writing competition for American Idol. Scott is probably best known for his fun, upbeat "I'm not cool" song where he describes himself as being "not cool, but that's okay. My God loves me anyway!" Again American Idol recognizes that the greatest talent is a God-given gift. Who's cool now! Hey Gabe, he wrote the song with his pastor Jeff Peabody. Whatcha Think? You can find the story here.

Spiderman

Well I took the plunge. Amy and I fell and went to see the latest Spiderman movie. There was a lot of good scenes and a lot of akward scenes. Probable the most akward moment is at the end when everyone clapped just to realize that the movie was still going, and going. The movie tried to do just too much and do two movies in one. It may be due to the fact that the dude who plays spiderman has been a problem for the producer contractually. The movie has a lot of redemptive spiritual lessons that we can take away. 1. Not even Spidey is above falling into sin. 2. My favorite quote. "If you want forgiveness try religion." close. And 3. Spiderman goes to the church to overcome the darkness of venom. overall it was a great movie, in fact it was three great movies in one. A good lesson for this preacher, that it does not matter how good the content is, too long is too long. Tomorrow, I am letting everyone out early! (So you can beat Community of Faith as you take mom to the restaurant)

Four Corners Gator Cook-Off

Several have asked why we chose not to set up a booth at this year's Four Corners Gator Cook-Off. I will mention it here, as an insight to who we are, but also as a bit of an editorial on the event. First, I must admit that we did not participate last year.(2006) This was due to the fact that we did not know about the event until it was too late to put anything together. At that point we made plans to be involved in this year's event, and were excited to see it announced several weeks in advance in the Reporter. However some things had changed, and significantly affected our decision on involvement in the event.

Primarily, (Soap Box ALERT) They moved the "Four Corners" event into the heart of Touristville, by having it at Formosa Gardens, just between Animal Kingdom and the old Splendid China. A great place for events, an area we all visit, but definitely not Four Corners. This was an obvious attempt by the organizers to increase revenues and attendance. As a local group, I am thankful for our tourists, but if I wanted to meet crowds of out of towners, I could do that anywhere. The Gator cook-off was billed as a community event, but it was moved outside the community and designed for people outside the community.

Secondarily, I was uncomfortable as a parent with the strong focus on alcohol. The event was originally scheduled to be at Four Corners Elementary School in 2006, but moved to Champion's Gate when the organizers were informed that alcohol would not be permitted. This year, they come back with a "Beer Garden" I don't know what gets planted in a beer garden, but I know the weeds that can grow there. I do not want my kids to be around much drinking. I do take them to ball games, and maybe that makes me a bit of a hypocrite, but it seemed that the beer garden was one of the attractions for the event. For me? Not so much.

I read in this morning's paper that they had about 1,000 people show up. a good amount I guess, but I would venture to bet that they were hoping for more. The two things that I found a bit interesting: First, is that for the photo, they took a picture of the Realtor playing the ball toss at his own booth. Why? Probably because no one else was there to be pictured. Did they not have pictures of any local families to include? Second, there were only 5 participants in the gator cook-off. Only 5 individuals were in the running. That means that if I took raw gator meat, I would have come in sixth place. No wonder the reporter failed to find many who were enjoying the gator meat.

In conclusion, I truly love the idea of the cook-off and think that it can be a success that our community really rallies behind. However, they must, in my opinion come home. It must be focused on the community, not the industry. They must reach out to local churches, and organizations, in addition to businesses to really bring it home. Next year, if there is a next year( I hope there is), and if they are in Four Corners, I am going to cook up some gator meat with my special recipe and win one for the home team!

Nursery Catacombs Idea Flops

Here is a link to a great article from Lark News. For those of you praying and giving to our Tabernacle Project to improve our kidZone, you will appreciate the wisdom of our staff after you read this.

Blake Misses the Point

Imagine Blake Lewis getting kicked off Idol. After hearing his rendition of "Imagine" I am severely disappointed in his song choice no matter what Randy says. Since when is "imagining that there is no heaven" would give anyone hope. If, as the song goes there is no heaven and no hell, then life is hopeless. I have always hated the popularity of that song, and am sad that it would be added as a song of inspiration. I was pulling for Blake, before he pulled this, now I cannot support him.

I was, however and still am excited about the positive songs that most of the contestants chose. Melinda Doolittle proved again that she will be this year's choice. Also, Jordin Sparks knocked it out of the park!

Idol Goes Inspirational

Have you heard the news? Tonight American Idol will have the top six contestants perform songs of hope and inspiration. U2's Bono will be the special guest coach, and I know it will be the biggest AI yet. I do not know what songs will be chosen, but I am excited to know that on their way to the top Inspirational music beat out country! Finally America gets it. Yeah!

Nasally's a form of singing

Watching American Idol last night, I almost fell out of my chair when Chris Richardson challenged Simon's criticism by actually defending his nasally sound. He said, to the one before whom he stands in judgment, ''Nasally's a form of singing; I don't know if you knew that or not." Simon wanted to discuss it further, but was cut off by Ryan. Essentially Chris should be voted off simply for his statement, if not his lack of tone. In a way, he is right, nasally is a form of singing, but not one people want to listen to. Alley cats have their form of singing too.

The lesson I take from this is that when I am criticized, my natural instinct is to defend myself. Rather than be quick to defend I should listen and take the criticism. It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Later, I will have time to process the criticism and gauge its validity. Fortunately for Chris, I am predicting that Sanjaya's house of cards falls this week. Like a cat who has now caught and finally killed a mouse, the life is gone for most of us in the vote for the worst campaign. His arrogance, along with his terrible sound takes all the fun out of it for me.

Father's Day Rolling Stones Style

Well Dads, we all want our kids to remember us and even to take a little bit of us into the future, but this is just nuts. Keith Richards, lead guitarist with the very handsome group of men known as "The Rolling Stones," admitted to a reporter the other day that me mixed his dad's ashes (yes, his dad was cremated, those ashes) with some cocaine and took it right up the old snout. And you thought there were no more role models for our kids these days. Oh well, this may start a new fad and who knows, Father's Day isn't far off.

Sanjaya Malakar

If you don't Sanjaya, I understand. Master Malakar is the unfortunate contestant on American Idol, who in spite of his consistent, humiliating, performances, which shows that he is not divine or even angelic, but awful. However, every week he gets up in front of 30 million people to do his best when he knows he is the worst. How many of us, at 17 would repeatedly subjugate ourselves to public scrutiny, let alone mockery. I have moved past frustration and into respect for him as he is now the poster child for the anti-idol movement "vote for the worst." If you were wondering how he stays on, it is because there is a committed group of viewers who have begun a movement, to vote for the worst performer. I tried to pull up their website and it is down at this moment, but you may find it here. Is Sanjaya the worst? Absolutely. Will I vote for him? Not likely, but I will cheer for him to do well, and I will respect his character as he stands before the world and sings his best knowing that he is a pawn in a conspiracy that mocks the show, but unfortunately makes him the butt of the joke. As I see it, Sanjaya has three options, 1. Quit 2. keep doing things the same and continue the embarrasment, or 3. Embrace the VFTW crowd and play to them, making the best of a bad situation. After last night's hair doo it is obvious that he has chosen the latter. Choosing a song with the line "I'm diving into my own destruction." Good game Sanjaya, let's see if it works, if it does you take back control of your image. Whatever that may be.

Godtube.com

Did you know that there is a new YouTube for Christians. It is still in Beta but is up and running here. It will most likely be filled up by churches who produce inhouse commercials and along with a whole lot of religious nuts looking for a free platform. Only time will tell if the start up company will be able to police the videos for the type of fare that finds its way onto Youtube. I hope it does well. They are already bosting my favorite viral video "Big Bibles."