Happy Halloween!!!

My treat for you....Indian Thriller!

Enjoy,
:)L

Housing the Fullness of God...

I just saw this on Dan (not Donald) Miller's blog. and it was just too awesome not to share:

"As a Russian priest (1829 - 1908), Father John Sergiev first thought he wanted to be a monk in the remote areas of Siberia - but after a vision, he realized God wanted him to be a missionary right where he was - in the hustle and bustle of the big urban city of St. Petersburg. While most priests remained in the safe confines of their cathedrals, Father John would go out into the noisy, dirty, crime-ridden slums and back alleys of the city.

He would find someone down and out in the gutter, sleeping off the effects of the previous night’s drink and activities. Father John would cup his chin; look him in the eyes and say, “This is beneath your dignity. You were created to house the fullness of God.”

Wherever he went, people found new hope and optimism because they discovered, or were reminded, of who they were. Seeing ourselves in the light of who God made us to be is both exciting and contagious.

So, are you housing the fullness of God today? If you are full of despair and hopelessness because of the current economic situation, I doubt there is room for much else. If you are angry and resentful because your stocks crashed or you lost your job, I suspect that is what people will first notice about you.

Can you remember what you were created for? When I hear people complain about how bad their lives are I’m going to start saying, “This is beneath your dignity. You were created to house the fullness of God.”

How to Get the Economy Back in Black

Forget the bailout package. If Congress really wants to get the economy back on track, there's really only one way: Get AC/DC to stop releasing succesful albums.

A British newspaper has pointed out how the success of AC/DC albums has coincided with the darkest of economic times.

AC/DC’s Black Ice recently went straight to number one on 29 countries’ sales charts around the world.

For those about to rock...I salute you!

Leading with Kindness

An internal company rule at Google is that "no employee should ever be more than 150 feet away from food." Is it any wonder that Google is one of the coolest places to work on the planet? Which translates into it being one of the most successful businesses on the planet.

A new way of managing is emerging. The Donald Trump style of intimidation is as tired and played out as an episode of The Apprentice: Hollywood B-Listers edition. Some of the world's most successful companies are realizing that the better they treat their employees, the more productive they get.

In other words, "Do unto others" works outside of the church on Sundays and makes a difference in the board rooms and cube farms on Mondays.

Businessmen and professors William F. Baker and Michael O'Malley have traveled across the country seeking the kindest companies and leaders. They found that the better employees were treated, the more successful the companies were. (Duh) The rule applied both to big companies like Google and small family businesses where kindness is part of the owner's culture. Now they have put all their experiences into a book, "Leading with Kindness. How good people get consistently better results".

Their site also offers other practical tipson leading with kindness. Lead on!

Oscar's been Green for YEARS!

Oh those Canadians and their wacky PSAs...

Dueling Church Signs

Do the Wheels on the Atheist Bus Go Round and Round?

Leading uber-athesist and the person most in need of a hug in the whole wide world, Richard Dawkins is at it again. So what does a non-God fearin' author of the best seller The God Delusion (which in a nutshell says that God doesn't exist and those who believe He does are delusional) do for a follow up?

You guessed it! Attack mass transit!

Dawkins is funding a major drive (punny!) to have the first "atheist buses". These bundles of sunshine will have signage on them declaring "there's probably no God", and will soon be travelling through the streets of London after the prominent atheist agreed to help pay for them.

I assume they will still be driven on the wrong side of the road and smell horrible, just like the "religious" buses do.

When asked why he did it, Mr. Sunshine replied, ""Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride (more punny-ness!) – automatic tax breaks, unearned 'respect' and the right not to be 'offended', the right to brainwash children. Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side. This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion."

Whoa. Can someone please give Mr. Grumpy a hug? Richard, my man, I certainly haven't written any best selling books, and I can't use big words like 'anathema' in regular conversation, but I do like to think. And I believe in God. The two aren't mutally exclusive.

But here's something for you to think about, Rich. If God doesn't exist, why are you going to so much trouble? I mean seriously, why go through all the trouble and expenses of disproving something you say isn't there? What's next? Are you going to start taking out billboards that deny the existence of The Easter Bunny, or hire airplanes to fly over soccer stadiums with banners that let everyone know there is no Snuffeluphagus?

Even though there totally is.

Mark Whalberg Gets No Respect at Church

While it's fun to think that being a Hollywood A-lister would be one endless stream of awesome, I think a lot of it would be a total pain in the arse. The artist formerly known as Marky Mark agrees, as he can't even take his family to church without getting pitched script ideas for his show Entourage. I appreciate Mr. Whalberg's reaction to how absurd this concept is.

Viva La Joe the Plumber!

Hi friends,

If you are a normal reader of this here blog on the intertube, I just want to say a few things to you. One: thank you. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day avoiding doing your real job or playing online tetrus at work and reading through my often incoherent babblings. Friends,I appreciate it.

And two: And now I'm talking to you directly Joe the plumber. Earlier (in the first paragraph) I was talking more to Joe Six-pack. But now I'm talking to the other Joe. The one that's good at plumbing. Joe, you're my friend. And I just want to let you know that I'm not gonna "share the wealth" by writing for a bunch of other blogs. (Unless someone is crazy enough to actually pay me to blog. Then I may have to reconsider)

But I digress. Every day here on the blog I'm going to focus on you, Joe. (the plumber) Except maybe on the weekend, when I'll focus more on Joe (Six-pack). Cause let's face it, Joe Six-Pack knows how to have a good time.

Anyways, thank you, Joe. (both of you)

Now let's get out there and get all mavericky!

Rob on Relevant.com

Check out this interview with Rob Bell on Relevant.com. Rob talks about his new book, the "New Exodus Perspective" and, as always, drops all kind of sound biblical knowledge. In his own awesome way. My fav was this quote:

"It's hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven when you're content with the Kingdom you already have."

You rock, Rob!

If everything's important, then nothing is.

This is my new favorite quote...

"If everything's important, then nothing is."

LOVE. IT.

A good friend of mine shared this line with me at church. He was talking about "that guy" at the office. You know the one...where EVERYTHING is an emergency? Where every problem is a five-alarm fire. THE GUY (OR GAL!) THAT TYPES ALL HIS EMAILS IN ALL CAPS TO EMPHASIZE THE SERIOUSNESS AND IMPORTANCE OF WHAT HE (OR SHE!) IS SAYING!!

Chicken Little X The Boy that always cries wolf = That guy (or girl!)

There's a lot of that going around these days. With tensions high and 401k's low it seems that so many people are focused only on looking out for "#1" and ready to blow at the slightest transgressions.

Recently I enjoyed a lovely all-caps email about the settings on the office thermometer.

I mean, THE OFFICE THERMOMETER!!!!

But I, like most people, respond to cooler heads. The ones that realize the sky indeed is not falling. The people that realize that if everything is important, then nothing is. Because in this life, you really can't say "yes" to the things that matter until you say "no" to the things that don't.

Rev. Santana?

I've never been much of a fan of Carlos Santana's music. As a guitar player, I certainly respect how much he can shred. But I guess "Black Magic Woman" was a little too groovy and "Smooth" a little too Matchbox 20-y for my tatses.

But I was really intrigued by Santana's interview in the new Rolling Stone. In it he talks about his spirituality and desire to retire from music and become a preacher in six years. He also talks about the pain around the end of his 34-year marriage. Oh, and how now that he's single he's been dating a ton and "quite sure he doesn't need Viagra." All righty, then. I guess you can't expect a guy that plays 8 minute solos to have much of a filter.

Our Spiritual Bailout Plan

Like everyone, I have some thoughts on the Economic Bailout plan. (Er, sorry...."rescue package"). While my own financial knowledge is pretty basic and limited, I do learn a lot from some finanical gurus that write blogs, namely Mark Cuban and Dave Ramsey. Always good solid insights from two guys that couldn't be more different in their approaches.

But when I think of it these days, I keep coming back to the thought that the current state of affairs shows that we are in more of a spiritual crisis than an economic one. Don't get me wrong, there are MAJOR flaws in our economy, within our government and with the people to which we trust our money. But in my opinion, so much of this mess is a result of people being spiritually bankrupt, regardless of how much money is in their 401(k).

At its core, being greedy is a spiritual issue. Wasting money while people go hungry is a spiritual issue. An economic system based on borrowing money to burn fossil fuels that harms the environment is a spiritual issue.

My dad was recently telling me about an awesome sermon his preacher gave on the topic. The preacher said, "If you think about it, all of our 'security', all the money we have in the world, exists on some piece of magnetic tape on a database that we have no idea where it is." Wow. Great thought. Because as powerful as our economy (normally) is, you can't rely on it to always provide. Only God can do that. So as we listen to what the candidates, politicians and pundits are saying about how to get out of this economic crisis, let us all also tune in to what God is telling us in our hearts and through his Word about what we should be doing individually. The real answers are there.

Jesus is my friend, too....but...

Really? And I thought the new Metallica album shredded...but this gem from Sonseed will ROCK YOUR FACE OFF!! I'm sure it'll be on the next edition of Guitar Hero.

For serious, this "song" is more proof of why the term "Christian" makes a great noun but sometimes a lousy adjective. Because many times "Christian-music" is really not too much of either.

Turn this up to 11!