Currently Listening Worship Again By Michael W. Smith see related

Horton Hears A Who

Have you seen the movie “Horton Hears A Who?” I went to see it about a week ago, and I loved it! Of course, I love cartoons and cartoon movies. I even do cartoon voices sometimes.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. While it is not a Christian movie, and while it was unintended I’m sure, I see so many good illustrations of things that apply to the Christian life. First, we sometimes think we’re all alone in this world. We think we have to solve our own problems. But there is someone out there who is infinitely bigger than we are, who sees the big picture and who is trying desperately to communicate with us. He wants the best for us. He wants to save us. Second, that someone out there wants us to know that there is an enemy out to destroy us. He doesn’t care about us, and he’ll do whatever it takes to annihilate us. But He is working to rescue us from that danger. Third, that someone out there wants you and I to share with the world the danger that looms on the horizon. It’s up to each of us to share the message with people before it’s too late. Fourth, when we do share the message, not everyone is going to listen. Some will make fun of us. Some will ignore it. Some will simply think about it. And some will embrace it. We can’t control how they respond, but it is our responsibility to share it. Fifth, every person is needed to share the message. The person least likely to be the hero in the movie turned out to be the most important person of all. It was his talent and ability that ultimately saved Whoville. And that’s true for us. Those that work behind the scenes, that aren’t in the spotlight, are just as important as those who are an open book. Every person is needed to lift their voices so that the world can hear the good news. Sixth, though the world is in danger, when we place our faith and trust in that someone out there who is infinitely bigger than we are, He rescues us. And we can be confident that though we have trouble in this life, he has overcome the world.

Currently Listening Coming Up to Breathe see related

Pimp My Ride

i was reading Jeremiah 18:1-4, where God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house... the clay is marred in his hand, so much so that it's pretty useless...so He crushes it and makes it into a different pot, one that the potter can use however he wants to use it... 
and as i was reading that, i was reminded about the show "Pimp My Ride"... they take a hideous heap, some car that's so horrible nobody would want to really drive it around... and they take it to the shop and totally redo it so that it's a one of a kind work of art... new paint, stereo, seats, video games, TV monitors, refrigerators... whatever fits the personality of the person that owns it, and totally pimp it out...  they bring in the owner, and BAM!  they've got a custom made, one of a kind vehicle they can be proud of and ride around in style...  and then the owner gets the joy of taking that new ride back home, and they're greeted by their friends and family on the curb...  they can't help but  notice how much of a change has taken place to the car...  nobody can believe it's even the same car!  they WISH they owned that pimped out car!

but isn't that exactly what God does to us??? He takes our "hideous heap" lives that's pretty worthless, and when we give our hearts to Him, He changes us from the inside out and turns our lives into a one of a kind work of art... and then He wants to put us on display to show people how awesome He is...  He wants everyone to know that He can turn their lives into a masterpiece, too, if they'll just give their whole hearts to Him...  He just wants to use us to do that... 

Is your life a "hideous heap"?  Or is Jesus turning YOU into a masterpiece???

Currently Listening All That Is Within Me see related

I really love my computer...  it does some truly amazing things!  But sometimes my computer can be really frustrating...  I don't know about you, but sometimes my computer can be kinda stubborn...  i mean, you click on an icon and nothing happens... at least not right away.  sometimes i get impatient, so i click on the icon again, or maybe click something else.  still, nothing happens.  it just sort of sits there and "thinks"...   i really hate it when it does that!  when i give it a command, i expect it to do it, not sit there and think about it... 

but i guess our lives are a lot like my computer...  sometimes God tells us to do something, but we don't do what He tells us to do.  We just sort of sit there and think about it a while.  We really shouldn't HAVE to think about it, because ultimately God knows what we need to do to accomplish the next step in our lives...  still, we think about it, tell Him no, and just do our own thing...  it's not that we won't do it eventually, but for some reason we like to think about our alternatives...  I wonder if God sits there thinking like me...  "when I give you a command, I expect you to do it, not sit there and think about it..."

Currently Watching The Bourne Ultimatum (Widescreen Edition) By Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn, Colin Stinton see related

as promised, back to another episode of the bbc chronicles...

during our freshman or sophomore year at bbc, i got to participate in one of the most bizarre incidents i've ever encountered.  i don't remember if scott and i were roommates at the time, but i do know that we were still best friends at school and hung out together all the time.

scott and i used to go to cherry street baptist church, and our friend rhonda was going to high street baptist church at the time.  well, part of the requirement for attending bible college was to participate in christian service.  basically what that means is that you had to have a ministry that you were involved in regularly.  that included, but was not limited to, visitation of prospective members.  scott's ministry was to the local nursing home (and i went there during my freshman year), and I was a volunteer middle school teacher at church.  rhonda used to go on visitation on saturdays, and so she would go door to door inviting people to church at high street.

this one particular saturday, rhonda came back to the school and came to lunch or dinner and shared with us her day.  she had been out knocking on doors in an unfamiliar dilapidated neighborhood.  she started to walk up to this one particular house, when she heard a voice yell from the inside, "that's close enough!"  now i don't remember if this is exactly right, but she looked up and saw someone with a gun in the window...  they asked her what she wanted, and she said that she was inviting people to church.  they advised her to walk away because they weren't interested in going to any church anywhere...  now, if you know rhonda, you can picture her sheepish "okay" shrug as she turned quickly and nervously to walk away from the house (she was always experiencing awkward and potentially dangerous situations)...  no doubt with her heart racing at 200 beats per minute...  needless to say, she was pretty shook up about the whole ordeal... 

well, at supper she told scott and i about her day and told us that we needed to come see this house she visited...  so, we decided we'd do that one night.  so scott drove rhonda's car, i was in the passenger seat, and i think rhonda and maybe rose (it might have been misty, but i think it was rose) were in the back seat.  anyway, rhonda told us she didn't really remember exactly where it was, but she pointed us in a general area of town...  so we drove around a little while trying to find the right place.  now remember, this is evening/night.  it's dark outside.  we drove past this big metal building, and there's graffiti on it, as well as bullet holes...very comforting, let me assure you...  and rhonda says, "we must be getting close...  this looks reallllllllllllllllll familiar..." 

now, i'm kinda getting worried, because this particular neighborhood was very low income...  kinda shady...  we're talking drug traffic...  anyway, we come to this one street, and rhonda says, "ooooooh!!! this is the street! turn here! turn here!"  so we turn right, and we start to drive slowly to try to find this house rhonda wants us to see...  as we're driving, we notice a bunch of people hanging out in front of this one house a little way down the road...  as well as some cars parked around it...  the porch light was on, and i could see a bunch of people there in the front yard...  just as we pulled up parallel to this house (with the windows down in the car, mind you), rhonda starts yelling at the top of her lungs, "THERE IT IS! THERE IT IS! THERE IT IS!"  of course, everybody in the neighborhood turns to look and see these white people in the family car...  scott and i are yelling "be quiet!  do you want to get us killed?!!!!" (or something to that effect)...  and i'm ducking down as low as possible to avoid the gunshots  (ok, overdramatic, but you get the idea)... (rhonda would say i'm on the floorboard... ok, i'm short, but c'mon...  the floorboard???!!!  i'm not THAT short!)...

anyway, i start yelling to scott, "floor it!  floor it!"  so he does... and we take off like the space shuttle to mars... and as he's driving down the road, rhonda's in the back seat laughing hysterically...  and scott, poor scott...  he likes to "fake" heart attacks, but i thought he was gonna have a real one...  he said, "watch... just you watch...  they're gonna have some of their friends come out and shoot us or something down the road here..." 

sure enough, we get to this intersection and about 8 guys run out into the street.  we see one of the guys hurl something into the air toward the car...  we thought it was a rock or something...  and scott slaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmms on the brakes....  we come to a screeching halt, and we look up to see...  a football bouncing on the road...  oh my goodness!  my heart was pounding out of my chest...  i think scott actually opened his door, got out and kinda stretched out his legs a little to get out all the anxiety...  we were so scared!  and relieved...  scott gets back into the car and drives us out of that creepy neighborhood...

and we drove back to bbc, laughing and crying and not believing what we had just done...

needless to say, we still laugh about this thing, and it gets better with age...  and the girls version is STILL different than the guys version...   but i can assure you that this is the way it really happened...  i don't ever want to do that again, but it sure made a memory, something i'll never forget!

until next time...

phillipo :)

Currently Listening Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl By Klaus Badelt see related

Here's my review of today's fiasco in Dallas:

The receivers dropped too many catchable balls today, and the cowboys as a team committed way too many penalties... 11 to be exact! and the giants were only called for 3...
i do think the giants hit Romo late on several occasions, but they weren't called for any of them... but although the penalties were a contributing factor to the loss, they weren't the sole reason...

the special teams gave up too many yards, giving the giants great field position...
the offensive line was offensive in the fourth quarter, allowing the giants defense to get pressure on Romo, something that didn't happen in their first two meetings... he didn't have time to hit his receivers like he normally would... you could see how frustrated Romo was with that... I'd never seen Romo upset like that before today...
Barber ran well in the first half, getting over 100 yards... but in the second half, he only got around 25 yards or so... again, maybe that was the o-line not getting enough push up front... i know the giants defense is good, but the cowboys pushed them around for 2 1/2 games... i'm not sure exactly why they were no-shows in the second half...
the defense played well enough to win, but the offense just couldn't put together enough drives to score points. the cowboys scored almost 28 points per game most of the season (second to the patriots), but for some reason the last five games they couldn't punch the ball in the end zone much (other than the game against the lions). they had their chances today, but squandered them...

looking forward:
Romo now has a full season under his belt. Hopefully this whole "Jessica Simpson" talk will now be history, as it had nothing to do with his play on the field. This team hopefully will be even hungrier and more motivated to play next year in the Super Bowl. They certainly have the talent to do that, if they can keep all their key players under contract.
In some ways, it's almost better they lost this year. I say that because no matter who wins the NFC championship, we all know the Patriots are the best team in the NFL this year. They are going to win the whole thing no matter who they play. And if history is any indication, the losing Super Bowl team over the last several years hasn't even made the playoffs the following year... bad news for the Giants or the Packers... good news for the Cowboys... because the odds for them making the playoffs just went up (if you follow that logic)...

Newman is a great "shut down corner", but there's times they take him out to rest or because of an injury.  i think that the defense needs another cornerback to come in relief of Newman... Reeves gets burned way too much... at safety, i love Roy Williams, he's a great run stopper, but his cover skills are seriously lacking... and he needs to learn to tackle without using the horsecollar method...  it costs too many yards...
the cowboys also need to work on poise, as they commit too many silly personal fouls...

i love flozell adams, great blocker, no one can get around him...  but he commits way too many false starts... he leads the league in that category...  what is so hard about staying in your stance until the ball is hiked???
i love julius jones, and when he was first drafted i thought he would be the next emmitt. his first couple of years he ran well... but the last two years he has been subpar... perhaps that's because he doesn't get the ball very much... but Barber is obviously the better back, because no one can tackle him! he's a monster! i don't know if the boys will re-sign jones... everybody says he is the breakaway back, but he hasn't proved that the last two years (other than one run in one game a year ago against the saints... a game they lost!). i don't know if any other team will want to sign him if they look at his play over the last couple of years... perhaps the boys will sign him for a less lucrative contract than he has now if no one looks at him... but it's obvious the cowboys think barber is their feature back... otherwise, why would they start barber today when jones has been the starter all year???

i hope the boys can keep their coaches... jason garrett is a great play caller, and has obviously sparked life into Romo, TO, and the rest of the offense... i'd hate to see him coaching the redskins, dolphins, ravens, or any other team... he's been good for us...
i'd also hate to lose sporano (or however you spell it)... but he'll probably sign with the dolphins with the tuna...

i think the cowboys have the tools to win next year. they proved they can win this year. they just need to add a piece or two to their lineup to keep their run going next year, and to take it to the next level. i've already marked the draft on my calendar!  they get two picks in the first round this year...  their own and the cleveland browns...
let's hope they can get someone like darren mcfadden (arkansas)! now HE would make a great addition to the backfield with Barber...  you talk about a two-headed monster...  he's big, he's fast, he can throw the ball, catch the ball...  and durable...  he absolutely dominated the game against LSU in the SEC...  which won the national championship...  he should have been the heisman trophy winner (although i like tim tebow)...    until then,

GO COWBOYS!!!