Thursday, November 18, 2010

A Sweet Tune!

Going to be teaching a short 3-week series in December on Mary (mother of Jesus). Keeping things nice and simple today. Wanted to share her song with you from Luke's Gospel (1:46-55 TNIV).

Mary’s Song

46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me
— holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

Any thoughts on Mary and her song?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Crazy Love


I’m just a couple of chapters away from finishing Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Here are some initial thoughts on the book.

I see the book as challenging and pointing us to live a sold-out-life to Jesus Christ. Each chapter builds on that idea in a way. Topics like prayer, death, holy fear, and love are explored to help one understand them in a Christian context. There’s a call to live excited and expectant as we follow Christ each day. The thrust of the book is a call to live a holy life. It’s what we Wesleyans call entire sanctification. I’ve heard some that have read it ask the question, “Is it really possible to live this way?” With God all things are possible. What do you think?

So, I’m curious if any of you have read it and have thoughts to share on it?

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Away for a couple of days

Not much thinking today. Trina and I are at the Minister' & Mate's retreat this week. This is an annual 2-3 day getaway for pastors. It's great!

Tuesday night we attended a free showing of an upcoming Christian film called the Gracecard. I gave a B+. It was a step above Fireproof in acting and storyline. The movie was written and directed by a man in the Nazarene church (they even mentioned the Nazarene Church in the unedited version we saw, hopefully they don't cut it out!). This was one of the reasons we wanted to see this movie. A guy down in TN walked out of the movie Fireproof and decided he had a story to tell and wanted to make a movie. You can go to their website and see more info on it. I would encourage you to go and see it when it comes out. You won't be disappointed.