What does art do to you?

She's staring at you, isn't she? She does that to me all the time. Go ahead. Order a drink. She can mix you a great Shirley Temple. Don't take an orange, though. They are for display only.

What you are looking at is my favorite painting. If you were to add up the amount of time I have spent sitting, studying this painting, it might equal about two whole days of my life --just staring. I have written papers about this painting. It's a good painting. It's called "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" and was painted in 1881-1882 by Edouard Manet. If you were to ask me what I love so much about this painting, I would have a lot to say. I'd probably pause for a second, stare at it, and then go off on how much apathy I see in her beautiful face, but yet there is so much desperation, angst, and brokenness behind that apathy. It's like she's stuck behind that bar for the rest of her life pretending to enjoy mixing drinks and pouring champagne for rich Frenchmen for the rest of eternity. To me she seems like the symbol of all the pleasure-seeking world. I'm sure she was excited to work there at first. She probably loved how glamorous it all was. She probably loved how much men would flirt with her and tell her how beautiful she was. She probably loved getting all dressed up, setting up the bar just right, putting out fresh fruit and flowers, just waiting for all the classy French couples to come in to the glamorous Folies-Bergère to dance and drink their troubles away. But just as everything on this Earth will do one day, it all began to lose its luster. And while that bar may have once felt like a gateway to a world of pleasure and constant excitement, it soon began to feel like a prison. And while all the people once seemed so glamorous, the flirtatious compliments so exciting, the music so beautiful, the sights and smells so intriguing, new, and wonderfully sublime it all became empty, blank, even depressing. This is the face of a woman who is truly trapped in a life she thought would free her. She is all of us who thought that what the world has to offer would satisfy us, but all it does is disappoint. All the time.
Don't be afraid to be moved by art. That's what it's for.

Aliens!!!I

I decided to video blog this time. Enjoy.

What Do You Do on the Toilet?

     I just got back from the bathroom. Take a moment to get past the image and let's move on.

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Almost ready?

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Okay. Welcome back.
I can't sit on the toilet for more than three seconds without feeling bored. I always bring my phone or a book I'm reading. If I forget either of those two things, I'll find myself dabbling into things I would never do otherwise. I'll maybe pick up a People magazine and see what the Kardashians are up to. Or I'll clean out my wallet. I've even found myself brushing my teeth on the toilet just to save time. I just can't seem to sit there doing nothing ... well not nothing, but you know.
The point I'm making is that I think I've become addicted to entertainment. If I can't even handle sitting on the toilet for two minutes without being entertained, I think that is a sign of a problem. How did this happen, I've asked myself. I used to be able to sit places without having things to do. And what about the rest of us? What did people do on the toilet before games on our phones, books, magazines, wallets to clean out, etc? Did they just sit there? I wish I could do that. I want to be able to do that. I hate being addicted to anything. From now on, I will begin the process of breaking this addiction. And I'm going to start on the toilet. I will no longer feed my addiction by keeping myself entertained while I am doing my business. Maybe one day I won't need to use stumbleupon on my phone while I watch TV. Then maybe I won't need to watch 30 Rock episodes on my computer while I eat my lunch at my desk. Maybe I'll just enjoy those things without having to over-entertain myself.
I challenge you all to do the same. Let's break the addiction!!

The Bible!

     I have two things I'd like to share with you today. First, I think you should all know that my favorite aquatic buddy, Sushi, has decided to leave the comfort of his home with me and seek a better life for himself. If anyone sees him out there, let him know I miss him and he's welcome back anytime.

     Now to the main point. This last week while I was preparing my message on John the Baptist, I couldn't escape this idea that occasionally the Bible reads a bit like a Musical. I sort of used this idea in this weekend's message, The Musical (click to listen if you missed it), but I think this idea has a lot more potential. My sister is really into musicals and I've talked to her about writing a musical together on the life of Mary mother of Jesus. I think there is a lot of potential to a half fictional/half Biblical story about one of the most interesting women in the world. What was it like trying to raise God Himself as a child? What did the neighbors think? How did this affect her relationship with Joseph? What did her parents think? Anyways, you just wait. One day this story will be told and I hate to say it, but I think it'll make a great musical.

Holy Spirit? Who dat?

      If you've ever read the book of Acts, been to church a few times, known a preacher or strong man or woman of God, or if you've caught a preacher on TV once or twice for kicks (very common among the kids these days...), then you've probably heard about the Holy Spirit. You may have heard it called Holy Ghost or just The Spirit, but no matter what you call it, I assume that most people don't really understand this third piece of the Trinity. I'm not going to attempt to use the next few lines to define the Holy Spirit because that may take more words than you're wiling to read. What I want to say to you today is that if you're among that large group of people who call themselves believers or Christians and you don't know much about the Holy Spirit, then you're missing out on 1/3 of who God really is. I'm not specifically talking about speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, or other gifts given by the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about getting to know a very important part of who God really is. Here are a few simple tips to help:

1. When you pray, don't be afraid to speak directly to the Holy Spirit. Call upon it for help, power, strength, discipline, love for the unlovable, words when you have none, knowledge you've not gained, etc.
2. Seek the scriptures. Don't just look in the New Testament either. Go to Biblegateway.com and type in Holy Spirit as a search. Or just try spirit and see what you get, then read around those verses.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal itself to you. Never underestimate the power of simple requests to God. "Help me." "I'm tired. Give me strength." "Reveal the meaning of this scripture to me."

When Christ left this world, He left the Holy Spirit here on Earth. There is power in this gift that if you aren't tapped into, you're missing out. Don't miss out. Seek it out.

Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people on this Earth: beach people and mountain people. If you had to pick between one of those two places to spend the rest of your life, where would it be? For me, I'm a beach person. I love mountains. I've stood in the middle of the Alps and stared in awe at the amazing peaks and snow-covered beauty provided by God's awesome creation, but put me on a beach and I'm home. No matter what season it is, I could sit on a beach and just watch the ocean breathe in and out all day. Because I'm a Christian, I get an added bonus. As I gawk at this awesome beauty, I feel closer to my creator. It's like if you brought a friend to an art exhibit where your work was being shown, and that friend just loved your work and wanted to sit and gaze at your work for hours on end. Wouldn't you feel much closer to that friend? That's how I think God reacts when we are taken aback by His beautiful creation. But if that same friend fell in love with your work, but gave you no credit or didn't acknowledge that it was even you who made it, then we have a problem. When you see something beautiful in God's creation, let Him know. Tell Him how beautiful it is. Thank Him. Praise Him for it. Don't praise creation; praise the creator. He'll appreciate it.