An Unfinished Life

I watched "An Unfinished Life" the other day. It has one of my favorite actors in it: Robert Redford. It also has Morgan Freeman, Josh Lucas and Jennifer Lopez. The movie is about forgiveness. I haven't seen a movie that has made me think about it (going on 4 days) for a long time.

I would recommend it fully. It has some language in it but is truly a great movie to watch and dwell upon.

The Last Word

I started reading a new book today. N.T. Wright's The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture.

I recommend anything done by N.T. Wright. He is being considered the C.S. Lewis of today. That is a pretty flattering comparison.

I will try to give chapter reviews as I read through it.


World Cup action the USA game was terrible. Brazil won. The USA plays Italy on Saturday.

Passion

Something amazing happens every 4 years--the World Cup. I am a soccer (football) fan. I grew up playing the sport and love to sit and watch the competition that a good soccer game brings. Not many people enjoy soccer. The major criticism is the lack of scoring. Some games even end in a tie (heaven forbid). It is amazing the watch the crowds. For months now commercials have been touting the coming of the World Cup. My favorite has been the Scotland fans. You see them walking together and the moderator of the commercial says that even though Scotland did not make the World Cup--the fans will be there to support Scotland.

Only in the World Cup! Fans show up to support their team but their team doesn't make it. And the fans know in advance but they still go. That's passion.

Soccer has been growing in popularity over the past decade. Supposedly they are expecting 3 billion people to tune and watch. 3 billion! One of our biggest games--the Superbowl--only had 144.4 million viewers. There is a big difference between 144.4 million and 3 BILLION! That's passion on the worldwide scale!

If you watch the crowds during game, they never sit down. They are never quiet! They dress up in team colors. They travel great distances. That's passion!

What if all the Christians united and had that kind of passion for their relationship with God and with other believers? I start drooling when I think about that! Supposedly there are 2.1 billion Christians in the world. Imagine with me for a minute a passionate mobilization of 2.1 billion people. 2.1 billion people sold out for God. My eyes are getting wide and a small smile beginning to creep into my face. Passion!

Let's take a lesson from the fans of soccer and get some passion for our relationship with God!

One of those days

Today was one of those days! You know exactly what I am talking about--when nothing seems to be going your way. Here was my day. I have been working on a video slide show for the Advancing Leadership class I have been a part of this last 10 month. I was up to about 2 AM this morning finishing the video. I set my computer to render the video and went to bed for a few hours. I wake up in the morning and immediately go play the video that was render just a few hours before. In a 16 minute slide show, I had 50 seconds missing in the middle of the video. I have learned with Adobe Premiere that not all jpegs are created equal. And once again I found the ones that were not created equal. That normally wouldn't be a problem but the video needed to work for the graduation ceremony that was supposed (you will hear more about that in a minute) Wednesday night. I don't have time to work on the video in the morning because I have a camp planning meeting and Faithquest meeting to attend.

I get to the church building around 1:30 PM and begin to rush to get the video together. I use another program because I don't have time to fix the video I made the night before. So I work for a few hours to get the new video made. I get the video made a few hours later. I am also working on canceling the youth group because none of my volunteers can make it tonight. So I begin to text and call everyone.

I rush home at 4:10 PM to change and iron my clothes for the graduation ceremony. I need to be at the Knutson Family Theatre at 5 PM. Julie is in the vehicle with me and we are on our way shortly after 4:30 PM. We get to the theatre right at 5 PM. I am going through in my mind the possible problems that I might have. I have brought a disk with the new slide show and my computer (just in case). We walk into the Dumas Bay Center and nobody is there. I asked Julie if she brought the invitation. She didn't (not her fault, I knew what I was doing! Yeah right!). I walk into the theatre and again nobody there. I go to the front desk and the receptionist tells me (reminds me) that the graduation is next week!!!!

By this time I am fuming on the inside. I am an idiot! Brainless! and Braindead! So all the rushing around and the pressure I have been under to get the video was pointless!!!!!!!! I canceling of class was pointless!!!!!!! Working up the second video--pointless!!!!!!! Getting even more frustrated--pointless!!!!!!!! Being ticked off--pointless!!!!!!!!!!!

One of those days!