Super Heroes and Supervillians

The next series we will be doing is going to be called Origins. The whole thing is going to be about anger. One of the ways we are going to talk about it is by talking about different superheroes and villians. I know this doesn't necessarily connect, but let me explain. Both Batman and Joker experienced the tremendous loss of family members. Joker let the anger consume him, but Batman let his anger drive him to accomplish great things. Another example would be Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine (yeah I went there). We all remember the Emperor telling Luke to give in to his anger.

Right now we are trying to pick our favorite Superheroes and Villians for the series. We will need one or two each week. Monday night in our planning meeting we threw out names like the Hulk and of course Spiderman. We had some good ideas, but I am sure we are missing some even better ones. My brother reads a lot of comics, but I don't so I definitely need some help on this one. Does anybody know of any characters that would be good for this series? Post a comment if you have something you think might be good and tell me why.

Oh and about that earlier Rocktober post? I think I jinxed the Rockies.

Making Room for Life: Final Week

We are wrapping up our series on Making Room for Life. This upcoming Sunday I will be finishing the series up for our Student Ministry Service. I think we have talked about a lot of good things since the series started in September. Each week has been really applicable to me. Over the course of the past few weeks I have horribly bombed a stress test. Talked with people about how all of us are simply too busy and then told those same people that I had to go because I had three research papers that were due in the next month. As a church we have talked about some really good ways to simplify our lives and focus on things that really matter. On a whole I think this entire series has been a great opportunity to take a step back and see how crowded life has become.

However as I start to finalize my notes and thoughts for this Sunday's Service I am wondering what the best way to sum everything up is. I on't have too much time to think about it though because I still have 3 research papers that are quickly approaching being due, I am going on a Middle School Retreat this weekend, and there is a pile of laundry in our laundry room that is quickly approaching the size of Mt. Fiji! What I am saying is that I personally have learned a lot about being too busy, but at the end of this message series I am still too busy.

Do we all really enjoy being this busy that even though we know we need to we never slow down? Or has our culture just convinced us that if we are going to succeed or be normal we have to live at this frantic pace? I really liked how Patrick this past week showed how Jesus was incredibly busy, but still took time to be alone with God. Maybe that is just what we will do this weekend. A little shorter of a message and more time to simply encounter God. We have spent a lot of time the past few weeks talking about experiencing abundant life. Let's take this week and actually take hold of it.

Rocktober

The Rockies have just accomplished something absolutely incredible. Not only are they going to the World Series for the first time in team history, but they have overcome all odds to get there. A Major League Baseball team has only won 20 out of 21 games 3 times in the history of baseball and it has never happened during the playoffs. It really is astounding. My favorite part is that none of these guys are taking the credit for it. They are all sticking to the team motto. Everybody does their part and they keep winning. Who knows if they will win the series. It doesn't matter because they have already practically accomplished the impossible. It all just serves as a reminder how much can be done when egos are set aside and people work as a unit.

Parenting Gone Wild

So in case you haven't heard Britney Spears will likely lose custody of her children. I read this yesterday and was not surprised at all. I'm sure all of us have kept tabs with the rise and fall of Britney to some degree. Her poor kids can not possibly realize the blender that they have been born into.

What shocked me in all of this was our ability to sit back and just watch. We have developed the movie viewer mentality here in the US. We have been given front row seats for the relationship meltdowns of Jessica and Nick and now Britney and Kevin. Now custody is being switched and these kids are getting tossed back and forth. We don't pretend to be concerned we go grab some popcorn and hope to not miss any of the action. Sometimes I feel like watching the news is like going to the circus. Each of the three rings is filled with someone's tragedy. As we watch our jaws drop and we 'oh' and 'ah'.

The saddest thing about all of this is we become apathetic. I know that there isn't anything we can do for Britney or Kevin (Not that I haven't tried, they just won't return my calls). Still we watch the local news and when its done we go eat dinner. Information should result in action not inaction. When you find out your neighbor's house is on fire, you don't grab another coke from the fridge you call 911 and then go outside. As a culture we have gotten into the habit of just grabbing a coke. I suck at this too. The couch is a lot more comfortable. It's their problem not mine.

I hope things get better for K-fed and Britney. I hope she checks into rehab and stops going to Vegas every weekend. Hopefully K-fed will be a good dad and stop trying to rap. When it comes to me I hope I won't be the "grab another coke" guy when my neighbor's life gets crazy. We shouldn't see other peoples' lives as movies to be watched. Maybe its time we stopped being the viewers and wrote ourselves into the script.