Well it's Funky Friday! I am not feeling too hot and I completely missed last week's edition, so for today's edition we'll take it easy and just update you on some of the happenings at the Inn and elsewhere....
#1 Tim's face got crushed by a girl.
As you may or may not know Tim Mroz ran into a girl's knee the other day at soccer and subsequently had a bad case of face-crush. He's going to be alright (his chin is fine), but he has to go in for surgery by the end of the week to fix the broken bones. Be praying for his swelling to go down, for the surgery, and for quick recovery.
#2 We are still collecting socks for the homeless.
The sock drive we started two weeks ago is still on, and so far we have a total of about 8-10 pairs of socks. If you were there last night at the Inn you met Jake's friend Carlos and you know just how important and needed socks are for the homeless so I hope you can get in on the party and bring some socks next Thursday or to Andrew throughout the week!
#3 We have a new president!
I hope you will join with me in praying for President Obama and the rest of the white house. Pray for protection, wisdom and discernment, and most of all a call and desire to live lives that imitate Christ.
Grace and Peace!
-John
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
White Gold
Throughout the next 4 weeks we are collecting new socks for City Team ministries. You wouldn't realize it, but socks are such a need for homeless men and women that they sometimes refer to them as white gold. Please join with us and purchase a pack (or two or three) of new men's white crew length socks.We've been blessed so that we can bless others.
-John
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Jesus versus... Twilight
This is a rant. Hyperbole, sarcasm, and blatant rudeness follow. You have been warned.
-John
(I hope you understand the enormous amount of sarcasm in this post, and realize I am not trying to hate on Twlight as much as look at how even very small things can sidetrack or delay us on the journey. If we all took a moment to reflect each of us would find the real "Twlight" in our life. That is the idol we need to smash and not Twlight. Although...)
Jesus: 218,000,000 google results
Twilight: 133,000,000 google results
"Jesus Christ" gives even worse results, 34,200,000 hits.
If you are like me, but hopefully not, you haven't gone a day for the last couple weeks (or months) without hearing about the series Twilight in one way or another. In fact, I am so confident you have heard about it at least once I am not going to bother to describe it. I imagine that you have heard at least something like one of these examples:
"So-and-so was up all night reading Twlight." (From a facebook status update.)
"Have you seen the Twilight trailer yet?" (I was asked by a friend.)
"You have to read the books and then go watch the movie." (I was told by a young mom from church.)
"So-and-so was up all night reading Twlight." (From a facebook status update.)
"Have you seen the Twilight trailer yet?" (I was asked by a friend.)
"You have to read the books and then go watch the movie." (I was told by a young mom from church.)
On Sunday I listened to one of my high schoolers from the youth group I volunteer at tell me that she had read the entire series of Twilight 7 times. SEVEN TIMES.
Let's take a little excursion here...
There are about 2,400 pages in the entire series of Twilight, and there are about 250 words per page in a modern novel. That's about 600,000 words in the series. Give or take 100,000.
There are about 800,000 words in a KJV Bible. (Someone actually counted and came up with exactly 783,137. How'd you like to be that guy?) About how many times could this young girl have read the Bible in the time she read Twilight? 3-4? (I do not recommend she read it from the KJV though. Try the New Living Translation, the Contemporary English Version, or the TNIV.)
People are enthralled by this stuff, and it leaves me thinking some things about the Bible, Jesus, and people.
-I can't remember the last time someone told me they were up all night reading their Bible, and just couldn't put it down. I have never met anyone, except some of my professors at school, who has read their entire Bible 6 or 7 times.
-Which is better news: That the newest movie on the series will be out in a little less than a year (Nov. 20, 2009, OMG!!), or that Jesus Christ has risen. For some, I think that the latter gets their heart rate going more and is probably more on their mind during the day. (Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.)
But honestly, what drives this kind of passion for a series of books, and why does it seem to affect Christians just as much as nonChristians? How is it that a series of novels about the romance between a vampire and a girl has become so enchanting?
Now I understand that the passion someone has for Twilight might not last a lifetime, hopefully like a person's passion for God, but isn't it tragic if for even a moment we become more engaged with something, in thoughts, words, or actions, other than Jesus Christ?
We can readTwilight, we can go to the movies, but we can't ever let it become a passion that outshines God, inwardly or outwardly, even for a small bit of time.
Next week I will be covering Harry Potter...
J/k.
Let's take a little excursion here...
There are about 2,400 pages in the entire series of Twilight, and there are about 250 words per page in a modern novel. That's about 600,000 words in the series. Give or take 100,000.
There are about 800,000 words in a KJV Bible. (Someone actually counted and came up with exactly 783,137. How'd you like to be that guy?) About how many times could this young girl have read the Bible in the time she read Twilight? 3-4? (I do not recommend she read it from the KJV though. Try the New Living Translation, the Contemporary English Version, or the TNIV.)
People are enthralled by this stuff, and it leaves me thinking some things about the Bible, Jesus, and people.
-I can't remember the last time someone told me they were up all night reading their Bible, and just couldn't put it down. I have never met anyone, except some of my professors at school, who has read their entire Bible 6 or 7 times.
-Which is better news: That the newest movie on the series will be out in a little less than a year (Nov. 20, 2009, OMG!!), or that Jesus Christ has risen. For some, I think that the latter gets their heart rate going more and is probably more on their mind during the day. (Okay, I might be exaggerating a little.)
But honestly, what drives this kind of passion for a series of books, and why does it seem to affect Christians just as much as nonChristians? How is it that a series of novels about the romance between a vampire and a girl has become so enchanting?
Now I understand that the passion someone has for Twilight might not last a lifetime, hopefully like a person's passion for God, but isn't it tragic if for even a moment we become more engaged with something, in thoughts, words, or actions, other than Jesus Christ?
We can readTwilight, we can go to the movies, but we can't ever let it become a passion that outshines God, inwardly or outwardly, even for a small bit of time.
Next week I will be covering Harry Potter...
J/k.
-John
(I hope you understand the enormous amount of sarcasm in this post, and realize I am not trying to hate on Twlight as much as look at how even very small things can sidetrack or delay us on the journey. If we all took a moment to reflect each of us would find the real "Twlight" in our life. That is the idol we need to smash and not Twlight. Although...)
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