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What Are Your Life Goals?

6 August, 2009

What are your life goals?  I pondered this questions this morning as I was driving my car.  Honestly, this question has not really come up in recent years, so here is a look at the last list I made:

  1. Get a college degree (check)
  2. Get married (check)
  3. Have a kid (soon to be checked)
  4. Lead worship in a church plant (check)

A simple list, yes, but a good list for someone in high school.  Now that all of these things are done, what are my new life goals?  I can’t just say I have arrived at all I wanted to do at the age of 25.  But then again, are life goals really that important?

I think as Christians our main life goal should be to live a life that mirrors God.  I Peter 1:16 quotes God speaking in Leviticus, “Be holy, because I am holy.”  We are called to be holy, or to be like God.  I honestly believe that this is all that really matters.  We live in a success driven culture that thrives on rising to the top of your profession.  So we do not have to make life goals, but it is never a bad thing either.

So what are my new life goals?  Here is a simple list of some things I would like to accomplish before my life is over:

  1. Raise my children to children of God
  2. Continue to live happily married the rest of my life
  3. Learn ancient Koine Greek as a study tool
  4. Get a Master’s Degree

There are not too many goals here, but all are achievable.  Maybe someday I can write another blog to set goals after these are accomplished.

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Last Night’s Horror

5 August, 2009

Five years have passed since I last watched a true horror movie.  I think the last one was the original Saw, and I did not like it.  Last night I decided to give the genre another chance and decided to view 30 Days of Night.

My interest in this movie sparked for a couple of reasons.  Vampire folklore has always been of interest to me, which gives reason to why Buffy the Vampire Slayer is possibly my favorite television show.  As you read above, it has also been quite some time since I last saw a movie in this genre as well, so I decided to give it a go.

After finishing 30 Days of Night, I am reminded why so much time has passed since the horror movie.  For one, it seems like movies of this genre just try and scare you for no other reason than to scare you.  And that ends up being counter-productive.  I jumped more during Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince than during this movie.  When you are ready to be scared or frightened, it just does not happen as much.

I also found all the gore to be pointless and overdone.  While watching a rather un-enjoyable scene where the vampires wreck havoc on the Alaskan town, I turned to my wife and said, “I bet the reason the camera never stays still is because they don’t want us to see how unrealistic all the effects are.”  Even if the effects were realistic, why would I want to see someone getting attacked?  This is not something we should enjoy watching.

So here is my conclusion.  I do not feel like the horror genre is necessarily a bad thing, however, find movies like this to be over-the-top and rather disgusting.  We have the freedom to watch movies like this as long as it does not cause us to sin.  My guess is I will not be watching another horror movie for quite some time, if ever.

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Independence Day

4 July, 2009

Independence Day.  A day that we can celebrate our Independence as a nation.  As tough as it may seem at times, and as corrupt as our politicians may be, we still live in the greatest country in the world.  That would not be possible without the sacrifice of many soldiers throughout our short history as a country.  So if you served in the military and are reading this, I want to say thank you.

As great as this country is, I do want to stress that our citizenship is first found somewhere else.  Philippians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven.  We do live in a great country, but just remember that we are first Christ-followers, then Americans.

Posted in My Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

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Sharing Our Faith

1 July, 2009

This morning, Matt and I went to Panera Bread while awaiting the North American Christian Convention to kick off for the day.  As I sat there with my mug of coffee and started to read through Philippians, I was amazed at Paul’s disposition while in prison.
Philippians 1:14 shows Paul explaining how “most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”  Paul not only went to prison, he not only praised God during the whole experience, but he also brought people who shared in his imprisonment to a saving relationship with Jesus.  How awesome is that!?
I wish that I would have done the same thing while working at Blockbuster or Starbucks.  God could have done great things at those place if only I had let Him.
How then, do we share our faith?
I think, for starters, it could be done in a similar fashion to how we share our hobbies and family with people.  If we are truly committed to the Gospel, if we are continually building significant community with other Christ-followers, then it should be both natural and easy to talk to others about our faith.  (Notice I said our faith, not the faith)
We need to get excited about our faith so that we can then share that excitement with other people.  If we are not excited about ourselves, how can we ever hope to win people to Christ?

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The Legacy of Michael Jackson

25 June, 2009

As many of you have probably heard, Michael Jackson died today in Los Angeles.  Though I am not completely sure on the details, I do know that this is not tabloid material; it’s real.

Michael Jackson was a person who lived an interesting life.  Since the age of 9 he has pretty much been in the spotlight.  I wonder, however, what will be remembered from Michael Jackson in twenty-five years?  What will his legacy be?

Will we remember his days in Jackson 5?  Will we remember his dance moves?  What about his music videos?  Or will he be remembered as the weird looking man that liked children?  Unfortunately this may be the case, but only time will tell.

When we die, that is it.  We no longer have any influence on how the world looks at us.  Michael Jackson can no longer change his fate, nor can Ferrah Fawcett who also died today of cancer.

What about your legacy?  My hope is that you will be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (1 Timothy 4:7)  Keeping the faith is essential.  No matter how many things we accomplish here in this life, it can mean close to nothing when looking at eternity.

Do you think God really cares if you were the most popular person in the 80’s?  Do you think God really cares that you have an LCD television?  Do you think God really cares that you retired at the age 50?

What kind of legacy are you leaving?  Is it one that God cares about?

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