Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving is over and its almost time to head back home.  Spending time with family is always fun and yet it can be hard to say goodbye, especially after having such a good time.  I thought I'd give some highlights of my Thanksgiving trip to Georgia.

.01  I got a car over Thanksgiving.  I have an awesome brother in-law/sister-in-law.  They bought a new vehicle and gave us one of their old ones.  Nice little blessing for sure!

.02  Nathan Rau.  Enough said, Em's brother is absolutely a blast to hang out with.  I think its because he's still young enough that he's immature but he's old enough that he finds things humorous that I find funny as well.  Most of our time was spent pulling pranks on each other or traveling to below...

.03 Quick Trip is probably the coolest gas station that I've ever gone to.  They have great snacks and it is a great little escape.  

.04  Wii has been a great lifesaver for the weekend.  It was great to watch Em's grandparents who are aging play bowling on the wii.  They played in the comfort of the chair/living room and told stories of their past bowling adventures.  Not to mention the niece and nephew enjoyed time on the wii as well.  Most of their time was spent going around in circles playing mario cart.

.05  This year I spent Thanksgiving with my wife's parents and I'm so grateful for such an awesome family.  Its always interesting to join up with another family who has different traditions and ideas.  Not that this is a bad thing.  It just makes things that much more fun.  

I haven't really talked about any particular stories and maybe I'll give that later.  I just wanted to say how great this thanksgiving was!  

Question

Ok, here'​s a quest​ion for all of you out there​.​ I've been looki​ng for some humor​ous video​s from youtu​be or stupi​d video​s.​ 

Anyho​w I was wonde​ring what video​s you'​ve watch​ed latel​y that has made you laugh​. ​Let me know,​

Brian​

Styles of Christianity

Today I've been dwelling on the thought of the many different styles of Christianity.  I had a great conversation with a good friend yesterday that made me think.  Are our styles becoming divisive or are they truly operating as a part of the body of Christ?  

Let me explain this with the understanding that I'm talking about churches in America.  Some churches are popular because of the style of their music.  Some churches are popular because they put on great programs.  Other churches are popular because of what it offers the people who come (children's church, youth group, singles ministries, shut-in ministries and you get the idea).  And some churches are established because of barriers... i.e. spanish speaking churches or churches for the poor/homeless.  

Its easy to look at all of these styles and say how awesomely diverse the Kingdom of God is.  And that is a 100% true statement.  Diverse styles are necessary!  I guess my question comes from the discussions of yesterday's blog and myspace post.  

Are our styles a reflection of what this diverse nation needs or are we just dividing our churches according to the styles of ministry that we prefer it to look like?  Here's a few examples...

.01 Cutting Edge Churches:  They have the lights, video, rock bands/rap groups, cafe', flashy designs and fun for the entire family.  While that connects with a younger generation what about those who are older?  What about reaching to the older generations who aren't saved?  Is it truly as relevant as we say it is?  

.02 Ethnic Churches: Some churches in different ethnic communities were established to help other cultures new to America connect to Christ.  With language and culture being the issue this was a huge need.  Once again great concept, however, are we creating a further racial divide by focusing just on one nationality per church?  

.03 Traditional Churches: By allowing older traditions to continue the possibility is that we could be  dating our churches in such a way that younger generations can't connect. (example: older songs, dress code & old english style Bibles)

If you can't tell what I'm getting at yet this should sum it up for you.  If all we can do is worship to a certain style of Christianity are we not worshipping a style rather than our Lord?  That's hard to differentiate because styles are necessary.  However, I do think its worth asking!  Are we being who God has called us to be or who we want to be?

What do you think?

Feedback appreciated!

Over the past couple of weeks I've been asking a tough question lately. Does the church really know how to relate to those outside the church anymore. I've come to the conclusion that I don't believe most churches connect to those outside our faith. In watching the elections I saw many of the commands of Jesus being talked about by government officials. Just as an example: How about the church's responsibility to take care of the widow and orphaned. I realize that as a denomination we have a few orphanages and a home for the widows. However, not every widow can move to Tennessee to a home for widows. Also, our orphanages aren't reaching our local areas for the most part. My point is this. The church has allowed their responsibility to be passed off to the government. Or even more sad, maybe the government has recognized its need to step in because the church hasn't been doing their job. No wonder why so many government officials want separation between church and state. I say that to say this. What are some other commands Christ has given us that we are missing and how can position ourselves to start taking those God given responsibilities back?

How I got to hang out with some fire fighters!!!

For the past week I've been at two different youth conferences. Both conferences were incredible events and I absolutely loved each event. Sadly after such an event is a travel day that usually takes most of your day. Such was my day on Thursday.

Thursday morning I woke up early and started my trip back to Louisiana from South Carolina (754 miles). The trip was a long trip filled with many stops due to Emily needing to stretch since she's prego. At about 7:15 pm Em and I stopped roughly 30 minutes from our house to fill up the suv. This is where things get interesting...

As we arrived at the gas station Em and I thought we'd grab a snack from inside. So at this point I began to set the gas to pump while I was inside shopping. Most of us do this. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except somehow the gas release got stuck and after the gas tank was full the pump never shut off. Gas was pouring all over the place. There was a huge puddle of gas under my car and I had to run through it to shut off the pump. (Where are those emergency shut off buttons when you need one?)

At this point the gas station attendant saw what was happening and began to call the fire department. 5 minutes later 2 fire trucks, 2 volunteer trucks and an ambulance was in the gas station parking lot. Do you know how awkward I felt? And to make things worse my wife, the one who promised me she would be my support over 5 years ago on our wedding day, was laughing her head off taking pictures with her camera phone to send to her parents.

Below is one of those pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Kids say the cutest things...

Kids say the cutest things:

This weekend talking with family Emily and I discovered that our 4 year old nephew said something really cute.  While playing he put a pot on his head and called himself a pot-head, lol.  Of course he doesn't have any idea what that means to us as adults but children are so cute when they say such innocent things.  

The thought occurred to me that you all probably have some pretty cute stories as well.  I'm interested in hearing them.  Let em rip!  

Brian