The Office Intro

Wow, so I never post in here anymore. I'm extremely busy at work and home...well, let's just say I have a ton of things to do at home as well.

Here is a video that we showed this past Sunday. We are doing a message series called The Office, and we wanted to do a fun intro like the beginning of the T.V. show, but show our own church people working at their jobs. I thought it turned out really well, so here is the first one, with more to follow.

Office Intro 082309 (without names) from Miamisburg Christian Church on Vimeo.

God On Mute Quotes

The revelation of God's love - the tears in His eyes - may not solve any of our intellectual questions about why He leaves a particular prayer unanswered. (In many ways, the sight of those tears makes His unresponsiveness even harder to comprehend.) But it does touch an emotional need within us that is perhaps even deeper than the intellectual one: the need to know that what we are going through and the way that we are feeling matters; the need to know that our requests have been heard; the need to know that God - in whom we have placed all our hope - is near and He truly cares.

When my deep prayers don't work, I easily default to despair, anger or doubt. Although I believe that God can handle my hang-ups, the truth is that there is only temporary comfort in anger and no hope whatsoever in doubt.

God's voice can so easily be muted by our hurt, our self-hatred or our crazy preconceptions about Who he really is, how He speaks and what we think He will say.

Mark's gospel account of the Garden of Gethsemane event tells us that Jesus used the word Abba to talk to His Father. This is the only time in which Jesus addresses Yahweh as "Abba" (Daddy), and He is doing it at the time of His greatest vulnerability.

first there is
prayer
and where there is prayer there may be
miracles
but where miracles may not be there are
questions
and where there are questions there may be
silence
but silence may be more than
absence silence may be
presence muted
silence may not be
nothing
but something to
explore
defy
accuse
engage
and this is
prayer
and where there is prayer there may yet be
miracles...

Alice In Wonderland Trailer

I Became A Christian And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

So I'm reading the above-titled book because we are going to do a message series based on the book at the church I work at.

It's pretty good so far - humorous, insightful and pretty powerful. I liked this quote the best so far:

Perhaps you've had an alias. You've been given other names besides your real one. Could it be that those names have shaped you? Maybe they've left you feeling unlovable, unable to understand how you could possibly be the one Jesus loves.

Well, other people may have told you that you're not worthy much, but the truth is that God wouldn't trade you for anything. In fact, when he set the price tag on you, it was His Son.

And you may be torn and broken. You may still bear the marks of deep wounds. But God is a master at reconstructive surgery.

And perhaps, because of all this, you have difficulty connecting with God. You feel like your prayers bounce back at you off the ceiling. At church other people sing out the worship songs, but you struggle to, not necessarily because you have a bad voice but because the words come from a bad heart. And so you're sure that to God, it's bad music. But no, when God hears you, he moves in tight.

You know why? Because you are his. Because since the beginning of your life, you have belonged to him. He shaped you in your mother's womb and his finger marks are permanently embedded in you.

You are the one Jesus loves.

One Of My Favorite Songs of U2's New Album...

is now in video form. (Unfortunately, the embedding option is not available.)