Last night, Ang and I watched a movie called The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It was a made for TV movie, but actually quite entertaining. I wouldn't camp out on the theology of the movie but it was enough to get me thinking about life, death, and heaven. The main premise of the movie is that every life has an impact on other lives. The people we come in contact with, how we respond to situations, the choices we make - all of these impact those around us. Through out the course of the movie, Eddie Maintenance, met five different people that each helped him to see how he had an impact on their lives. In turn, it also gave him answers to many of his questions surrounding his life. It was this last point that impacted me the most.
I know that no matter how much I try to imagine what heaven will be like, I will fall short. But one thing I imagine heaven to be like is a time spent with God where He will help us to understand our lives. Why? Because I believe that as God reveals to us the details of our lives, the answers to our questions, He will bring glory to Himself, showing us exactly how He was in control all along.
Almost from the beginning of our lives, we want to know why. Why do I hurt? Why do I have to obey? Why did that happen? We are always asking the question why and I believe that when we get to heaven, God will reveal the answers. Why heaven? Why do we need to wait until then? Well in the famous words of Jack, "You want the truth?! You can't handle the truth!" I believe that God knows that we can't always handle the why's of life and that is why need to just trust in Him and know that someday, we will see.
6.27.2006
6.22.2006
Just Another Slogger
I can't believe that it has been a month since I've posted something. A lot has happened so it has been hard to get online and leave a post, and since it seems as though everyone else is posting recaps on what's been happening, I'll do the same. So here's the last month in a nut-shell:
1. Angela's grandmother passed away which meant that Dale (her father and my boss), was back in Ontario for 4 out of 5 weeks. While he was gone, I preached 2 services each Sunday, ran the youth, took care of chruch business, performed my first wedding (only found out 4 days before the wedding), and tried to catch a few moments of sleep.
2. Went to Seattle for our annual conference. Picked up 2 new cd's - Day of Fire's new one and another band who I can't remember. Returned car rental and left cd's in car. Hope it blesses someone.
3. Got the new Interlinc package. Not impressed with this one. One highlight was a new band called EleventySeven. Worth a listen. I wish that they had some kind of voting system set up so you could pick the cd's you want instead of what they give.
4. Went fishing when I got back from Seattle. Caught my first King Salmon. Check out the picture below. Figure it was around 30lbs.
5. Watched game 7 and wondered where the Oliers were, because they must have forgot that it was game 7!
1. Angela's grandmother passed away which meant that Dale (her father and my boss), was back in Ontario for 4 out of 5 weeks. While he was gone, I preached 2 services each Sunday, ran the youth, took care of chruch business, performed my first wedding (only found out 4 days before the wedding), and tried to catch a few moments of sleep.
2. Went to Seattle for our annual conference. Picked up 2 new cd's - Day of Fire's new one and another band who I can't remember. Returned car rental and left cd's in car. Hope it blesses someone.
3. Got the new Interlinc package. Not impressed with this one. One highlight was a new band called EleventySeven. Worth a listen. I wish that they had some kind of voting system set up so you could pick the cd's you want instead of what they give.
4. Went fishing when I got back from Seattle. Caught my first King Salmon. Check out the picture below. Figure it was around 30lbs.
5. Watched game 7 and wondered where the Oliers were, because they must have forgot that it was game 7!
5.20.2006
Death Of A Salesman
Today, I was out to lunch with one of my adult leaders. As we were leaving the restaurant I saw a salesman trying to sell the restaurant an ad space in the local phone book. I commented to my adult leader that it would suck to be a salesman trying to convince someone that they needed what you were selling. I didn't think much of it until I got back to my office and started brainstorming on how I can convinvce teens to come to youth camp this summer. All of a sudden I realized that in some ways I was just like that salesman I witnessed. Now mind you, what I am trying to sell is of much more importance than just any earthly thing. Teens are very picky about how they spend their time and when there is so much competing for their attentions, sometimes I lose to the competetion.
The hard part of it is that it makes me weary just thinking about it. The last thing I want to do is sell something no matter how great it is. I wish that we didn't have to convince teens how much they needed God; I wish that they just knew. I know that there is a balance between just lettling it all happen, allowing teens to miss out on things and hearing about it later, and doing everything in your power to get them out to something that will change their lives. The hard thing for me is always knowing where that line is and when to leave it up to God. If I had it my way, the salesman would just die.
The hard part of it is that it makes me weary just thinking about it. The last thing I want to do is sell something no matter how great it is. I wish that we didn't have to convince teens how much they needed God; I wish that they just knew. I know that there is a balance between just lettling it all happen, allowing teens to miss out on things and hearing about it later, and doing everything in your power to get them out to something that will change their lives. The hard thing for me is always knowing where that line is and when to leave it up to God. If I had it my way, the salesman would just die.
5.17.2006
Crazy Cross Guy
Last night, Ang and I took about a dozen teens to a Kutless concert. It was awesome! Probably one of the best concerts that I have been to in a long time. The cool thing was watching several hundred teens worshiping God as Kutless led us in a worship set. I love it when a band will use a concert to worship God.
Even though that was the highlight of the night, something else happend that took a close second. Ang and I were sitting up in the balcony enjoying the concert when we notcie this 50+ old guy that looked like Santa in a leather coat, with the word redeeemed written across it. He was at the front with all the moshers holding up a cross. No big deal! But 10 minutes later, I saw him on the other side of the stage, now throwing his cross in the air. I thought to myself, man, this guy gets around. I continued to enjoy the concert by looking at the projection screens to get a different view. At this time it was a panned out view of the stage so you could see the heads of the crowd as they sang to the music. All of a sudden, I saw the cross. Crazy Cross Guy was now in the center of the crowd holding up his cross again. It was like playing Where's Waldo, only instead of Waldo it was Crazy Cross Guy.
(This a Youth Pastor scketch of what the Crazy Cross Guy looked like.)
This is where it gets really good. The concert was coming to an end and Kutless was coming out to do their last two songs. I was looking for CCG (the abrev is a call out for all the WOTWs) and couldn't find him anywhere. Just as Kutless began their last song, Crazy Cross Guy ran out onto the stage. I couldn't believe my eyes. Just before he made it to the center of the stage, he was grab by the back of his coat and brought down. It was amazing. Crazy Cross Guy was everywhere. What a night!
Even though that was the highlight of the night, something else happend that took a close second. Ang and I were sitting up in the balcony enjoying the concert when we notcie this 50+ old guy that looked like Santa in a leather coat, with the word redeeemed written across it. He was at the front with all the moshers holding up a cross. No big deal! But 10 minutes later, I saw him on the other side of the stage, now throwing his cross in the air. I thought to myself, man, this guy gets around. I continued to enjoy the concert by looking at the projection screens to get a different view. At this time it was a panned out view of the stage so you could see the heads of the crowd as they sang to the music. All of a sudden, I saw the cross. Crazy Cross Guy was now in the center of the crowd holding up his cross again. It was like playing Where's Waldo, only instead of Waldo it was Crazy Cross Guy.
(This a Youth Pastor scketch of what the Crazy Cross Guy looked like.)
This is where it gets really good. The concert was coming to an end and Kutless was coming out to do their last two songs. I was looking for CCG (the abrev is a call out for all the WOTWs) and couldn't find him anywhere. Just as Kutless began their last song, Crazy Cross Guy ran out onto the stage. I couldn't believe my eyes. Just before he made it to the center of the stage, he was grab by the back of his coat and brought down. It was amazing. Crazy Cross Guy was everywhere. What a night!
5.16.2006
Change-a-holic
Do you ever go through times in your life where you just need change? I'm sitting here in my office realy wanting to change the layout. but I just don't know how to make it work (space issues). At home, I want to move the computer upstairs so that I can hook my 360 up to xbox live, which would entail major change to the spare bedroom. In youth minitsry I am constantly thinking about how to change the way we do things. I have found that if you don't change things from time to time, people get bored, but sometimes too much change is not good either. I think that I might be a change junkie. I thrive on change and while others tend to fear it, I long for it. Even now, as I look at my blog I feel like doing a major overhaul just to change it.
4.25.2006
Mullets Everywhere
I know that seeing two posts in one day might be too much too handle, but when I saw this on ESPN I had to share it with everyone. Anyone who has watched any amount of hockey knows that for some reason hockey and mullets go hand in hand. With that in mind, ESPN has compiled a gallery of the best mullets in hockey history. Just click here to view the whole gallery. I picked the best (maybe scariest) ones. Enjoy!
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