Excuses, Excuses

I love my wife.  Even when she has a problem with something I'm doing, she doesn't yell at me or criticize me.  She lovingly expresses what she'd like me to do differently.  What a godly example.

So this week, she had asked me to start cleaning up after myself more around the house.  I used to do this pretty well, but lately I've been slacking and she's been picking up after me.  As we were talking, I found myself trying to excuse my behavior.  But when I look at what these excuses are really saying, they just fall apart.

Excuse:  I'm at work all day, when I get home I want to relax a bit.
Implication: So I should be able to sit around from 5 PM til bedtime without lifting a finger around the house.

A Lesson from a Bar Last Friday

Pastor Mark was at a bar last Friday night celebrating a friend's birthday party.  We had a fun time playing Jenga and catching up and, for those who might be shocked about this scenario, no we did not get drunk.      Moving on...

While I was chatting with a friend, I started to notice a voice behind me growing louder and louder.  Finally, I turned around to see a man sitting in a booth staring angrily at me.  He was pointing wildly in the air and kept saying, "What's this?" to me.  I had no idea who he was or what he was talking about.  I thought maybe he wanted to know what song was playing.  Here is how the conversation went.

Theology Thursday: Is Downloading Torrents a Sin?

Ready for the short answer?  Is it a sin?  YEP!  Do you like that answer?  Does that bother you?  Do you disagree and want to continue doing it anyway?  Before I give you my reasons, let me ask you this.  If God told you to stop doing this, would you?  If God showed you that it was a sin, would you actually listen and stop downloading torrents?  Would you choose to obey Him even though it meant giving up your free music and movies?  If you said yes, then please keep reading and honestly consider what I have to say.  If you said no, then you have an idol issue that you need to deal with.

Feature Friday: Love, Infatuation, . . . and Twilight

Ugh, I just can't stand the Twilight series.  There are a number of reasons why.  First, I'm not a teenage girl, so I am not attracted to Edward or Jacob.  Second, I am not a teenage girl, so I am old enough to know that vampires kill people and burn in the sunlight. . . not twinkle.  Third, and this one is important, I am not a teenage girl, so I know the difference between infatuation and love.  Do you know the difference?  Let me explain just a few of the differences and try, with my limited knowledge of Twilight, to connect the dots.

Slow to Speak and Tweet

You probably know this guy.  You may have seen him on commercials, follow him on Twitter, remember him from That Seventies Show, know him as Demi Moore’s husband, or watch him now on Two and a Half Men.  You may not have heard about the recent trouble he got himself into on Twitter.  

Penn State recently fired football coach Joe Paterno.  Ashton Kutcher read a headline about it and, without knowing the full story, he put his opinion up on Twitter.  Kutcher said, “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”  If you’ve been following the news or are really into college football, you know what a mistake this was.

Theology Thursday: Who is in control? Free Will vs. God's Sovereignty

Have you ever pondered this age old question?  Is everything decided?  Is the future set in stone?  Are you destined to follow a certain path?  Or, on the other hand, are you free to choose any of the many possible destinies before you?  Is the future undecided and solely up to our choices?  Are you a puppet obeying the script that God has written for you with no choice in the matter?  Or is everything up to us and God has no say in what we do?

Giving up the Elder Wand

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!! (Nothing too major, but I do talk about something from the new movie)

Have you seen the latest Harry Potter movie?  I saw it with my wife last night.  Without giving too much away, there is a scene in the movie where Harry gets the Elder Wand.  In case you don't know, the Elder Wand is one of three powerful magical items called the Deathly Hallows.  The Elder Wand is the most powerful wand in the world and with it a wizard would be unstoppable.  And it falls into Harry's hands!

What does Harry do with it?

Get Both Sides of the Story First

Passage: Proverbs 18:17 "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

As a pastor, I've had to work out my fair share of disputes and disagreements between people.  I've heard the usual stories.   "Pastor Mark, Sally said BLANK to me."  "Jimmy just hit Bobby and Bobby wasn't doing anything wrong Pastor Mark"  Some have been more serious than that, but whatever the case, the funniest thing happens.  If I'm not careful, whoever talks to me first gets me on their side from the start.  Its funny what hearing only half of the story can convince you of.

My favorite example of this comes from Pastor Mark Driscoll.

Do you lack sense?

Passage: Proverbs 11:12-13  "Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.  Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered."

I caught myself putting someone down behind their back the other day.  It wasn't anything too awful, I didn't reveal anyone's darkest secret.  But I spoke poorly of them and it was entirely unnecessary.  I wasn't talking to that person's mentor or pastor in an effort to lovingly help them.  I was talking to a mutual friend and this acid came out of my mouth.