Saturday, April 12, 2008
Funny Blog
This will be really funny to some of you, and for those who it is not funny to, please go to church sometime. Then this stuff will also make you laugh.
Funny Site Link Here.
Please notice I made no mention of my incorrect prediction of the Kansas NCAA win. Let's face it pics of squids are funnier.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
RIP - Larry Norman
UPDATE - Yesterday while reading an interview Larry did, I read where he wrote the song, Why Don't you Look Into Jesus about Janis Joplin. His group People were performing a concert, and Janis was standing behind the curtain with a bottle of Southern Comfort in one hand, and a paper cup in the other. He was moved to write the song:
Sipping whiskey from a paper cup,
You drown your sorrows till you can't get up,
Take a look at what you've done to yourself,
Why don't you put the bottle back on she shelf,
Yellow fingers from your cigarettes,
Your hands are shaking while your body sweats,
Why don't you look into Jesus, He's got the answer
Don't go into shock, I am posting two days in a row. It is with great sadness that I must report one of my heroes, The Father of Christian Rock Music, Larry Norman has passed from this earth. His funeral was March 1st near Salem, Oregon.
When I was a radical Christian teenager, I loved Larry's no-compromise lyrics, and rockin' out tunes. I had never heard anything like it. From Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music, to I Wish We'd All Been Ready he made music that sounded sort of like the Stones and Bob Dylan had a collision. Perhaps my favorite song, the Rock That Doesn't Roll depicted all that was great about Larry Norman's music. Larry was the originator of the "one way" hand signal, the index finger pointing upwards. The guy was a geniune pioneer.
He ended his life much like he lived it. He was writing music and trying to make an impact right up to the end. He also was pretty much shunning the spotlight, and music companies right to the end. In spite of his refusal to follow along with the main stream music companies, his ministry grew.
Excerpt from an interview with Contemporary Christian Music Magazine (CCM):
CCM: "What then was your view of the church?"
NORMAN: "I had no time for the church matrix. I didn’t think you needed a majority vote from the elders on the board to undertake a musical ministry. The churches weren’t going to accept me looking like a street person with long hair and faded jeans. They did not like the music I was recording. And I had no desire to preach the gospel to the converted. I wanted to be out on the sidewalk preaching to the runaways and the druggies and the prostitutes.
When non-believers used to criticize the church I would say, "Yeah, I agree and I think that God is disappointed in what people have done with Jesus." And then I would go on to talk about what Christ personally said and did. It worked. I wasn’t there to argue against people’s beliefs. I was there to talk about what God’s truth is."
Larry wrote a post at his blog shortly before his death. In that post he stated, I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home. He was gracious in life, even at the end. This is a guy who gets it.
You can read more about Larry at his website, http://www.larrynorman.com/ (that there is a link).
You can also order his music there. I would suggest you start with In Another Land or The Best of Larry Norman, Vol I
Rest in Peace Larry, you will be missed.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Colorado Church Shootings-HEAVY, NO COMEDY HERE
One of those weird unexpected things happened again. My sister-in-law lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado where they had two seperate incidents of shootings at churches. They locked down all the churches in the area for safety reasons. Now, several innocent people are dead, and for no good reason. They are not martyrs, they were not killed for standing up for thier faith. They are dead because some kid could not handle life.
It turns out the turd who did the shootings was kicked out of the dorm where he did his first shooting. He was raised in a deeply religous home, by good, God-fearing parents. Yet somehow, he flipped out. This has been a mystery to me: how people flip out when they have good parents and a seemingly good life. I guess the pressure to not fail got to him?
I know the arguments: video games and music videos desensitize them to violence; they have anger issues. But in my mind I think I have a partial answer. I wonder if these kids have ever come to grips with the reality that they are responsible for thier actions, and if they understand the consequences of thier actions?
One of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me, was a dose of reality. My mom would say, "this is what will happend if you choose this action, and this will happen if you choose that action." Then she would tell me which was better and why, and then allow me to make the decision. Like when they told me that if I was caught drinking, I would lose my car for a month. Then when I came home stumbling drunk one night, and lost my car for a month. I remember it well. My junior year of high school: vice-president of the junior class, baseball team, one act play. Boy was I the busy popular kid! So you can imagine my consternation when I had to beg for rides to and from practice. How embarassing! (Yes, I was that shallow)
Then, another time my dad bought me a new camaro. I was in heaven. My dad simply told me, "you wreck it, and its gone." Well, I wrecked it, and it was gone before I got out of bed the next morning. They were just two of many tough love lessons, and I learned them well. It caused me to realize that every action had a result. And that I needed to weigh my actions, to avoid undesired results.
Its a tough thing for a parent to do: to provide the opportunity for a child to fail. And although they were serious issues for me personally, in the grand scheme of things they were really pretty minor. But they conveyed the greater lesson.
Tonight, I say a prayer for the families of the victims of the Colorado shootings. Please say one of your own. Those families will be forever affected because of the selfishness of one boy. The parents of those two sisters who were 16 and 18 will live different lives because thier sweet girls are gone forever from this earth. Comfort will be hard to find for that mom and dad.
It comforting for me to know, that Jesus was also "a man of sorrows." I pray they find thier comfort. Its good to know that they will see their girls in the sweet bye and bye. But its much harder to be comforted here on this earth, when those we have given our lives for are gone. I pray the peace of God comforts thier pain.
Friday, November 30, 2007
T-Shirt Sales by my church
http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=196791&she=1
If you want to buy one, go here:
http://www.givedifferent.org/


