Have a great Fourth of July!
We've talked about truth in entertainment all week. Any other forms of entertainment that have spoken and/or motivated you?
Friday, July 4
Thursday, July 3
Truth in Entertainment (We are Marshall!)
I've often wondered what would happen if more of us could unite ourselves. As a church, imagine what could happen if we united more than we divided. This is one reason why I love this whole One Prayer idea Craig Groeschel decided to do that so many others have joined in with.
What if we could, politically, decide on what needs to change is just find a way to do it in unity? Imagine how powerful a united front could become when people decided that the end what much more important than the means.
This is what happens in We are Marshall in several different parts. The one that stands out the most to me is when the remaining football players rally together and rally the entire student body and town to protest the removal of the Marshall football team. Then, as a the School Board meets, they begin to chant. It's an amazing portrayal of unity.
Try to do more to unite, especially for Jesus, then divide and get in the way.
Any time that you have experienced unity? What did that do for you and for your cause?
What if we could, politically, decide on what needs to change is just find a way to do it in unity? Imagine how powerful a united front could become when people decided that the end what much more important than the means.
This is what happens in We are Marshall in several different parts. The one that stands out the most to me is when the remaining football players rally together and rally the entire student body and town to protest the removal of the Marshall football team. Then, as a the School Board meets, they begin to chant. It's an amazing portrayal of unity.
Try to do more to unite, especially for Jesus, then divide and get in the way.
Any time that you have experienced unity? What did that do for you and for your cause?
Wednesday, July 2
Truth in Entertainment (Rocky, Rocky!)
Good ol' Rocky. Recently I watched Rocky Balboa (definately not my favorite of the series, but I still love it.) The scene that inspires me so much is when Rocky is giving "the speech" to his son and he tells him "It's not how hard you can hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and get back up!"
This motivates me to be more tenacious in my life. I give up too easy. But, the funny thing is, sometimes I do think we need to quit. We just have to somehow instinctively know when that is. But still, whenever I get hit hard, I wanna get back up. I wanna keep going. I want to move along and continue to pursue my goal. If that goal is happiness/joy (Monday's post), or if it's to shine on (Tuesday), striving to be more like Jesus, trying to improve my character, influencing those around me, or pursuing anything else!
Get back up!
When is a time you were motivated to get back up?
This motivates me to be more tenacious in my life. I give up too easy. But, the funny thing is, sometimes I do think we need to quit. We just have to somehow instinctively know when that is. But still, whenever I get hit hard, I wanna get back up. I wanna keep going. I want to move along and continue to pursue my goal. If that goal is happiness/joy (Monday's post), or if it's to shine on (Tuesday), striving to be more like Jesus, trying to improve my character, influencing those around me, or pursuing anything else!
Get back up!
When is a time you were motivated to get back up?
Tuesday, July 1
Truth in Entertainment (Shine On)
This comes from a song called "Shine On" by needtobreathe. If you have not heard then you need to check it out with whatever you use for music.
The song also has a music video in which several people walk around lit up with Christmas lights on them and whenever he/she comes into contact with someone else - the other person also lights up.
So, when is the last time you affected someone with your light? I'll be honest by saying that I'm not really sure. I can give the answer that pastors like me are supposed to give, but I just don't know, for real, when I really passed "my light" onto someone else.
It's time for me, and maybe you, to "shine on."
When is the last time you influenced someone in this way?
The song also has a music video in which several people walk around lit up with Christmas lights on them and whenever he/she comes into contact with someone else - the other person also lights up.
So, when is the last time you affected someone with your light? I'll be honest by saying that I'm not really sure. I can give the answer that pastors like me are supposed to give, but I just don't know, for real, when I really passed "my light" onto someone else.
It's time for me, and maybe you, to "shine on."
When is the last time you influenced someone in this way?
Monday, June 30
Truth in Entertainment (Happyness)
I love media, for the most part. I love entertainment. I just love to be entertained. But the best part of entertainment is the raw emotion and thoughts and life direction it can send you in. This week, I want to share with you some of the truth in entertainment that has motivated me recently.
"The Pursuit of Happyness" is a wonderful movie and a wonderful story. While I could spend a lot of time on the movie and the different aspects, I want to spend time on just one line. At one point Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) says that at that moment he knew what happiness was. This happened at the end of the movie when he finally accomplishes all of his goals.
He was chosen out of the many interns to become a full-time employee as a stock broker with Dean Whitter. Then he walks about the building and begins to clap and the voiceover says that he finally realized happiness. This inspires me to ask a question:
When do feel you last experienced true happiness, or joy?
What is the thing in life, in your job, in your career, in your family that really brings out happiness? I can't imagine going through life without having moments of true happiness. But I also don't think we can always live in true happiness. I think it only comes in slight moments. The reason I say this is because if we always had true happiness, we would no longer have it because we would take it for granted.
This post is nothing special other than true reflect and find out what really makes us happy. Maybe, if there is little of it, it is time for a change with something. Maybe different aspects of your job or life need more focus because of the joy it brings. Also, we need to know (as in the case of Chris Gardner) maybe we just need to put more effort into the pursuit part of happiness.
What makes you truly happy?
"The Pursuit of Happyness" is a wonderful movie and a wonderful story. While I could spend a lot of time on the movie and the different aspects, I want to spend time on just one line. At one point Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) says that at that moment he knew what happiness was. This happened at the end of the movie when he finally accomplishes all of his goals.
He was chosen out of the many interns to become a full-time employee as a stock broker with Dean Whitter. Then he walks about the building and begins to clap and the voiceover says that he finally realized happiness. This inspires me to ask a question:
When do feel you last experienced true happiness, or joy?
What is the thing in life, in your job, in your career, in your family that really brings out happiness? I can't imagine going through life without having moments of true happiness. But I also don't think we can always live in true happiness. I think it only comes in slight moments. The reason I say this is because if we always had true happiness, we would no longer have it because we would take it for granted.
This post is nothing special other than true reflect and find out what really makes us happy. Maybe, if there is little of it, it is time for a change with something. Maybe different aspects of your job or life need more focus because of the joy it brings. Also, we need to know (as in the case of Chris Gardner) maybe we just need to put more effort into the pursuit part of happiness.
What makes you truly happy?
Friday, June 27
Rebelliousness (5 of 5)
The final question/instruction of my painful learning.
Where is your heart?
If your heart has bitterness, anger, or rebellion (for rebellion's sake) then you need to check that attitude. Again, the first day I wrote this blog on rebelliousness, my heart was not right. I still think some truth came out of what was said, but we always want to rebel against others. A common factor in all of that rebellion is selfishness. We want what we want when we want it and nobody can tell us different or make us do different.
Whatever. It is that attitude in me that needs to change. I need to grow up. I claim to be a young adult, but I rarely act out the adult part of that statement. I want to be a little kid again when it was all about me. Now, I need to realize that it's not all about me, it's all about Jesus and I need to do whatever needs to be done to keep it that way.
And the authority that is placed over me was placed there by Jesus. So even if I think I am doing something that's right or fine but it's different from others in authority over me, then I am not doing what Jesus wants. There may be a conversation that can take place in order to find the proper balance, but I need to do what Jesus wants and he rarely wants me to rebel against others.
Unless it's a way of life. Sin. Evil. Etc. Those things do need to be rebelled against. So where is your heart in this whole scheme of things? I hope that your heart, mind, soul, and attitude is with Jesus and bringing Him all of the glory!
Where is your heart?
If your heart has bitterness, anger, or rebellion (for rebellion's sake) then you need to check that attitude. Again, the first day I wrote this blog on rebelliousness, my heart was not right. I still think some truth came out of what was said, but we always want to rebel against others. A common factor in all of that rebellion is selfishness. We want what we want when we want it and nobody can tell us different or make us do different.
Whatever. It is that attitude in me that needs to change. I need to grow up. I claim to be a young adult, but I rarely act out the adult part of that statement. I want to be a little kid again when it was all about me. Now, I need to realize that it's not all about me, it's all about Jesus and I need to do whatever needs to be done to keep it that way.
And the authority that is placed over me was placed there by Jesus. So even if I think I am doing something that's right or fine but it's different from others in authority over me, then I am not doing what Jesus wants. There may be a conversation that can take place in order to find the proper balance, but I need to do what Jesus wants and he rarely wants me to rebel against others.
Unless it's a way of life. Sin. Evil. Etc. Those things do need to be rebelled against. So where is your heart in this whole scheme of things? I hope that your heart, mind, soul, and attitude is with Jesus and bringing Him all of the glory!
Thursday, June 26
Rebelliousness (4 of 5)
Again, I come back to this because I always find that whenever I am questioning something about life, I tend to ignore this aspect of it. Prayer.
So you love living in rebelliousness (I'm loving this new word). Well, where is that taking you? What kind of mindset do you have with it? Where is your heart? It becomes far too easy to get caught up in our own world of rebellion, confusion, questioning, doubt, etc. And I think a lot of what we have talked about so far on this blog leads to doubt. I think the main reason is we begin to leave out prayer.
Pray about whether or not your thoughts and attitudes are of God or if they are of yourself. I wrote the last post two days ago. I wrote that because I was going through an attitude myself. I did not pray about it immediately and the language between that post and today's are completely different. After some time in prayer, I see that the things that I was having issues with were legit, but MY attitude toward it all was completely wrong.
So, pray. It gets said a lot and it gets made to be complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Ask the God of all wisdom what your attitude is and if it should be different. It is throught prayer that we get to the heart of the matter.
So you love living in rebelliousness (I'm loving this new word). Well, where is that taking you? What kind of mindset do you have with it? Where is your heart? It becomes far too easy to get caught up in our own world of rebellion, confusion, questioning, doubt, etc. And I think a lot of what we have talked about so far on this blog leads to doubt. I think the main reason is we begin to leave out prayer.
Pray about whether or not your thoughts and attitudes are of God or if they are of yourself. I wrote the last post two days ago. I wrote that because I was going through an attitude myself. I did not pray about it immediately and the language between that post and today's are completely different. After some time in prayer, I see that the things that I was having issues with were legit, but MY attitude toward it all was completely wrong.
So, pray. It gets said a lot and it gets made to be complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Ask the God of all wisdom what your attitude is and if it should be different. It is throught prayer that we get to the heart of the matter.
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