A friend turned me on to this video…
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oldies but goodies
This video is just a glimpse of a much bigger presentation. If you want the whole thing, go here . How ’bout you and I agree to be different… I need help to do that, will you join me?
This morning I am sucking on this jagged pill.
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving too little away. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.” -C.S. Lewis
I like this commercial. It helps me teach my family about living beyond our often careless American consumerism.
click HERE to see
Leo Tolstoy wrote,
“If one has no vanity in this life of ours, there is not sufficient reason for living.”
Hm, I am confused by this conviction. Does vanity not produce a sort of narcissism? Am I reading this wrong or is there something to this that I cannot yet see?
A friend sent this to me in an email. I found it so striking that I thought I would post it. I don’t know where it originated, or even if the facts are accurate. However it seems right.
(revision 12/21: it turns out that this post has been very popular. Thanks to a recent blog comment, it appears we have found out where this originated – go here. It looks like a wonderful book and the author deserves credit. You can also see more pictures here)
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Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide, Germany
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding
United States : The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week : $341.98
Favorite foods : spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken
Japan : The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips
Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks
Great Britain : The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis
Food expenditure for one week : 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream
Kuwait : The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one week : 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe : Chicken biryani with basmati rice
Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken
China : The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce
Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week : 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe : Pig’s knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips
Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week : 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton
Mongolia : The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe : Mutton dumplings
Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week : $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage
Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork
Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week : 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
This morning, I came across words from Mahatma Gandhi
“Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and vountary reduction of wants. This alone promotes real happiness and contentment, and increases the capacity for service”
Here is where the rubber hits the road for me. I know that my faith community is planning on raising funds for meaningful ministry in Haiti. It is going to be a christmas push with the tagline, “It’s not your birthday”. In preparation for this I have been talking to my family about what we could do to be a part of this and not make Christmas about us. Although they have been responsive to the idea, we aren’t making much headway other than buying (some would say extravagant) gifts for our kids which is sure to take away from funding Haiti. I am so conflicted about this. I read Gandhi’s words and I want to kane myself. The “me and mine” mentalility is yet firmly planted in my soul… I will talk with my family about this again and see if we can’t redirect. I am going to need their help in deliberately reducing my wants and learn, yet again, what it means to be content resulting in the freedom to serve.
down and dirty scrap booking – man style.
I understand that having pictures depicting Jesus is often an emotional need to “feel” connected to him. However, I believe we need to be very careful when using pictures that represent Jesus.
Imagine having a picture of another women in your wallet because you don’t have a picture of your wife with you. I don’t think that would sit so well with your mate. Why would that sit well with Jesus? And, when we enter into the next life, how embarrassing would it be for us to run right pass Jesus because we are looking for some bearded Anglo guy.
Wisdom suggests that we use caution with our icons.
I tripped upon this blog entry from a man that worked me pretty good last year with his book The Myth of a Christian Nation
He continues to throw me in the corner and pummel me.
Again, read a snippet of the entry and click on the link at the bottom if you want to read more.
“It’s hard to deny that capitalism is the best economic system around. It creates wealth far better than feudalism, communism, socialism or any other system one could name. But for all its advantages, capitalism has one major drawback that Kingdom people need to be concerned about: it needs
So it’s not surprising that people raised on capitalism tend to be greedy. We of course don’t think of ourselves as greedy, for it’s hard for fish to notice the water inside their own aquarium. But the evidence is all around us. people to stay perpetually hungry for more. If Americans as a whole ever followed Paul’s instruction to be content with basic food and clothing and not pursue wealth (1 Tim. 6:6-11), the system would come to a grinding halt. The undeniable truth is that capitalism runs on greed.” read more
I thought this was worth posting. If you like what you read here, you can go to the source. The link will be below.
Leader’s Insight: Living with Less
Leading believers to embrace a simpler life (and 3 key questions to get us there).
Everywhere I go these days, big is in. My combo meal is super-sized, my SUV is third row, and the TV of my dreams is 62-inch plasma. We Americans are big eaters, big spenders, and big wasters. Even our churches are into big, owning big malls and even bigger coliseums in order to accommodate big crowds and enable big growth. Like the population at large, we Christians seem to have a growing acceptance of the bigger is better credo.
But all this growth might be creating some big problems.
Our society and systems seem unable of handling the never-ceasing expansion of want and need. Our souls are groaning and the planet is buckling beneath the collateral damage of growth. Landfills are full, the air is thick, and we cannot drink from many of our streams.
In light of our growing problems, maybe the church should give small a chance. I propose that ministry leaders are just the ones to help Christ followers exchange big for small. After all, leaders are supposed to help usher others toward something better (not just something bigger), so maybe we should start ushering folks toward living lives that are less hectic, less cluttered, less selfish and less toxic. And maybe instead of a big ad campaign advertising “LESS!” we should start living with less ourselves. Instead of the pulpit, maybe some personal choices would help slow down the growth, bring some sanity to our lives and make the world more livable.
Divine Reading -It seems as if this ancient discipline is becoming popular again – or at least to Christian protesters (protestants that is). It is showing up a lot these days in my neck of the woods. Just yesterday I experienced it at a student gathering and then again at a group that met at a home.
Personally I have used it for small group gatherings for some time. I see real value in this spiritual discipline and believe it should be practiced.
Yet, I am a bit concerned that it may be the “cool” thing to do right now – like a faddish way of wearing pants.
I hope we stay away from a “consumption” attitude to this important discipline.
Just when narcissism takes residence in my life, thankfully, it gets yanked back out.
Gratefully, I sat with some of my friends today during lunch and was challenged again with the significant problems in Africa – Zambia to be specific. 10million people live in this country and 1million of them have aids.
What the Hell?!
And yet,
the kingdom of God is breaking into this hellish situation -God has a habit of doing that kind of thing.
There is a ministry there called “villages of Hope” where they take in orphans and give them a place of hope. A place where they are loved, a place where they are educated, a place where they learn how to farm, a place where they can be human. This is one of the most hopeful ministries I have seen.
I want to be a part of this kind of hope giving – in Jesus name for the Kingdom of God.
I am so thankful that today I was reminded of what matters!
“If it weren’t for Jesus, it would be difficult for me to follow God”
p18 Search for God Knows What by Donald Miller
that really… really resonates with me.
God is way to eternal and unmanageable for me. Jesus, at least, puts God into a realm of relating. The older I get the more God becomes a mystery to me and if it were not for Jesus, I would get lost in the endless reality of God.
This got me thinking today…
“death, so called, is a thing which makes man weep, and yet a third of life is pasted in sleep” -Lord Byron
While I’m on this video kick, I thought I would post a promo video we (the family ministry team that I lead) will be showing at Calvary this Sunday.
The goal is to encourage the congregation to get involved in actively ministering to their children through the programs available at Calvary. I want to send a very clear signal to the congregation that they are the ones that will make the greatest difference in the lives of their children and that the leadership of Calvary exists to help them do just that… through ministries like Cadets, GEMS, student ministries, kids zone, and special needs ministry.
I hope it helps raise up more leaders, passionate teachers, committed counselors, and eager ministers for a huge number of kids.
We need something like 220 volunteers to do just that. Here is to hope’in and pray’in that this video will inspire participation.
Here it is, take a look…
THE FOLLOWING PREVIEW HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR
ALL AUDIENCES
BY THE MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.
Yeah, I know its cheezy… so what, I don’t see you with your very own movie trailer.
Wouldn’t it be cool to have a soundtrack playing in the background of our lives? Or have someone dramatically give commentary to our lives like the movie trailer guy? How ’bout having both going on at the same time? Now that would be cool.
Surely my ordinary life would feel like it has meaning and purpose then, right?
So, I’m adding spice to my mundane existence by putting these Hollywood components in the background of my life.
The movie trailer will be posted soon… aren’t you excited?
you can’t go to Disney and not get the typical ‘in front of the castle’ picture.
the boys loved the pirates of the Caribbean…
space mountain was the big hit for the boys…
PICTURES OF THE DAY.
Levi has the habit of not telling us he has to go until the very last minute. Well, we were on a long ride and suddenly he tells us he has to go NOW!… we told him we couldn’t do anything about it and that he had to hold it…
Caleb and Josiah now call him “Bano Boy”. He’s a hoot.
I’m getting old… over 10 hours at Disney kicked my butt…
Boy, these lego people don’t mess around…
yes, all made of legos… these people need to find a job. oh, wait a minute…
three reason we are doing this trip.
Tomorrow we hit Disney World… or it hits us. I’ll let you know. I keep telling myself, “its for the boys, its for the boys”.
BTW…Susan and I have already secretively discussed a couples only trip to Italy next…
hit the rest of seaworld tonight. here’s proof.
never mind the girl in the middle… look at the rockers on the right. it was the preshow for Shamu Rocks. We were jammin’ on the big screen baby!
Shamu and his killer whale buddies were not cooperating at the show tonight. they had to start the show over and the second time wasn’t any better. The show ended with big music, big lights, no whales… they were just swimming around. It was great to see a hugely produced show flop -real world, reality check. But I want my money back.
love this picture… it looks like a marine computer screen.
the fam looking at boring turtles swimming around. not one of the more exciting displays. Every life has a little turtle display I suppose.
okay, that’s it. tomorrow we hit Legoland…
i think you may be able to see all the pictures here if you wish. let me know if it doesn’t work. I tried something new with the permission thing on flickr.
we spent the day at SeaWorld today.
the boys had a chance to feed and touch the dolphins. that was cool.
This is the first show we went to… comedy with animals.
second show… shamu, of course. floppy fin and all
third show… the super jumpers of the sea world
enjoying the shows
going up
the wonder of getting close
okay, that’s it for the day. we are going back tomorrow night, more than.
wait… thought this was appropriate
picture of the day…
Painting, smashing, and crashing could pretty much sum up the day
Painting houses and classrooms. Smashing a ton of clothes in the compactor to be shipped off. Crashing the truck into a service door (that was me-man did I feel stupid) and Levi crashing (with his emotions and then with a much needed nap).
Caleb up on a roof (which is a big deal for him) getting ready to paint… see his michael jordon pose?
boys feeling like men… smashing things good
the meltdown… tuesday’s anyway
TON MORE PICTURES HERE
We got to work today. It was hot, really hot. However, we stuck with it and took a big chunk out of the work. It is suppose to get even hotter tomorrow – heat index of 110. I think we will find a way to take it easy in the afternoon.
Here are some pictures
lovely looking group, huh?
the boys working hard at the clothes compactor
Levi and I sorting a lot of shoes.
Caleb’s glam shot
doing this together
RECOVERING NARCISSIST 