The Golden Compass

I just finished reading "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. It was hyped up as a book on par with Tolkein and C.S. Lewis' writings. I totally disagree. The storyline didn't capture me and it took me a while to get into it.

I have also heard many comments about how 'anti-Christian' and 'anti-God' that the book is. Actually, I think it's 'anti-Catholic church' more than anything. And let's face it: there are problems not only in the Catholic church but in all churches. If there's people in church, then there's problems.

This book brings some of those problems to light and I think we need to face those problems and not ignore them or 'pooh-pooh' them.

This book does rewrite the Genesis 1-3 Creation and Temptation scene from the Bible, but it is a work of fantasy and as long as I know the real story, I think it's ok to dream a bit.

I wouldn't recommend this book. But, if you're going to bash the movie or the book, you should read it cover-to-cover before you hold a opinion on it. (Nothing frustrates me more than people who have opinions on something and they don't check it out for themselves first!).

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I'll be preaching on this book/movie on February 10, 2008, so if you are in town and want to hear more, c'mon out.

A New Year with New Opportunities

It's a new year full of new opportunities! Over the Christmas break, Jenn, Amy, Ed and I went to an awesome Irish pub up at Oprey Mills to help us bring in 2008! The Guinness was fabulous!

My church, Trinity, is embarking on 3 services this year. 2 blended at 8am and 9:15am and 1 contemporary service at 10:45am. God's house will be rockin' and we'll be worshipping using songs that you can take with you for the week ahead.

As one wise person has told me,

"Music is the language that everyone knows."

Another trip and another tire...

Ok, so I don't know if this is a sign, but the fam and i are on the way to visit family for the holidays when we get a nail in one of our tires. Good thing we were near the Corvette Hall of Fame because we found a tire place that could patch it right quick!

Vacation has been great. Caught up with good friends. Visited my home church and reminded myself why I am the pastor I am today.

If you have this on RSS feed, be sure to visit my blog to see the latest books I've burned through. And yes, I did finally finish the Harry Potter series. Totally didn't end the way I thought it would.

Oh yeah, the best part of the vacation was watching Ohio State beat Michigan. Go Buckeyes!

Cya on the flip side...

Hug your musician

Bizarre event last week. Our organist played at both our Sunday morning church services. Then, 4 hours later I get a call from the hospital that she had died! She suffered a heart attack and there was nothing the paramedics nor hospital could do. Here's the hand of God in all of this: on that same day, she shared her testimony of faith in front of the congregation. One of the points she shared was that she knew that God wanted her to tell everyone that Jesus loves them. That was her mission. She said that God wouldn't take her until she told everyone that Jesus loves them. And then, 4 hours after she said that, God took her home!

Yesterday, we celebrated All Saint's Sunday and God certainly worked through our organist to show us the kind of faith we all are given.

Amazing

CampRestore

Came down Tuesday to camp restore in New Orleans. The devestation is immense. And the home that aren't even gutted. There's piles of garbage in one yard and in another yard, there's a picture of hope as the grass is cut and the mold is ripped out from the insides and drywall is screwed in. It's truly amazing to see the swath of devastation and the glimpses of new builds happening.

Right now, my team is working on putting up sheetrock for a duplex. We're having fun but we're also humbled and amazed by the immense work that it will take to get houses to look like habitable dwellings.

Wow.