Monday, August 25, 2008
My Summer Vacation
I know I have been back a week already and didn’t even mention the vacation on my blog. What can I say I’m a slacker. Things got really busy, really fast when we got back home. But I would like to tell you a little about our vacation.
In a word it was fabulous. It was just Dana and I. No kids and no dog. We went ultra no responsibility. Dana and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We went to one of the best places on earth, Hot Springs, NC. There are many reasons I think it is the best place, the mountains, the multiple rivers, the natural hot mineral springs, the small town, the AT (Appalachian Trail) and other trails, but most of all is that not many people know about it. We were all alone on one trail for hours. We would sit by the rivers and waterfalls and just enjoy what God has created (the nature and our marriage) and never ever hear anyone or anything else but nature.
Dana and I had lots time to just sit back and let our minds get out of production mode and everyday worries and it freed us to dream and think about what life can be like and should be like for us. One of the coolest things we kept seeing over and over was the unending flow of water in the rivers. We were walking along side the Laurel River and keep seeing this. It didn’t matter what was in the way the water never stopped flowing. It didn’t matter how many rocks were in the way or how high they were piled up,
the water kept flowing. This happened without fail. The water always found a way through the rocks. The more rocks there were the more spectacular the resulting escape was for the water. When the water did finally find its way through the jagged rocks there was always a peaceful, calm, and surreal pool where the water seemed to stop and rest.
This wonderful display of nature made me think about Gods unending love for us. No matter how rough we are or how many barriers we put up to keep God out of our lives, he will always love us. Psalm 136 in the CEV translation says 26 times that “Gods love never fails.” That is so encouraging. This scene also made me think about the love we have for others. That if God has created us to be like him and his love never fails, then our love for others should never fail. Our love for others should be like the river. No matter how jagged someone is our love should flow to them. No matter how hard people try to keep us away, out love should flow. No matter what they do to us, out love should flow. I think this is how God wants us to live. I also think this is very hard to do and rarely done by most people who call themselves Christians, including me. I am currently reading book called “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman. This book talks mostly about how adults from ages 18-41 feel about the Christian faith and Christians. David is the president for the Barna Group. They did research and collected a huge amount of data before they compiled their answers. Let me just tell you it ain’t good. I think the bottom line for all the things people, outside and inside the Christian faith, dislike about Christians, the answer is love. The way to connect and develop relationships with people, no matter what their preconceived notions are about you, is to show them love. I believe that if we can do this, if we can show love to people who don’t like us, that we don’t like, that think we are hypocritical, or judgmental, we can truly display the image of God to them. Galatians 5:6 (CEV) says, If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others. Our faith in a loving God should make us love others. I believe that if we do this, if our love for others never stops flowing, after those tough times when it seems impossible to love, there will be an unexplainable peace that follows. I encourage you today to begin loving others, especially those you find it hard to love, and allow God to work through you in the lives of others.
In a word it was fabulous. It was just Dana and I. No kids and no dog. We went ultra no responsibility. Dana and I were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. We went to one of the best places on earth, Hot Springs, NC. There are many reasons I think it is the best place, the mountains, the multiple rivers, the natural hot mineral springs, the small town, the AT (Appalachian Trail) and other trails, but most of all is that not many people know about it. We were all alone on one trail for hours. We would sit by the rivers and waterfalls and just enjoy what God has created (the nature and our marriage) and never ever hear anyone or anything else but nature.
Dana and I had lots time to just sit back and let our minds get out of production mode and everyday worries and it freed us to dream and think about what life can be like and should be like for us. One of the coolest things we kept seeing over and over was the unending flow of water in the rivers. We were walking along side the Laurel River and keep seeing this. It didn’t matter what was in the way the water never stopped flowing. It didn’t matter how many rocks were in the way or how high they were piled up,
the water kept flowing. This happened without fail. The water always found a way through the rocks. The more rocks there were the more spectacular the resulting escape was for the water. When the water did finally find its way through the jagged rocks there was always a peaceful, calm, and surreal pool where the water seemed to stop and rest.
This wonderful display of nature made me think about Gods unending love for us. No matter how rough we are or how many barriers we put up to keep God out of our lives, he will always love us. Psalm 136 in the CEV translation says 26 times that “Gods love never fails.” That is so encouraging. This scene also made me think about the love we have for others. That if God has created us to be like him and his love never fails, then our love for others should never fail. Our love for others should be like the river. No matter how jagged someone is our love should flow to them. No matter how hard people try to keep us away, out love should flow. No matter what they do to us, out love should flow. I think this is how God wants us to live. I also think this is very hard to do and rarely done by most people who call themselves Christians, including me. I am currently reading book called “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman. This book talks mostly about how adults from ages 18-41 feel about the Christian faith and Christians. David is the president for the Barna Group. They did research and collected a huge amount of data before they compiled their answers. Let me just tell you it ain’t good. I think the bottom line for all the things people, outside and inside the Christian faith, dislike about Christians, the answer is love. The way to connect and develop relationships with people, no matter what their preconceived notions are about you, is to show them love. I believe that if we can do this, if we can show love to people who don’t like us, that we don’t like, that think we are hypocritical, or judgmental, we can truly display the image of God to them. Galatians 5:6 (CEV) says, If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others. Our faith in a loving God should make us love others. I believe that if we do this, if our love for others never stops flowing, after those tough times when it seems impossible to love, there will be an unexplainable peace that follows. I encourage you today to begin loving others, especially those you find it hard to love, and allow God to work through you in the lives of others.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
EconoMe
Check out this video we made for our series EconoMe. This video played at the Kannapolis campus. I had a great time shoot and putting this video together. Jon performed this song live at the Salisbury campus but it is so much funnier on video, trust me.
Some of the elements that went into producing this video were things I had never done before and I think they turned out great. One of the really cool parts was that this was filmed in a recording studio. So I didn’t have to worry about the mic’s. Thank you Mike Revis, of CMR studios, for letting us have the studio time to shoot a video. BTW – Mike laughed more than the rest of us while we were there. It was fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
You might want to check out Jon’s blog because we actually made two of these video’s that day. The other video has Ron Loflin, the Denton campus pastor, as the interviewer. Jon said he was going to upload it so check it out, you might think it’s even funnier.
Some of the elements that went into producing this video were things I had never done before and I think they turned out great. One of the really cool parts was that this was filmed in a recording studio. So I didn’t have to worry about the mic’s. Thank you Mike Revis, of CMR studios, for letting us have the studio time to shoot a video. BTW – Mike laughed more than the rest of us while we were there. It was fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
You might want to check out Jon’s blog because we actually made two of these video’s that day. The other video has Ron Loflin, the Denton campus pastor, as the interviewer. Jon said he was going to upload it so check it out, you might think it’s even funnier.
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