The Greatest Words Ever Spoken

I know what you are thinking. The greatest words ever spoken would have to be your wife saying, "You're right, honey. I was really wrong. I'm sorry." But no, these words cannot compare with the words I'm talking about. The Greatest Words Ever Spoken, by Steven K. Scott, is a compilation of the words of Jesus. If I had to sell you my favorite words He ever said, it would have to be the words He spoke in John 8:36. My love for that verse inspired THIS.

I like the way the book is set up. Having categories to look Jesus' words up by is quite helpful. I know, I can pick up the Bible and find everything He ever said there, but sometimes it's nice to have someone take away a lot of the leg work. If you love Jesus, forward this blog post on to 10 of your friends to prove you're not ashamed of Him, AND buy the book HERE.

Official Description:
"For the first time in 2,000 years, everything Jesus said about You, Your Life, and Everything Else.
Have you wished you could ask Jesus any question and get His immediate help with the biggest problems you face?
Now you can own Every Word of Jesus, organized into practical, easy-to-find topics. As you immerse yourself in
His words, your life and relationships will be transformed and your faith and spiritual passion will be renewed.

Let the Greatest Words Ever Spoken bring vision, power, and joy into your life - one statement at a time."

yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus

I guess some parents should be more careful where they hide their holiday costumes. I would hate to see the Easter Bunny costume.

the animals that killed Christmas

Everyone's always blaming the Grinch for stealing Christmas. It's an easy accusation to make, cause he's repugnant. He's so ugly. And yet, there are other perpetrators of Christmascide that go unpunished. They do not carry the sickly assocations that Mr. Grinch is left to carry on his own. Why? Because some Christmas killers are cute, furry, gentle creatures. See the pictures above. They look innocent enough, but they have killed Christmas. The fat one, on the left, persists on climbing our fake Christmas tree. It was cute last year, when he weighed 3 pounds, but that husky beast is 12 pounds at least, and the branches cannot take it. The bottom branches now all point to the ground. He has bent the metal arms. Shame on Mojo. The chewer, pictured at the right, has taken it upon herself to make our tree a non-working pre-lit Christmas tree. Before she got her paws - and teeth - on our tree, it would light up on its own. That is very handy, and it saves us time in decorating. No more, says Jaysian. She took it upon herself to chew the plug off the wire. At least she was smart enough to unplug it before executing her plan.

The Grinch is innocent. Leave him be. The real shame is on the cute, cuddly little animals...who have killed the Selph family Christmas this year.

Soccer Ball to the Face

Defense is the most heralded part of sports, or so they say on ESPN. They like to tell you that the best offense is a good defense, defense wins championships, good defense is fundamental...and yet most of their highlights are of offensive juggernauts that can't (or won't) play defense to save their lives. The kid in this video obviously places value on defense, though. Shoot, I wouldn't get back up and do it all over again if I took the shot to the face he took. Here's to you, Dave, since you're the biggest soccer fan I know...and since you're living in Brasil. Feliz Natal.

sick days

I used to really look forward to sick days. I guess being sick used to be better than the alternative. When I was a full time student and working full time, I loved getting sick and staying home. Usually I'd try to balance it out. I'd miss work one day and school the next. It was perfect. I remember looking forward to getting sick at my last job, too. Too much to do. Of course, I secretly hoped that someone would pick up slack while I was out sick, but that never happened. Sick days can be great, depending on the severity of the situation. Here's how I spend sick days:

• lots of sleep
• movie watching (interlaced with sleep)
• eat something really bad for me (it's my mom's fault. really, it is.)
• day time television (for napping purposes)
• and drug induced video making (see below)
  

So how do you spend your sick days?

hey ya

So I failed to mention Charlie Brown in my Christmas movie to-do list, but my wife reminded me. Some time ago, I bought Sarah a holiday pack, which included 6 movies covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Their classic! My favorite scene from any Charlie Brown movie is the dance scene in "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown." Those kids have sweet dance moves, and so does Snoopy. I'm not exactly sure what the kid in the back is doing, but the rest are pretty solid dancers. I guess they got sick of that same old song, though, cause they're dropping it like it's hot to a new tune. Hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas.

what's all the fuss about?

Santa Claus is the topic of many Christian discussions. My parents were taught that they shouldn't tell me Santa was real. After all, if I one day found out he wasn't, I would stop believing in Jesus. I get asked a lot now, as a children's pastor, if I will let my kids believe in Santa Claus. I think I will, but I don't have kids right now, and things change when you do (so I hear). I'll even let Cole believe in Santa for another year. But I really don't know what all the trouble is with this Santa fellow? He is a Christian, isn't he? Some of you think he's the devil, but I have video evidence to the contrary. Santa is not just a normal Christian, he's a Jesus Freak...

Tis the Season

I'll admit it: I love Christmas music. Some of my friends have shown disgust towards Christmas music, but I think they listen to the wrong stuff. I started to hate Christmas music when I worked at American Eagle. Come to find out, there are better songs than you hear in the mall. Hmm. Anyway, not only do I love Christmas music, but tis the season for watching Christmas movies, too. Did you know that Die Hard is a Christmas movie? It makes it to the Christmas section each year in your local Blockbuster. I guess having Christmas in it makes it about Christmas, even if it really has little to nothing to do with the plot. And so, here is a run down of the Christmas movies I MUST see before the season is over:

• Polar Express - based in GR at the beginning and end
• Elf
• Home Alone 1 and 2 - these are classics for someone my age
• A Christmas Story - TBS will give me a 24 hour window to get it in, and I probably will at least twice in that time
• The Nightmare Before Christmas - I've never seen this one, but it's on my Christmas to-do list this year

Anything else I should watch? What do you watch?

hijacked by the wife:)

everyone struggles with something. a bad habit, a way of life, an addiction... we all unfortunately have a vice that becomes an open door for the devil. something that tests us and should strengthen our faith and reliance on our Savior. well, i have a few said vices. they bring me down and ruin my attitude and blind me to how blessed i am. satan's favorite is my occasional bipolar Christianity.
this past weekend at new hope, we watched a video of depravity in a country not as blessed as we are here. there, they are not struggling with such petty things as not being able to afford blinging out Christmas for family. they struggle with losing as many as 3,900 children/DAY to unclean drinking water. a little thing that we take for granted. watching the joy the children had just in having clean drinking water broke my heart. this life is all they've known. drinking from a clean well was like Christmas morning to them. they don't know much about Jesus, but they know that He gave them people to bring them gold. this is how Christ shows His face to fourth world countries. by meeting their needs and showing them miracles through His faithful missionaries.
sometimes i forget how good God has been to me. how He's saved me. how He rescues me from depression when that idiot, satan, tries to drag me back in. how He's given me a husband who loves me, takes care of me like no one else could, and patiently waits for me to fully appreciate life. how He's brought me up from paralysis and spared me from an injury that could have been much worse. how He shows me His face every day even though i turn mine from Him.
so what do i have to do to cure my bipolar disorder? i have to become more like job. i have to really work on my relationship with Christ so when the devil tries to sneak in a dance, i can tell him that i'm taken.

job 1:8 | then the LORD said to satan, "have you considered my servant job? there is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

not out of the woods yet

Did you know that a rattlesnake does not immediately die when you cut off its head? That would have been a hot tip when I lived in Florida. My landlord showed me where his ax was, just in case I saw a rattlesnake. He said to cut off its head, put the snake in a bag, and let him know. He would dispose of it. I was scared enough due to the 8-foot long snake skin hanging next to the ax. Seeing the fear in my eye, he let me know that it was for the sake of the kids. We couldn't have a rattler on the loose with all those kids playing in the field. He got me there. But what if I had killed one by cutting its head off and tried to put it in a bag? He didn't tell me that it would stay alive for a while. That would have sucked. I would have reached down to throw it away, thinking I was safe and SNAP! It could still kill me. What the heck?



"And so it is with sin..." to quote an old TI sermon (or probably several old TI sermons). Just when you think you have conquered the beast, it can get you. You think you have everything under control. All clear. You're safe. SNAP! Brings you right back down, doesn't it? I guess we're never quite as safe as we think.

just let go

You probably didn't know this, but having three cats can be overwhelming. It doesn't help that they are all boys, all a little stupid, and all very messy. Cleaning up after the cats has always been Sarah's thing. Well, not always. When she was in her wheelchair, I took care of it. We didn't want her falling out of her chair and landing face first in the litter box. So a few weeks ago, Sarah had had enough. She no longer wanted cats, cause they were too messy and too much work. I told her that I could take over upkeep, so we could keep them. She said that was fine. The only problem is that she continues to clean out the cat box. She was upset again this week, cause it was too much for her. I told her that I had offered to take that burden from her, but she wouldn't let go. She kept doing it anyway.

Sound familiar? Ever have a problem overwhelming you, so you cried out to God...only to not let go of the situation and let Him handle it? I think that sounds very much like me.

In other news, if you want a cat, I'm very willing to part with two of the three. I'm still working on the third. He's mine, and therefore, he is awesome.

And one more side note. Happy birthday, Matthew. Today is his 15th birfday.

an inspirational Christmas moment

I was at the store the other day, and I did not want to be there. I was in a really pissy mood. I finally picked up everything I needed, and headed to the cash register. Lucky for me, there were only a couple open, so I got to wait in line. I was behind this kid who was there alone. Since I was already in a bad mood, I was extra annoyed that this kid was out by himself. Where was his mother? Finally it was his turn to be checked out, so at least my standing there was almost over. He only had one item to buy. I only had 4, so even this slow cashier could get the two of us out of there pretty quickly. Well, that's what I thought anyway. The kid pulls out a couple of crumbled bills, and then starts in with the change. Are you kidding me? He must have busted into his piggy bank and brought as many pennies as possible. The cashier got through counting it all, and the kid was short a little. She told him as much, and he started crying. You can ask my wife and she will verify that I hate crying. It's not a compassionate hatred, either. It's an, "I'm so annoyed I will get you to do anything to stop crying." So I pulled out a few bucks and gave it to the cashier and told the kid to settle down, cause I covered it. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said...

"Thank you, sir, I've got to buy these shoes, for my mama, please. It's Christmas Eve, and these shoes are just her size..."

Okay, I'll be honest with you. That didn't happen at all. It's stolen material from the most annoying Christmas song ever. I hate Christmas Shoes. I will give FM Static credit for making it at least tolerable, but seriously, I lost a little respect for them just knowing that they did a version of it. I love Christmas music sans Christmas shoes. What Christmas song do you dread? What makes you change the channel to find respite when it comes on the radio?