Video Test

Testing to see how this works with a video. 

<p>Third Culture Video - Short from Newsong Church on Vimeo.</p> 

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Creativity?

I find that I'm not a very creative person, but I wish I was. I wish I had creativity sparked within me every once and a while. Occasionally it comes out but I'm not sure where it comes from and I'm unsure how to hold on to it for any significant amount of time. Creativity within humanity is often spoken of as one of the distinguishers of the Image of God. Of all of creation only humans are creative. A given bird species will not depart from its standard song, it does not create but reproduces. So creativity is down there deep inside of us all. But some have the ability to hold onto it for significant periods of time. How do they do it? What do you do to spark creativity inside you? Do you consider yourself creative? Any thoughts on how to form this inside yourself or others, primarily me?

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Recent Reflections

So I haven't posted much in a while and I blame it all on the fact that I haven't been doing much thinking lately. Lately I've spent a lot of time playing video games and doing the opposite of thinking. I used most of my summer to shut off my brain instead of thinking. I am by no means advocating this, simply stating the truth. Truth be told I would advocate the opposite of what I did this summer; if that was a little to twisty for you that means I advocate thinking. It is something I think we should all value. We should desire to understand more and be able to think things through.

Well school has started up again so that requires my brain be turned on. This past week in Old Testament class I came to a conclusion. I don't delight in God's law all that often and that concerns me. Psalm 1:2 stats "but he delights himself in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." This man is called "Blessed" in the previous verse and that is a good thing to be called if you ask me. So I have been reflecting on this the past few days. When we delight in something we devote time to it and we think about it a lot, hence why he meditates on it day and night. Frankly I don't take much delight in God's law right now, at least my actions say otherwise. I genuinely enjoy reading the Bible but I have "lost that loving feeling" towards it so to speak. I have had that delight for it before and it disappeared at some point, and I'm not sure where it went. But I am going to find it. This is something I am dedicated to. I am all in on God and his word, the Bible. Don't know how but I am going to do it. I certainly know where to start. And that is by reading it and putting it first before TV, video games, and other things.

As I have thought about this for myself I wondered where my friends and others are at with this. If you are a Christian do you find yourself delighting in God's word? If you are not a Christian have you ever read the Bible? If so what did you think of it? If you haven't would you consider it? That is all for now.

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Question

So recently I have been on this kick to ask people questions on facebook to get random discussions going, get people to know each other and to open up a bit. Apparently I am not the only one asking single questions of people. I found this video via a friend and thought I should share it.


Fifty People, One Question: London from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

I also have been thinking about how asking questions can help form community, yet we seldom ask them. Questions help us to get to know other, which is an essential part of community. If we don't know the other we don't have relationship or community. If we don't ask questions we won't see our common threads and where God is moving our community. If we don't ask questions we will never know the little details of other, or at least not well. But we must also ask questions of ourselves as this will help us interact with others. So as you watch the video or reflect on this think about what questions you need to be asking right now or what questions you can be asking. One of my questions right now is "Are we prepared where God will lead us next?"

Anonymous Comments

So I had a friend point out that my comments did not allow anonymous people (on blogger) per the post titled Confessions. If you wanted to before a decided not too because you could not anonymously post before feel free to do so now on this post rather than going back to the others. And here is my commitment: As much as I will want to figure out who posts the comment I will not try to figure out who you are. If by random chance I figure it out I cannot control that but I will not actively pursue your identity as that is part of confession; it is anonymous.

Events - Wise or Directed

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Jim who works at Saddleback on the college ministry team known as Crave and we had a great discussion about life and ministry. We eventually found ourselves discussing how we should respond when an event has some hiccups. What do you do when you have a snow day event and the forecast calls for rain? Or what happens when you always go to a certain retreat center but another, more "attractive", location becomes available? Now I know most of you are thinking "I'm not in ministry, so this doesn't apply to me." but I think you are wrong. I think it will apply to you and I will try to show you why. As we continued our discussion we framed those questions with another, "Is this something God wants me to do or is this simply a wise decision?" As we posed this question it brought new light to the two examples. If the event is something God wants me to do then I must follow his lead and trust that he make sure it doesn't rain or the retreat will be great at the usual location. But if it is simply a wise decision to have the snow day then we should also act wise and cancel or we should choose the new retreat center. Now don't get me wrong here, both option are equally good; it is okay to act on wisdom when God does not say one way or the other. But before we act on wisdom alone we should probably ask God about it, especially when it is a big decision. So my question for you is where in your life right now do you need to start acting on faith and where do you need to start acting on wisdom? I'm not sure there will always be both in your life but I would guess that there are. Where in your life do you need to ask "Is this something God wants me to do or is this simply a wise decision"?

Next

So this post is based on The One-Minute Writer.

The question is: What do you hope is around the next bend in the road?

I think currently I hope there is a lot of things around the next bend. Not in a depressed way but in a hopeful way. Things are great right now and I see the potential for them to get even better.

I hope there is Kingdom growth, in my life and others.
I hope some friendships grow deeper.

But I hope for a new Reformation the most. I am not the first to say we need this, and I imagine I won't be the last, but I agree with the statement nonetheless. That is what I am hoping for.

Advice from Bush Twins

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This was on a friend's page and thought I would pass it on. Great stuff.

Confession

I had this random thought today. "What if people wanted to confess something but have no avenue?" So I decided to write this post. If you want to confess something feel free to do so at the bottom; I believe you post anonymously (if not let me know and I'll fix that). I hope you use this as an opportunity to let something of your chest that has been eating at you. If you want advice on what to do or want a blog response write "Response" as the last thing. So have at it. Depending on the response I might have one of these posts every so often.

The Jetsons

So my friend Amber (who doesn't blog much) were talking about The Jetsons and how it would be an awesome movie, live action or CG (like Walle). So in an effort to get someone to make this movie I decided to blog, not that important people read this thing. But it is worth a shot. As we talked about it I couldn't help but think about other movies I would like to see be made. The first and most important would be G.I. Joe; heck they are the original CTU. Are there any movies you guys would like to see be made?

Blogger-blockage

So I've been trying to figure out how to blog more often and my co-worker Linda blogs every day. I know she's crazy, not really but she does blog a lot. So I asked her what she writes about on a regular basis and she showed me this site that gives prompts for you to write about each day. So next time you want to blog and can't think of what to blog about head over there and use a prompt. There is one that I particularly want to write about, aliens. I know awesome. If you have any other suggestions of places to get help on blogging leave a comment and I'll put together a list of blog helps.

Bored at Work

Had a class mate show me this game. Next time you are bored at work try it out. http://www.helicoptergame.net/

Reconciliation With Hamas???

Someone else directed me to this article. I "wonder" why this hasn't shown up in the Western press. I don't understand how people continue to protest for these people.

History Abounds

Today and tomorrow will be filled many firsts. Today Rick Warren is speaking at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church, the first white man to speak their, ever. Tomorrow we will see the first African-American president, ever, in the history of this great nation. But these two statements lead me to wonder if we have farther to go. We have come such a long way from the society of the 1800's where slavery was legal. It appears that we have become, in general, a post-racism society. But is this where we should stop? If in 15 years I explain to my little brother that these days were historic should I expect him to understand? Or should I prefer that he not understand it at all? Should I hope that he has no concept of race? That he no longer sees someone for the color of their skin but for the character of their heart, which was King's dream. If you'd like to weigh in feel free to do so. And please understand that I am proud to see this day. I am glad we have come this far. But I simply see the ability to improve. But maybe this is misguided. These days truly are great. Here is to a new era.

Comics and Toddlers

So I bought a LA Times today because they had a section on the Inauguration of Barack Obama. When I got home I opened the paper and flipped through. As I was flipping through my little brother was standing by me and I thought "I should show him the comics." Because kids love the comics right. Apparently I was wrong. He didn't get much out of them. Do you know why? I figured it out but it never would have occured to me until I tried to read one to him. He didn't get much out of them because he didn't get them. He didn't get the word plays or the thoughts behind pictures themselves. It occured to me as I read one with a guy playing football buried by a bunch of players and stating to his wife on the phone "Hey, hon, can I call you back? I'm buried." Now I expect you to get that if you are an American who speaks English as a primary language or has some understanding of the English language.

So this got me thinking. How often do we put people off or do people simply not get what we are saying because of the internal language we use. Often Christians have a set of words they use that they assume everyone else gets but really only Christians get. Now I understand that some of this is unavoidable but we can remove some of the interal language. Our message should not be hindered by our terms. So next time you are going to share something about Christianity with someone that isn't a Christian try to use as little Christianese as possible. Crazy factoid: Christianese is actually a word according to my spell check on the Mac. Just goes to show that we have internal language. Now next time you share make sure you are not preventing their understanding because of your Christianese.

Quick Reflection on Psalm 40:1-3

So Psalm 40:1-3 reads:

"1I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD."

Recently while serving at Fuse one of the girls I was serving with commented about one of the other female leaders. She said "I really want to be like her. You can just tell she loves Jesus. I really want my life to reflect that too." This got me thinking. Both of these girls love Jesus and both of their lives have been far from perfect. But the difference is that one of them is allowing the new song in their mouth to be seen. What we have to realize is that this is something that we can allow to happen or prevent from happening. When I interact with people I want to have the new song be evident and this occurs by the way I live my life. Not only in public but in private. The Christian life is not a lazy life. We need to constantly work towards growing. If we never read our bibles and never obey the words of Christ then we can hardly expect our lives to be filled with joy. We need to remember Jesus words in John 15:9-11 regarding abiding in him.

He states: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

If you notice there is a cause and effect that we can participate in. As you go about this next week I hope you partake in this cause and effect. May your joy be full.

Moving Out Of The Way Fail

So I'm working on a sermon illustration for a message I am giving at Saddleback Irvine and I stumbled upon this video. It's pretty funny.

Are You (Red)?

Most of you by now have heard of the RED campaign. If you have not, it is a campaign to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa that was started by Bono from U2. The theory behind the campaign is to get existing companies to commit to donating a portion of their profit when specific (RED) items are sold. By doing so it brings awareness and provides money for the cause. Just recently Starbucks became a (RED) partner and they have an awesome new addition to the campaign. They released the (Starbucks)RED gift card. Every time one of these cards is used between 1/3/09 and 12/31/09 5 cents will be donated to the campaign. Now that might not sound like a lot, but there certainly are a lot of people who go to Starbucks on a regular basis. It is a great place to hangout or do homework. So if you are a regular to Starbucks I encourage you to get one of these cards and continue to use it. Once it runs out of money you can reload it by ask a Starbucks partners (employee). By doing so you will continue to help fight the global pandemic of AIDS. And if you won't reload the card pass it onto someone who will.

Is It Finished?

So I took my little brother to see Bolt last weekend. At one point during the movie he leaned over to me and said "It's over." Knowing that he is not very well versed in movies I could tell that it was not actually over and told him that there was more movie. But I could see how he would think it was over. This got me thinking about how often we think something is over before it actually is. We think it is the end when we actually need to be hoping for more.

Like when David and Bathsheba's first child died. Everyone thought David should continue to mourn but he praise God. He knew what would come later. He knew he would be with the child. Or when Jesus was on the cross. He cried out a psalm of hope. He knew there was more to come. He was letting those around him know it was not over. He knew more was coming.

Often things get turned totally upside down and our first response it to question God. But what if we took a new perspective. What if we questioned our feelings? What if we questioned our perspective? What if we claimed "It is not over"? If you have a relationship with Jesus then you can claim this. Paul writes "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." If you do not have a relationship with Jesus you cannot claim this. But you can.

So there are two responses possible here. If you have a relationship with Jesus you need to remind yourself that "It's not over." If you do not have a relationship with Jesus you can respond by putting your hope in him. If you are interested in that you can email me @ jcvarner@gmail.com. There is actually a third option and that is to not respond to this information. You can go on living as you have been. But there is no hope in that. In Jesus we have hope. We know that "It's not over" for the resurrection has come.

In the Stream

I found this quote today.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
- Thomas Jefferson

I wonder if this is to some degree what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (ESV)

"19For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel,that I may share with them in its blessings."

Right now how are you swimming and how are you standing?