This is one of the strangest days of the year. The Christmas tree is still up, but there are no presents beneath it. The trips have been made, and people are starting to settle back down to “normal.” All the cooks have declared a holiday, and the Great Gift Exchange has begun. And in our culture, we’re preparing for another phenomenon: the end of one year, and the start of another.
Sort of like they did on the first day after the first Christmas.
Take a look, and maybe we can catch an insight into how we can extend the wonder of the season past all the gifts and food. And I think we can gain some principles that will also help us prosper in the coming year. [click to continue…]
Life is too serious not to be laughed at. And 2008 has given us plenty of seriously funny expressions that soften our defenses, then make a point. Often a sharp one!
So without further ado, here, in reverse order are my 10 personal favorite funny blog posts from 2008. Many have links elsewhere, or combine videos with photos, etc. But you’re seeing them where I found them (or put them).
10. Speculators
David Hayward describes himself as “an artist trapped inside a pastor’s body.” His cartoons have appeared several times here. They often combine a funny thought with a sharp, convicting point. In “Speculators,” he pokes at the way people can and do profit from the message of the cross. Want more? Here’s one that mocks corporate mentality in the church. [click to continue…]
Ever since there was something called “The Christmas Story,” the birth of Jesus has been a two-sided event. In the familiar stories found in Luke’s and Matthew’s gospels, you read of shepherds and prophets, wise men and kings, Mary and Joseph. It’s written from man’s perspective. When the angels announced to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” that gives us Christmas from the human side.
Left there (which we usually do), Christmas is all about us. But there is a different story – one that’s told from the counsel of Heaven itself. You find it in the gospel of John.
“In the beginning was the Word… And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
That’s an eternal picture. That’s God’s picture. And perhaps the best description of Christmas from God’s perspective is the most familiar verse in the Bible:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….”
This Christmas, celebrate Christmas in stereo. Take the time to recognize the full picture. In the words of Charlie Brown and millions before and after him, “Linus, what is Christmas all about?” [click to continue…]
For several years, as the blogging world emerged and developed, I had an unfair and inaccurate image of what blogging was. I imagined it to be a “running narrative of the life of my cat,” or a load of political/social rants. I passed.
Then I actually read one – Seth Godin’s, to be precise – and I was hooked. I discovered a whole new world of rich ideas, excellent writers, passionate people, and yes, LifeVestors. Some people blog for money, and that’s great. Others offer up for free ideas and expressions as an investment in the world and in their future.
As the year ended, I thought I’d collect my favorite pieces into one post of my own. I thought it would be easy to narrow it down to 10. Ha! I could easily have given you my American Top 40, or my AP Top 25. Nevertheless, here are ten of my favorite posts, from ten different writers it would pay you to read:
10. Think Like a Millionaire
Brian Tracy is something of an icon in the personal development world. He has spent most of his adult life researching the differences between successful and unsuccessful people. This post, while focusing specifically on financial success, reveals one of the most important distinctions in any successful life. AND it helps make the point for why I wrote a book and have a site called LifeVesting.
9. The Posture of a Communicator
The burden of communication is on the communicator, Seth says. Wow. Imagine that. People who talk and write and market, who actually assume responsibility for whether or not you get the message. Want more? Check this out. [click to continue…]
Sorry to be the latest to assault your traditional Nativity scene. But this isn’t just an exercise in historical trivia. Something happened near Bethlehem that, in my 50 years, has gone unnoticed or ignored.
Have you ever had times when, for a split second, it seems that God has “parted the curtain” between the seen and unseen world, and given you a glimpse of the Larger Story? You can find one of those in Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus.
Setting the Scene
Joseph and Mary, both descendants of King David, had returned to their ancestral home town for census and taxing purposes. This shuffling of the population of Israel was a massive undertaking, and caused some serious housing shortages for months. But somebody in Bethlehem (possibly a distant cousin, who knows?) offered them shelter in the place where they kept their animals. This was probably a cave. We don’t know how long they were there before Jesus was born, but it was probably a little time. It doesn’t seem as though ol’ Joe was banging on doors at midnight, hollering, “My wife’s in labor!”
On the day (yes, day) Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph were still in the cave. The animals’ feeding trough became the infant’s first bed.
Then the sun went down, and the drama began. [click to continue…]
mudtrap.com
It was only a matter of time before something as festive and holy as Christmas brought out the fun side in all of us. And every year has its own version. Here’s a little Monday Christmas fun, Hanukkah Ham style:
Our friend Tim Hawkins, of Cletus Take the Reel fame, sends this Christmas Greeting. Click here then click on “The Christmas Puppy.”
Jacked-up Christmas Lyrics
A couple of weeks ago I was researching for a Christmas message titled “Jacked Up” about the crazy ideas and expectations people have around the holidays (you can hear it here: here).
I came across several web sites and blogs that talk about jacked-up lines in Christmas songs. Here are some of my favorites:
1. In 1964 the Beach Boys released a song called, “Christmas Comes This Time of Year.” That’s helpful! Deep, too. Sort of like saying, “Monday comes this time of week.”
2. Andy Williams, among others, is famous for the song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” A line in that song says,
“There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories….”
Whoa, there, AW. How many people do you know that tuck their little kids in bed on Christmas Eve and tell them tales of bleeding holly, haunted sleighs, or demon-possessed reindeer? Now go on to sleep kids! [click to continue…]
(The Further Adventures of Eugene Davis, Sophomore Christian)
“Have you seen this?” asked an angry voice one Sunday morning.
Yep, it was Eugene Davis, sophomore Christian and resident expert on what everybody else should and shouldn’t be doing.
“Seen what?” I asked politely as Eugene shoved a Sunday bulletin in my hand.
“All these parties!” he said.
In the midst of the activities list, Eugene had highlighted three youth fellowships in one week: the Jr. High, the Sr. High, and the All-Youth Pizza Pig-Out and Christmas Party that night after church.
“Well, there’s never a bad time to eat pizza,” I joked. “Don’t you know the wise men caught up with King Herod at Pizza Hut?”
But Eugene was in no joking mood.
“That’s not the point,” he fumed. “It seems like all we ever do with these kids is feed ‘em pizza and take ‘em on trips. When I was a teenager, we learned to give and do for others.”
“When you were a teenager, you were lost,” I replied. “Furthermore, when you were a teenager, Chicago was a cow pasture.” [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on December 10, 2008
in Ability,Enlarging Your Capacity,Five LV Laws,Hoarders,Insight,LV Alter-egos,LV Cycle,Life Currency,Money,Principle of Abundance
Why do you have the resources, abilities, relationships and intelligence that you do? Why do you lack the brain, the pain, the financial gain that others have?
It all comes back to the Trust.
What you “have” isn’t yours any more than what somebody else “has” is theirs. It all – even your life – belongs to God. He purchased it completely with the death and resurrection of His Son. But He has entrusted the management decisions to you. Incidentally, the primary management decision you must make is what you will do with the death and resurrection of His Son!
Jesus’ story of the talents illustrates the point. (You can read my paraphrase/summary here.) Each of the servants received part of the master’s possessions to manage for him while he was away. That represents your life and all it entails. [click to continue…]
(A Turning Point Story)
Glavine
It was something out of a Looney Toons episode. The kind of thing you’ve heard about happening, never assumed would happen to you.
It happened to me.
I had gone away on a far journey and entrusted all my worldly goods to my wife and three kids, telling them we’d settle accounts when I got home.
Well, not exactly.
September 13, 2001 – Do the calendar math. It was a surreal and vulnerable time. I was actually out of town on a consulting trip, when I got a call fairly early in the morning. My twin daughters were calling, breathless with excitement. Somebody had gotten the bright idea to leave a cardboard box in front of our house with two kittens inside.
“Daddy, can we keep ‘em, pleeze? We’ll take care of them, and feed them, and clean up after them. We promise.”
I wanted to kill them. [click to continue…]
(A Turning Point Story)
If being a pastor is like living in a fishbowl, then being a pastor in Abbeville was like swimming in a churning aquarium.
Beneath a florescent light.
That never goes out.
Now this is no mystery to the folks there; fact is, I think some of them are pretty proud of it. We’d laugh about it when we weren’t crying about it or stamping out the latest edition of “I heard from a reliable source.”
I knew this wouldn’t be a typical assignment when I went for an interview weekend and Bobby Joe Espy opened the Q & A session by asking, “Preacher, how thick is your hide?” I don’t remember what I said – something lame about leading with my heart. But I remember that this was the first time I’d ever had a chill in my chest.
Now every small town presumes to know everybody else’s business, but here it was elevated to an art form. Here people knew what you were doing and told you about it. After they told somebody else about it first, of course. They told me when my lights were on too late at night, or too early in the morning. They told me when the grass behind the, uh, privacy fence was too tall. And they told me every single time anybody had something to say that was of a critical nature. In Abbeville they called it like they saw it. And sometimes if they didn’t see it, they made it up.
Don’t guess my hide was very thick.
David Peterson was a great friend, which was helpful, since he chaired the committee that brought me and my very young family to the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama. [click to continue…]
