Lunch For Three - Day 4

Nooma 004|Sunday
"Why do we do the things we do? Why do we go to church or give money away? Because we're supposed to or because we think God needs it? Do we honestly put on our best clothes for an hour once a week, stand and sit at all the right times, and sing all the appropriate songs for God's sake, or because it'll make us look better to the world around us? We're tired of all the empty rituals and routines. And so is God. God hates it when we call ourselves Christians but ignore all the things he really cares about. He hates it when we go through hollow religious routines out of some feeling of duty or obligation. God doesn't want the meaningless rituals. God wants our hearts. " NOOMAtube

Ten seconds left! I grab the rebound and call a timeout. Down by one, the State Championship is within our grasp! Coach huddles us up and draws up a special play. He looks at me and says, "Aj, once you curl around that screen get ready to shoot. The ball is coming to you." I nod my head in accordance and hustle back out onto the floor just as the ref's whistle blows. Eric inbounds the ball to Ryan and runs straight at me to set the screen. My shoulder slides right off of Eric's as I curl around the pick and receive the pass. One dribble to the left and I pull up at the elbow for the jumper. The world begins to slow as I can see the Nike logo on the basketball rotating in a beautiful high arching shot towards the bucket. The ball hits the front rim, and bounces straight up. As gravity would have it, the ball begins to fall back towards the hoop and... "EHHH, EHHH, EHHH, EHHH, EHHH! " It's 9:00AM Sunday morning, I struggle to regain consciousness and realize that I was dreaming and it's time to wake up for church. I roll over and shut my eyes again, trying to figure out if I should wake up or sleep in a little longer. I think to myself, "we were out of town last week and weren't able to go, so I guess we should go this week". I roll out of bed, shower, throw on my Sunday's best and we're off! After shaking the hands of the greeters at the front door we head straight in the sanctuary to "our spot" and settle in. We sing, bow our heads, and pretend to take notes just like every other week. After the benediction we try to avoid getting into long conversations with others and sneak out to the car.

Does this sound familiar to anybody? It sure does to me. Is this what God had in mind when he created the church? Did He want us to raise our hands, bow our heads, and pray when we are supposed to? "We can sing all the right songs and say all the right prayers, but if it's just going through the motions, what's the point?" (Rob Bell). Rob talks about a story in the Bible where Jesus is joining the religious leaders of the day for a meal. The leaders are going through the hand washing and oil rituals that they were one to do, yet Jesus chooses not participate. They look at Him shocked that He was not following along. Then Jesus says, "You clean the outside of the cup, but the inside is filled with greed & evil." We are not that different today from the way those religious leaders were back then. Jesus challenges us and says that we "are spiritually dead, and [we] don't even know it!"

Like the Religious leaders in the story above, I know that sometimes I do things because I want people to see me doing them. I want the public to think that I am a good man and that I do Godly things. How about this, do you ever feel embarrassed when the offering plate gets passed by and you don't put anything in? Or better yet, do you feel good about yourself when you do put something in the plate? Why do we really give? I mean, God doesn't need our money. He created the world, why couldn't he just create a little more food for the hungry or supplies for the church builders? Rather than give because we think we should, we need to "seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow" (Rob Bell). Not because we want people to see us doing so, but simply because it's what God calls us to do.

Since 1991 the number of people who no longer go to church has increased from 39 million to 75 million today (Bama Research Group). That's a 92% increase in less than 20 years? People are fed up with Christians living as frauds. They see believers act one way on Sunday or when they are with their "church friends" and in a completely different way when they are at school or work. We cuss, lie, and gossip yet are proud to call ourselves Christians whenever we are asked. "Is church a building? Like one hour a week? Church is people. People whose hearts are beating more and more like God's...Let's be honest. A lot of people confuse religion with God and walk away from them both. The point isn't Christianity. The point is being a Christian. It means being a follower of Jesus. It's being connected with everything that is true and good and right. Everything that goes on around us, that reminds us that there is so much more going on around us than we realize. Could anything be more beautiful?" (Rob Bell)

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

LOST 009 | Namaste (2)

Namaste! I went back and watched last night's episode again and boy did I notice some new and very interesting things! Topics that will be covered include, the idea that Pierre Chang was time traveling from the very beginning, what's the scoop with the swan station, Chang's baby, and more on the ghostly figure in Christian's Dharma house.

We see Pierre Chang a couple of times again in this episode. We first see him checking Jack in at the table for the Dharma Initiative and again during the Welcome video. The screen cap to the left is taken from that video and there is something very interesting about this picture. Chang is wearing a Dharma jacket bearing the logo of "The Swan" station. Hmmm...we were lead to believe that at this point in 1977 the Swan station had not been built yet (we see Radzinsky building a model and making plans for the station in this episode). There are two possibilities here. This could be nothing more than a mistake that the costume department overlooked, but it is surprising that somebody did not catch this before it aired. One other possibility is that Pierre Chang had figured out the time traveling and it was his mistake that he was wearing the Swan jacket. And what's the deal with Chang's multiple aliases? We have seen him go by many different names Dr. Pierre Chang, Dr. Marvin Candle, Dr. Edgar Halliwax and Dr. Mark Wickmund? I think that this lends more information supporting the fact that he is time traveling. During each time travel expedition he needed to go by a different name to avoid being discovered (similar to Sawyer being LaFleur). There's also the mystery of who on the island his baby is? I think that it is Miles. Miles got his bloody nose shortly after Charlotte and before Juliet placing him on the island around the time that Chang's baby was born. It will be interesting if this is true and they figure it out and they meet each other?


What's the scoop with the Swan Station? This is any image of the model that Radzinsky was making at the Flame station. We know that the Swan station was originally built to study the electromagnetic tendencies of the island, but then "the incident" changed things and rendered the Swan station basically useless. I hope in the future we learn more about what sorts of things they were hoping to learn from their studies at the Swan. With it being the first station the survivors discovered and the fact that it keeps coming up in more episodes it must have been an important station initially.

After reading all about this rumored ghostly figure in the background of the Sun Dharma house scene, so I went back and re-watched it today. Holy crap, it's true! If you go back and watch online you can see a figure in the background look up and turn it's head. When Frank and Sun meet Christian in the Dharma neighborhood, the door seems to fling open and a sort of mist enters the house. A few seconds later you see the ghostly figure in the background. It's right before they flash back to the Dharma recruits taking the group picture (about the 35:00 mark online). I left the picture above a little larger than normal so that it would be easy to see. It also has an enhanced version of the circled image on the left side. We can't really be too sure on who the person is, but I feel safe saying that it is someone pretty important to the rest of the show! If you look carefully you can tell that the person has long hair. Also if you look at the length of the sleeve on the tshirt it is very short, most likely making this person a female. There are some who think that since Christian is present, the figure must be Claire. I don't agree with this. From what we can see of the figure she/it has either a brown or red tone to their hair. Claire was a bleach blonde which this person certainly is not. Personally I think that the figure could be Annie, Ben Linus's childhood friend.

Annie was Ben's childhood friend who gave him a carved doll for his birthday after his father forgot that it was his birthday. It is unknown what happened to Annie after this event. However on the Season 3 DVD special features Damon Lindelhof and Carlton Cuse describe Annie as "a character that is going to play a "huge part" in upcoming story lines: "Annie is going to prove to be very significant in Ben's life," and that even the island's volcano will be "slightly less important than Annie, but still seismic." To date we have not seen anything else regarding Annie, so her story line is yet to come.

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topics. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

Lunch For Three - Day 3

Nooma 003|Trees
"We want to know why we are here. If our lives really matter. How our religion is relevant to this life. Today. We want to understand what significance this minute, hour, week, month, and year has to our lives.To our world. We need a God who cares about this life, in this world, right now. We want to understand why everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do matters. We don't want to just sit back and wait for something to happen or someday to come. We want to know if all the choices we make now will shape our world and lives for eternity. Because we want our lives to have meaning today, and our lives today to have meaning forever. " - NOOMAtube

Late lunch today, sorry! Have you ever asked yourself the questions why am I here? Or what is my purpose in life? I know that I have. It's something that isn't obvious to us as humans. I commonly think that I have things in my life figured out and then God throws me a curve ball and I find myself once again lost, confused and back at square one. I want to do good in this world but how can I do so when the yuck of the world seems to be taking over? How can God's beauty live side by side with such pain? Despite what I commonly believe it's not up to me. Yet God does give a choice. I can live live the way that I want to live or I can live life the way that God created me to live.

The way that God created us to live...think about that for a second. How did God create us to live? In the days of Genesis, God created us to live as one in peace with the land and animals. Then there was this whole fiasco with the tree. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and were kicked out of Eden. As Rob says, the trouble with this is not that it happened but that it happens. Each and every day we are faced with sinful temptations and we continue to choose the path of sin. We are given the choice to gossip, the choice to lie, and the choice to steal yet over and over again we take the temptation.

So where is God in all of this? As we walk through our everyday lives, why can't God be by our side at all times whispering in our ear? "I need a God who is now. I need a God who teaches me how to live now. I need a faith that's about today, that helps me understand the world that I live in today" (Rob Bell). Yet we live in a world full of beauty, full of life. God created the trees, he created art and music. All the things we enjoy, God created and God is in them. We live "in a world drenched in God. And some people seriously ask, you know, "Where is God?" Maybe the better question would be "Where isn't God?" I mean, his fingerprints are all over our world" (Rob Bell).

I personally need to take a step back and rededicate my life to the Lord. To admit that I cannot do it on my own and to understand that without Him, I will fall victim to the world's temptations. We as followers of Christ, should work towards living the way that God created us to live. To be committed to work with God to make the world the place that He intended it to be.

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

Idol Reaction 3/18

Well I went 2 for 3 on my bottom three predictions and was correct in thinking that Alexis would be leaving us this week. Not to shabby! We got to see the judges first real consideration of saving somebody tonight. These performances where contestant is performing for their life, are going to be really awkward as they are singing and pleading to the judges to save them. One thing that I also wish that the show would do is release the vote tallies each week so we could see how many votes separated each contestant, not sure why they don't do that? Oh well, I am excited to see the arrangements for next weeks Motown week. Whoever they have perform next week should surely be more entertaining than the boring performances by Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Randy Travis tonight...yawn!

LOST 009 | Namaste

LOST 009 | Namaste
**Attention! This post does contain spoilers! If you have not yet watched the episode and are planning on it, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, or this post!**

After the longest two weeks of my life LOST made its triumphant return tonight. And what an episode it was! Beginning in a flashback, we get to witness the Ajira 316 airplane crash from the perspective of those who stayed on the plane and crashed in 2007. We saw Ben get his butt whooped, 3 of the Oceanic six get accepted into the Dharma Initiative, and we got to see 11 year old Ben Linus! As always we did have some questions answered but at the same time new ones came to light.

We finally were told who the Amy's baby was. She decided to name the baby Ethan! Yeah the same Ethan that kidnapped Claire and tried to kill Charlie. I'm not sure if we knew that he was born on the island, but because of the timing of Dharma initiative we were sort of able to figure out the baby may be Ethan. But this raises another question. A little while down the line when young Ben Linus goes through with "the purge" and wipes out Dharma as we know it, what's the deal with Ethan? He obviously didn't die from the gas that was released. Because he was born on the island is he "special" enough that the hostiles spared his life and adopted him in as one of them? Maybe we'll be able to find out where he got his super human strength from (he did single handedly kidnap two full grown adults and strung Charlie up by his neck). We'll see where this goes...

We also found out that in the three years that those left on the island were living in with Dharma, Farraday abandoned ship and decided to go rogue? I can't imagine that even someone as smart as Farraday would just go off on his own, so maybe he joined up with the hostiles, or maybe he really is off on his own mission to save Charlotte from ever coming back to the island? More to come on Farraday's future plans below...

Back in 2007 we saw Sun and Frank return to the main island, they see what has to be the smoke monster, and then head straight into the jungle and back to the Dharma homes where they run into none other than Christian Shephard. Now people are saying that when they walked into the dark house there was a figure leaning against a table in the background. When the camera changes to Frank and Sun the figure, now in mist form, seems to flow out the creaking door. Interesting...I did not see this so I will have to watch it back. However when Christian was describing to Sun that Jin was actually back in 1977, he told them that they have quite the trip ahead of them. Sounds like somehow they are going to go back to 1977 to meet up with the other flight 815 survivors.

Last but not least we saw a Dharma security post man at the Flame working on a model for the Swan station. The Swan station, better known as "the hatch" which Boone and Locke discovered in season 1, seemed to be some sort of a secret project that Dharma was working on at the time. Maybe the plan was to construct this station in the territory of the hostiles? One prediction that I feel pretty confident making is that we are going to get to witness "the incident" in this season's finale. The same "incident" that Dr. Marvin Candle refers to in the spliced Swan orientation video. From what we know about the incident, it was an electromagnetic anomaly that caused a catastrophic occurrence in the early days of Dharma. This occurrence resulted in the protocol of the Swan, having to put in the numbers every 108 minutes. My thoughts are that, the very first scene that we saw in this season, when Farraday was down in the construction site of the Orchid, will come up again, most likely in the finale. Farraday will do something, either in an attempt to save Charlotte or get back to the future, to sabotage the stations and will actually cause the the "the Incident." With this thought, I am led to believe that the Swan station was probably meant to be used for something more important than just pushing a button every 108 minutes. And that the need to push the button every 108 minutes resulted from Farraday's actions and needs to be done to prevent another Incident from happening, making the Swan station useless for what it's original purpose may have been. None of this is proven, just my theory. Any thoughts? Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

At any rate, LOST is back with a bang tonight and the preview for next weeks episode, although it didn't show much, looks to be a good one, someone starts a fire!

Lunch For Three - Day 2

Nooma 002|Flame
"I love those shoes. Really? The same way I love my wife? What's up with the word "love"? It doesn't have much meaning when we use it so loosely. Maybe we don't really get it. Maybe we don't understand what real love is. What it involves to really love somebody. What it means to give yourself to someone else. We mistake things like friendship, commitment, or lust for love, but God wired us a certain way to experience all that love was really meant to be. Not to hold us back or to make us miss out on the best that life has to offer. God created love, and wants us to feel it all in the way it's meant to be felt." - NOOMAtube

Wow, this video gets a little deeper than the Rain video did. Love is a very sensitive subject for many people. Love seems to have hurt just as many people as it has blessed. I really enjoyed the way that Rob broke down the three different Hebrew translations for the word love, "Raya, Ahava, and Dod." Raya was the translation for friendship or companionship between two people. The phase of love that really sets the foundation in the relationship. Ahava is the phase where this companionship moves from being friends and develops a level of commitment to each other. This is the point in the relationship where you make a decision to join your life with another. Finally Dod is the physical, sexual element of a relationship. He goes on to say that Love will not work unless all three types of love are working hand in hand.

He gives an example of two people having an affair. In this instance they are sharing the Dod flame but not including the Raya or Ahava stages of love. This progressions leaves those involved feeling empty and alone, once the physical aspect is through there is no fulfillment in this type of love. There's no friendship, no commitment, no loyalty and no sacrifice. Another example he gives is a relationship that is stuck in the the Ahava stage. They are still committed to each other and to the relationship, but there is no friendship, no intimacy. In these two instances, we strive for the relationship to work based on this one flame and hope that it can provide the heat that the three flames combined provide. But it can't. The single flame flickers and eventually fades away. Any flame that burns by itself will never be as hot as the Raya, Ahava, and Dod flames burning together. God created us for all of our flames to burn as one. "When you separate the flames, it can never really satisfy. It's like you're living outside of how God wired you to live" (Rob Bell). I know that I am in now way a love expert, I've only been married for 8 months. I know that I am not perfect, I am human. However when love is broken down in this manner it begins to make a little more sense.

"May you honor the way that God created you. May you have a profound sense of respect for the fact that you are a deeply spiritual and mysterious being, and that love is a profoundly spiritual thing. May you realize that the three flames are meant to burn together. And may you discover the big flame." Rob Bell

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

Idol Reaction 3/17

Looking forward to this weeks Grand Ole Opry theme all I could think was that with this group of people it had potential to be disastrous. Yet I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw tonight. For the most part it was a successful night for the remaining 11 contestants. I'm not a huge fan of country music so I was glad to see artists like Gokey, Giraud, and Desai make the song their own as they inserted their own singing style into these country greats. Adam Lambert continued to weird me out but for him as an artist it was good as he also made it his own. I will continue to say, I would never buy a Adam Lambert record, but that doesn't mean he won't sell any! Top moment of the night was when Simon called Lil Rounds "Little Rounds"! It was hilarious because he didn't realize that Lil was short for Lillian and thought that it was slang for "little". He was genuinely confused and stammered over his words the rest of the critique. It was priceless! Here is a list of the songs that were performed tonight...

• Michael Sarver - Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up) - Garth Brooks
• Allison Iraheta - Blame It On Your Heart - Patty Loveless
• Kris Allen - To Make Me Feel Your Love - Bob Dylan
• Lil Rounds - Independence Day - Martina McBride
• Adam Lambert - Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
• Scott MacIntyre - Wild Angels - Martina McBride
• Alexis Grace - Jolene - Dolly Parton
• Danny Gokey - Jesus, Take The Wheel - Carrie Underwood
• Anoop Desai - Always On My Mind - Brenda Lee
• Megan Joy - Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline
• Matt Giraud - So Small - Carrie Underwood

3 Singers Who Raised Their Stock This Week:

1. Anoop Desai
2. Matt Giraud
3. Kris Allen

3 Singers Whose Stock Fell This Week:

1. Lil Rounds
2. Alexis Grace
3. Allison Iraheta

Singer Who Should Be Worried This Week:




Alexis Grace

American Idol 2009 - Giraud, Corkrey, Sarver, and MacIntyre

American Idol 2009 Analysis, 3/17/2009 - Day 5
Now that I am fully encapsulated in this year's American Idol, thanks in part to my lovely wife and lovely mother, here is my analysis of the Top-13 remaining contestants. Today's focus will be on Matt Giraud, Megan Corkrey, Michael Sarver, and Scott MacIntyre.




Matt Giraud - Kalamazoo, Michigan
A dueling piano player, Giraud is a very talented musician and singer. Matt has released two albums to date but has yet to catch the break that really allows him to take off. Giraud has an amazing bluesy voice and is incredibly impressive when he is behind his piano. However Matt has struggled with his song selection and has paid dearly for it. During the top 36 performances, Matt sang "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay and the judges ripped him to shreds. This poor decision even sent Matt into the bottom rung of contestants and into the Wild Card show. Fortunately Matt came back strong with "Who's Lovin' You" by the Miracles and was chosen to continue as one of the four wild cards. Yet, after this experience it was clear to everybody that they preferred that Matt stick with the Gavin Degraw style of music. Hopefully Matt has learned his lesson and puts a little more thought into his song choice from this point forward. I think that Matt is a favorite for a fair amount of viewers but continues to have a lot to prove as he goes on round by round. We'll quickly see how much he has learned as tonight is Grand Ole Opry night! This could be dangerous style for a guy like Giraud.



Megan Joy - Sandy, Utah
Before Megan, who even knew that Font Designer was a real job? I guess that new fonts have to come from somewhere. Megan Joy, formerly known as Megan Joy Corkrey (after the wild card round she dropped her ex-husbands last name) is a single mother who was musically inspired by Bjork. If you're thinking that Bjork is an odd choice for inspiration you're definitely not alone. One thing is sure, Megan's voice has not kept her in the competition to this point. It's not a bad voice, but it's not in the same league as many of the other contestants. Yet she continues to return, week after week. She did receive a scare when she was sent to the Wild Card round. Yet Mr. Cowell thought that she was pretty and sent her through to the top 13. OK I may have embellished that last fact a little bit, however to this point her looks are what's keeping her in the competition. Strangely Megan went through the entire Hollywood week without being aired on TV once, so maybe we have not seen the potential that she truly holds? Honestly, unless she begins to blow us away I can't see Megan lasting more than 2 more weeks.



Michael Sarver - Jasper, TX
If Teddy Bears were real walking, talking, living beings Michael Sarver would be one! Anybody who honestly dislikes Michael must not have a heart. Michael is married and has two kids whom he only gets to see on an every other week basis. You see Michael is a roughneck on the oil rigs in Eastern Texas. Michael's soft heart has warranted him a good amount of TV time and we've been able to view all of Michaels performances to this point. From his rendition of Boys II Men to his favorite Gavin Degraw, Michael has remained very solid. Unfortunately for him, solid doesn't quite cut it in this competition. He's such a nice guy that the judges, with the exception of Simon, have not criticized him too harshly. I could see Michael finding success with this weeks Grand Ole Opry theme, but he's going to need a great performance in order to stick around. My feeling is that Michael will be sent home this week, maybe next week at the very latest.



Scott MacIntyre - Scottsdale, AZ
Scott was the first contestant of the 2009 season to really grab hold of the viewing audience. Having the benefit of being on the first audition show in Phoenix, Scott's story was featured right off the bat. You see Scott is about 98% blind and suffers from tunnel vision with his remaining 2% visibility. His story opened this season with a bang. With this and his extreme musical talent, Scott jumped to the front of the line of possible finalists. Since then Scott has both struggled and triumphed through his performances. Scott truly shines when he is behind his piano. You can really tell that this is when he feels most comfortable on stage. Behind the scenes Scott seems to be a musical genius. He produced his first CD at the age of eleven and has since put out five more albums. Scott's life revolves around music and this competition will only open doors for him. As far as this particular competition, Scott will most likely join Megan Joy and Michael Sarver as the next three contestants sent home. But during his time on the show he has surely inspired viewers and young musicians to follow their dreams.

Lunch For Three - Day 1

I have sporadically seen a few videos from Rob Bell's Nooma series in the past, but have never really been able to analyze them. What a good interactive and entertaining way to kick off Lunch For Three! I have embedded the video below, please view and comment!

Nooma 001|Rain

"Things dont always work out the way we want them to, or the way we think they will. Sometimes we dont even see it coming. We get hit with some form of pain out of nowhere leaving us feeling desperate and helpless. Thats the way life is. Still, it makes us wonder how God can let these things happen to us. How God can just stand by and watch us suffer. Where is God when it really hurts? Maybe God is actually closer to us than we think. Maybe its when were in these situations, where everything seems to be falling apart, that God gets an opportunity to remind us of how much he really loves us. " NOOMAtube

There are a few key elements that really stuck out to me while watching Rain. The one thought that kept coming back to me was the comment the Rob made when he said, "It's not IF the rain comes, but WHEN the rain comes." It's inevitable, we live in a fallen world and we will experience pain, we will experience disaster, and we will experience death. Despite what we may think, when we are hurting and when we cry, we are not alone. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Why does this continue to be such a tough concept for us to understand? Because we are stubborn and think that we can handle life on our own.

The father son analogy that Rob uses in this video is very powerful. The imagery of the crying baby can be understood by all who have suffered before. And it is in our times of pain that the devil will strike. Do you ever feel like everything seems to go wrong all at the same time? I know I have. You lose your job, a loved one passes away, and you get in a car accident, all in the same week! While we are at the bottom and feeling helpless, sin creeps into our lives and begins to instill the doubt into our mind. If we have such a loving God, how can he allows us to have this much pain? Just like Rob's son in the video was focused solely on the storm we tend to focus on the root of our problems rather than lift them up to the Lord. Admitting that we cannot do it on our own is the first step to submitting your life and your problems to Christ.

Life can be messy. People get sick. Accidents happen. Life's not easy. Unfortunately all of these statements are reality. Accepting that "I am Lost, I am hurting, and that this sinful nature is really screwing things up for me" is where the rebuilding begins. Once we are able to open our eyes and see the light through the pain, we will realize that all along our Lord has been right by our side whispering to us "I love you buddy, we're gonna make it!"

Lunch For Three - 3/17/2009

Devotion - [di-voh-shuhn] noun - profound dedication. Devotions have proved to be one the toughest things for me to get a handle on during my walk with Christ. Though I have devoted my life to Christ, I know that I have room to grow and things to learn about my faith and about my Saviour. In an effort to make devotions part of my everyday life I have been researching ways to make new habits stick. Some of the tricks to finding success in my venture include...

• Commit to Thirty Days
• Make It Daily
• Remind Yourself
• Write it Down
• Get a Buddy
• Run It As An Experiment

In hopes to have this habit stick I'm going to be starting a series of devotions that I'm going to call "Lunch For Three". I even created a logo for it! Instead of wasting my lunch hour watching dumb Internet videos or surfing Facebook, I am going to use that time to unwind and hang out with the Lord. I will also be posting my thoughts and reactions to the days devotion here on my blog. Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's lesson. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! We'll start this as an experiment for the next 30 days and see where it goes from there!

I am going to start with a series of videos called Nooma. They are created by a man named Rob Bell. They are very well done and really relate to our everyday lives. They really make you think. There are workbooks that go along with the videos that I will pull questions from as well.