Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazingly ironic that the bunch of people calling President Bush and his advisors and cabinet "idiots" barely finished HIGH SCHOOL??? All but one of the group of big-mouth celebrities that are making such a noise never even made it through a year of college. Most of them didn't even try. Ok. That's all I'm gonna say about that. No it's not. Michael Moore is one of them. He finished High School. That's it. NO degree. The majority of the people that he is defaming have AT LEAST ONE Master's degree. So who's the idiot? Ok. That really is all I'm going to say about that.

We watched a couple of movies this past weekend. One good, one not so good. The good one was called Possession. It starred Gwyneth Paltrow (I really like her) and Jeremy Northam (sp?). And another guy that I don't really know. Anyway, Paltrow and the guy I don't know play literary scholars who stumble across an affair by the artists that they study. In the process of investigating the alleged affair, of course they fall in love. Predictable, but it was still a good movie. The not so good one was called Pumpkin, and starred Christina Ricci. Man, does she have a big forehead or what?? And she looks horrible in that blonde sorority girl hairdo. The movie had a good story (seeing people for what they are on the inside--the other main character, "Pumpkin," was a "challenged" young man who became Ricci's charge in the "challenged games"), but the dialogue and general acting was pretty lame. Rough language and a few seconds of sex gave it an R rating. I wouldn't recommend it. There are plenty of other movies that explore the same topic.

I also got the LOTR Fellowship soundtrack finally. Wonderful music! Beautiful. I also got Chris Tomlin's new cd (a worship leader/songwriter). It's pretty good, based on only one casual listening. The third cd I got this weekend was Sixpence None the Richer's "Divine Discontent." It has a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over." Not bad.

Chambers, today, uses one of my favorite verses, John 3:30. "He must increase, but I must decrease." These are the words of John the Baptist as he realized the direction that his "ministry" must take as Jesus arrived on the scene. The Message renders this verse thusly: "This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines." The point that Chambers makes today is that we dare not become so involved in a person's life that we actually keep him away from Jesus. At some point, we have to watch them fall into the heart of God and stay out of the way. Sometimes, to our horror, God must wreck a life before He can save it.

I wonder how many of us come to worship God with an eager heart? How many of us are truly excited to be in church on Sunday morning? Now, granted, it may not always be your fault if your church doesn't get you excited (and that doesn't always mean jumping up and down excited) or eager. My interpretation of eager or excited means that I can't wait to go worship God in whatever form that takes. It could be clapping, dancing, singing, shouting, bowing, falling on my face before Him in confession or intercession. Worship has many forms. Unfortunately, a lot of our churches are locked into stodgy old sameness week after week. I grew up in one of those churches. It's a wonder that I still like church.

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010