Some church’s display such profound ways of communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ…. in a way that is creative, that is artistic, that is relevant to today’s culture.  Such is this video by The Village Church out of Texas.

Not only is the cinematography simply amazing and utterly beautiful, but the rap-style talking and the music is profound, catchy, and memorable.

Even if you are not a believer, if you have the slightest bit of creativity or artistic side to you, please watch this.  Amazing!…..

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

I know for a fact that I am right, but if not, I’ll be the first to eat crow.”

Most likely, you have heard this idiom at one time or another.

What does it mean?

Well, maybe this will shed some light on it for you.

The term in Wikipedia is defined as: “to display total humility, especially when shown to be wrong.”

Makes sense.

But, where did the quirky saying come from or originate?

According to World Wide Words,

The origin seems fairly obvious: the meat of the crow, being a carnivore, is presumably rank and extremely distasteful, and the experience is easily equated to the mental anguish of being forced to admit one’s fallibility.”

In addition, according to Wikipedia, there is another possible source for this saying’s origin:

Another possible connection comes from a short story by Rudyard Kipling. In his story ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’ Morrowbie Jukes falls into a place from which he cannot escape. Another man trapped there catches wild crows and eats them, but Morrowbie in his pride declares, ‘I shall never eat crow!’ After days of nothing to eat, his hunger and desperation finally forces him to do what he swore he would never do – literally eat crow.”

There you have it. Whether you eat crow or humble pie, occasionally we find ourselves needing to retract our stubborn opinions or perspectives and humble ourselves that we may just be in error.

Proverbs 11: 12 - “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”

Psalm 25:9 – “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.”

I went and saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, last night with a friend and as I was pondering the excellence of this movie this morning during my commute to work, I began to relish my long-ago love for superheros and comic books. Now granted, I am no die-hard comic or graphic novel reader as many are, but I do have an appreciation for the art. But it got me thinking about the masses of grown men and women out there that live and breath comics. The ones who go to conventions like ComicCon. That dress up to see the midnight premiere of a comic-based movie. Who are obsessed with either the genre or a particular character. That same type of devotion can also be seen towards the Star Wars franchise (for which I am a huge fan of, but not to the extent of many), the Star Trek franchise, and many other sci-fi based “worlds” out there.

What is the deal with our obsessions with cultural icons such as these?

Now if you are reading this and thinking to yourself, “I”m not one of those ”geeks””, than think again. These obsessions easily jump the median and cross-over into sports (yes, I am a Dodgers fan). How many football fans are out there that put all other things aside on the weekends when it is football season or who are involved in Fantasy Football? What about the global obsession with that “other” football game (or soccer for us Americans)? Whole groups of people have been known to trample, vandalize, or create riot-like conditions after their country’s team has lost the World Cup. Or WON it for that matter.

Okay, so you’re not a “geek” or a “jock”… What about some of the more common obsessions that go under the radar or those that people don’t generally consider an obsession. Being thin. Following the celebrity tabloids. Our careers. Our educational degrees. Money or our material possessions. Our reputations. Ourselves.

For almost all of us, if we look really good and hard, or maybe just right on the surface, we will discover that we all have an obsession in our lives. Maybe two or three. But why?

What is our obsession with having to have an obsession?

Well, the answer is really simple in fact. You see, we were CREATED to have an obsession. We were designed and created to worship. We were created and crafted to worship someone or something. That drive is ingrained in our very being. That craving to be so fixsated or focused on something is in every one of us. You and me. That nature was given to us by God. By the maker and creater of mankind and of heaven and earth. The problem is that most people don”t know this. They spend most of their lives worshipping themselves, the Oakland Raiders, Oprah Winfrey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, MySpace, or triathlons. Anything but the One that knew them before they were even physically born into this world. That knows their thoughts, their motives, their dreams.

For those that have never read or understood the truths that are found in the Bible, this is a foreign concept. But that is the real truth to be told. The reason we were born, put on this earth, and created was to worship the Creator of the universe. It is in our subconscious. It’s what makes us tick. It’s crafted purpose was built deep down in our hearts. We were made to worship.

For those of us that are Christians, that follow Jesus Christ, that know the Bible to be the Truth, the big question needs to be asked: Are we fulfilling our purpose the way we were designed. There is a difference between doing the church-thing and labeling ourselves “believers”, and truly worshipping God with the passion that we tend to bring to other areas, hobbies, or interests in our lives. Are we truly “obsessed” with God? This is the thought that truly struck me as I reached the office this morning. It made me really look at how much “love” I have for Star Wars, the Dodgers, and my latest playlist on iTunes. Am I pouring as much heart, or more importantly, MORE heart into God and my relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the question we need to be asking ourselves each and every day. Are we obsessed with the One who made us obsessive? We need to be.

Pastor Gus Bess

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34

Here we can see the expressions of grace in a very practical way concerning the situations of life. Grace gives us the freedom to experience the wonder of God’s kingdom in and through our journey. His kingdom has no worry or stress in it and in fact it is a place where what ever we would do, God would be glorified and we would be refreshed. In his kingdom there are no dead things, therefore our sin will not be found there. His righteousness is a place of cleanness where we find ourselves in a place of no condemnation and a place of joy which produces trust in the Lord in all our relationships and situations. This then brings thanksgiving and praise even in the midst of storms. Then being overwhelmed by his grace is no longer a thought or expression but a place to live and enjoy along the journey. On this new day may you enjoy the grace of the Lord that is in you. May you find your emotions and thoughts right smack dab in the middle of his kingdom and in this place you will experience a freedom that can only be called overwhelmed by grace. You will enjoy this day and so will those around you. Your smile will come very naturally in the grace of God.”

However, if you really want to know how the world is to know who it is that is truly living out a relationship with Christ, open up your Bible and check out Luke 6: 32-36.  Jesus makes it pretty plain and simple right there.

To also help make my point, I came across a rather poignant excerpt from The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner that I want to share on the four types of love:

The love for equals is a human thing – of friends for friends, brother for brother.  It is love for what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing – to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy at those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich.  The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.

The later was Christ’s outlook while mounted on the cross wearing a crown of thorns and watching some soldiers gamble at his feet for his garments. As His followers, He asks nothing less than that from us.

Special thanks to Francis Chan for putting all of this into perspective (Crazy Love).

But how should we receive the things that we run into?

Take today for instance.  You are sitting comfortably in a chair (I am assuming) in front of your computer or laptop and reading this blog post (thank you by the way).  You don’t really know for certainty what today is going to bring you.  Perhaps within the next 30 minutes, something that will frustrate you, anger you, burden you, or just plain trip you up will arrive in your path.  Or perhaps you will end this day and look back and say, “It was a good day”.  Well, no matter what the day brings, you should look back on each day with that same saying.  Regardless of the circumstances. Why?  Because everything that you face, good or bad, makes you a better person because you have endured it. Grown from it. It has strengthened you.

Want a good analogy?  That is what today’s entry is all about.  This was one of the many forwarded emails that I get which I usually pass over and don’t even bother reading.  But this one for some reason stuck with me and I loved it so much I thought I would regurgitate it here for you in case you have not yet come across it yourself.  If you already have, then you should remind yourself of the meaning of this little story.  If you haven’t, read on….

Sometimes we wonder, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ or ‘Why did God have to do this to me?’ Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, ‘Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.’
‘Here, have some cooking oil,’ her Mother offers.
‘Yuck’ says her daughter.
‘How about a couple raw eggs?’ ‘Gross, Mom!’
‘Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?’
‘Mom, those are all yucky!’
To which the mother replies: ‘Yes , all those things seem bad all by
themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! ‘
God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

If you like this, send this on to the people you really care about.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!”

So along comes a video produced by the good folks at Fairwood Assembly of God Church in Renton, Washington.

This video was shown at our high school youth group the other night and we all got some belly laughs.  I not sure what is funnier… what the video has to say about our own cliches standards of what we consider to be Christian worship (and I am talking more about “corporate church” culture) or, more importantly, how the video was made.  The old-school film grain, the 1950′s style music and over-the-top voiceover makes this video just too fun to watch.  Enjoy and then go out and worship our Lord in whatever manner YOU feel is right.

I am not sure of as to the original creator and it is foreign with subtitles, but this video appears to be an advertisement for bringing religion back into our public schools.

While being a very controversial subject in itself, I thought that the content of the ad was very thought provoking. Very insightful and I can’t believe it was all directly quoted by Albert Einstein himself.

As the video states at the end, “Religion is Knowledge too.”

Tip #2: Regularly Date Your Spouse

Too often, marriages get stuck in the week-after-week routine of life between work, chores, children, schedules, activities, etc. The last thing we often make time for is each other and going out on a date becomes a once-a-month (maybe) event. Now when I say “going on a date”, I don’t necessarily mean having to go outside of the house, perhaps getting a paid sitter for the kids, and spending a lot of money on an expensive date.

Making time for a date night can be as easy as spending an hour together and just focusing on each other at home. The important thing is to make the time and do it often.

After a serious crisis time in our marriage several years ago (one in which some marriages would have perhaps split apart), we set apart one night a week (for us it was every Thursday night) and we went out. We had a friend who volunteered to come and hang out with our kids for free, and we would go out for a walk, or coffee, or a movie, or dinner. The point was, we made “US” an extremely high priority in our schedule. That was crucial for us in allowing our marriage to heal and grow.

There is one thing that I need to stress regarding the “date nights”: Men and women connect relationally on different levels.

Men can bond (with other men or women) by sitting and watching a game on TV or going and seeing a movie together. The connecting time can be spent without much talking done. It is more of sharing an event or moment that men feel connected by.

Women on the other hand bond relationally (with women or men) by communicating. Talking about issues, feelings, current events is what allows women to bond.
I say this because it is important for a marriage to recognize these fundamental differences. If a husband does nothing but suggest they go to a movie everytime they go out on a date night, the wife will become resentful and discouraged. Likewise, if a wife suggests that everytime they go out, they just get coffee and sit and talk, the guy will become less likely to desire these times. The best thing would be to switch off every time. One time, a date night might be renting a movie and cuddling on the couch watching it, the next might be going for a walk, finding a nice spot to sit and just engaging in conversation. The main thing is that each person is bonding the way they tend to bond.

If actually scheduling these dates help, do it. If nothing else, it says to each other that you each matter and that “US” is just as important as “THEM” or “IT”…

Tip #2: “Notes”

Leaving notes of affirmation or encouragement are a great way to communicate to your partner. Even better, try hiding it in a place that they will later discover it… perhaps even days after you have written it. It allows for a sense of surprise. They can be as simple as “Thank you for working so hard this week” to “I think you are the most beautiful person”.

Another suggestion would be to get a pad of Post-Its that are a very unique and specific color (say bright pink). This allows the little “love notes” to be easily spotted (attached to a coffee mug in the cupboard for example) by your love and not overlooked or missed. If done by each other and routinely, it can even become a fun romantic game to see where to creatively hide the next note and what the message will say.

You might even leave one attached to the tube of toothpaste…