Very thankful

We've just passed a big one on the holiday calendar, Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a great day with your family and/or friends.

We managed to eat a great Thanksgiving meal without overstuffing ourselves. A lot of that had to do with the fact that only 3 out of the 7 in the Lauer household really enjoys the traditional Thanksgiving spread. The other 4 are too little to appreciate all that fancy food (compared to say, hot dogs, pizza or a bottle).

It is my prayer that as we enter this holiday season that we'll keep Jesus first as we enjoy all the other craziness that accompanies Christmas.

What are you thankful for this year?

A Chargers win or a Colts loss?

For all you football fans out there who happened to watch the Sunday night Chargers/Colts game, pretty crazy huh? Thanks to the kindness and generosity of a man in our church, I got to go to that game! That was only the second Chargers game I’ve ever been to, and what a great game to pick. I do have to agree with many of the sports writers though that the Chargers didn’t so much win that game as the Colts lost it.

The emotions in the stadium that night were all over the chart. We all went nuts on the opening kick-off touchdown return by Darren Sprouls. We all cringed as our offense continually sputtered and Payton Manning moved his team up and down the field so easy in the second half. And believe me, everyone in that stadium held their collective breath on that final field goal attempt by Adam Vinatieri. From where we were sitting it looked like he made it. It took a few seconds for the noise to make it around the stadium and for us to figure out he missed. At that moment it was pandemonium, a Chargers love-fest with everyone hugging and slapping high-fives. It was a crazy-fun event and my voice is still hoarse today.

One thing we did comment to each other on the way out in the midst of all the happiness, hooting and hollering and “Go Chargers” chants was, “Imagine if even half the people in this stadium were this excited about Jesus.” As Vinatieri was lining up that final field goal and I was preparing for the Chargers to lose, I started to think about what was most important in my life. And I’m telling you, I could easily think of at least two things that were at the top of my list, God and my family. I mentioned in closing at church on Sunday, that even though I’m pretty sure God doesn’t really care about who wins a football game, maybe, just maybe our prayers were answered as the Chargers squeaked out a win. It certainly was a miracle win, a football miracle that is, not a divine miracle.

Movie theology

One of the fun things about watching movies is discovering the theology presented. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's hidden. Sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's clearly promoting a religion. It seems like the basic theological themes of Christianity often turn up in movies. In fact, I believe that some of the movies that best portray Christian themes of love, grace, forgiveness, sin, evil and goodness are the movies that are not "Christian" movies.

All that to say, I enjoying trying to find good solid Christian theology in movies. It's like discovering a hidden gem. The trick is to not somehow justify a certain movie just because it seems like there is a faint hint of the Christian movie. As this comic reminds us, we shouldn't be getting our main theological training from the movies. That, my friends, needs to come from the Bible. (In order to read this comic, try clicking on it and it should take you to a bigger view.)

The Kingdom

I'm curious to see if anyone else I know saw this movie. The actions scenes were great and fun to watch, just as I had expected. However, I was surprised at the plot and deep thought inducing role this movie took, at least for me.

One thing the move did for me, was allow me to get a glimpse into how war affects everyone, man woman, boy and girl from both sides that are fighting.

I know war is an ugly reality in the history of our world, but sometimes we forget that even the "bad guys" have families too and that death is death and war is war no matter who is fighting.

I know for me, I stopped and prayed at the end of the movie and asked God to forgive us wicked human beings for slaughtering each other in the name of whatever cause or God we are fighting for.

Taming the tongue

Isn't this a great/weird and kinda gross picture all at once? I showed this in church on Sunday as we all took a look at James 3:1-12. James does a great job of reminding us all of the power of the tongue. Unfortunately, that power can be used for good or evil. I find it amazing that we can say such nice, kind things to each other and then a second later lash out and verbally abuse someone. Taming the tongue cannot be done on our own. This is clearly a passage that reminds us that we need to power of God through Jesus Christ to have victory in this area. Any tips as to how you all control your tongue when you want to let a bunch of nasties fly out?

Celebrating God's goodness

Yesterday we go to celebrate our 11 year anniversary as a church. God is so good, we are truly blessed. A good time was had by all. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I'll be showing many more pictures like this in church next Sunday. We'll also have a copy of the group photo available for all.

We got to baptize Jason Theil and Eve Nordby. There is nothing like seeing someone commit their life to Jesus Christ. There was good fun, fun and fellowship (my favorite aspect to church life) and great weather.

Thanks to all who showed up and brought all the great food. We got to see God's love lived out in our gathering yesterday. Let's continue to pray that God blesses our church next year as we grow deeper in our faith and in relationships.

"America's preacher"

Did you happen to catch 60 minutes last Sunday night?

They interviewed Joel Osteen. If you haven't seen the video, click here. This will give you a firsthand look at his version of the prosperity gospel that he preaches.

I'd love to hear your comments on this phenomena coming out of Texas, where I guess everything really is bigger.

I'll hold my comments for now if we'd like to get a dialog going. What I will say though, is thank God for Michael Horton.