Random Thoughts

Posted by Brian on Jun 30, 2010 in Blog, Miscellaneous | 0 comments

I was at the doctor yesterday. It was my routine checkup but also time to fill out this part of the adoption paperwork.

When I put my urine sample inside the little trap door I wrote “Hi!” on the cup. The doctor came in smiling later and said, “Got your note. Thanks for that.”

I’m already keeping a mental list of other things to write on the cup for future visits:

1 – Use only in case of jellyfish attack.
2 – Liquid gold.
3 – If you need more just let me know.
4 – So what do you do with this, exactly?
5 – Whoever handles this should be featured on Dirty Jobs.

Always make routine or dull moments fun. Life is too short not to do so and you might brighten someone’s day.

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Great post by my friend Rob on Jesus and the desert temptation. Bet you’ve never heard this stuff before and it should put into perspective just what was happening between Jesus and Satan.

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Love this blog entry on the Number 1 Habit of Highly Creative People. Couldn’t agree more.

I would add to the list that time reading the Bible is of utmost importance to my work. When I don’t read creative work is like being dragged off by a grizzly into the woods. When I take time to walk with God not only am I painting a picture of the grizzly but he’s sitting still and talking to me.

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Aaron Sain and I are speaking at Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration tonight and tomorrow night. Very much looking forward to it. Our topic is Second Impressions: Creativity and Relevance in Today’s Culture.

We also produced a video on Psalm 34 (the theme for the conference). We will post it as soon as it shows at Lipscomb. There are 22 awesome people in this one – all friends, all fellow Jesus followers. Two of my favorite people in the world also appear. Stay tuned!

Once a Dragon

Posted by Brian on Jun 28, 2010 in Blog, Walking With God | 0 comments

The next installment in the Chronicles of Narnia film series will be released in December. (You can watch the trailer here). It’s my favorite book in the series and the first line of the first chapter is #47 on the list of best first lines from novels as determined by the American Book Review:

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. – C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

It sets the tone for a very different kind of story in the Chronicles. There are no real battles, but there are dragons.

At one point Eustace’s greed and selfishness causes him to fall under a curse and become a dragon. His friends don’t recognize him, he can’t communicate with anyone easily, and no one knows how to help him. He is alone and the last thing in the world he wants is to be covered with scales.

Then one night while everyone else is asleep Eustace the dragon looks over and sees a lion. The Lion.

Aslan leads him to a pool at the top of a mountain. Eustace wants in, thinking it will relieve the pain of his injured leg. But Aslan tells him that he can’t swim with his clothes on.

So he starts to scratch off his scales. When he is done he starts to step into the pool only to find his scales are back. Thinking it’s simply more scales, he scratches off the next layer only to find he is still covered. This happens several times until Aslan tells him that he cannot do it himself. Aslan must remove the scales.

“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt. …Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off – just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt – and there it was, lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. Then he caught hold of me – I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on – and threw me into the water. …I’d turned into a boy again.”

In the Bible Paul writes this in the book of Romans:

That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did. ~ Romans 6:5-11

I’ve tried to explain baptism to Noah. But it’s confusing. You can’t bullet-point the Gospel. “Baba-tism,” he used to say. But when we read this part of Dawn Treader Noah said, “Hey, his sin fell off and he got baptized.”

A few times in the book Lewis notes that Eustace was a boy who never read the right kind of books. I’m thankful that Noah isn’t that kind of boy.

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A Father Makes All the Difference

Posted by Brian on Jun 27, 2010 in Blog, Walking With God | 0 comments

Do you ever have times where you are inspired by something and you wish you could bottle it? It happens all the time to me and the main reason I want to bottle that inspiration is so I can share it.

About halfway through the film The Natural Roy Hobbs reconnects with his first love. In the middle of their conversation she tells him she has a son and that she wants him to know his father (Roy doesn’t yet realize that he is the father). Roy agrees with her decision that the two should meet.

“A father makes all the difference,” he says.

In these strange days since my own father died (I apologize if you tire of hearing about that but it’s going to be a theme for a while) I’ve noticed my own view of “father” being redefined. But it’s not a definition to which I can assign words. So I’ll just let Roy Hobbs sum it up. It’s one of the most meaningful lines ever spoken on film.

The Happy Marriage

Posted by Brian on Jun 18, 2010 in Blog, Walking With God | 0 comments

Some studies show that Christians divorce at a rate equal to non-Christians. I have lost count of how many times I have been shocked to find out that a couple that I perceived as happy has broken, more victims in the long line of destruction left by the damned Satan.

I love Kristi. Our marriage is very good. But I also thought things were good with my friend who left his wife for another woman. Which friend you ask? Take your pick. There are too many to choose from and they either don’t realize the widespread destruction they cause throughout their community or are too blinded by their own selfishness to give a damn about anyone but themselves. My soul aches for their souls and I love these friends dearly. But how easily we give up.

I’m not afraid that Kristi and I will suddenly start hating each other but if I go by the statistics then I know there are some very unhappy people out there who hide it very well.

But I’m also personally not satisfied with okay. When I read the Bible I don’t see God promising a mediocre existence or a “happy” marriage. I see him promising something unlike anything else in the universe. It’s so amazing, in fact, that he compares his relationship with humanity as a marriage. I can’t imagine God being satisfied with merely a peaceful, happy co-existence. He wants marriages that are so amazing we have no words to describe them.

I have started meeting with other men who have great marriages. Aside from my perception of their great marriage the only requirement is that they have at least 25 years of marriage behind them. Long ago young men and women would have been initiated in several ways in my life. While I’ve not been left out in the cold (I have good models, including my own parents) there simply is not enough advice and counsel freely given in our Christian communities. Mentoring is rare. Now, I’m not asking for a marriage seminar. I just need to see old people holding hands and I need to hear their stories.

I’ve invited several men to lunch already. I ask questions and then listen and then ask more questions and then listen again. I haven’t been disappointed in the responses. Some are different than others, some are nearly word for word from one man to the next.

I’ve also thrown out a very unscientific survey (through Facebook) regarding marriages. I have some theories that I want done away with – we’ll see what happens. More soon.

Run

Posted by Brian on Jun 14, 2010 in Blog, Walking With God | 0 comments

I was running with Max this morning. The final turn before heading home has me facing the sun. If you aren’t living in the South right now you may not know that it currently feels like we’re actually ON the sun itself, even at 7:30am. But while it’s boiling lava hot these days the final turn to home also nearly blinds me.

But that still small voice always takes advantage of these situations. I’m thankful he spoke this morning. Very thankful.

I’m rusty. It’s been hard to fight for anything. I’m tired and I’m sad. Very sad.

But the voice said this:

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! *

I caught Max a little off guard when I started sprinting home (I don’t sprint).

There are too many people I miss. And some of them aren’t even dead. They’ve just quit running. In many ways that makes missing them more difficult. But I miss the others more, the ones who are physically gone. I am fortunate, though – I have a personal and faith-based history of pioneers who blazed the way.

Never lose sight of where you are headed. Shoot adrenaline into your soul. Get on with it.