Christmas Time

Is one of my favourite times of the year. It's awesome! Bright, colourful and the music has it's on special charm to it too.

There's only one thing that bugs me about it. People discussing it.

Every year beginning in November, the conversation begins. Should we be celebrating? Isn't it pagan? Santa!

It's starting to fell like beating a dead horse. Most of the stuff that is worth saying has been said. The internet is loaded with articles about the subject... Can't we leave it at that? Maybe I'm just a fan boy...

For me the lights, trees, bells, green, red, songs, tinsel, holly, turkey and gifts aren't distractions. They're reminders.

Reminders of what we are getting ready for on the 25th of December. The celebration of the birth of Jesus, but that's not where it ends. He was born to die.
Think about that!
It's like a pre-Easter celebration. What happens in a peaceful manger culminates at Calvary and concludes with the resurrection. It's this awesome (and life changing) series of events that all begin... with Christmas.

At least, that's how I feel about it.

Happy Christmas!

Operation Christmas Child

I really love this ministry.

There are a lot of great causes out there to contribute too. More than I will ever likely be able to get around to. That being said, I can honestly say that OCC is the most fun to give to.

Going around from store to store, hunting deals on stuff you imagine someone else would like. Trying to get a theme together for the appropriate age. Figuring out if you would have liked this thing when you were 5. It's great!

It's also helping an important cause.

One thing we take for granted in North America is gift giving. Not excessive "look how much I got" just simple "hey, I got you something special." There are families all over the world that never have received anything. Ziltch. Hard to wrap my head around that one. Operation Christmas Child aims to fix that. Plus, they present the gospel at the same time! Bonus!

This year I'm challenging myself to pack a shoebox every month. Call it an early New Year's Resolution. That way when November 2014 hits next year, I'll have a nice big stack ready to go.

If you've never given to OCC before, maybe you want to take the challenge too. Or, just pack one come November. Either way, it's great to imagine the look(s) on the kids faces when they get their new -- insert gift here ---

2013 Covenant Awards

I don't think I've been this excited for an awards show in a long time. Yes, the Doves (and Nashville) were awesome. But the Covenants were a bit more personal for me.

Mostly cause I was presenting 6. It was a blast. The thrill of knowing you will make someone's night... but not knowing who! I also got to use a teleprompter. That was cool. I've always wondered how easy it would be to use. I kinda want one now. You don't have to move your eyes to scroll the page, it does it for you!

The other thrill was Anthem for Today. Since first meeting them in January, I've been on an adventure or two with the guys. 

The Covenants definitely proved to be another. Not only were they nominated for 3 awards, they won one! It was Modern Rock Song of the Year for Inside Out. 

It was cool seeing Prosper and GPM (Air Raid Alumni) walk away with two! Dan Bremnes also managed to grab a couple.

All in all, it was a great night in Burlington!

Gravity

I saw a trailer for Gravity a few months back. I couldn't believe it. Someone actually made a film about two people trapped floating through space?!?! That's going to either be awesome or dreadful.

It's in space... that should help make it awesome. Still, an hour and a half of floating...

I saw it over the weekend. 

I couldn't believe it.

To quote a friend - "That was the fastest slow movie I've ever seen"

It doesn't stop. From 5 minutes in to the time the credits roll you're on a rollercoaster ride.

I saw it in AVX which was a first for me. Glad I went with it this time! There were parts I was shifting in my seat to avoid debris. I never do that!

There was another part were one of the characters is exposed to space. There was no sound from the movie during that scene... or from the theatre. I just sat there holding my breath.

Plus the first 14 minutes is one shot. As in, no cuts in the film. I know that's my film nerd geeking out, but is it ever awesome!

I don't think I'd see the film again. It one of those things you experience and then remember fondly. Maybe once I forget a lot of the key plot points in 5 years I'll try again.. Still, was more than worth the 10 bucks to get in!

There was a bit of language at the start. Something to be mindful of.  For the content advisory, Plugged In has you covered- http://www.pluggedin.ca/movies/intheaters/gravity.aspx

Nashville

I grew up listening to LIFE. Every year I would hear about the Dove Awards and how big they were. And how cool things are in Nashville. When you've heard about something for that long you tend to romanticize it. I'm the first to admit, I romanticized both!

I recently had the chance to go to Nashville for the Dove Awards.

I was ecstatic.

It was awesome!

Scott Jackson has already done a great job recapping the Doves, so I won't get into that.

I'm going to talk about Nashville.

It's a really crazy place. Music is everywhere! It's in the airport, in the ads on the side of the road, playing on the main street.
Speaking of the main drag - Just taking a stroll down the main drag all you can hear are the live country bands playing in the restaurants and bars. It's crazy!

Another crazy part of Nashville is the Bi-Centennial Mall. No, you can't get cloths there. It's a monument to 200 years of Tennessee.

To sum it up in one picture is impossible.
I tried, it failed. There's not only the entire history of Tennessee, but the names of some of the most famous people Tennessee has produced. There's also a mammoth map of the State with cities and rivers marked on it. The whole thing is worth the trip to Nashville.

Another highlight was Rocketown. It's a outreach/venue type thing started by Michael W. Smith. Not only is there a concert theater and cafe, but a recording booth and skate park!

Plus really big beach chairs.

All in all, Nashville was everything I had hoped.
The Doves were awesome too. Lots of bright lights and Christian Celebs.
It was nice to watch an award show and know who 95% of the musicians were!

Smartphone

I really didn't want to get one. Yes, I'm a geek. Yes, I love shiny new stuff. Yes, I have a million and one things I could do with one.
Even with all that, I was still apprehensive.

Touch screen texting? Eww. Being able to access the internet everywhere? Great.... Facebook in my pocket? No thanks!

Then, I realized I have self control.

So I got the phone.

I love it.

If you've been holding off on a smartphone due to the whole "touch screen texting" thing, it's not actually that bad.

At least on an android. Google's keyboard is really something else. Even if I miss a key, it usually guesses what I wanted. Sometimes it guesses wrong, but never with really awkward results... well... except that one time...

Also, the great thing was, it didn't come with Facebook! So I had to consciously add it, and have to consciously open it too!

I never thought I'd say it - Lovin' the smartphone!

Smell The Roses

I've probably read the Bible 3(ish) times in my life. It may be 4, but I don't want to overestimate.
In that time I've gotten a pretty good idea of what all the books are about (except the minor prophets...) and where each story is going.

Recently I've found myself getting bored in devotions. I still think the content is great, don't get me wrong, but nothing was popping out. No attention grabbing verses. Nothing. Just "oh ya, this story" or "I like this part" or "oh no... this part is really hard to get through (*cough*Songs of Solomon*cough*).

So what do you do? Stop reading? I did for a day, that was enough for me! Missed it too much and realized it was only going to cause problems in the long run, not improvements.
Change translations? Maybe. The words are different, but the content will be the same.

So what do I do? I stop to smell the roses.

Part of my problem was putting so much emphasis on how much I was reading. I tend to power read to begin with, doing that with the same book over and over and over is a recipe for boredom.

Now, I'm taking my time. Sure devotions are taking longer. Sure I'm reading less in that time. But whole books that I thought I knew backwards and forwards are different! I'm seeing stuff I've never saw, understanding things that have puzzled me and even getting confused on things I thought I had figured out.

It's awesome!

tl;dr - If your devotions are getting stale, try taking your time to smell the roses. It worked for me!