The Best Animal News You’ll See All Week

There’s been a lot of Animal Talk in the news lately.  A lot of it, really sad. 

I figured you NEEDED this.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Bizkit, the Sleep Walking (and sometimes RUNNING) Dog.

Enjoy.

3 bands that are all up in my dome

There’s a lot that I’ve been listening to lately, but these are the three bands that keep making thier way to the top of my iPod.  And here are my reasons why.

MGMT

1. If The Stones and The Talking Heads made babies, they would sound like MGMT.

2. There is no one else that sounds like these kids right now.

3. They’re kids.

The Arcade Fire

1. If Bruce Springsteen (1981) and The Water Boys (1987) made babies, they would sound like The Arcade Fire.

2. They have an instrument that you have to CRANK (very cool)!

3. Said instrument is played by a girl (even cooler)!

Cut // Copy

1. If New Order and New Order made babies, they would sound like New Order…which sounds a lot like Cut // Copy

2. These guys are so freakin’ committed to Neo New Wave, they would kill for it…don’t let the fact that they are 110 lbs combined fool you…these guys are killers!

3. They’re not trying to save the world…they’re just trying to get it to shake it’s booty (in true white boy fashion)

What about you ::  What BANDS are all up in your dome right now?

God is in my butt

Last night as Elijah was sitting on the toilet doing his thing, he asked me the question that all parents long to hear their children ask – “Daddy, is God in my butt?”

“Uhhhh.  What do you mean pal?” (my mind flashed ahead to conversations the next day at pre-school)

“You know how Jesus and God are in my heart?  Well, is God in my butt, too?”

Great question.  My quick answer revealed what concerned me most.  ”No, buddy.  God lives in our heart with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.”

I was more concerned about Elijah repeating this at Pre-School than I was the beauty of the question he was asking.  And, I was theologically incorrect.  If Colossians 1:27 is true…

“The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is IN you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory!”

…than I sold my son short with my safe answer. What I should have told Elijah was, “You bet pal!  You are made in the Image of God AND God lives IN you – So YES, God does live in your butt!  He lives in ALL of who you are.”  That’s how you were created to live, with God at the center of who you are and all you do.  Including, but not limited to…your butt.

So, my question for us is this :: Is there any part of your life that you assumed God doesn’t need to be a part of OR that you are keeping God out of.  

It’s time to get real.  Don’t hide.  Post up and let us know.

What Does Your Soul Look Like?

I just spent the last couple days on a Spiritual Retreat of sorts where we discussed the importance and significance of the SOUL.

To me there are few things more important than listening to, reflecting on, engaging with, and living from your soul. It’s the truest truth of who you are. The place where God knows you best and all too often the place where we know ourselves too little.

How is it that this Central Component of who I am is the thing that I am often the most disconnected from?
There are many things that will try to rob, or numb, or distract you from your soul. Some of them are outside forces. Often times though, they are self imposed. Busyness, Pace, Fear of Rejection, a Culture of Superficiality. All of these things are at work at all times, even right now, to keep you from listening to and living from your soul. But there is another way.

When you…
:: Stop what you’re doing (even for just 5 minutes)
:: Listen to and look at how you are responding, reacting, avoiding, controlling people and things around you
:: Reflect on how LOVED you are by God
…your Soul begins to break through. Your soul begins to be healed, be calmed, be reminded. Your soul begins to take the wheel. And you begin to live and engage with God and those around you like you were created to…and be.

So today….What’s one thing you are GOING TO DO to engage your Soul in the life you are living?

I don’t need to start another thing…

I am at my core an “ideas” person. That off switch broke years ago. Which has proven to be a lot of fun. It means that I am always thinking, always creating something, always connecting the dots, always looking to what’s next. Starting something hasn’t ever been a problem for me…it’s the finishing that does me in.

I have a million ideas and intentions floating around in my head, but only a precious few work their way from bouncy ball playland of my mind to the day to day reality of life.

Starting is fun. Starting is exciting. Starting is sexy. Finishing though, is something else entirely…finishing takes work. Finishing takes day to day discipline. Finishing is the hard stuff they never told you about…but it’s also where the greatest reward and sense of accomplishment comes from.

This blog is an example of that. My Blog Miyagi, John “Sad Clown” Saddington challeneged me not just to START Nuvement, but to do the day to day work of staying with it for a full year. In other words, to FINISH what I started. He’s right.

I don’t need to start another thing…I need to finish something.

What about you? ::  What’s one thing you’ve started recently that you know you need to finish? What’s keeping you from finishing it?