Adventures In Missing The Point

I spent some time this past week looking for new Christmas music.  I like the classic Christmas carols, but I love the new stuff.  I came across Matthew West's album "The Heart of Christmas".  It is an amazing Christmas Album full of some classic songs, but great new songs including songs that feature Amy Grant, Mandisa, and Vince Gill.  It was well worth the 7.99 on itunes.

The song that makes me think the most about Christmas is a heartwarming/tear jerker called "One Last Christmas" 

I love this song as it touches on sacrificial love.  As I think about what Christmas means and the gift God gave to us in his Son Jesus Christ, I can't help to be reminded that I am to be an imitator of that type of love.

When I heard this song and heard about the people all over this town, Friends and Family, strangers willing to sacrifice to give DAX one last Christmas, I thought that’s it, that is the Christmas Spirit.  

What is it that you and I are willing to sacrifice this Christmas and all year long to those who are in need.  To those hurting, maybe its the hurt of a sick child like DAX's parents, or maybe it’s the hurt of a broken marriage, death of a loved one, 

Maybe we sacrifice this Christmas by spending time at a nursing home, maybe we sacrifice by buying a goat through compassion for a village in need instead of spending that money on stuff for our kids or spouses.  Maybe we sacrifice by Inviting people who have no place to go over to our house to celebrate Christmas.  However, you choose to sacrifice, remember your sacrifice will never compare to the one made by God sending his one Son to die for us.  If he is willing to do that for us, how much are we willing to do for others?

Anyone catch Coldplay on SNL last week?  They preformed their new song Paradise.  I have to say the song caught me off guard a little bit.  It was different from the “classic” sounds of Coldplay I am used too.  But as I listen to the song I began to really appreciate it and possibly the new direction for Coldplay.  First of all I love the instrumentation.  So many different instruments and they all sound really good.  Second I love Chris Martins voice in the song, it fits perfect.

I was not so sure about the Paradise repeat throughout the song, but as I listened to it a few times I realized how catchy it was and realized as I sang it, that was the part that was repeated over and over again

Overall its definitely worth a listen.  Check it out

In wake of the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal, I heard a quote that served as a great reminder for me. Colin Cowherd, on his ESPN radio show, said "Like sports but Love your life" He went on to expand on it saying its ok to like a sports team, but not to put them on the same level as your spouse, or kids, or your god.

As I watched students riot after the firing of a coach I realized we have a habit, especially as men, of loving our sports teams, players, coaches and other figures, But the reality is we miss the point. We are called to Love our God and to Love our neighbors as our self.

It's ok to like sports, but don't love them. It's a trap I easily fall into, but I am going to love my God, my wife, my kids, my family, my friends, my church , etc. I am no longer going to Love my sports team, I'll still cheer like heck for the Buckeyes, I'll still root LSSU hockey, I'll still follow what the Indians are doing this off season, but I will no longer elevate a team or a person to a place where they don't belong.

On a side note, in wake of what happened at Penn State, I want to urge parents to talk to your kids about sexual predators. Talk to them about what to do if someone touches them inappropriately. Talk to them about how they need to tell you if something happens. This weekend we had that talk with our boys, and as much as I hope my kids will be safe, I had to have that talk with them.

Yeah I know it is Tuesday and I am a day behind.  The kiddos were sick yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to post.  My plan is to share each Monday what I am listening to.  I recently started listening to a Tooth and Nail band called Icon For Hire.  This Monday check out their hit “Make a Move”

What I like about “Make a Move” is its strong message of how we are all too scared to make a change, but somebody needs to move!

“‘Cause everybody’s so scared/ We don’t want to go there/ We don’t want to make a move/ We’ve got all our lives to lose/ Screaming in the dark/ While we just play our part/ I’ll play right along/ Like I don’t know what’s going on/ Somebody make a move!”

Every time I get on Facebook these days I see people taking part in the 30 or maybe it is 24 days of Thanksgiving. For each day from November 1 to Thanksgiving or the end of November they "share" a blessing. People have been posting things like their spouse, or children. People have been sharing how they are thankful to have Christ in their life or to live in America.

As I read through these posts daily I have been noticing how most of these blessings have been about what makes these people happy, and it got me thinking about the song "Blessings" by Laura Story

What if blessings in life are more then what makes us happy?

What if our greatest Blessing and things we can be grateful for are the times we can take on the attitude of Jesus Christ and Make Less of our self and more of Him? What if our blessings are not what makes us happy but what we do for others?

I am thankful I can feed my kids. It is a blessing that I can go to the grocery store this afternoon and stock up on food and not be hungry. I am thankful I can go out to eat at nice restaurants or even McDonalds, but Last month on a journey downtown when I could get a hotdog for a homeless man and sit on a bench and eat with him and talk with him seemed like a much greater blessing and made my ability to eat out seem not like a blessing, but a selfish desire.

And I am thankful for the comforts of living in this country, for my soft bed, nice house, great church and more, but I felt even more blessed sleeping on a church floor in Juarez Mexico, working in extreme heat all day with no shower. Blessed not because of what I had, but because of what I was doing. Thankful not for the comforts I had left, but for the opportunity to serve.

So what’s the point I miss?

I guess just that my blessings are not only things I have. Oh I am thankful beyond belief for my wife and our marriage, for my kids, for my job and my church and for my comforts of home, but it is more than that.

The Blessings in my life are not just about ME but about HIM and how I can I use what he's given me for his kingdom. Now that's a blessing