Back when we booked this ski trip, we found this condo called the Eagle’s Nest which is a 5 minute walk from the main lift at the base of Winter Park. There was a typo on the page for the condo which said it was $25o a night so we called on it and it was supposed to be $550/night but they would honor the $250 (the owner is an Aggie so she had sympathy for me and the maroon blooded Dudleys).
This is the condo from its entrance.
This is the living area that has panoramic view of the slopes.
This is the view from our deck which has a private hot tub.
Needless to say this place is ridiculous. I have never stayed anywhere so storybook like aside from a few Holiday Inns.
But it’s frickin COLD! Those who know me know that I talk a big game when it comes to being able to be cold. But this December in Winter Park is putting me in my place.
It’s 7:15 Dallas time, and here the temperate meter outside is reading -10 with a windchill of -22. I have never been in the negatives in my life. It’s really nice to be in this cabin with good heat and good fire, but when I step outside to ride today, I know that the chill will hit me like a bitter kick in the jugular.
Woke up at 6am Colorado time. Took a hot shower, poured a cup of coffee, sat down to some 2 Corinthians and John Owen’s “Death of Death in the Death of Christ”.
Then looked outside to see 6 inches of fresh power covering the earth.
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Okay so we have the second presidential debate on tonight. I’m so over politics. I am stubborn. I will always be a fiscal conservative. It just makes sense. Even for the lower class and poor. If you want to help the poor, don’t just hand them money. . .give them jobs by lowering the taxes on businesses to they will stay in America and hire more people. That will always make sense to me.
But for tonight. . .there are five things that I would want to see that could influence me.
1. Staring contest
2. See who can go the longest without saying Wall Street and Main Street in the same sentence
3. Tom Brokaw, as moderator, opening the night by saying “What up Suckas?”
4. McCain to Obama: “Don’t be a playa hata”
5. A thumb war: Winner gets the White House (How intense would that be?)
The contemporary service that I work with is about to start a series going through the book of Ezra. I kind of struggled with this book for a while. All I kept asking myself was “So What?” Okay, so we are going to study Ezra for 8 weeks and get to know what he was all about. . .so what?
One of the main things that I would like to accomplish as the director of this service is to get the people of the church outside of the walls of the church and serving the community. You know. . .the whole Gospel thing?
Ezra was all about community and restoration through holiness and the people. So, my friend Roland and I came up with this idea to tie in the current Habitat for Humanity build that is our church is doing and get the people of the 1105 service to help. To live out Ezra and help restore a community. Get it? Community and restoration. Thus. . .The Ezra Project.
I had to share this. The other night, I was watching the Cowboys play the Eagles on Monday Night Football. After a catch made my T.O., I saw my boss and coworker from my previous job celebrating.
I said to myself as I watched them celebrate, they are plastered. Their high five looked a little awkward.
Little did I know, that little high five made its way to youtube and is getting some serious play time.
Check it out. The high fiver in the Cowboys jersey is Ryan, my ex-boss, and his high five recipient is Joey, my former cube mate.
Below is an excerpt from John Stott. . .I thought it was worth sharing.
For whenever we turn away from Christ, we are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. We too sacrifice Jesus to our greed like Judas, to our envy like the priests, to our ambition like Pilate. ”Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” the old negro spiritual asks. And we must answer, “Yes, we were there.” Not as spectators only, but as participants, guilty participants, plotting, scheming, betraying, bargaining, and handing him over to be crucified. . .BEFORE WE CAN BEGIN TO SEE THE CROSS AS SOMETHING DONE FOR US (LEADING US TO FAITH AND WORSHIP), WE HAVE TO SEE IT AS SOMETHING DONE BY US (LEADING US TO REPENTANCE). Indeed, “the only man who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross may claim his share in grace.”
I was expecting a lot out of Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright. I am about half way through the work and, I am not surprised that his teaching is profound.
I read a quote earlier that just confirmed a lot of issues I was having with churches trying to become too much like the culture at the expense of depth and transformed lives by the Gospel.
N.T. Wright says that “Part of Christian belief is to find out what’s true about Jesus and let this challenge our culture” (pg. 111). Not the other way around!
Why do we as the church feel such a need to make our institutions so much like culture? Historically, it has always been the role of the church to challenge the surrounding culture.
Is this not a possibility anymore? What is your church like? How is it different from the American Culture? How is it challenging culture?
Is this where American churches are headed? Just a regurgitation of pop culture with Jesus’ name attached?
