Of Vampires and Lions

Here's a little excerpt of an article entitled Into the Light about the recent faith journey of legendary vampire novelist Anne Rice...
She continued scouring the Gospels herself, not only to absorb the unfolding life of Christ, but to delve into the how of Christianity itself: "I could see that this was a great mystery. How could Christianity bust into the Roman Empire and take over the world in only 200 years? I was looking to see how this thing worked itself out, day by day, month by month, year by year." She came to understand that Christianity achieved what it did because Jesus rose from the dead: That was what made sense of Christianity's spread.

And you can read Rick and Ryan's reviews of Narnia if you want to know what I thought...thier both spot on in my humble opinion.

don't call meVeronica -strikes again

divided we fall
Yes... unfortunately what you're about to read is real.


New Life Christian Church in Auburn, California attracted some attention by buying gasoline discounts for church members so they can fuel up their cars at $1.99 per gallon. "The idea," said Senior Pastor Bill Jenkins, "is to show God is interested in everyday things that affect people's lives."

Nice idea, right? Not to members of the Church of the Divide in nearby Garden Valley. They objected to the new church's "cheap marketing trick." A sign outside the older church proclaimed, "Jesus cares more about your sin and burning in hell than gas prices." A member of the Divide church dismissed the New Life's church reaching out to the community. "They might hear an ear-tingling sermon of what they want to hear, get some coffee and leave."

How'd that go over? A member of New Life responded, "There are many things to protest in the world, and this is not one of them. It's confusing. Hopefully, we all worship the same God."

So let's track this... a church called "New Life" is attempting something "to reach out to their community." Meanwhile, a church called "Divide" is protesting it.

Um...


"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought." (1 Corinthians 1:10)

Year of the bible - Walk Thru the Bible, old testament

As we begin our year of the bible challenge we encourage everyone to come and be a part of anOld Testament Seminar - Walk Thru the Bible. It's a great way to get a clearer picture of God's story in history. It will be a fun time, and at only $10 per person it's a HUGE value. Mark your calendars for January 29th. And I'll see you there!

WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE

THE GIFTS:
1. This party's gift theme is, duh, Christmas.
2. The gift should cost you Zero dollars($0).
3. The gift should be something ridiculous and funny. It should be in new or good condition.
4. The gift should be wrapped in as ugly of packaging as possible.

THE GAME:
1. Each guest who wishes to participate must contribute a gift. Everyone sits or stands in roughly a circle around the pile of gifts.
2. Prepare slips of paper equal to the number of gifts with clearly written numbers. Be sure to distinguish 6 from 9, 1 from 7. Each participating guest draws a number and holds onto that slip of paper.
3. On the first turn, the guest with paper slip #1 chooses a gift, opens it, and all admire it.
4. On the second turn, the guest with paper slip #2 gets the choice of "stealing" any unwrapped gift (#1's) or choosing a wrapped one. If #2 steals #1's gift, then #1 must open a wrapped gift.
5. On the third turn, the guest with paper slip #3 gets the choice of "stealing" any unwrapped gift (#1's or #2's) or choosing a wrapped one.

The game continues based on the following:

1. If a gift is stolen from you, you can steal a gift (within limits, described below), or open a wrapped one.
2. The turn proceeds until a wrapped gift is chosen.
3. A gift cannot be immediately stolen back from the guest who just stole it.
4. The fourth "owner" of a gift gets to keep it. The gift is "dead" after it has been stolen three times.
5. "Owners" of "live" gifts must keep them visible and hold them up when requested.
6. The gift exchange ends when the last wrapped gift is opened. Usually, guests are encouraged to perpetuate the gift stealing as long as there are "live" gifts, but no one is obligated to do this.

Think Hebrew

We did this on a Sunday a long long time ago. But I want to encourage you all to check out how to Think Hebrew again. It's amazing to me the different perspectives that we can have, and how important seeing the world from someone elses shoes is.