Monday, July 21, 2008

the dark knight

so its sunday morning and thinking about what im going to do in the afternoon before i have to be up at the church for sunday night. adam, looks at me as i come walking through the office and says: "lets go at 1:20"
i was kind of perplexed at first but then i saw his computer screen up, and with fandango up on his screen i knew he wanted to go see the movie that i have been waiting for for so long

The Dark Knight.

This is the second instalment of the new Batman movie starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, and some more huge names.

so i said yes of course, so we plan on going to see the movie at 1:20 sunday afternoon. let me tell you about how good this movie is. I love movies, all styles of movies and this is one of the best movies that i have ever seen. the camera work, the cinematography, the lighting, the colors, costumes, acting, everything was exceptional.
im obviously not going to spoil the movie for anyone who hasnt seen it yet, but there has been something going through my mind, since i went and watched this movie.

There is a real different vibe to the new batman movies rather than the old. i think one thing that stand out to me in this movie, is not how twisted and amazing it was, but how much the Joker reminded me of satan. it seems like everything that the joker did, and had people do seemed a lot like what satan does. he used his words to make people think what he wanted them to think and for them to do what he wanted them to do. the joker used words, and conundrums, to get people to do what he wanted them to do. he was able to make people believe in him and made them not want to get in his way but be apart of his crazy plans. the joker was a master of chaos in the movie, he was able to accomplish really everything that he wanted. i think the main thing that stuck me the most about the joker was how he just didnt care. i think thats another characteristic of satan that the joker had. he wasnt to worried about what people did as long as they, well did the wrong thing.

i saw this movie again over the weekend, and it was just as amazing or even better than the first. the joker still sparked thoughts at the similarities between satan and him.

the movie is excellent, a must see just throwing that out there

peace out.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

something that has been on my mind.......

you know there are just some things that stay on my mind all the time.......
the red sox
my family
school
job
all that typical stuff that usually someone is thinking about....
maybe not
but there is something that has been on my mind that has been there for a whle
a big event in my life
there comes a time in a everyone 's life where you have to take a step forward with your life and like it says in the Bible: "a man and a woman will become one flesh". now im not talking about having sex, but there is something else that comes before that. engagement.
its a weird thing to think about not only because you are making one of the largest commitments in your life, but you are thinking about spending the rest of your life with one other person. Its a scary thing to think about, but its something that i want to do. i have this girl in my life, she is pretty cool(sarcastic), shes gorgeous, smart, fun, easy to talk to, good listener, loves God, and even though we have our struggles, she captivates me. i will sometimes have it in my mind, you know that one thing about someone that makes you know that you want to marry him or her. i have almost all the time. but i think that i have finally figured out what it is, and i dont know if it something that i have gotten used to since we go to the same school, or have been spending the last two summers together. but i think that one thing, is that she is the person that always will run to me, whether she is pissed at me, at someone else, or just at life, she runs to me and it gives me that sense of love that i need a lot of the time from her, to let me know that she needs me. and likewise, i do that with her also.
so im pretty sure i have it, but here is the deal, now i just have to get over the hump, and get to the first big part of the relationship.
engagement.

Friday, July 11, 2008

stretch.............

so we had openeing day of stretch last night, and let me tell you i really didnt think that it was going ot happen.
the fact that i was runnning around in kevin stones truck at 5 oclock just a half hour before students were going to start showing up, it kind of freaked me out. I got a few phone calls from a friend of mine that was like we have a meeting in the auditorium get in here, and the fact that i had to tell him that i was not at the building was kind of funny to me.
but hey we had the first night and guess what?
we had the largest attendance yet over all the stretch's.
we had: over 200 students
it was amazing, for how i felt at 5 oclock, it was absolutely amazing
we had this dance company come called Chosen Dance company, dude they got here about 10 minutes before the service started and they were absoutely incredible. These guys have performed at the Superbowl, the X-Games, BET, America's Best Dance Crew on MTV, and many other spots. they were incredible, they came in and did a whole demo and lead a dance instruction class after the service. They were awesome.
The band, dude the band is awesome. this is definatley the best band that we have had at all the stretch's i have been apart of. The chemistry of Ben, Alex, Dom, Andy, and Glenn, we have a kick butt band. They did awesome. The whole music production team did a great job, at getting everything together and finishing.
The girls did an amazing job at getting the students pumped up and excited for the rest of the service. They did amazing.
Now we have this guy named Travis, he is our two year in a row speaker. Travis is pretty sweet, not only is he a pretty cool guy, he is also a great speaker. he is able to handle and control the most often noisy and unattentitive crowd that is junior highers. i am very excited that he is here again and that we get to hang out and listen to him again.
So then there were the Bubba Brothers, what else do i have to say.
Stretch was awesome, we had so many good leaders, and we all came together when we needed too.
Thank you so much for anyone that was here last night, and will be here the next two, because it is going to be awesome, and it will be amazing to watch as God is working in these junior high students lives.

thanks

Thursday, July 3, 2008

taming the tongue...

so i am writing a sermon on taming the tongue, and let me tell you it is kind o feye opening
i wish that i was better at this idea of taming my tongue. i dont think that i do a bad job, and its not like i go around swearing and badmouthing everyone. i just think there are sometimes that it seems like we as adults can fall into the same thing that some of our students can do. now the question would be for me, is whether or not we are being gossipy or wrong about just wanting to know about what is going on with our students lives?
i dont know what to think, because not only do i have friends in the youth ministry, but i feel like if i know what is going on in their lives, i am able to help them a little more, and hopefully give them a little more guidance if i know what they are going through.
as i write this sermon more and more, and think about it more and more, i want to be able to get across that i am not perfect and i do hold myself back, but what we all need to do is realzie that we need to watch our mouths and watch how we communicate. we are christians, and what is the point of a new student coming to youth group, and feeling like they are being judged, and being ridiculed, before anyone even knows them. in James 4 it even says, "who are you to judge your neighbor," i think that is a great question. where do we come off with the right to judge others, when the only real judge is God himself and he is going judge us for how we have lived our life.
taming the tongue.... its a hard thing to do sometimes, but it is necessary, for all of us to live by.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

ciy thoughts

so last week we went to a conference down in Tennessee. It was probably the 8th time i have been to ciy, and it was a very interesting week. There was a different vibe and feel to this week comparing it to the week that we went on last year. For some reason it just felt different, i think the main reason i felt that there was a different vibe, was because there was someone missing from the trip that has been there for a long time. the reason seems kind of weird, and in my mind some what awkward, but when there is someone there for that long of a time and things are done in the same way, change is a very scary and hard thing.
there were some hard times, great times, funny times, and lots of other times, but i think the best thing that came out of this week was that the group that went to ciy seemed to group together and form a cohesive group of students that all want too grow together and grow deeper than they ever have been before.
one of the things that i love about ciy is how much the week messes with people not only spiritually but physically and emotionally. There is always some weird drama, or weird happenings that always go down. this week, i think the largest drama factor was the fact that one person was not there. It created a weird vibe that made people act differently that i think they would have not been that way if someone else was there.
hey but that is ok, becuase i was feeling the same way. the weird thing is that it seems like not only did the vibe change, the way things were done changed. Im not saying that things were done bad, but it seemed like decisions could be harder than they should have been come time, because we wanted to make decisions as a group, and it became a time where people would butt heads more than we should. BUT THATS OK!
change is a hard thing to work through, and deal with especially when you are used to one person making decisions and being able to take the brunt of whatever is coming at the ministry.
change is a very hard thing to deal with, but the even harder part about change is the anticipation of who the next person will be. the next person could scare a lot of people especially if the new person is going to come in and change everything. I understand exactly how people are feeling, especially the people on this trip. the one thing that comes to my mind though, is that people need to learn that change is going to happen, anywhere you are in life. change is always going to be hard and change is always going to make you upset and act a little differently when it comes to not knowing how to react to change.
so change is hard, but i know what it is like to go through change, and i understand the emotion that comes with change. so for anyone that may read this, i want you to know that i want to help, and i want to care and talk to anyone who is having a hard time with this transition. i may not have all the answers but, i know that i can give enough hugs, or conversation about any of this crap that is going on.
i hope you take the offer, i'm ready
peace out.........