Chris's Musings

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about what to do when you are waiting... and even featured the song from Fireproof that is getting a lot of radio airtime right now (I obviously like the lyrics to it).  This morning, I figured I'd list a few things that I am doing now in my season of waiting, as long or as short as it is at this point in my life.  Of course, you look at some of the things on my list and you'll probably agree with me that I'll keep some of these around. 1.) Traveling to places in the world that need to see the love of Jesus demonstrated and supporting ministries across the world attempting to reach their communities and nations for Christ. 2.) Training for (and going to run) a 1/2 Marathon (October 31st) 3.) Helping Buckhead Church make the childrens' environments in UpStreet amazingly fun and modeling devotion to Jesus to kids that will grow up to be leaders in the future.  Last week's craziness:  the penguin costume. 4.) Planning a dinner club...

I had dinner last night with my fusion group, and in one conversation we got to talking about this "taste test" game that we all played in fusion last Sunday.  Basically, we had to taste a particular product and then "guess" which brand it was. I'm not going to lie... once I picked the ice cream dead on I was the go-to guy for our team ("Seperate Checks" - which won :)  ).  I picked 4 of the 5 items on our list, of which the only I missed was the cookies that everyone missed (I'm also not a big "Chips-Ahoy" guy).  The item that got us ahead in this competition was the peanut butter, which was either JIF, Peter Pan, or Kroger own brand.  I'm not brand loyal in peanut butter except that I don't like store brand stuff, so when I tasted the peanut butter and it wasn't sweet enough I knew it was generic, and we were the only team to pick the Kroger.  My status as a taste-ringer was secured at that moment. I got to thinking this...

I've been reading over Hebrews 11 in my quiet times lately, and really mulling over how "faith" is defined and explained in this essay... An essay about: 1.) What faith is. 2.) How faith is lived out. The book of Hebrews is essentially an apologetic argument that being made right with God through grace by faith didn't start when Jesus Christ put his sandals down on the ground, lived a perfect life, and died for us on the cross.  This writer makes the point in a lot of detail that grace and faith has been God's M.O. with human beings since Day 1, since even before Moses yelled to Pharaoh "LET MY PEOPLE GO!"  It's always been about a relationship based on trust in God, and never about Law or rules. But what is faith?  There are as many definitions of this word as there are religions, and even groups of Christians.  What is it and how do we live it out practically? I'm sure if the writer of Hebrews heard you say that, he'd probably say...

I got one of the biggest compliments that I think I could get from a friend of mine.  We were standing outside of Urban Flats after a dinner club outing, and we got to talking about "nuggets of wisdom" - which was a question in my "Guess Who?" get-to-know-you game that got vetoed - and this friend tells me that the best piece of wisdom that he's heard actually came from... I couldn't believe it.  I think I'm pretty smart, but that's a big compliment.  When I heard him rehash the conversation we had on the way back from Labor Day Retreat, the light bulb turned on.  I suppose that if what I shared on the long, 9 hour drive home from Destin was worthy of my friend bringing it up in front of a group, then I should probably share on my blog as well. The idea came from something said at LDR by Joel Thomas at the opening session.  He said something about the fallacy of "Dating to get married" that I have always known but have never heard it ta...

In my newly found rash of morning workouts, I went to spin this morning over at the Perimeter LA Fitness.  I really enjoyed the class and the music mix that the instructor had going on.  It was a lot of classic rock songs that I was really jamming out to (including that "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" song that always reminds me of Bill Clinton... I even liked that one ;-) ).  As we get to the end of the classic-rock inspired sweat fest, we finish hard with.... Kelly Clarkson - you know the song.  Yes.  "Since You Were Gone."  All of the sudden, I found the estrogen in the room rise.  Don't get me wrong it's a good workout song... most of these "angry chick songs" seem to be.  I couldn't escape it... I was on a stationary bike... I couldn't peddle faster to get away.  I also noticed a couple my fellow dudes in the other side of the room flashing the "I can't believe this..." look when the song started playing.  ...

I still have yesterday's talk at Buckhead Church on the mind. In case you missed it, wasn't there, or was paying attention to that cute so-and-so rather than the talk (or just want to muse with me on it, that's okay too :-) ), it was about "the dream" we have for our lives and being willing to lay it down in surrender.  The guy that was speaking (Jamey Dickens, who looks 15 even though he leads the H.S. Ministry at Buckhead), used an illustration that I thought was really good so I'm going to give him props.  He equated our vision/dream for our life to a watercolor painting that we would create as a second grader.  His (if it was his) was really goofy looking, looked like a amateur drawing of Woody the Cowboy from Toy Story in a way.  And... he equated the vision and dream that God has for our lives to the magnificent work of art which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  Quite a contrast.  He used a scripture that we don't really see talked abo...

I have had a number of debates with my friends in Atlanta about Texas and how it is not a part of "The South."  Now, most of the folks that debate that Texas is part of the South have never been to Texas, which I understand.   But for those of us that didn't grow up in the greatest State in the Union, I feel compelled to set the record straight and provide a convincing argument that Texas is Texas, and the South is the South. So I give you the "Texas vs. 'The South'" argument folks: 1.) State Flags In the South, most Southerners do not see their state flag displayed much at all outside of government buildings.  In fact, the University of Georgia flag is more popular and prominent than the state flag. In TEXAS... the State flag is EVERYWHERE, and can in fact be seen from several car dealers in sizes larger than most Mack trucks waving over the interstate.  In addition, the Texas state flag is flown at the same height as the American flag.  It's...

Yes, my friends.  I have, for two consecutive days, gotten up early in the morning (5:30am to be exact), got my coffee, spent time with God, and then... before going into the office... hit the gym. Now, I know that this is a normal schedule for some people, but it hasn't been for me.  I like my sleep.  I won't lie.  I have always been a lunchtime or an after-work workout person and honestly I liked my schedule and enjoy the de-stress time I get when I head to the gym after a day of work.  I tend to see people I know and if I do these gym sessions can go long not because I'm really working out (except for my "jaw muscle"). So why the morning workout?  Yesterday, I had made plans that evening and was planning to actually do a run during lunch.  However, when chatting with a friend Tuesday night I mentioned wanting to get up early and go to the gym before work and dared her to put in a wake-up call... and guess what?  She thought I was serious! ...

I just wanted to take a quick time out to announce to the blogosphere that I LOVE dill pickles.  They're just awesome. And I had a great bunch for lunch. That is all. I'll come up with something more profound later. I just love dill pickles.  I'm sure you were dying to hear that ;-)