Chris's Musings

Merry Christmas everyone! :-) " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood   it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children b...

It's Christmas Eve.  Santa's coming tonight.... SANTA!!!!!  I know him. I couldn't resist.  I've had a lot of fun with Buddy the Elf this Christmas season.  I'm going to miss him. I wrote earlier that Buddy the Elf was onto something when it came to worship.  Santa was coming.  It was a ginormous deal, and by golly he was going to make sure that everything in that store was first class and ready for the big man's arrival.  In the same way, are we giving Jesus the King of Kings and redeemer of our lives that kind of energy from our own lives? But not only that, I think Buddy may be onto something else. When "Santa" arrives to the Macy's department store, Buddy has all of his expectations built up and wants to reunite with his long-lost friend from the North Pole.  However, when Buddy sees the fat man sitting on the throne, he is sorely disappointed because... "Who are you?  You aren't Santa!" Of course, Buddy didn't ...

I saw a tweet while waiting at Tin Lizzy's with some friends to sit down that made me both laugh and groan.  Following the Texans progress this morning, this one tweet read that this couple got engaged at the Rams-Texans game on the jumbotron.  I "laughed" because I am amused that any guy in their right mind actually thinks this is a good idea, and groaned because some poor girl (if she goes through and marries this guy) is going to have this memory etched into her mind as the single memory of the beginning of their marriage. Of course, she may be that rare 5% of women that actually like sports that would think that a non-intimate proposal on a jumbotron at a major sporting event in front of 80,000 people that care more about who the Rams are going to get with their high draft pick than their relationship is a good idea.  I would hope that, for her sake, that is the case.  But chances are, should was probably hoping for another way of getting asked. While this di...

Good times! Wouldn't you want to serve in a ministry to kids that's THIS cool?

Last weekend, I hosted a dinner party for a group of friends where the menu contained something from the four "elf" food groups (candy, candy canes, candy corns, and.... syrup).  The menu was actually quite good and the movie was of course hilarious. It's also the only Will Ferrell movie that I'd allow my nieces to see without reservation. The way that Buddy, the human raised by Christmas elves, acts in the movie is in many ways absurd.  However, there is one scene that really got me thinking that Buddy the Elf has some great insight into something that many of us pass over at least once a week. There is a scene where Buddy the Elf finds himself in the "North Pole" section of the "Macy's" department store, and the store manager walks in and announces to the store that they are closing and to be sure to get there tomorrow because "Santa's coming tomorrow" And of course, if you've seen the scene, you know that Buddy go...

The precious blood of Jesus Christ redeems Forgiven I'm alive restored set free Your majesty resides inside of me Forever I believe Forever I believe Arrested by Your truth and righteousness Your grace has overwhelmed my brokenness Convicted by Your spirit led by Your word Your love will never fail Your love will never fail [c] I know You gave The word Your only Son for us To know Your name To  live  within the Saviour's love He took my place Knowing He'd be crucified And You loved You loved a people undeserving

Our God, You reign forever Our hope, our Strong Deliverer You are the everlasting God The everlasting God You do not faint You won't grow weary You're the defender of the weak You comfort those in need You lift us up on wings like eagles

This morning, I was out with my small group at Lenox Mall helping Atlanta Union Mission raise awareness and donations through doing a free gift-wrapping service for shoppers at the mall.  I will say that it was interesting having a gift-wrapping crew of 4 guys and a 7-year old boy there, but volunteer talent sometimes doesn't bring much talent. My role, once we got started, was to stand at the main booth and drive traffic toward the gift wrapping area.  In my station, there was a sign on the back with these words:  "Hope for the Hopeless."  I thought it was a good slogan for a ministry that rescues homeless people from the streets and puts them on a path to recovery and hope. I had a lot of conversations with folks this morning, a lot of those looking for the food court, but the most interesting one I had was a guy that took some offense at this sign's words.  He said basically that if they have hope, then they're not "hopeless."  He started to talk ...

Yesterday, I saw a billboard sign on the way to work on 285 that caught my attention.   It said:  "Spouse Cheating?" and was inlaid with a graphic of a gigantic magnifying glass with some information to call a private investigator to spy on the supposedly cheating partner.   My first thought when I saw that was:  Why would anyone that's in this situation that is truly interested in saving their marriage call someone like that?  I'm pretty sure that if your goal is to reconcile that this would be the last thing on your mind.   I later thought that this was actually a good example of the kind of person that I read about in Romans 2 as I've been going through my quiet times there.  This is the part that I'm thinking about: "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's ju...