Friend of God

So I was thinking about what it takes to be a friend of God. I do not think that once you believe in Christ you are all of a sudden "a friend of God," since that phrase is not thrown around in the Bible and personally I have many acquaintances but good friends are always tough to come by and to keep.

So my first thought directed me to the idea that most people are friends with those that are similar to them. Similar ideas, similar backgrounds, similar approaches to the world, someone who doesn't cause a lot of conflict simply because of their different worldview. Sure, sometimes we have friends who are not a lot like us but I would think the majority are similar to us. Then I applied that to God. A friend of God is someone who is like God and actually wants God to be his/her friend. Why would I want God to be my friend if God is so way different than me? Why would I seek that out, especially if God views poverty, the human condition, politics, homosexuality, the need for urgency, etc differently than I do? (just examples) I would be the one, then, who is not putting forth the effort in the relationship as I am choosing who I want to be.

But then I thought about Jesus. Jesus was labeled "a friend of sinners." Hmm...how can a friend of sinners be a friend of God? Maybe it isn't fully about human personality traits and opinions that make someone a friend of God or not. I think Jesus was a friend of sinners because he honestly cared for them. How can he, being so holy and so different? I think he valued and cared for each person (maybe minus those who refused to stop being hypocrites - Pharisees, for example), and maybe he saw God's image in each of them (take a second to think about that). This gives me hope, as I can be a friend of God one day and not have to be exactly like God (yes!, I don't think I'm going to acheive that). Boy, there are a million thoughts on where to go on from here.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

And we made Him in our image...

I think one of the reasons why we have a hard time "spending time" with God is that we have made God to look like us and let's be honest, sometimes who wants to spend time with us? For example, let's say that you aren't the best friend. When a friend of yours is in need, you know that sometimes you're there for them and sometimes, well, something just comes up or you just feel weak and choose not to help them out. This may be from a ton of psychological or sociological reasons (or genetical if you're into genetics), your mom bathed you too long or didn't hug you enough, etc. No matter the reason, it seems that we cannot picture Someone who is not like us. Someone who has the ability to be faithful. Someone who has the ability to love you no matter what. Someone who doesn't judge you for your appearance or background. Someone who is very encouraging and thinks your idea is good.

I tell you what, I want to be around that person! Problem is, I have trouble not picturing God like myself as well. How many times have we said "Well, if I was God I would have..." when we saw that flood or typhoon on TV. In other words, in all of your wisdom God should be like...such and such...

Here's our problem, God is not like such and such. We have an inner voice I believe that tells us what God is like (made in the image of God, Holy Spirit, conscience) and we have the Bible. I have a tough time with some things the Bible is absolute on, but I have to allow it to speak about who its God is and allow that to transform my imagined God. This isn't so easy. Man, it would be sweet to not have a God like me!

Private Eyes

Per request, I have found a clip of a Don Knotts and Tim Conway classic "Private Eyes." It is a family classic. Maybe you will be able to enjoy some of the random and dry humor, hey, that's my style. The movie was filmed at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC which I visited around 6th grade and got to see the secret passages a little bit first hand. The killer wrote a bunch of mystery notes that are great when read, examples:

I said when I died, that I'd come back. If you believe in ghosts, you're on the right track. I'm out of the grave, and roaming the moores. If you want to be safe, you better lock all the windows and screens. Also, In this house, it's hard to survive. Some'll be dead, who are now alive. Mr. Uwatsum is gone, 'cause he knew too much. Bye for now, but rest assured we'll keep in constant contact with each other. Also, If Jock could talk, he'd give you a clue. But now that he's dead, what can you do? He deserved what he got, I don't regret it a bit. By the way, you're standing in bull ca-ca.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0tpAcItmdSo Someone was able to put together a few highlights, you'll want to starting at about 1:10 in.

There is a time to cry...

A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?' The father, who despite having a heart condition, says 'Yes'.
They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes' to his son's request of going through the race together.
One day, the son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.'
To which, his father said 'Yes'.
For those who didn't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island .
Father and son went on to complete the race together.

Neil!

So Christy and I were able to go to another concert we normally would not have bought tickets for...Neil Diamond. The only thing I knew about Neil Diamond was his song "Coming to America" and that Will Ferrell had played him on occasion. We went with Olaf and Amy (Christy's roommate and her fiance) and Heather and Charlie. It only took about 4 songs and Olaf and I were ready to go. It was definitely a crowd that we weren't a part of (we did not have elbow patches on our coats). Olaf did provide a bit of humor throughout though. The 3rd song in, Neil, who is very much an old school performer, said, "I'm lonely here up on the stage, without you up here" (or something to that affect) and then proceeded to say "I'm here tonight...to make love to you..." At that moment Olaf immediately stands up and leaves. Good stuff. I would not give you a video to watch of Neil, because that's just wrong and a little like making your GF watch Sanford and Son with you, so here's Ferrell doing Neil in a quick clip.

ibeatyou.com

So I just found this new web site and it's awesome. Maybe you've heard of it but it's ibeatyou.com and it's all about competitions online. There is some hilarious videos there, well worth checking out regularly. And if you upload something in a competition or start one, let me know! Here's an example from "The worst trampoline fall" competition. To see the funniest one, click the up button on the bottom right and choose number 1, the one with Craig Kilborn:

The New Church

What if instead of labeling ourselves as Christians doctrinally we labeled ourselves as those who love Jesus? Imagine a church based on the love of God and not whether or not you believe a certain doctrine. Imagine...you can be an active member if you have differing opinions on free will or predestination, homosexuality, abortion, etc. You get to worship right beside someone who strongly disagrees with you.

I hate to break it to you, but this is the only way our generation is going to work. We are not only dealing with a generation shift, we are dealing with a paradigm shift. We're talking a whole new way of thinking that is going on in the, say, 50 and younger crowd. We need modern churches for those who are modern, and postmodern churches for, let's say, everyone that is being born basically. But we have way too few.

I met a man at Solomon's Porch who said the reason he just started going there was because he believed differently than those around him, but he felt welcome. My heart lifted. That's the right spirit. I believe quite strongly in the need for discipleship and biblical and theological teaching, but in the end I believe that it is more important that we are brothers and sisters.

More will be coming on this thought I can tell you that.

My Father Figure

So Mark and I got to go see George Michael in concert last week for free. Trust me, if it wasn't for it being for free we wouldn't have gone but we both had a good time. We had two extra tickets which we sold to the first scalper we saw for $20 each. Later we found out that he resold them for $75 and the average ticket price was $180-240! Whoops...well, you live and you learn...but we ate for free and didn't have to pay for parking, a very free and fun night. Other than being scared to be in the bathroom for a long time it was fun.

Man Weekend

So this weekend was Man Weekend. Women love to laugh when I tell them I'm going to "Man Weekend," but that's what it is. Mark is the ringleader who got 6 of us together to go up to Duluth and hang out for the weekend. It was a whole lot of fun. We went camping on Saturday afternoon but left early after it rained on us for a few hours. The best was when one of the fellas put this huge log into the nearby small river and rode it down the river holding on for dear life (it wasn't that dangerous). It was amazingly funny. All of the guys there called me Big Lanny since they knew Lan from the last man weekend. They also called me Big Robbie, Little Lanny, and by the end I had to answer to simply Lanny. We returned early on Sunday and I was able to catch the end of Christy's United Way sponsored event "Live United." The band The Last Goodnight was playing (song "Pictures of You"), and Christy got to know the lead singer because of PR stuff. We almost threw down when he reached to give her a hug, jk, but seriously...

Google Analytics

Very cool site. It allows you to see who is coming to your site, their operating system and internet browser, what page people look at, where they start, where they leave, average time on the site, etc. They also let you see where people are from who come to your site. Looks to me like Minnesota people have checked it out, Kristi, Lan and Mom in Georgia, Jer in Texas and Chris and maybe Michael (?) in Alabama.



ps-I'm in IT. I love this kind of stuff.

Scoundrels

So yesterday was my birthday and Christy and I spent the evening celebrating. It was a low key evening, what the doctor called for. I had been wanting to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels again for some time so Christy and I rented it and grabbed some ice cream. That movie is amazing. I'd like to leave you a little clip. It is about 2 con artists trying to get $50,000 out of the American Soap Queen. Steve Martin is faking being paralyzed from the waist down and Michael Caine is, well, you'll see. It gets really good about 3:00 in, fyi.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

by Marianne Williamson, quoted by Nelson Mandela

There are two pieces of literature that highly encourage me outside of the Bible, the Practice of the presence of God by Brother Lawrence and this simple paragraph. How true, and how adultish we are, when we allow fear to control us. I think it's about what you get used to. Once used to living in fear and shrinking, it is hard to imagine anything else. But once you get used to the light, it is hard to imagine anything else. Lord, help us to approach the light boldly.

You're the Best (Around)

I heard this song in my iTunes and decided to see if the scene from Karate Kid was on youtube and wala! it was. Karate Kid makes me think of this babysitter Lan and I used to go to when we were younger. They had it on VHS and this one kid would watch it all the time. He ate bananas and drank Coke nonstop and because of that he always had some mouth rash. Very strange.