Walmart Death Quote

All have heard about the man killed in the Long Island Walmart by mobbing crowds on Black Friday. It's very tragic. I love the hype and excitement (and the prices...got a GPS) of Black Friday. But this is plain down STUPID. The thing which tapped it off is that when they went to shut down the store due to the death of a man that THEY caused, I found this quote:

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."

Who are these people????? I heart capitalism, but sadly there are some dopes who get to enjoy it.

Christmas Songs That Must Be Banned

As I load up my Ipod Touch with my Christmas mix (about 6GB of music), I am again reminded of the songs that need to be banned. This may be due to overplay, stupidity and just plain down ridiculousness. As a Christmas junkie, I have authority. Dare you disagree with me? : )

1. Christmas Shoes: yes. I'm heartless. I'm annoyed by the song and it gets played way too much. Give the kid some shoes and get it over with. How do we know this kid isn't lying to get a pair of free shoes because he is too cheap to buy them for his mom?
2. Last Christmas: If I hear another version of this song, I'm taking a hostage. Is this a love song or a Christmas song??? Anything George Michael sang should never be labeled Christmas.
3. Same Old Lang Syne: Trailer trash Christmas song. The last thing I think of with Christmas is hanging at a bar and running into your old girlfriend. How does this song make me feel festive?
4. Happy Christmas (War Is Over): John Lennon wrote Imagine therefore nullifying his right to celebrate Christmas. Plus...the song stinks.
5. All Bruce Springstein Christmas songs: Bruce Springstein has ruined Christmas for me. He had one hit in my opinion.
6. Wonderful Christmastime: Paul McCartney proves why the Beatles broke up. He can't write a decent Christmas song. Sounds like the Mr. Roboto Christmas album.
7. Do They Know It's Christmas?: In the same category as Lennon's classic. It goes from Christmas to Feed the World. Too many bad memories of Live Aid.
8. Blue Christmas: Elvis annoys me. If he sings like that to his girl, I'd understand why she left.
9. Santa Baby: summary- stupid.
10. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Jackson 5): Had to ruin a good song with Michael Jackson.
11. The Gift: A song about a girl named Maria and a bird doesn't psych me into the Christmas spirit. It makes me crave Mexican food.

Mark Driscoll on Election Day and Government

He's only saying what I've been thinking and he makes it even clearer:

http://tinyurl.com/5sfava

Reformation Day 2008

The more studying I'm doing in church history, the more and more appreciation I have for the history of the church. The church fathers were only men, like me, who did amazing things for their God, my God. The strength of the church, the boldness of the men and the clarity of their view of theology and doctrine are filling a hole in my life right now. Today is another evidence.

Growing up, I knew very little of Martin Luther. Going to a Christian school, I might have been taught something about him, but it wasn't a big deal and wasn't treated as a big deal. He was just a dude.

I get into Christian college and some of his history came up. More of this was taught to me at Lancaster Bible College (probably due to the number of reformed prof's I had). I began to hear of this radical who stood up to the church and it's corruption. I did some reading and caught the old movie (from the 50's) on Luther. Then the new version came out...wow. The more I understood what he was saying and the more I understood the danger of the thing he was doing, the more I liked him. The more I see his attitude and the almost holy arrogance that he showed became an inspiration to me.

Today, we aren't dealing with the church selling indulgences to build a great cathedral. Today, the church is faced with a comfortable gospel, a lack of church discipline, a fear of losing numbers due to teaching doctrine, a broadening of the narrow way, a product driven church, pastors who are more interested in reading business books than their Bibles, and churches full of spiritual infants.
This reformation day, I find myself looking more and more for the next Martin Luther who will come in and shake up the American church. I am really scared with the climate in our country and our day and age as to where our church is going. If the church were reduced to small home churches, I think a lot of Christians would fall away because they probably weren't Christians. I think we have turned sermons into self-help and therapy sessions, Jesus is a loving caring nice dad who isn't judgmental, and the Bible is a reference tool to back up what we're teaching rather than the Bible being central. Martin Luther would have a hay-day in our modern church.

Wake us up Lord. The 95 Theses of Martin Luther