MEMOIRS OF A JEDI: THE FALL OF ANAKIN SKYWALKER

It wasn't that long ago in HSYM that we did a 3-week series titled "God In The Movies". We took real life issues that Christians deal with, and compared them with major blockbuster movies. Pastor Rick is on vacation this week, and I'm going to be continuing that series with a message titled "Memoirs of a Jedi: The Fall of Anakin Skywalker." I'll be speaking out of 1 John, and dealing with the choice of walking in light or walking in darkness. This illustrated sermon will include almost 30 minutes of footage from Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. If you're in HSYM, please invite your friends out to hear this. You won't want to miss it!

READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL YOU DUMMIE!!!

So I just got finished leading my first Connections group. For those of you reading this blog who are not familiar with what Connections is, let me explain. Connections is a bye-weekly Sunday evening Bible study that ROCKS!!! It's about....are you ready for this...."connecting" with people. That's why we call it Connections. We (my church) have several small groups that meet across Hendersonville for a time of food, fellowship, and the Word. I meet at my friend Ricks' house. Rick is the Youth Pastor at my church. He is on vacation right now, so I'm holding down the fort for him while he's gone. Anyway, it was a good time. Attendance was way down. We usually run around 30, but were down to 8 tonight. Our study was centered on Colossians chapter 3. Verse 16 talks about how we should let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. That somehow led to me telling a story about how important it is to get into the Word of God. This past Christmas, my daughter got one of those 3,000,000 piece toys that require a team architectural engineers to help in the assembly process. Without having such a team handy, I was left with two choices. I could either do it myself...or read the instructions. Being a guy, of course I tackled this project without cracking the manual. I figured that I would have it together in about 15 minutes. So I'm sitting there 30 minutes later stewing in my own "testosterone field" of rage. I'm about ready to turn 3,000,000 pieces into 6,000,000 pieces. Bottom line was that I was in a HUGE MESS. I began to get a stress headache just about the time I looked across the room to find the instructions. I thought to myself for a minute and finally caved. I opened the instructions, and spent a very short time reading them. 10 minutes later, Brianna was playing with her new toy with a beautiful smile on her face. Moral of the story? Had I just read the manual prior to tackling this project, I wouldn't have gotten into this HUGE MESS. That's what the Bible is. It's the instruction manual to life. Let's use wisdom, and crack it's pages prior to taking on the "project of life." We should read it...apply it...and let it dwell in our hearts richly for future projects. Should we choose not to read it, then you might as well guarantee that at some point you will find yourself in a HUGE MESS. Whether you do it up front, or at the time of a HUGE MESS, you're going to have to eventually crack the pages anyway. Just save yourself the hissy fit and be proactive in your life. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST.

JOHNSON KISSES THE BRICKS!

Two-time Champ Jimmie Johnson wins his 2nd Brickyard race today! This is sweet redemption from his narrow lose at Chi-Town 2 weeks ago. Many have written off Johnson to 3-peat as champion as Kyle Busch is running so well. All I gots to say is never write off Johnson as we close the summer out, and head into the Chase. Johnson is most successful the 2nd half of the season. So all of you band waggon jumpers....let me remind you that Johnson won from the pole. How's that for domination!

MY BLOND NEIGHBOR

The other day my neighbor, who is blond, came running up to me in the driveway jumping for joy! I didn't know why she was jumping so excitedly, but I thought "What the heck?", and I started jumping up and down along with her. She said, "I have some really great news!" I said, "Great. Tell me why you're so happy." She stopped jumping and breathing heavily from all the jumping up and down, and told me that she was pregnant! I knew she'd been trying for a while so I told her, "That's great! I couldn't be happier for you!" Then she said, "There's more!" I asked, "What do you mean more?" She said, "Well, we are not having just one baby. We are going to have TWINS!" Amazed at how she could know so soon after getting pregnant, I asked her how she knew. She said...."Well, that was the easy part. I went to Wal-Mart and they actually had a home pregnancy kit in a TWIN-pack. Both tests came out positive!"

LETTING GO OF THE HAND RAIL

Remember those times in life where you just fell flat on your face...spiritually speaking. I sure can. God was always there to help pick me back up, as I'm sure He was there to pick up you too. Well, I'm coming out of a period of time where I didn't fall....I just had to grap the hand rail so to speak. I needed help keeping my balance. We've all felt the "blahs" before, but this was different for me. I truly felt the Lord leading me to Chicago. I know...wasn't that a month ago??? I asked myself where I missed it. I truly don't know that I missed a thing. I just consider it another journey in my life. I don't speak candidly about my private life except to my closest of friends, but I'll speak this. I was sad about leaving everything in Hendersonville. The friends I have...my church...etc. Brianna was still set to be a huge part of my life, and I would still get to spend a lot of time in Hendersonville, so that numbed the sadness. I was excited about a new adventure in Chicago. I was mostly excited about spending the rest of my life with the woman I love...Stephanie. The job and pay raise was secondary to me. It was the idea of having a family that was at the front of my mind. When I decided to stay, I know it was the "God" choice. The sadness I had about not being able to be with Stephanie set in after a couple of weeks. Of course I was happy about staying...again, that helped numb the sadness. I'll never say I was depressed. Let's just say I began to feel sorry for myself. I got in a "funk". My spiritual life went into "maintenance" mode. I didn't fall...I just had to keep myself from falling. June was a hard month. July began on the same note. I was losing my "passion" for growing. I guess it was about a week ago, that I just woke up and said enough is enough. God has blessed me tremendously here in Hendersonville, and He's going to continue to do that as long as I "stay on the road". I can't afford to take an alternate route on my journey. I look at the things God has blessed me with. My wonderful daughter who is nothing except joy in my life. The best friends a guy could ask for. I serve in the greatest youth group in the world. I have a family here. GOD IS AWESOME! I'm reminded of the passage, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." The cool thing about the narrow road....the hand rail sure is a whole lot closer to get to when you lose balance. For those of you going down the wide road....there's a hand rail there too. The best way to find it is by falling to your knees. Talk 2 u later!!!

Andrews in the blogosphere.....dear Lord, we're in trouble now.

To be honest with you, it took me a minute to think of what to blog about for the first time. I was going to blog about how much I hate allergies. Mine are absolutelly killing me right now. I love Hendersonville, but I never had this problem in the O.C. Then I thought I would blog about Chuck Norris. He's a beast!!! Then I changed my mind. There's the Dark Knight...but everybody else was blogging about that. I'll just say that Ledger has earned an Oscar nomination at the very least. It finally hit me. I want to talk about lazy Christians. Things have changed since I first started going to church only 10 years ago. It was everybody's priveliage (I hope that's spelled right) to serve on any level. Whether it be on stage in the "lime light" or off stage busting down tables and chairs. What the heck happened? Did people just wake up one day and think that they did their time, and they finally arrived to a place where they could just do nothing? I'm not saying that they no longer believe...they may have just as much faith as the rest. They may pay as much in tithes and offerings as the rest. They may pray and get into their word as much as anybody. What is it that the bible said....hmmm....what was it??? OH YEAH...."faith without works is dead" (James 2:20) I'm not talking about anybody particular, nor any group in particular. This was just a thought I was having. Let me encourage everybody today....now more than ever, God is wanting to do a work in "EVERYBODY". This is a very serious time, and it's going to take hard work from God's people to pull together for the cause of Christ. Let's remember what was said in Matthew 10:13-14. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Let's be "salty" Christians again. I love you all even though I may have made enemies due to this blog. This was just a pondering.