Barnesy's at it again!

Oh wow. Dave Barnes makes me laugh every time. He's just hilarious! I know it's the day after Christmas, but I thought I'd share this to continue spreading the Christmas cheer! Enjoy!

Advent Conspiracy

Christmas is in two days, and I'm once again being bombarded with questions from my parents about what I want for Christmas. When I was little I used to get so excited about all of these gifts and fun new things that I wouldn't have to pay for! Then on Christmas eve, the time would arrive to open all the surprises that have been waiting anxiously for me to rescue them from under the Christmas tree. My parents, sister, and I would sit happily in our living room listening to holiday tunes next to the tree and open what we bought for each other. And I would get lots of cool things, I mean all of the things I wanted for the time being. But then I remember afterward, while happy for my family to celebrate with and for the gifts and for the memories, I would sit in my room with all of my stuff and think "is this it until next year?" Although I had everyone I wanted, I was saddened that months of anticipation ended in a short span of a few hours.

But the real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and care for the sick as well as look after the orphans and widows.

Did you know that Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas each year? Yes, I really meant to say billion. Crazy, right?
Did you also know that it would only take $10 billion to provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet.


Here's a way to give a pretty dang sweet pair of shoes and give a second pair to a child in need. I'm excited to buy a pair of these wicked sweet shoes as well!




Or how about this...here's what anyone can do on their own through an organization called the Mocha Club:

How far can just $7 go in Africa?
SAVE 1 person's life from Malaria.
FEED 1 person for an one month.
EDUCATE 2 children for one school term.
PROVIDE clean water for 7 people for an entire year.

How far does $7 go in America?
Buys 2 mochas from your local coffee shop.
Buys 1 discounted movie at Target that you've probably already seen 5 times.
Buys 1 six-pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager (IF you're 21-years-old of course).
Buys 1 Quizno's toasted sandwich.





Although the big celebration is only two days away, I wanted to just post this and give a couple of ways we can help in a large way for a small price.

Merry Christmas.

Frogs

So I'm back in the States after spending the autumn studying and interning in Brussels, Belgium. Now that I'm done writing on my blog from my adventures, I'll be starting this baby back up. And to celebrate such an occasion, I ran across a poem of I wrote that was published in an anthology of poems when I was 8-years-old. It's horrible but adorable! (See I can rhyme without a problem). Enjoy!

I am a frog I am very green,
Please don't litter when you see me,

My tongue is very long and sticky,
When you litter it is icky,

I am a living creature too,
Please don't make me say boo-hoo-hoo-hoo.




Who knew I was such an environmentalist even before global warming entered the social scene?

Rising buildings for a rising power

I read an insightful article in the New York Times about the new architecture in Beijing that's been built in recent years in preparation for the Olympics. The structures created are absolutely incredible. If you are interested in architecture, history or curious as to see on of the ways this nation flexes its muscles, read this article here. I posted a few of the first paragraphs already just to offer a glimpse.




"BEIJING — If Westerners feel dazed and confused upon exiting the plane at the new international airport terminal here, it’s understandable. It’s not just the grandeur of the space. It’s the inescapable feeling that you’re passing through a portal to another world, one whose fierce embrace of change has left Western nations in the dust." -Nicolai Ouroussoff, New York Times July 13

"The sensation is comparable to the epiphany that Adolf Loos, the Viennese architect, experienced when he stepped off a steamship in New York Harbor more than a century ago. He had crossed a threshold into the future; Europe, he realized, was now culturally obsolete." -NYT July 13

"Critics have incessantly described these high-profile projects as bullish expressions of the nation’s budding global primacy. Yet these buildings are not simply blunt expressions of power. Like the great monuments of 16th-century Rome or 19th-century Paris, China’s new architecture exudes an aura that has as much to do with intellectual ferment as economic clout."-NYT July 13

Fool's Wisdom

So I ran across the newest cover that Phil Wickham posted on YouTube of Malcolm & Alwyn's song "Fool's Wisdom" from 1973. today and yet again another incredible performance by the guy who has become one of my favorite musicians (probably why this is already my second post about him) since the first time my friend Mark introduced me to him about a year ago. His voice is pure and authoritative and the wrongs he writes are full of biblical truth. Anyway, I liked this song so I thought I'd post it for you to enjoy.

America's Got Talent? Neal Boyd most certainly Does!

I've never seen the show America's Got Talent, but I was reading an article in the Missourian yesterday morning and it mentioned a former University of Missouri student who auditioned for the show by singing a portion of the song, "Nessun Dorma." It is from Giacomo Puccini 's opera Turandot. It was an absolutely amazing performance. The emotion before, during, and after the song added even more to this already incredible audition. I've always had an interest in opera ever since singing an opera song or two in my high school choir years, but never really got into that type of music too far, but after hearing this I think I might go out an buy one of Pavarotti's albums or something by him and the other two tenors (known as the Three Tenors.) Time to start searching for some of this fine music. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2fdY3aNkk

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/06/30/mu-opera-grad-sings-spotlight/

Seeing the beauty of the Creator through creation in our culture

I came across this essay on the Web site today of a church in Portland, Imago Dei Community, and thought it related quite well in a time where God and culture are viewed as two separate entitites. The article examined the dangers of Christians being absent from today's culture or embracing it much too passively. Rather, we must engage the music, arts, and literature of society as a way of seeing the questions that people raise today but, sadly, go unanswered much of the time. We have to see the beauty in the creation that our fellow humans have come up with for what it truly is: A glimpse of the magnificant glory of God.
I was talking with Rob Gaskin, one of the pastors at Karis Community Church here in Columbia, and he said that even graffiti is created in the form of a question. I completely agree. It is an artist expressing themselves through colors. Here are a view quotes from the Imago Dei article. I'd highly recommend reading it completely.



"Somewhere between isolating ourselves from culture on the one end, and passively immersing ourselves in it on the other, is a place of being able to constructively engage and participate as active agents in culture. It is the creative tension of being in the world, while not being of it. Our desire is to help spark conversation on what it looks like to engage culture from within as followers of Christ"



"God’s identity as Redeemer reveals itself in popular culture as God speaks of Himself and reveals His glory through the images, stories, and symbols of popular culture. God can speak to us through Picasso’s Guernica of the suffering He has identified with in the cross of Christ, through Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath of the hope of redemption, through the recent movie Half Nelson of the power of community amidst broken people, through Radiohead’s Idioteque of a voice of grace winding through the chaotic frenzy of a world destroying itself."












"We need not fear pop culture but can enter into it in the Spirit of Christ and our union with him to discern that which is beautiful, pure and true from that which is degrading, abusive and shameful. It is from such a posture within culture, rather than outside of it, that the redemptive voice of Christ can be heard."



http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/worship--beauty/cultural-engagement/cultural-engagement-vision/