I like netflix. I'm a fan. I quit using their DVD service this fall and lately I've been streaming the content instead. I was a bit concerned about lack of access to new releases (especially since Blockbuster seems to have vanished entirely from the face of Long Island) but the truth is, I've been trying to read more lately anyhow and there's a LOT of content available for streaming. So I'm cruising through the menu a few weeks ago when I saw a Bruce Lee movie I had never seen. It's called Game of Death. Fans of martial arts movies are ...
** Heads up: there is absolutely zero spiritual content in the following entry. Unless discussing James Bond somehow brings you closer to God. Which is decidedly possible. I got a couple of gift cards for Christmas this year, which I used to complete my collection of James Bond films. I now own all of the 22 movies in the series, plus the extra non-canonical 'Never Say Never Again,' which is basically a remake of Thunderball. There are many of the films I haven't seen yet and I'm having a great time slowly working my way through the set. I intend to stretch this out ...
Even if you're not an NBA fan, you've probably heard the name 'Jeremy Lin.' And you've probably suffered through many of the bad puns that his name has given birth to. But you may not know the back story. Simply by virtue of the fact that he's one of the few Chinese players in the NBA, Lin has a huge following in the Asian community. Earlier this year, he was thrust into the limelight after leading the Knicks on a 7 game winning streak. Lin had been cut by the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. He was sent down to ...
This past Sunday at True North, we wrapped up a message series called "How to Be Rich." If you missed it, you can check out the audio here, at our message archive. It was a pretty heavy three weeks and I got a ton of positive feedback on it, which really encouraged me because talking about money always sets me off balance. We talked at length about how blessed we are and how no matter what, we're all convinced that we're broke and that "rich" is a title for someone else. The truth is, if you live indoors, you have indoor plumbing, ...
There’s no denying that our culture’s definition of marriage is changing pretty quickly.
Tim Keller is the lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. It’s disgusting how brilliant this guy is. This is Keller on defining marriage in the Kardashian age.
Enjoy and opine.
I love Thanksgiving. I really really dig this holiday. I’ve got this amazing set of memories from the Thanksgiving Day dinners at my grandparents’ house when I was a kid. I grew up in a small family and that meant that the locations, people and key ingredients for these events were fairly stable. Boring? Not hardly. My brother and I still have some great daydreams thinking about those days.
It’s funny what sticks out to me now. The unusual details. Like the fact that King Kong always seemed to be on TV that afternoon. I’m talking about the original 1933 black and white version with Fay Wray. The real deal. The ’76 remake with Jeff Bridges was passable, but there’s just something about those stop-motion claymation battle scenes with the dinosaurs that fascinated me. But I digress.
So I learned a LOT on this trip and I have many hopes and dreams about what will come next for Ecuador and True North, but I think the best way to tell the story is with pictures. I took LOTS.
Here are a few, with captions.
This is at the Compassion Project in Quito. Hundreds of kids, all incredibly cute. We spent a great afternoon playing and interacting with them, and seeing firsthand the amazing work that Compassion International is doing in this city.
Two weeks ago I had a pretty unique opportunity – I got to travel to Ecuador along with about 12 other pastors from different parts of the country to see the work being done there by an outfit called Compassion International. They are best known for being a ministry through which American individuals or families can sponsor a child in a developing country. For $38 a month, the child gets schooling, food, clothes, medicine and a real sense of hope.
I’ve seen all this firsthand. It’s no joke.
Compassion does all its work through local churches. No church? No Compassion project. So Compassion is partnering with an outfit called Stadia (whom we are loosely affiliated with) who plant churches. Compassion and Stadia put this trip together to visit some areas with no church and no project, to get some American pastors behind the idea of helping to pay for a building, a well, some supplies – basically everything needed to get something started from nothing.
It’s an exciting idea, and you’re going to be hearing more about it as we ponder what our level of involvement will be.
For now, here’s a couple of vids and pics I took while I was there.