Are you grateful........really? (Pt. 2 of 2)

Have you seen the movie, The Jerk? Steve Martin and his girlfriend break up and when he's leaving he grabs a lamp and says "This is all I need, this lamp". Then, as he's walking out he sees his favorite chair and changes it to, "and this chair- all I need is this lamp and this chair"......"and this book" "and this cup".......I'm not really giving it justice but it's funny that he keeps adding one more thing.

How many of us do that in our lives? We tell God that all we need all our bills met, but then we go on to add "and a nice house, and a good car, and some retirement money would be nice, and a great family, and ......... you see where I am going. We really have a hard time just having our needs met but want to push it to our wants as well. I mean- we are supposed to be blessed, right?

Do any of you struggle with materialism? Have you found yourself comparing with what others have? Did you struggle in the past but now have overcome materialism? (if so- how?)

Are you grateful........really? (Pt. 1 of 2)

What would you do if you could make $1,000 more a year? What about $10,000? Do you think things would be SO much better? Craig wrote a post on Swerve yesterday about Erwin McManus and it took me back to 4 yrs. ago when he asked that first question.

You see, Brandon and I had just moved to California. We left our 3B, 2 ba house with a garage and a big backyard and moved to Cali. and had to rent a tiny 2 B 1ba, apt. We left a good school district and ended up in a shady neighborhood. We were broke! We were trying to be thankful that God provided for our needs, but kept missing our backyard or our garage, or that extra bedroom. Believe me, the daily whining was not pleasant. We kept telling ourselves it was just for a season, but that didn't seem to help.

We attended Mosaic one Sunday not knowing that Erwin would be talking about gratefulness. We raised our hands wanting $10,000 more or even $1000 more. Then, he talked about how we are never satisfied with what we have. We usually want to push it one step further. It was a big wake up call for us. It has stuck with the both of us for years now!

Are you really grateful for what you have? How do you stay in that mindset? Have you ever thought, "if only I could make a little more money, then I could make ends meet"?

China bans all free plastic store bags......

China just announced that the country is banning all free plastic bags. Canvas bags will be used instead and plastic bags can be purchased if desired. Read the article here.

I think this is awesome, personally. A Country that is trying to make a difference in the environment and cut down on waste is a good thing. I realize they are a communist country, but what would you think if America tried this?

What are you doing to be "green"? Are you concerned about global warming or the environment?

Did God Create Evil?

While visiting Josh Allan's blog today, I read a great story that gives a brilliant and simple answer to this tough question. Read this and you will have a sound answer for the question of evil.

Even if the story is fictional about it being Albert Einstein, it is a great way to explain how evil could exist outside of God creating it.

Nice find, Josh

Wisdom from a 5 yr. old (pt 3)

We had some great family conversations this past week. I love that my boys are getting old enough to communicate with us and actually have a real quality conversation.

Ethan asked us "If Jesus is everywhere- then why don't we bump into Him? We replied with the "*clears throat* hmmm.....that's a good point, Ethan." We went on to talk about how He is everywhere, but in a spirit state and went a little deeper than he wanted. He really wants to see Jesus in person!

I love our boys for challenging us on a daily basis!! Have you been stumped lately? Tell us about it!

New Year's Goals

Do you ever get a little wore down with your New Year resolutions? Do you seem to MISS half of them...or more? This is a great must-read post about setting goals for the new year over at The Sciptorium Daily. JP Moreland uses the board-game Monopoly as an analogy. Here is his summary of WHY the individual turns in the game would be meaningless if the game had no goal or purpose:

Because if the game as a whole has no purpose, the individual moves within the game are pointless. Conversely, it is only in light of a game’s actual purpose according to its inventor that the individual moves within the game take on significance.

It is a great read and a powerful reminder - you can't set meaningful effective goals for your life if you don't know your life's purpose.

Monday Funnies........

Here's another post to lighten the new year and make you smile:)

Flight of the Conchords..........

Chuck Norris Humor

OK, I just read this on Eric Bryant's blog and I laughed out loud. You might have heard some humorous Chuck Norris facts. Well here are Eric's top 10. My favorite is about Chuck's tears.

Start the year with a laugh!

We're going to be out of the loop, but...........

We are almost all packed and about to head out to Arkansas to see Brandon's side of the family for a week. So, since we are not going to be posting for a while, we thought we'd share some links of some good reading for all of you. Brandon's parents barely have reception so we'll see if we can log in at all!

BTW......Brandon is speaking on the Internet campus this weekend (via video) on Saturday, Dec 29th at 7 pm (central) and Sunday December 30th at 10:00 and 11:30 am (central). Hope you can check it out!!!

Here are the links:

Solar Crash-Faith

Robin Meadows- Lessons from.....
(I really liked the 5pt. series "Lessons from my husband"

Cindy Beall- a story about forgiveness
(this is a 5 pt. series about Cindy and Chris' marriage- get your kleenex's out!)

Anne Jackson (AKA Flowerdust)- confessional
(pretty much anything Anne writes is open, honest and thought provoking)

Swerve-40 lessons from a 40 yr old pastor by Craig Groeshel.

See ya next year!!! Happy New Year!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Hey! I hopped on for a bit to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We are about to head over to my sisters house for some bunco, yummy lunch, and great quality family time. Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas too!!

BTW......Elf and the Original Grinch won for favorite Christmas movie on our quiz.