March 2011
12 posts
1 tag
I love this...
“I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness...
Mar 31st
1 note
2 tags
PHOTO // Technology, Then and Now
Mar 30th
3 tags
“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and...”
–  Brennan Manning
Mar 30th
1 note
A haiku for my yellow lab...
Beautiful Bailey Killer of St. Augie grass Why my carpet too?
Mar 29th
“The world’s version of tolerance only makes sense if the options are equal and...”
– Shaun Daugherty
Mar 28th
Pastor Drops Bear, Saves Duaghter
Josh killed a 350lb bear in his driveway to protect his kids.  Check out the video here.
Mar 28th
8 tags
Luther's Letter to Hans Von Rechenberg, 1522
Here is the text from Martin Luther’s letter to Hans Von Rechenberg. Rob Bell’s Quote on page 108 of Love Wins: In a letter Martin Luther, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, wrote to Hans von Rechenberg in 1522 he considered the possibility that people could turn to God after death, asking: “Who would doubt God’s ability to do that?”  ...
Mar 25th
2 notes
STUMPIN' AIN'T EASY!
Fact: P-Teddy took lead in front of a hotel in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912. His manuscript saved him.  It was only a flesh wound. Special thanks to Jay Winters for finding this gem.
Mar 25th
Pastor loses job after questioning hell's...
http://on.msnbc.com/fmRgLI How are people supposed to handle things when the pastor has doubts just like they do? Special thanks to Chad Lakies for helping with the following question.
Mar 25th
Belief and Satan, Semantics
Yesterday I was talking to one of the young adults after worship about the message, which addressed the question of whether hell was real or simply an outdated concept.  After a few minutes I asked the person, “What about satan?”  He replied, “Oh, I don’t believe in satan.”  I then asked, “Yes, but is he real?”  [cue blank stare of confusion] There is a...
Mar 21st
3 tags
Mar 20th
Did God have a wife? →
Interesting discussion going on at msnbc.com.  Revisited issue and a few decades ago.  Check it out. 
Mar 19th
June 2010
1 post
YouTube Vuvuzela Button
Looks like the Vuvuzela made the big time.  YouTube made a little soccer ball icon at the bottom left of the video player that you can click to enhance your viewing experience! Check it out: Donovan Interview
Jun 24th
April 2009
10 posts
1 tag
Apr 29th
Holy Week Experience: EASTER SUNDAY!!!!
Happy Easter! I want to start this post in an unlikely place… a garden.  More specifically, we find ourselves in the Garden of Eden.  It is where this whole week gets its meaning and significance.  Without the events of this garden, today means very little because it is in this garden we lost our relationship with God.  It is also in this garden where God speaks to Adam and Eve and...
Apr 12th
Holy Week Experience: Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is a relatively quiet day. The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.  “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the...
Apr 11th
Holy Week Experience: Good Friday
Good Friday is widely recognized as the day Jesus died.  Many of you know the story.  We have some good narrative to cover today, so please take your time and reflect on it. Early in the AM: Jesus is taken to the Sanhedrin for trial.  It is a well-known and documented fact that they wanted him dead, but the tricky part of the situation is that Jerusalem was under Roman authority… and by...
Apr 10th
Holy Week Experience: Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday is also known as Easter Triduum (3 days before Easter).  This is a rather eventful day in the life of Christ… and therefore the life of the Church.  Maundy comes from the Old English vernacular (latin = mandatum) and is taken from John 13, “A new commandment (instruction/teaching) I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you.” Big comment: Not...
Apr 9th
Holy Week Experience: Spy Wednesday
Today in Holy Week we come to what is known as Spy Wednesday… or the day of the betrayal by Judas for 30 pieces of silver.  It is also the day Mary brings perfume and pours it over Jesus’ feet. Matthew 26: 6-11 - While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he...
Apr 8th
Holy Week Experience: Plot-Thickening Tuesday
Plot Thickening Tuesday. Today Jesus gets in a scuffle with the Pharisees.  They are trying to trap Him because he is shaking up their religious world.  He has already won the hearts of the people and cleared the temple of the moneychangers and their share of the market.  They are not happy because naturally they get a cut of the profits sold in the temple areas.  Bet you didn’t think of that one...
Apr 7th
Holy Week Experience: Zeal Monday
Zeal Monday (as I call it) is commonly remembered as the day Jesus clears the temple.  Check out the text from Mark: The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Jesus told it, “May no one...
Apr 6th
Holy Week Experience: Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the commemoration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as king and promised Messiah.  A key point in this part of the narrative is the timing.  We find ourselves in the approaching the Passover Feast, which is a remembrance of the miraculous exodus from Egypt where the Israelites were ‘passed over’ by the angel of death – the final straw breaking the heart of Pharaoh and triggering the...
Apr 5th
Holy Week Experience: Intro
Narrative.  If you look at the way people understand life, it all goes back to the interpretation of narrative.  When I think of the most memorable speeches, sermons, books, etc. that I have experienced, the common link is that there were high impact narrative stories behind them.  Liturgically the church has employed narrative in the church year.  Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and...
Apr 4th
March 2009
1 post
6 tags
Psalm 96 Thoughts
Becky and I have been reading a psalm every night for the past several months.  Last night we read and talked about Psalm 96.  I think it is interesting how when we think of the psalms, we tend to gravitate toward the magnanimous one filled with worship language of high praise, laced with shouts for joy and singing to the LORD. In our trek through the psalms, however, number 96 is probably the...
Mar 11th
February 2009
2 posts
1 tag
First Baptism
Today was my first baptism!  I have wondered for a while now what it would be like to fulfill this servant role in someone’s life, and all I can really say is that I am honored and in awe.  I also wondered if I would goof up the name on my first time, but those concerns were quickly put away when I learned the little boy’s name… LANDON!!!  How cool is that?! Today I learned...
Feb 23rd
Apparent Spanish Skills! →
Evidently I write in Spanish… according to a friend who forwarded this to me recently.  Looks like there is an english link too.  Just a fun little post.
Feb 12th
January 2009
3 posts
2 tags
Becky Singing
A few minutes ago I finished cleaning alot of the house with Becky.  I had a playlist from the EPIC worship gathering that I put together playing on my laptop.  As I was cleaning, I heard Becky singing in perfect harmony with the song and I just had one of those moments.  I am a really blessed man.  I have a wife who loves the Lord (and she can sing too!).  Little things….
Jan 17th
5 tags
Jan 15th
“The primary work of leadership is to continually stand in the place where it is...”
– Alan Roxburgh
Jan 3rd
December 2008
6 posts
10 tags
Christmas Realization
I am a visual guy.  I have heard the Christmas story many times over the course of my life, but after watching the clip I just posted I had a fresh (not necessarily new) thought: I find it amazing that even at the birthing event of the Messiah, His own people had no room for Him.  Watching Joseph running through Bethlehem practically begging for a place to stay was powerful for me.  Somehow I had...
Dec 25th
3 tags
Dec 25th
9 tags
Welcome!
To those who are taking the time to look at this site in response to the email… THANK YOU!  Take a few minutes to look around, comment, and SUBSCRIBE via RSS or Email.  Very simple for the techies and the not so tech savvy.  The goal is to be accessible for all!  Have fun.  I look forward to hearing from you! Landon
Dec 20th
4 tags
100 Things Every Man Should Know How to Do →
Dec 15th
Dec 7th
“Eternal God, let me say what Your Spirit has given in my heart rather than that...”
– Karl Rahner -Prayers for a Lifetime
Dec 7th