The Advent Conspiracy

It's almost Christmas which means if you're like me, you've at least started spending money you don't have to buy your friends and family gifts this year. This might be an idea for next year for your family, church, or group of friends. Check out this movement started by Imago Dei in Portland, OR. Even if you don't "officially" join, its a great idea for Christmas, or maybe next year if you already went into debt this Christmas.

The basic idea is to take the $450 billion we spend at Christmas (or your share of it) and give relational gifts instead. "Because God gave us a relational gift, His Son, we decided to give meaningful and relational gifts too." It would only take 22% of what is spent each year on Christmas to supply the world with clean water ($10 billion). Click here to see the website or here to download the brochure.

Last night was so warm & I didn't even have to wet the bed

Last night was by far the most comfortable night of sleep I have had in the winter, in a long time. Before I paint the picture, let me paint for you winter nights in Washington:

My dad thought 55˚ was warm for the house, or at least a 40˚ temperature outside didn’t constitute heating the house. A few times I got in trouble for changing the thermometer settings. I guess heat was seen as a privilege, not a right. When my sister or I would complain about the frigid chill, he would reply, “Put on a coat.” I thought coats were for outside? I distinctly remember watching T.V. downstairs and actually seeing my breath. No joke. Once he’d walked into our bedrooms and see us shivering, he’d turn the heater on, so that was nice.

Queue last night. We recently started using the heater and it feels so nice. I added a quilt to my bed a few weeks ago to battle the cold, but the heater has made it a perfect insulator. I only slept for 6.5 hours but it felt like I slept in. I remember waking up a few times at night from dreams (good ones), to think to myself, “It’s so warm!” Not to hot, but perfect. It helps you sleep so much better. The best part is getting out of bed and not having to bolt to a hot shower. Even the bathroom was warm!

In my dad’s defense, he did have to pay the electric bill, and I don’t, Josh does. I had an electric blanket but I think it stopped working when I had to wash it because of an accident. C’mon, I was only in 10th grade! What 16 year old doesn’t wet his bed?

Calvin & Hobbes

An email from my mom. Enjoy.

From the article...

What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?

Mark Driscoll: This generation can be a whiny bunch of idealists getting together in small groups to complain about megachurches and the religious right rather than doing something.

Efrem Smith: I’m very concerned about the continual influence of consumerism Christianity and a Christianity that is very self-centered. Even in some of the social justice initiatives that I see, I wonder at times if it’s really about social change and kingdom advancement or if it’s about the sense of accomplishment and adventure one gets from the experience.

What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in the next 10 years?

Mark Driscoll: There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity.

View the entire article at: http://relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7418

11 Things They Didn't Teach You in High School

This is an excerpt from the book, "Dumbing Down our Kids" by Charles Sykes. It's targeted at high school seniors and college grads.

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping they called it Opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Anymore "Rules" you can think of? This is a good opportunity for the older...I mean wiser generation to enlighten us).