a nerd's life.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

i'm having a blast in my small group!  i don't know how else to say it - i just really think we have been enjoying our time together and tonight was one of those examples.  we have been using the big idea in our small group which means tonight we are in the series crazy little thing called love and we talked about crazy cycle.  the cycle we discussed comes from ephesians 5:33 where it teaches us about men's need for respect from their spouse and women's need for love from their spouse.

anyway, awesome and fun(ny) discussion - but we decided as a group to take on the "what's next?" challenge - doing 3 acts of kindness for our spouses without expecting anything in return.  so i need some ideas, what should i do to show my wife love over the next 7 days?

oprah, our friendship has taken 2 steps back

so i got to see oprah's latest creation, "oprah's big give", and i have to say it's a little silly.  she has taken the act of generosity and made it into a tv show.  its as if she had been watching all the reality tv that's out there and said to herself one day, "self, what if i took my billions of dollars and started a reality show that really made a difference." 

i got news for you oprah, we don't watch reality tv cause we want to see it make a difference - it's entertainment!  besides people being generous loses it edge when it's made into a competition and then "rated" by judges...judges that are looking for "tears, emotion and response" from those who recieve the "big give".

not to mention the show lacks creativity.  i mean she has the typical celebrity judges plus on english dude - haven't we seen that one before!  plus the strange way they sit before the judges as a group, all clapping for one another and then blamo, your enevelope is empty - you didn't make people cry, so you gotta go home!!

but i'm not the only one with a critical eye for oprah's new show - read about it here.

semi-fro

will ferrell's latest movie, semi-pro, was mostly entertaining, but really only when the camera was on him - otherwise i was little bored.  there was one scene where will ferrell's character, jackie moon, needed to increase the game's attendance to 2000 people - so he decided to wrestle a bear at half-time in order to draw people to the stadium.  spamonie!!

ok, i give in - i'm movin' to the beach!

my friend perry and i have to part ways on this discussion.  we usually agree on so many issues, but when it comes to this winter's weather, i have to say, "STOP IT ALREADY!!!"  here's what stinks about this winter:

• snow - does the expression "too much of a good thing" ring a bell!
• influenza - sheesh!  how many people are sick right now - i know my fam of 5 has it!
• reality tv - that's all there is cuz writers strike is still taking a toll on viewers like me!
• temperature - snow is cool, but my face has almost fallen off 6 times!
• parenting - my kids have seen more tv in the past 3 months than the amount of time they have been alive!
• church - is it just me, or has all the blizzards happened on sunday and on my small group night?!
• salt - our minivan had a tiny rust spot on the front right fender - it has tripled in size!

so what is your beef with this winter?  or are you taking perry's side and saying, "bring it on!"  i think that's how my kids would respond - they seemed to love it!

 

faux hawk to no hawk

i've gotten many, many, many comments about something since this past weekend and now throughout this entire week that i'm not sure demands so much attention.  you see, i've gotten kind of bored with the faux hawk and have decided to let my hair grow out.  and since i'm in the infamous in-between-stage, i don't really have style to my hair.  and so everyone is asking, "what's wrong with your hair?  are you stylying it differently?  run out of product?  where's the faux hawk??"

so anyway, in case you're wondering, here's what all the talk's about; aren't i handsome devil??

 

nick plassman text me and...

asked if i'd seen dferg's post on an interview he did with pastors.com.  usually my response would be "yep, i check dave's blog regularly."  but because i've been sick, i got a little behind.  anyway, nick asked because dave was interviewed on one of our favorite topics: apprenticeship.

check out the article here!

funny pastors - both of them are funny on accident

and then the famous one

i'm sick, yet again - stupid long, cold winter!

 

oprah and i finally agree

well sort of.  i agree with dr. oz who regularly appears on oprah and recently he was on oprah talking about how to stay young...how to add years to your life.  he shared the stat that the average american couple has sex once a week and then shared a recent study that said having sex 2-3 times a week will increase life expectancy.  so of course i stood up and CHEERED and said to erin, "did you hear that??  we can add years to our life!  we can remain happily married even longer!!"

well oprah, you and i haven't always gotten along, but today i say THANK YOU.

below is a follow up episode where a dude asks dr. oz to tell his wife that sex increases life span - i think more men will now watch oprah ;)

where does true spiritual growth happen?

that's the title of a blog entry referenced by joe myers on his blog.  it's created a little buzz on joe's blog, but the original entry comes from todd hiestand's blog.  i'm not sure who todd is (other than he's the pastor of a church called the well located in Philadelphia) but i like what he's asking about this quote from a church's website:

• "Loving God, Loving others, and Serving.  We believe that true spiritual growth happens in small groups of people.  That's the way Jesus taught his disciples, that's the way the early church was formed, and that's the way we're going to grow as well.  Imagine a church that doesn't just have small groups, but is a church of small groups.  Imagine these groups learning how to live more like Jesus.  Imagine these groups in alll corners of our city serving the poor, the broken, and the forgotten people.  Imagine these groups simply being the Church."
• In the meantime, we need everyone to sign up for a small group.  We have two ways for you to do this.  You can simply click "Find a Group" on this website, or you can sign up at the church kiosk on our campus.  Be sure to sign up today as small groups will fill up quickly.

afterwhich, todd asks these questions:

1. Do you think that "true spiritual growth really happens" in small groups of people?  Has that been your experience?
2. In your experience, where/how has your "true spiritual growth" happened?
3. If you had an opinion, what do you think of the "church of small groups model?"
4. Finally, would you sign up?  Would you join this if this were your church?

read people's responses here and here.  and then todd shares his response here.

what are your responses?