Surely you crafted a Hand Turkey in your younger days. Perhaps your child or grandchild made one for you. Or maybe you created some other elementary artwork as well – a Christmas ornament made from an ashtray, a picture frame glued with glitter and macaroni, etc.
You worked hard on these crafts. Spent afternoons in a grade school classroom perfecting the placement of buttons and stickers onto an oddly adorned flower pot to give to your mother or father on a special occasion.
But these crafts weren’t art. You were 7 when you made them. Continue reading →
I fell down the rabbit hole. Like many others this week, I became fascinated by the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination.
The JFK killing appears to be a once in a lifetime time type event – one that only could have happened at a certain point in history where there was not enough media saturation to find out the truth but just enough media saturation to create the controversy and conspiracies which continue on some 50 years and counting down the road.
One podcast I listened to featured one of my favorite authors Chuck Klosterman giving his analysis on the conspiracy theories. Klosterman made an interesting point on conspiracies in general.
Klosterman hypothesized that conspiracies are often more comforting to believe than the more probable truth. He said believing that a few people somehow orchestrated a catastrophic event is more comforting than believing all things happen by chance. If we simply believe all the events of life are random and by chance, that can be even scarier than thinking a secret society or some evil mastermind acted outside of normalcy.
I think Klosterman is spot on. In fact, I’ll take his theory one step further. I think conspiracies can be more comforting than believing God is actually in control. Continue reading →
I was watching a video in the bedroom while my parents had friends over. My father came in and he just couldn’t take it anymore.
He had to tell me the truth – the truth about wrestling.
“You know it’s fake, right? It’s all planned out and scripted,” he told me about the hulking superstars I had recently become obsessed with.
Funny, though. The revelation didn’t bother me. Even at a young age, I simply shrugged and went back to watching Randy Savage drop elbows. Continue reading →
“They probably don’t even know they’re in captivity.”
My girlfriend and I were visiting the Georgia Aquarium a few weekends ago when we heard these words. We were standing in awe of the magnitude of the attraction, blown away by the wonders inside one of the largest aquariums in the world.
One guide was telling us about fish who have been born inside the aquarium. He said those words to us, and that the water is so big these fish don’t even realize they’re not in the ocean.
Of course they don’t. How could they? They’ve never experienced anything other than the aquarium. They don’t realize there’s a whole other world out there beyond the bubble they are in.
Do we? Do we realize there’s more to our life than the bubble we were born into? Continue reading →
Everyone talks about the transition from Saturday night to Sunday morning being a daunting one. But what about Sunday morning to Monday morning?
On Sunday morning you sing of hope. On Sunday you’re surrounded by fellow believers. On Sunday your tank is recharged.
On Monday morning it can all fall apart. On Monday inbox is full of problems that just can’t wait. On Monday everything that drags you down about your job is right back in front of you. On Monday the weight of commerce brings you back down to earth.
A bit dramatic? Maybe. But for some of us it’s not that far off. Maybe to keep you with a Sunday attitude you need some Monday Morning Music.
Here’s a favorite tune of mine to get my mind right for Monday morning. It’s a song from The Avett Brothers called “Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise”. Don’t let the long title scare you off.
As the lyric goes:
Where nothing is owed, deserved, or expected,
And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected,
If you’re loved by someone you’re never rejected,
Decide what to be, and go be it.
Whether you’re starting a new job or walking into a familiar one, make the decision this Monday to be who you were on Sunday. Be the person God already sees you as.
God sees you not as who you are, but you are becoming. He sees past your flaws. God sees you as His beloved child.
When you’re loved by Him, what does the rejection of the world matter? Instead, you are free to reject what the world offers you as a satisfactory way of life. You can release your dreams from the cage and be free to follow them.
As you start off this week it’s time to make a decision. Who will you be? Who do you want to be?
You can change your path. You can be the type of person who influences your entire office and paves a road full of promise leading back to the Creator.
Let’s do it together. Let’s keep Sunday alive on Monday.
I’d love to know – what are you facing down this Monday? How can we support each other as we do the work of a new week?
Welcome to Episode 11 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.
This week’s guest is Adam Sams. Adam is a singer-songwriter who just released his first full-length album, Tightwire. Adam brings his guitar to the studio to preview a couple of tracks off the album. But first, we talk about growing up around the world, his musical influences, and his affection for surfing. Plus Adam takes the Pop Quiz, we break down his songwriting progress, reveal how he made it on stage with Switchfoot, and more! Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of a musician truly seeking God in the present tense.
Download or order a cd or vinyl of Adam’s album on his website adamsams.com
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.
I’m so excited to open up POP GOD and share more stories of people seeking God in the present tense. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the POPcast.
If grew up in the 90s, there were 3 things that were always in your bookbag: an emergency supply of Gushers, one of those different color eraser pen things, and the latest ‘Bumps book. (Did people call them ‘Bumps? They totally should have.)
One man was responsible for revolutionary children’s horror anthology. Say his name with me:
R.L. Stine.
R.L. Stine churned out 62 Goosebumps books between 1992 and 1997 – an average of over 10 books per year! That’s not including the 50 Give Yourself Goosebumps create-your-own-adventure style books, plus 74 episodes of the television series based on the books, plus the Fear Street series he published at the same time aimed at teenagers.
Before Harry Potter began weighing down children’s backpacks, R.L. Stine was the undisputed king of kid’s literature.
But this blog is not about R.L. Stine the Goosebumps author.
What I learned in the interview completely redefined my childhood. Before a page of Goosebumps was ever written R.L. Stine worked on another landmark project: Continue reading →
You may not be able to travel back in time. But you can change the future.
That’s the theme of “About Time”, the new movie starring Rachel McAdams which just hit theaters. My girlfriend and I saw the film this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The plot focuses on a young man who learns a secret from his father on his 21st birthday – all the males in his family have the ability to travel back in time.
The young man knows instantly what he wants to use his gift for: to find a girlfriend.
At first the possibilities are endless for how to use his new power. He’s able to fix those awkward dinner conversations, perfect the first kiss, even stop the love of his life from meeting a bad boyfriend.
Late in the movie things really get interesting. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything, but the question for the main character becomes “Instead of traveling back in time to fix my mistakes, how can I do things better the first time around?” Continue reading →
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35)
The video store is dead.
This is not really news. The video store has been on life support for years. And in some rural communities Mom and Pop movie rental shops are still hanging in there.
Hand Turkeys are not high art.
POP GOD 
