Would you want to know the way you die?
In the movie “Big Fish”, young Edward Bloom and his friends seek out the neighborhood witch. The rumor is she has a magical glass eye. If you look into the eye, you’ll see the way you die. Continue reading
Jesus
Pearl Jam vs. Nirvana
Pearl Jam or Nirvana?
For any child of the 80s or 90s the answer to this question reveals everything about who you are as a person. It pretty much defines whether you have any value in life at all.
Ok, took it too far. But it is a particularly relevant question right now. Continue reading
What You’re Missing By Missing The Reference
I know a few serial movie memorizers. It’s kind of a generational thing. Our parents didn’t have the chance to watch and rewatch their favorite movies on demand like we do.
Since now anyone can watch the Austin Powers Trilogy every night before they go to bed, movie quotes have become their own sort of lexicon. To twenty-somethings (especially males), learning to quote movies is an essential foreign language.
I don’t memorize movies well. I watch a lot of movies. I enjoy them. But I don’t rewatch a lot of them. And I don’t ingrain the dialogue to my brain. (Not judging those who do – in fact I’m often jealous of them.)
I’ve got a handful of go to movie quotes. But they’re not that original. I usually end up sounding like the recent slew of news anchors profiled on Conan who all thought they were being quite clever covering the news of Mike Myers’ new addition: Continue reading
Who Goes To The Opera Anymore?
“Really, do people still go to the opera? Opera is still a thing? What am I doing here?”
All of these thoughts ran through my head this past Saturday night. My girlfriend and I attended the Atlanta Opera’s production of “Tosca”.
The opera was impressive, extravagant, and I must admit, entertaining.
Never in my life did I think I’d be writing a sentence like that. If you were to tell me two years ago I would soon become a regular attendee of the opera I would have believed you, only if you were referring to the soap opera of professional wrestling.
Then I met my girlfriend. She’s an opera student. She opened my eyes to a section of the arts I did not know was still vibrant and relevant.
So there we sat Saturday night, taking in a 3 hour opera performance.
This is not a post for me to brag about what a wonderful boyfriend I am for gritting my teeth, forsaking football and enduring the opera. I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy the entire experience of dressing up, drinking $9 champagne, and taking in the incredible Italian singing.
This post is just to point out sometimes you do crazy things for the ones you love. Continue reading
Jesus and Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld would have made a great Young Life leader.
Can you imagine the talks he would give? “What’s the deal with forgiveness? Have you seen this? Have you heard about this?”
It’s not just the jokes Jerry would kill at. Jerry Seinfeld is really good at relationships.
For the past few months Seinfeld has been putting out a web series called “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.” The show is exactly what you think it is and is absolutely worth 15 minutes of your time.
Each week Jerry phones up one of his famous funny friends, picks them up in a classic car, and picks their brain over coffee.
I’ve never not laughed during an episode. The wisdom from legends of comedy like David Letterman, Larry David, and Don Rickles is valuable for anyone in entertainment, business, or even ministry.
In between the laughter and the glamour shots of Lamborghinis and latte art, what I really take away from each episode is just how simple relationships have to be.As Chris Rock put it in his chat with Jerry, “Everything is about company. A gourmet meal with an [jerk] is a horrible meal. A hot dog with an interesting person is an amazing meal.”
Jerry Seinfeld, unsurprisingly, is really comfortable at talking with people. His conversations with comedians are at once light and deep. It’s something Jerry Seinfeld has in common with Jesus. Continue reading
You Can’t Lose
You’ve just won the Super Bowl. The confetti is raining down. Teammates, friends, and family members are rushing to the field. The sideline reporter puts her microphone to your face and asks how you’re feeling:
“Well, I know we just won the Super Bowl and all, but boy was our defense terrible out there. There was pretty much no protection from our offensive line either. I could not believe the plays our coaches were calling. Punting on 4th and 1, are you serious? And the officials, don’t get me started on the officials. Worst officiating I’ve ever seen in a big game.”
Yeah, no.
No one complains after they win the Super Bowl. A winner might complain after any other game. There is always room to improve before the next game, even if you won.
But no one complains after they win the Super Bowl.
That’s because they’ve won the ultimate victory. The complaints don’t matter any more. They have already won the ultimate prize.
So why should you complain? No, seriously, why? Because if you’re a Christian, you have already won. Continue reading
Take A Full Measure
Mike The Cleaner Ehrmantraut is the best character from “Breaking Bad”.
Mike is a “cleaner” – a mysterious man who plays every side in the crime world, taking care of business for the highest bidder. He says only what needs to be said – no more, no less. He always puts business first.
Mike meets his match when he stumbles across Walter White in the show’s second season. While Mike always uses logic and sensibility in his criminal pursuits, Walter is reckless and dangerous. Worst of all, Walt is full of hubris.
At many points during “Breaking Bad” Walter has a chance to escape from his life of crime and the constant fear for his life that comes with it. But Walter, knowing he should seek safety, refuses to leave so easily. He can’t help but keep stacking the odds against himself. Continue reading
The Breaking
forbes.com
Walter White never expected to be on the run. As the final season of “Breaking Bad” began last summer, the show flashed forward to a scene a year into the future. Walter White is on the lam in disguise using a stolen identity, running away rom God only knows what kind of violent pursuit.
When he began his descent into murderous meth-cooking kingpin, Walter White just wanted to get in and out of the drug business with a nest egg for his family.
Walter White never expected to become a drug dealer in the first place. He was just a chemistry teacher with no savings facing down a terminal lung cancer diagnosis which would bankrupt his family.
Of course, Walter White never expected to develop terminal lung cancer. No one ever plans on having cancer. Life just sort of breaks that way.
Life has a way of escalating quickly. Maybe not as quick as “Breaking Bad” or those DirecTV commercials. But the plans we construct for our lives always seem to be unraveling. Continue reading
Han Solo, Ron Burgundy, and The Insufficient Resurrection
Hollywood is obsessed with the resurrection right now. And I don’t mean a sequel to “The Passion Of The Christ”.
I’m talking about the resurrection of past successes. Take a look at just a few of the movies and tv shows getting ready to relaunch after years of dormancy:
Star Wars Episodes 7/8/9. Anchorman 2. A Dumb and Dumber Sequel. The Boy Meets World continuation Girl Meets World. The Veronica Mars movie. A new season of 24. Another new season of Arrested Development. Seriously – that’s just a sampling of the classics Hollywood is resurrecting.
You’d think I might be uncontrollably excited about a few of these. Anchorman is probably the funniest movie of the past decade. Dumb and Dumber is my favorite comedy of all time. But I’m pretty much dreading these sequels. Continue reading
10 Things I Learned At Big Stuf 2013
You’re never too old to learn something from youth camp.
Last week I took my students from The Hill Baptist Church of Augusta, GA to Big Stuf camp in Panama City Beach, FL. Together with about 1500 other students we laughed, sang, and learned together about God’s Reality.
This is the 25th year of Big Stuf. Each summer founder Lanny Donoho and a crew of speakers, musicians, magicians, acrobats, and comedians have come together to proclaim the crazy things God wants to do in the lives of students. Here’s a few things I took away from the main session speakers Jamey Dickens and Jon Acuff: Continue reading
POP GOD 