Truly Epic Fail

I blogged about ordering NT Wright's New Testament for Everyone set of the Gospel commentaries from Amazon. I received another email from Amazon saying that none of their distributors were able to fill my order. This makes me super sad on so many levels. I've started reading through the backup copy I ordered from Family Christian Store, and these commentaries are truly great literature. I'd recommend them for anyone who wants to go to further understanding in their faith journey.

Amazon, you failed again. Tom Wright, you've succeeded on so many levels.

The Singing Lady Moved

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the lady living in our apartment building who would sing loudly in the morning. Apparently, she moved away. It seems that a hip, young, twenty-something guy moved in over there. I overheard him talking to the movers through the paper-thin door say that his name was Will or Dave. One of the movers has the other name, so that's why I'm confused. This will hopefully mark the start of a quieter wing without tons of passionately bad singing. Plus, we might meet the dude in hopes of striking up friendships.

The Lord's Prayer

I pulled this from Jon Foreman's solo EP Spring. The song is called Your Love is Strong. It's a powerful and moving song that I can't help but sing at the top of my lungs and get teary.

Heavenly Father, you always amaze me
Let your kingdom come in my world and in my life
Give me the food I need to live through today
And forgive me as I forgive the people that wrong me
Lead me far from temptation
Deliver me from the evil one

Our God in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Above all names
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us weary sinners
Keep us far away from our vices
And deliver us from these prisons

Amazon Epic Fail?

Sometimes I forget I have a blog...

Almost 1 month ago, I ordered Tom Wright's New Testament for Everyone Gospel set to help in the doing of the Matthew book for our Mexico mission this year. I still have not received the book. This is quite disheartening because it was at a great price (maybe explaining the book's disappearance from the face of the universe). Not sure if I should buy a copy to use and return later or just deal for now until the end of April... Probably going with the former!

Parent Ministry

One of my big goals is to get parents ministry running for middle and high school teens' parents. I'm not really sure where to start. My guess would be to offer an informational class for parents. I'm thinking of starting with a social networking class like "Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter... OH MY!" Does anyone else have ideas of topics on which parents might like hear the perspective of a 22 (almost 23!) year old guy with crazy hair?

WHOA!

It's been a couple of busy weeks with the winter retreat and Youth Sunday back to back, but it was fun while it lasted. Now that it's over, I have a little time to focus on cleaning my desk and computer a bit. I've got some old download files that I don't remember...

Both the winter retreat and Youth Sunday went superbly. Thanks for all the prayers!

I attended the IGNITE leader's conference at Blackhawk Saturday (3/7). It was very informative. I took the Discovering Your Leadership Style workshop. It was great to know that I have very little leadership when it comes to detail. I'm more of a visionary/entrepreneurial leader with team-building, shepherding, and bridge-building elements in that. Good to know for future use. Now to brainstorm how I can use that to enact discipline in youth group. It could be interesting.

RE:formed and RE:ligion

I have to admit that I am becoming more and more in line with reformed theology. Things that once caused me to shudder (God's election and the like) are becoming so much more beautiful and meaningful to my faith. You may accept this or boo me to the grave, but here I will stand. I bought John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion to understand his thinking better.

It's funny how much that one word above (religion) can cause division. Here's something to chew on: I'm not right. I'm never right. In fact, I cannot be right. But Jesus was right, and the Holy Spirit through me is right. Jesus calls us to acts of piety (such as prayer and fasting) to deepen our connection to God and remember our commitment to His kingdom. Jesus also calls us to let the Holy Spirit do acts of good will through us to show God's mercy and grace.

In a totally unrelated thought train, I'm doing our taxes today...

Thomas