Most sung worship songs

Ever wonder if other churches are singing the same stuff we are singing? Here is a list of the 25 Most Sung Worship Songs In America. Before you click, remember these are all "worship songs". Now, try to guess the top 3. One hint: none of them are by David Crowder!?!

The quest for the Holy Grail

By jove… it explains everything… right here!

Going the extra mile

There’s few things more demoralizing than when you go the extra mile for someone, really put in a lot of effort to help them, and then discover second hand that they are still unappreciative and unhappy with you. There’s times I’d like nothing more than to spend my days locked up in my office with my laptop computer and my Ipod and not have to deal with people.

Working with people is a risk - some will not appreciate you though you put in a huge effort on their behalf, while others will overflow with gratitude for something small that I wouldn’t even usually consider important or special. The trick is to not give up on the former group, and to draw strength and encouragement from the latter, while all the time remembering there’s a higher calling involved too.

Spamglish

Why is it the blog spammers never seem to be able to speak English? Here’s a few recent examples :

*I’m love this great website. Many thanks guy
*i try to find something at google.com and take it on your site…thanks
*Best site I see. Thanks. Hello there! Just want to say that I find your site enough interesting for me. Usefull information and all is good arranged. Thank you for your work. I will visit your site more ofter from now and I bookmarked it.
*Nice site. Thank to work…
*Great job guys… Thank for you work…
*Hallo I absolutely adore your site. You have beautiful graphics I have ever seen.

Well if nothing else at least they’re encouraging and courteous. Wouldn’t do them any harm to learn a little grammar though. Having said that I must confess in college, when reading some chapters on English grammar - they put me to sleep - so maybe that’s what happened to the spammers - they fell asleep during English!

Superman as Jesus??

I for one can’t wait for the upcoming release of Superman Returns. Superman has always been the ultimate superhero, even though some of the later movies from the 80s didn’t do justice to the legend (Superman IV anyone?). From the previews, the new movie looks like it’s going to be awesome - a much more worthy successor to the original Superman : The Movie, even to the extent that it features the voice of Marlon Brando as Superman’s Father, as well as the wonderful score from John Williams.

But this CNN article explores yet another aspect of the Superman legend, which apparently is given free reign in the new movie - Superman as a Christological figure. These themes have always been latent in Superman stories of the past, (even though the original creators drew more from the character of Moses) but in Superman Returns are made even more explicit. With a growing awareness of the vast American Christian market, studios are ever looking for new ways to appeal to them. Fortunately though, they aren’t marketing Superman in this way.
Interesting article to read which makes me even more keen to see this movie when it comes out.

Here's the link to the article: Superman

New Franklin

This is the new Franklin/Covey planner I purchased yesterday, along with the new Leadership calendar fills to help keep myself better organized. I've missed a couple birthday parties and committments I had made recently (sorry Jeff and Melissa!) and I can't have that happening.

I kept a Franklin planner years ago, and it really helped me stay on track with a lot of things by forcing me to write them down. I think that gets me to commit it to my memory a little better than just simply using a PDA (plus if you drop a Franklin on the concrete, it doesn't break like a PDA does!!).

So now my bag/backpack is weighing a little more (with my journal, Bible, IPod, digital camera, and now this), but in the end, it'll keep me a little more organized, which will keep me a lot less stressed, and that's a good thing.

Do you have a box on your head?

Matthew 9:10-13Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them.

When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."

The Pharisees thought they knew how Jesus should behave; who Jesus should be seen with or who He should eat with. And it just dawned on me, they thought they had a copyright on God and knew how Jesus and His followers should behave and who they should be seen with.Nope, Jesus didn't like hanging out with the Pharisees. Pharisees are boring. Can you imagine having to eat with them? With their glassy, self-righteous stares. Sitting there, looking down their noses... with those little boxes* on their heads ( I did a Google search for 'Pharisees little boxes they wore on their heads' and I found the following:

"This word from the Greek signifies a preservative. These phylacteries were little boxes, or rolls of parchments, wherein were written certain words of the law. These boxes or rolls, containing their four leaves of parchment on which their texts were written, they wore upon their foreheads, and upon their wrist of their left arm...").

Who would want to spend time with these people? Much less, eternity. Jesus knew who to come for... the lost, the broken, the interesting.

Jesus would much rather hang around an authentic sinner than a fake saint, any day.

So Far...

25 years ago today, I asked Jesus to come into my heart. It doesn't seem that long ago. I can still remember it. I knelt under a tree and prayed. Our denomination called it 'getting saved'.

After that, I wanted to tell everybody about Jesus.

I remember getting on an airplane and being afraid that if I didn't tell the person sitting next to me about Jesus, they would go to Hell and their blood would be on my hands. So, I kept trying to figure out a way to ask, "If you were to die today, would you go to Heaven? I finally asked. It felt awkward. She was a nun.

Fast forward 25 years.

This past Memorial Day, I went to a cookout at a friends house. I ended up talking to a few people on the back porch (which is my favorite spot). Somehow, the conversation got around to God. I don't know how that always happens. Guess it's because there's nothing more interesting. It's the never-ending discussion.

If I recall correctly, these new friends consisted of a former Mormon missionary, a United Pentecostal, a Catholic or two, various and sundry other creeds... and George.

George was raised in a home that was 'agnostic'. At his house, religion didn't figure in. "But," he said, "I believe there is something after this life."

That caught my ear.

"Why do you believe that?" I asked.

He sputtered to a stop. He had continued onto another part of his story and didn't know what I was talking about.

"Believe what?" he asked.

"You said you believe there is something after this life. Why do you believe that?"
He said he didn't know.

Everybody started talking and telling what they believed and why.
Why do we believe there's something beyond this life?
What causes us to even consider it?
How could we long for something we've never known?

I crave Blue Bell ice cream. Sometimes, I even 'long' for it. You see, I've tasted Blue Bell ice cream. I know what Blue Bell ice cream tastes like. I'm going to have some after lunch.

Why do I believe there's something beyond this life?
God.

My DNA remembers God.
He made a very good first impression.

I believe our DNA echoes with the memory of His goodness. His breath is still in us (Genesis 2:7). We are His broken image (Genesis 1:27).

I used to have a dog when I was a kid. To my knowledge, he never remembered God. And he longed for nothing but to be scratched and thrown a treat. There wasn't anything in him that thought there was something after this life.

At least, he'd never spoken to me about it.

When it was my turn to tell why I believe there's something after this life, I told my friends that I came from God, got lost and Jesus has come to take me home.

But, a funny thing happened. As I was beginning to tell my story, I felt a lump rising in my throat and tears starting to burn in my eyes.

My voice was shaky. "It's because of Jesus," I said. "He started it. He loved me first. And He proved it by dying for my sins and rising from the dead. I believe that more than I believe I'm sitting here."

We all come from the same God. We may not agree about where the 'longing' comes from but there's no denying it. Well, I am beginning to find that my 'longing' is satisfied by the love of Jesus. Getting to know Him is like finding breadcrumbs along the path giving you a little taste of what's waiting at the house.

Addictive Art

Finding this at 1:30 in the morning is not a good thing. One word: ADDICTING.

Try your hand at being the next Jackson Pollock, the famous abstract expressionist painter from the early-mid 1900's.

Go ahead....try it! It's cool.

Here's the Link

Re-vamping

It used be every couple years. Then it was once a year. Now, it comes about every 6 months. What? The need to re-think and re-vamp my life. And I'm feeling it again!

I'm sitting at DFW airport in Dallas waiting for a meeting, but my thoughts are regarding something a successful business friend of mine told me last week. He had gone to a conference that he was really pumped about and they told him that significance came as a result of success and success came as a result of stability. In other words, there are certain things in your life that must be stable; and that stability brings success; and that success can be leveraged for significance.

Now, there is a lot about that with which I disagree. But I do believe that I need to stabilize certain core values and disciplines before I can expect God to continue to allow my influence to grow. And that is what is bringing on this need to re-vamp my life. It's not an overhaul - cause I do hear hear from God; I do run and exercise regularly; I do keep my committments to church; I do intentionally spend time with each of my family members...but it's not stable. It's not as consistent as I want it to be.

So, I'm thinking about revamping my life so that I journal everyday; so that I workout and play volleyball every week (see previous post); so that I spend a little more time with my best friends and family; I'm close, but not there yet!

I'm sore

I joined a summer volleball league at Fellowship Church last week. We had our first scrimmage game last week, and I'm still a little sore.

Next game is Thursday at 7:30pm

Last new cell phone...I swear

Ok, last week my Nokia 6103 phone started "peeling" after only having it 5 days, and the earpiece audio was so low, I had to make sure my ears were clean to be able to hear anything at all.

I went with my gut instinct and got the Samsung T-319. The sales clerk at T-Mobile tried to get me to go with another more expensive model, but something inside told me not to. I'm glad I went with my gut feeling. The phone earpiece volume is the best I've ever heard, and the phone reminds me of a Samsung I used to have 5 or so years ago. Very easy to use, and works like it's supposed to.

Barry Bonds & Babe Ruth

There will come a day when Barry Bonds leaves baseball, and everything about the game will be the better for it.

In the meantime, the more the man reveals himself, the more we know him to be the absolute fraud for which his name has become synonymous.

Only the latest example of the deceit that is Bonds occurred after he hit home run No. 714 to tie Babe Ruth for No. 2 on the all-time list. The same man who in an interview with reporters before the 2003 All-Star Game gleefully looked forward to wiping Ruth from the record books suddenly -- because it fit the purpose of trying to gain a shred of public respect -- paid homage to Ruth and his legacy.

When a reporter reminded Bonds of his 2003 comments, he claimed not to remember and, as The New York Times reported, called the words "somebody's fabrication."

The only fabrication is Bonds himself. I have a recording of that interview that day in Chicago, where there were as many as 40 reporters around him at a table in a hotel ballroom, no more than six feet away from him. Bonds spent a great deal of time talking about the importance of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City -- the same museum he stiffed in 2002 when, according to the Associated Press, "museum officials said they were unable, despite months of trying, to even get an acknowledgment from home run king Barry Bonds, who was voted the Oscar Charleston Award.''

Subsequent talk of Hank Aaron then turned into a question about Aaron's home run record.
Said Bonds, "The one I care about is Babe Ruth and 715.''

Asked why, Bonds replied, "As a left-handed hitter, I wiped him out. That's it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth is everything, right? I got his slugging percentage, his on-base percentage, his walks and I'll take his home runs. That's it. Don't talk about him no more.... I'm the next generation of the Negro leagues. Hank Aaron can have those 755 home runs.''

It is yet another window into the shallow soul of Bonds that he thinks he could disrespect Ruth in front of the national media at a showcase baseball event, have it be widely and repeatedly reported, and then only three years later claim it was a "fabrication." Just like he never knew those were steroids he put into his body. He and his records are truly unbelievable.

X Men 3

WOO HOO!!!!

My office just handed out free passes to an advanced screening of X Men 3 for this Thursday night at the brand new AMC Northpark!! Can you say "SCORE!!!!!!"

I guess I'll be seeing it twice now since I was already planning on seeing it with my buddy Jeff on Friday anyway.

Another (yes another) new cell phone

A couple weeks ago I had picked up a new phone and blogged about it. After having the Samsung T-509 for a week, there were too many quirks that I just could not get over (like not being able to hear it ring...that's pretty important).

Soooo... I took it back and exchanged it for a Nokia 6103. A week after having this phone, the screen started acting up and would blank out on me, plus the camera would not launch properly.

So... my Nokia was acting up while I was at the mall in Grapevine, and the T-Mobile store was inside. I decided to see what they could do. I ended up walking out with this baby, the Samsung T-809, which is their top of the line phone currently. I am amazed at this thing. The "wow" factor of it's design and screen is staggering. I feel like I'm looking at a flat screen TV instead of a cell phone.

So far, everything about it has been top notch. I'll be using this one for a long while. It'll take a some getting used to the slider form. I'm loving the MP3 player and 65 MB of internal memory, not to mention the 1GB memory card that comes with it.

Ben & Jerry's

So I went to Wal-Mart on Monday night...something I do not usually do! (I love the variety at Wal-Mart...but it seems there is only one or two lines that are open every time I go...maybe that's God working on my patience!). BUT--this trip turned out to be an amazing blessing because...For the first time in my life I bought some Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

I am a self confessed ice cream snob...and have said on this blog that I am usually a Bluebell man...BUT as I walked down the ice cream aisle in Wally World, the Ben & Jerry's got my attention. So I looked at it & decided to buy it...it's called "Half Baked."

So I've got this pint of ice cream and on Tuesday afternoon I decided to eat it--BUT before I did I snuck a glance at the nutritional information. BAD IDEA! Obviously Ben and Jerry have no regards for health--but after tasting the ice cream I feel that I am ok with that!!!

This was a new experience for me--and I LOVED IT! I got out of my ice cream rut & pushed the edge!!! That's the way we need to live life--push the edge, try something new!!! And let it go beyond ice cream--take it into your walk with God, your marriage, your workplace--ANYTHING! One of the things that is a shame when it comes to us human beings is that we allow ourselves to fall into boring and predictable lifestyles--we are creatures of habit and we resist change...but God wants us to be creative!!!

If I only had a brain

Looks as if this guy could use a brain too...

The Best Advice I Ever Got

A friend of mine asked me this afternoon, "what's the best advice you've ever received?"

I have to admit it was really hard to narrow it down to one. I thought about one of my professors in college who said something I'll never forget: catch people doing things right. I thought about Clark Griswold's advice in Christmas Vacation: do it right and do it big. I thought about my favorite philosopher, Jack Handy (from Saturday Night Live), who said: if you drop your keys in a river of molten lava let 'em go man 'cause they're gone. And I thought about quoting Qui Gon Jinn (from Star Wars) who said, "Your focus determines your reality."

I've gotten lots of great advice over the years, but the most unique was a life-changing bottle cap. I was drinking a Nantucket Nectar one day and the saying on the bottle cap became a personal mantra: if everyday was a good day there would be no good days.

Not bad for a bottle cap! All of us want every day to be a good day, but if every day was a good day there would be no good days because there wouldn't be any bad days with which to compare the good days to. It's the bad days that help us appreciate the good days! Sickness helps us appreciate health. Failure helps us appreciate success. Debt helps us appreciate wealth. And the tough times help us appreciate the good times.

God can even turn our worst day into our best day.

Here is what I know for sure: God is in the recycling business. He takes our pain and uses it for someone else's gain. That is precisely what Christ did on the cross.

So whether you're having a good day or a bad day, remind yourself that God is God and God is good.

New phone

I just picked this up yesterday. The new Samsung T509. It has got to be the sleekest looking phone I have ever seen. It is currently the thinnest phone on the market (according to all of the reviews I've read).

The display screen is what really impresses me. I've never seen anything this crisp and clear on a phone before.

Mapping Religion in America

I can't remember where I ran across this site, but it's pretty interesting. Maps of the United States that indicate where the largest segments of various denominational and religious constituents reside.