Does church ever seem repetitious to you?  Predictable?  The same old thing?

Over the past few years, I've met some people who have drifted away from Sunday morning worship because they "knew every word by heart" or "could go through the service without even looking at the book/bulletin".

To be honest with you, I've thought the same thing at times in my life.

Last night I read Genesis 4 before I went to bed.  I didn't get through the very first verse before another one of "God's big ideas" hit me in the face.  Here's what I read--

"Now Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived."

He "knew" her?  And then she conceived?  So...to "know" must mean to...ahem...well, you know what I mean..wait, not you "know" like Adam "knew" Eve...ummm...this is a little awkward

Okay, I'll just type it!  They had sex!

Do people go to church to worship or to be entertained?

That's one of the questions Neil Postman writes in his classic book Amusing Ourselves to Death.  Postman's work deals with the American obsession of being entertained and how that obsession has forever changed news, politics, and even religion.  To be honest, his ideas scare me...

I came across a disturbing quote this week that reminded me of the danger of hypocrisy.

Anton LaVey, who died in the late 1990's, was the founder of the Church of Satan and author of the Satanic Bible.  He received national attention for his Satanic funerals, Satanic weddings, and Satanic baptisms.  He even named his final child, born in 1993, Satan LaVey!

I don't know all the reasons that drove Anton LaVey to teach such wretched things.  But this quote, from the introduction to the Satanic Bible, gives us a shocking insight.  It refers to one of LaVey's first jobs, working as a musician and hired hand with a traveling circus in the late 1940's.

I just got back from Disney World.  My wife, my in-laws, and my two little girls took a "big, big car ride" (as my daughter calls it) down to Orlando to see "Minnie Mouse's house" (another daughter quote).  It was a good vacation--I floated lazily in the pool like a manatee, ate at too many pizza buffets (as if that were possible), and watched plenty of World Cup soccer.

The one day we went to Disney, however, I got thinking about church.  Is it possible that the Christian church could learn something from Walt Disney and the empire he left behind?

Have you ever read the Bible story about the faith of the woman who won the R-rated beauty pageant?

No?  Then you haven't read the book of Esther.  I just read Esther this week for my personal devotions.  You could read the whole book in about 15 minutes and you should.  Here are a few reasons why:

1.  The 6 month party thrown by the Persian King Xerxes!

2.  How the most powerful man in the world reacts when his wife won't come to his party to show off how hot she is.

3.  The shadiest search for a new queen in the history of mankind (hint--there's a reason why Esther isn't in the kids' Sunday school curriculum)

4.  One of the best expressions of God's plan found in the Bible.

How much time do you spend investing in people?

That question has been bouncing around in my head lately.  I preach.  I teach.  I write.  I study.  I counsel.  I blog.  But what about investing personally in people?  The one-on-one conversation.  The patient listening.  The personal prayers on their behalf.  The unplanned visits.

I've found it can be easy to spend a year without making some good investments.

I couldn't have been happier this week.  The weather made me consider moving to Illinois (yes, it was that bad...) and I had to bring my car into the shop, but it was still a great week.

Because I saw seven kids staying strong.

If you heard the message on 5/2, "Stay Strong", you may recall that I challenged our 8th grade graduates to stay strong in their faith by staying connected to God's Word throughout this summer.  They each received a red bracelet and I asked them to show off their muscles every time they showed up in church.

To be completely honest, I was worried I would be flexing alone on Sunday morning...

I'm having the worst day ever.

This morning I sold much of my childhood.  A dollar at a time, I watched it carried into station wagons and mini-vans.  Piece by piece, I saw it shoved into grocery bags and crammed into boxes.  I tried not to cry.

Garage sale day.  But not just any garage sale.  Normally, I can part with old sweatshirts and extra wineglasses and the T.V. trays that lean like Italian towers.  But today was different.

Today I sold my Star Wars collection.  And my baseball cards.  And my comics.  And my action figures.  And half my life with it.

Are there any people in your life like Matthias?

Matthias is a name from the Bible that you probably don't know. It's a $2,000 Jeopardy question in the "Names of the Bible" category.

That's not surprising in and of itself.  There are lists and lists in the Bible with funny Hebrew names that no one can ever pronounce at Bible study.  No one remembers them all, so no big deal if we don't remember Matthias, right?

Except that Matthias was an apostle.