Thinking about Lent

So with Fat Tuesday just a couple of hours from being over I have been thinking about Lent. I have to admit most of my life I never gave Lent a lot of thought. I always saw it just as the 40 days before Easter. But in the last few years I have given Lent a lot more attention.
So on my own accord (strike that. Mainly by conviction) this year I am going to make a conscious effort to focus on the meaning behind Lent. And at the same time dig deep in to the scriptures that focus on Christ’s time on earth, and the ultimate sacrifice that he made for us.
I don’t want to come off as being self righteous in my decision to make Lent a priority this year. This is a personal decision that I am choosing to share publicly.
Here are a couple of verses that I found today. The first one is from Joel. Most of the time we don’t use the old testament to describe Easter. But as I read this verse today, it remind me that this season is a chance to change my life and relationship with God for the better, for a promise of more than just this life.
The second scripture speaks for itself.

Joel 2:12-14 (The Message)
Change Your Life
But there's also this, it's not too late-- GOD's personal Message!- "Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!" Change your life, not just your clothes.
Come back to GOD, your God. And here's why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it now, maybe he'll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all's said and done, there'll be blessings full and robust for your GOD!
Mark 14:22-26 (The Message)
"This Is My Body"
In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said, Take, this is my body. Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. 24He said,
This is my blood, God's new covenant, Poured out for many people. "I'll not be drinking wine again until the new day when I drink it in the kingdom of God." They sang a hymn and then went directly to Mount Olives.

Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday. If you did not grow up Catholic or in the South you might not know anything about what today is all about. The only reason I know anything about this day is due to my parents having roots in the boot state (Louisiana) and growing up in the Episcopal Church. I actually had the opportunity to partake in Mardi Gras my senior year in college (a must do in anyone’s lifetime) So I found the follow background on this great tradition that leads up to Lent:

Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of street sweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.
What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival. (Ordinary time, in the Christian calendar, refers to the normal "ordering" of time outside of the Advent/Christmas or Lent/Easter seasons.
Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh." Like many Catholic holidays and seasonal celebrations, it likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons. Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar; since these days were outside the calendar, rules and customs were not obeyed.
Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.
The Carnival season kicks off with the Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night, Three Kings' Day and, in the Eastern churches, Theophany. Epiphany, which falls on January 6, 12 days after Christmas, celebrates the visit of the Wise Men bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. In cultures that celebrate Carnival, Epiphany kicks off a series of parties leading up to Mardi Gras.
Epiphany is also traditionally when celebrants serve King's Cake, a custom that began in France in the 12th century.
Legend has it that the cakes were made in a circle to represent the circular routes that the Wise Men took to find Jesus, in order to confuse King Herod and foil his plans of killing the Christ Child. In the early days, a coin or bean was hidden inside the cake, and whoever found the item was said to have good luck in the coming year. In Louisiana, bakers now put a small baby, representing the Christ Child, in the cake; the recipient is then expected to host the next King Cake party.
There are well-known season-long Carnival celebrations in Europe and Latin America, including Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The best-known celebration in the U.S. is in New Orleans and the French-Catholic communities of the Gulf Coast.
Mardi Gras came to the New World in 1699, when a French explorer arrived at the Mississippi River, about 60 miles south of present day New Orleans. He named the spot Point du Mardi Gras because he knew the holiday was being celebrated in his native country that day.
Eventually the French in New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras with masked balls and parties, until the Spanish government took over in the mid-1700s and banned the celebrations. The ban continued even after the U.S. government acquired the land but the celebrations resumed in 1827. The official colors of Mardi Gras, with their roots in Catholicism, were chosen 10 years later: purple, a symbol of justice; green, representing faith; and gold, to signify power.
Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

Don Miller

Here is a link to an interview with one of my favorite authors, Don Miller.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! I don’t buy into this day at all. Just another day for me. I think the marking gurus like my self have done a great job to implant in our minds that we must buy into the hype of this day. So you say I am bitter, yeah maybe. But just because I don’t have a girl doesn’t mean that I don’t have a reason to celebrate. I just choose not to buy chocolate and roses for some girl I won’t even see in two months. I think that everyday should be Valentines Day. That is that we should tell the people that we care about how much we love them all the times.
Chocolate melts and flowers wilt, but love is forever.

New Blog

Check out my brother's new blog. User beware.

Let the Games begin!

So in a few hours, on tape delay, the work will get a glance at the opening ceremonies of the XX Olympics in Torino, Italy. I always like watching the Olympics. But the older I get the cooler I think they ate especially the winter Olympics (minus ice skating). And now that the Olympics have embraced Xtreme Sports as real sports, I can enjoy them even more. Maybe it was a move by the Olympic organizers to make the Olympics cooler and make more money well they did. I mean who can blame them snow boarding is so cooler than Curling. I don’t get me wrong Curling is cool and all but think about it. Some might say that sports like snowboarding take the prestige and tradition out of the games. I say that snowboarding adds some edge to the Games.
On a side note there is a guy named Jason Smith who is competing in Snowboard cross. Smith is from Durango. Although would probably not claim to know me. But still I am routing for this guys. So hopefully, in the next 14 days you will turn your boob tube to NBC and root for your favorite country or athlete.

Miller's Picks

So if you read my blog at all you know that I am a big Donald Miller fan. Miller is the author of 3 soon to be 4 books. Books that I have read and that have changed my outlook on Christianity. I some times say that I would go as far and read the Funday Sunnies if Miller wrote one. Recently on his website Donald Miller words, Miller makes himself out to be quite the sports journalist. Living in Portland Miller seems to be an avid Seattle Seahawks fan. Miller even goes out on the limb and picks Seattle by 10. Bold prediction considering the point spread is only 3. I love the guy and love his books. But I think I will go the other way with my Super Bowl prediction. I say Steelers by a touchdown. But if Miller is right I will consider him the smartest man alive!

Nothing is Sound

So I was listening to the new Switchfoot album (Nothing is Sound) on my MP3 player today and I am really digging the song Happy is a yuppie word. I have to admit I really did not like alum when it first came out. Actually I really hated. I was such a big fan of their last album The Beautiful Letdown. I thought nothing could top what they had already done. But when I really started to listen to the lyrics of the tracks on this new album I really started to Jones for it. Its kind of like you get a ugly sweater from you grandma the longer it sits in you closet the more you wonder what it really looks like when you wear it. And then you start to get a lot of nice compliments about it from your friends. I guess what I am trying to say, Nothing is Sound is growing on me.

I don’t know if I was just having a rough day, but when I listen to Happy is a yuppie word I mean really listen to each and every word it really helps me. I am going through a time that I am having to make some big life changing decisions. But what this song is saying to me: Nothing is Sound. No matter what decision I make, the only thing that will be there for me in the end is God. And His love. My decisions might not work out the way that I think they will, but God will never fail me.

Reading the lyrics of this song reminds me so much of the book of Ecclesiastes. I am actually going through it with my small group right now. I really feel that this book is so relevant for life. In particular my life.

Ah!
Everyone dies
Everyone loves a fight
Nothing is sound
Nothing is right side right
Evening comes, when the sun goes down in red
Nothing is cool
When will all the fighting end
When will all the fighting end

Happy is a yuppie word
Nothing in the world could fail me now
It's empty as an argument
I'm running down a life that won't cash out (cash out)

Everything fails
Everything runs it's course
A time and a place, for all of this loving war
Everyone buys, everyone's gotta price, and nothing is new
When will all the failures rise
When will all the failures rise, rise!

Happy is a yuppie word
Nothing in the world could fail me now
It's empty as an argument
I'm running down a life that won't cash out

Happy is a yuppie word
Blessed is the man who's lost it all
Happy is a yuppie word (word)
Looking for an orphanage
I'm looking for a bridge
I can't burn downI don't believe the emptiness
I'm looking for the kingdom coming down
Everything is meaningless
I want more than simple cash can buy
Happy is a yuppie wordHappy is a yuppie word
Happy is a yuppie wordHappy is a yuppie
Nothing is soundNothing is soundNothing is sound
Nothing is sound
Nothing is soundNothing is soundNothing is sound
Happy is a yuppie word
Nothing in the world could fail me now
Happy is a yuppie word (word) So calm down, yeah!
So calm down, yeah!So calm down, yeah!