...to syndication

so i watched 30 rock for the first time tonight. funny. as i was changing channels to see what's on these days. aside from the news that ike is going to bust up  the eastern coast of tx, seems like there's tons of stuff about burning off fat, panties-medias, cartoons, the office, and really old re-runs in syndication (different strokes).

not sure what the best show on tv is today, but i've got some ideas. i would love to hear about what you guys are watching out there in the blog world. 

so give it up...what are you guys watching on tv?

what's the best thing on tv today? 

to the hitachi...

so tonight we had some awesome cuban food at our gathering. madd props to yannick's mom and her glorious hitachi. it may not solve all of the worlds problems, but it sure does make some really good rice.

besides really good food, we had an amazing time of prayer and intimacy with each other. amazing how the hitachi can bring people together :-)

to the hitachi! thanks yan. (you complete me - you had me at hitachi)

i should host the VMA's next year...

i've never been so disappointed with the selection committee on who elects the host of the VMA's. 

here's the question:

was no one else available to host? - next year, mtv, i'll be around!

besides the stupid appearance, foolish comments, and ridiculously tight pants, the poor fellow looked like a woman with a beard. 

for a 25th anniversary, i'm thoroughly disappointed. 

the only positive things about the VMA's, they encouraged people to vote. please vote according to what you think is the best for the country. don't let people from other countries tell you how to vote, especially at the VMA's. 

also, my 2 year old kid was totally upset on the knocking of the jonas brothers and their choice on waiting till marriage for sex. 

to an interesting opinion...

so as i was reading this morning in luke 4, they gave Jesus beef about the coming of a new day. a shift was occurring around all who were there and they didn't even know it. when He tried to warn them, they didn't want to hear about it.

came across an interesting opinion this afternoon as i was doing my daily reading (check out the column to the right for more info on what i'm reading). here's the opinion:

"doing church differently is like rearranging the chairs on the titanic. we must realize that slight tweaks, new music, creative lighting, wearing hula shirts, shorts, and flip flops won't make doing church more attractive.  church must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we are about. church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the very way of Christ."

pretty hard. 

what do you think? right? wrong? some right or some wrong?

let me know.

to facebook...

so i have a facebook now. less than 48 hours later, i'm getting pics of me back in the 60's when i was just a glimmer in my father's eye.

thanks alex. u made my decade. 

sweep the leg...awesome

this has got to be one of the best things to have come out of the 80's. what's awesome is that whenever mr. miagi comes out, the asian flute begins to play.

"sweep the leg" were the words uttered by the mean karate guy/teacher (sensai or something like that). it's awesome cause the music goes up and daniel goes down. hope goes down with him. but just like all good movies in the 80's, he gets up and wins. 

i love the 80's. i love karate kid I, II, III, but not the girl version with hilary swank. the 90's were desperate times - so was pat morita (mr. miagi)

sweep the leg...awesome

...to being human

i had the opportunity to share with a friend of mine today about her frustrations with life in general. there are lots of things going on, but part of the problem was found in her problems with church and how her specific church operates.

she seemed disillusioned, stressed, frustrated, and disappointed. what's weird is that she thought that there was something wrong with her. i assured her that wherever people are involved, anyone of those characteristics mentioned above will be present...we are all human; that's our pattern and tendency.

but why? why is it that more and more believers are feeling this way about church today? guestimations are that there are between 20 - 25 million xians in the US that don't go anywhere for whatever reason. 

as i continued to share with her, i honestly sensed her passion and concern for her church; it was awesome. i believe that she'll be just fine as she re-engages slowly but surely. 

just wondering, in your opinion what seems to be the problem with the church today and what do you think is the best way to fix things?

let me know. 

...to sleeping giants

so today i was listening to a guy out of texas share about this idea of waking up. that many folks kind of live like zombies. they move, they eat, they breathe, but it's almost as if they are in this sleep walking stage - like zombies.

then he got real passionate and began to expound on his idea that much of the church in the west is in this chronic state. we move, we eat, we breathe, but we are walking in our sleep.

then i thought to myself...what if the sleeping giant of a church were to awaken to do what it was created to do? what then?

-how would things change?

-how would things be different?

-what would that mean for the current state of where the church is?

if only the giant would awaken.

how would it be different? why isn't it different?

let me know.

waiting for the light to change...

when you are waiting for 'next' to happen...this can be an interesting time. for some it's school, for others it's work, for some it's a life mate, for others it's that very next thing. learning to wait for what's next is good, it's just the process that's not too much fun. 

it's like sitting at that street light that's red -- it's been red for about 15 minutes. you don't want to turn and then turn around 'cause you know it's wrong or someone might catch you doing wrong. so you sit there, waiting for the light to change. finally, when it does change, you move forward in confidence -- you have the clear and obvious permission to do so. it's just the waiting for the green light...it takes time. 

what's cool is, when i've waited for His green light, the wait proved to be worth it. the destination was better than i had expected, and had i arrived there sooner...

1. i would not have been ready for it

2. my destination would not have been ready for me

3. it would not have all fitted together, just right

so for all of you waiting for whatever is next...find a good book to read while you're on the wait. the 'next' doesn't go away,  you just learn to adjust to His schedule and timing. while you are at the light waiting, what can you do there to serve Him and others? chances are that's why the light is still red.

what can you do at your red light for God, for others? 

to the everyday...

i was listening to perry nobles today and he had some good insights on hearing from up above. 

"when you wrestle with the word and begin to walk in what the word says, the result is God's will."

it's that simple. knowing what His will is, is the easy part. living it out is when it can get tough. especially when you realize that your next step is leading you to an uncharted, unexpected, unprecedented territory. but isn't that like Him to do that?

as we are making big decisions again, i'm reminded that everyday is big, because God is in it. that alone should be enough to have my fullest attention -- i should go after the everyday in the same way i go after answers to life's hardest questions.

how do you approach the everyday?

to one of many medals...

regarding IT...i think this kid has IT. he's not trying to win, he's trying to walk out with 8 gold medals. it's performance to a whole new level.

question:

who else do you think has IT? (church, business, sports, etc)

why do you think they have IT?

to IT...

so this morning i heard from craig groeshel at the leadership summit hosted at a flamingo road cooper. some of his thoughts on ministry regarding church were pretty good. some stuff was refreshing, some stuff was different. he basically broke the idea of the "IT" factor down. the IT factor is the special something that people/churches/organizations may have that separates them from the rest. it's not the Holy Spirit because all believers have the HS. there's something different. not sure what that different is, but craig calls the difference, IT.

so here you go...these seem to be some consistent qualities in people/organization when IT is present:

1. focus - less ministries = better ministries

not trying to do a lot of stuff at a mediocre level, rather focusing on what one does well and kicking butt at it

2. opportunities, not obstacles 

you find a way when others fail to do so

you realize that you have exactly what you need to accomplish what God wants you to do

3. you have to be willing to fail 

failure is often the first step to seeing God and who He is

if you can do it, it doesn't require faith. if it doesn't require faith, you can't see God

4. lead by people who have IT

the leaders of these organizations need to have IT

IT finds it's way out to others and can become contagious - when you have IT inside, it tends to spread outside

and to close...

when it becomes about your church or your organization and not His kingdom, you will lose IT

is he crazy? does he have a point? chime in and let me know. 

to the 'pause'...

and so we find ourselves waiting for God to do what He does best...acting in His time. that's right boys and girls, the lopez clan are at another crossroads that will be determined by God's timing more than anything else. so we'll see what happens and when God moves, we'll let you guys know. we need God to provide for us - adriana is looking for a job; we know He will, it's just...when?

in the mean time, help me understand what you do when you are in the 'pause.' i know that we're supposed to wait and we are, and we're good. we really are. different people handle it differently when they are waiting for God to respond to a situation. i'm just curious, how do you handle it?

help a brotha' out!

...to spider sense!

at our gathering tonight, we touched on acts 8 - philip and his adventures to places that normally are not welcoming. my hats off to those brave enough to trust Christ and His leading to places others may call hostile or unwelcoming. i raise my cup to the person willing to risk all that he/she may have for obedience towards a calling. because of philips' obedience, the word says that many 'samaritan' nations came to faith and rejoiced. then he's off talking to a foreigner about things that pertain to history and heritage...a eunuch from ethiopia of all people. why? because the Spirit led him to do so. crazy. 

what kind of 'spider sense' or what 'frequency' was he in tuned to? 

i want that. 

i just fear how i would respond if the Spirit told me to do something as difficult like go to a 'hostile' place or speak to a random person, because the Spirit told me to. 

what would you do? have you ever had one of those moments when you knew that God was leading you to do something, something that seemed so foreign or weird to you that you simply had to stop and question everything about the situation? i have. 

great questioned was posed tonight: who is the "eunuch" in your life that you need to be sharing with? 

what do you think? does this kind of stuff still happen? let me know of your experiences with it...i'm still trying to figure things out myself. 

mama mia...why?!

i don't normally do this, but because of the epic proportions of 2 hours of life, i will. i went see a movie with adriana today called mama mia. i know, what was i thinking. i wanting to be a better husband. one who supports and encourages. that's what it got me today. let me just say that if weren't for the spectacular scenery of the greek isles, the movie would have sucked. instead, it was just bad. it takes a lot for me to hate on movies. so, if you are a lady looking for a romantic movie, don't use this one unless you're trying to make him pay for it. if you're looking for movie to score you some points with the beautiful babies, they are not worth it with this movie. 

music = cool

story = ok

acting = ok

mix them altogether and you get good actors doing bad film. i'm just saying. i'm not even trying to compare it with the dark knight or other summer films, it's not fair to mama mia. if i had to watch mama mia or sweet sixteen, sweet sixteen any day and twice on sunday (at least it changes).

needless to say, i wouldn't even recommend it as a rental; even if you've never seen it and love abba. 

sorry. 

for those poor unfortunate souls that have seen the film, what do you think? am i hating too strongly or am i right on?

like a ton of bricks...

last night at church we were having a discussion on God. no biggy, i know. yet somewhere in the midst of a discussion that i could have swore that i have had before, it hit me like a tone of bricks...

"God is always changing and moving towards change, yet He still remains the same."

i've been thinking about this all day.

any takers on this idea or thoughts on the matter? i dare you to try to explain. 

to an honest reflection...

as i listened to this announcement, again, about the ending of 7.22, i was moved and challenged. in case you didn't know, 7.22 is a ministry that's been around for about 12/13 years and has helped shaped what some churches look like/feel like today - for the good or bad. either way, some of the thoughts that were shared were difficult ones to face. i often wonder what an honest look in the mirror will do to me as a person, minister, husband, or father. i think, no matter which hat we wear, looking in the mirror and seeing the truth is a must.

more over, we must act on what we know to be true and i think that's what the folks at 7.22 are doing. besides the fact that they are huge in numbers and by all measures a successful ministry, they are stopping for a moment and changing. why? because from what i guess, they need to be doing other things to reach those people that aren't being reached.

gutsy, honorable, courageous, and cooky. these are they types of people i want to go into battle with. 

check this out and let me know what you think. click here.

 

friends need help...

it would be most kind of you all to help alex and kristel by purchasing some of their stuff as they get ready to leave to n.c. i'm sure they would greatly appreciate your money and willingness to give it to them. help a brother and sister out!.

much thnx!

to the funk...

recently a friend of mine shared about being in a 'funk' with God and life. i can totally relate. those moments when nothing makes sense. or even if they do, you really don't care. it's almost as if you become stagnant and you cease from living, you merely exist. 

those moments are tough. it's always easy to comment when you're not in the 'funk' about what to do or how to get out or a spiritual prescription on the matter. do this and you're out. fact is, it's been different for me every time. and every time i get out of the 'funk' i too am different. usually better for having gone through it. 

i hate going through the mud and yet mud treatments are great for your skin. maybe perspective is what changes funk from treatments. 

how do you handle the 'funk' when it hits you?

let me know. 

from moments to movements...

how does one separate moments from movements? been thinking about those pivotal moments in history that lead to movements. great depression was a moment that lead to a movement. mass genocide were moments in history that caused movements of response. the stoning of stephen was a moment that sparked a movement of faith. moments of sickness caused movements of cure and healing. moments of poor economy caused movements of innovation and change. 

have you seen moments today that are waiting to happen that will lead to the birthing of movements? good or bad, i bet you they are there. whether we like it or not, once the movement begins, we normally can't do much to stop it. rather we are faced with how we will deal with it; positive or negative. 

there are moments in my life that are clear. moments that marked me and defined part of who or what i am today. just a thought, perhaps my life is a constant movement that is being forged and directed by moments. 

burning bush = moment

parting of the seas = moment

fire from heaven = moment

walking on water = moment

feeding of 5000 = moment

laying of hands for healing = moment

yet, any single one of these moments was and is critical to the lives of those that experienced them. for moses, his moments lead to a nation wide movement. for Christ, his moments lead to a social/spiritual/history changing movement. for paul/peter and the rest, those moments of faith and/or suffering, lead to movements that still seep with spirit and truth. those are the ideas and hopes of something better that run in our veins. it is in the quiet still moments when God speaks movements into place. 

i want to be part of that.