The Story of Christmas - review

The Story of Christmas is retold by Gwen Ellis as a book for children. Beginning with the story of John’s birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth and leading seamlessly into the foretelling Jesus’ birth, there is a quick interaction perfect for children to engage. It is not made very clear why John is so important to the greater story of Jesus. So that clarification may be left to the reader.

The layout of the words, while short and quick, is a bit awkward. The sentence flow can be a bit confusing for the audible reader due simply to the line breaks on the page. I read it out loud as though reading to son or daughter and stumbled over the line breaks a few times. It is important to stress it is solely due to the line breaks of the layout and nothing to do with the grammar of the writer.

At the bottom each second page, there is a question to prompt discussion with whomever you are reading. They engage the reader and listener with the heart of what the story really addresses. There would be a pretty strong disservice to overlooking the questions to skirt you way to the end.

The game in the back is a good idea to challenge the reader and listener to determine whether or not they could put the entire story in the right order using only pictures illustrated by Steve Smallman. Overall, the illustrations are lively and appealing to children. It is bright and attractive. All the characters look incredibly similar, and that is not a comment on the reality they are all Caucasian save one lone wise man. The reality is the characters all have the same nose and face with different hair color.

The accompanying DVD begins with an obvious menu created in iMovie, which automatically brings to mind something I could do on my macbook in my home office. It is a little off-putting.

The story chapters on the DVD are quite short. One may say they are shorter than the average child’s attention span. A little more effort could have been made to make each story open up more.

The DVD goes beyond the story portrayed in the book, extending into the story of Jesus as a boy teaching in the temple. There is a quick retelling of the temptation of Jesus as well as a very brief unfolding of the entirety of Jesus life of healing and teaching.

I cannot recall the last time I heard the term CD-ROM, but the DVD does have a CDR option available on it complete with printable coloring pages and a couple computer wallpapers if you are interested. The pictures are primarily of animals, and the wallpapers are open to taste.

God first loved us...again

We are told God first loved us, and that is why we love Him. There is a disservice we enact on our heart when we think of this as a one time event. We speak about this as if it was only a single time that God loved us first. But the realization that God IS love means there is an endless love coming from Him. There is a sense that God's love never ceases. This means His love cannot be a moment. This means God's love is always.photo

God did not love us first one time. God still loves me first. It means even while I sleep, He loves me. When I wake up, before any thought I have of Him, He already loves me. When I take the time out of my schedule to be with God, He is there first. He loves me before I love Him.

Not that he already DID.. But every time I try to love God, he already DOES!

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LISTENING TO: "Church Music" by David Crowder Band READING: "The Prayers of Kierkegaard" by Perry LeFevre

Possessions and Peace

"If we had possessions we should need arms for their defense. They are the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and are usually a great obstacle to the love of God." - Francis of Assisi There is a strong connection between property and peacemaking. Most every action of violence or aggression is prompted by some form of property for which there is either a debate for who deserves possession OR someone has attempted to steal possession from the rightful owner.

For this reason, we have to always protect the things that belong to us. The more possessions we have or the more a particular possession costs, the more aggressive our defense of that item has to be. Instead of a focused attention on defending the poor and widowed that God calls us to defend, we have wasted our soul's energy defending the property and possessions we have acquired.

The more things we have, the less peaceful our hearts can be. With more possessions comes more defense, more protection. With more things comes more quarrels.

Why I Don't Write a Book [or pray enough]

book sketch

Several incessant friends have all but demanded that I write a book, and I have always had excuses why I wouldn't do it.  Primary excuses revolve around not really knowing the right process to actually getting a book published, but I suppose the more exposed reason is that I worry whether I am actually capable of writing a book.  I wonder whether I am an adequate enough writer to produce anything worthy of being read.  Do I really have anything sincere enough to offer?

I wrap myself so tightly in excuses and self-evaluation that I never even consider writing anything.  I self-evaluate myself out of any movement at all.

I have come to find I do the same thing with prayer.

I have never considered myself much of a pray-er.  I am certainly a far cry from a "prayer-warrior".  Though I realize and believe prayer is an open communication with an infinte God, I still find prayer to be far too sparse in my inner journey.  Much like writing a book, I often look at prayer and self-evaluate myself out of movement.

I often convince myself that I cannot pray well (if at all) due to my different excuses.  I am not an adequate pray-er.  Am I being 100% authentic in prayer if I were to start praying right now?  Is it just empty words that will bounce off the ceiling and return to me tauntingly?  If I don't pray correctly, would I even know?  Do I trust in prayer enough to pray?  Are my pale attempts really going to connect with such a phenomenal God? Are my prayers too rehearsed?  Does God get tired of my redundant ramblings and stale Christian cliche prayers?  Does he get tired of me closing each sentance with his name? Do I have enough faith when I pray?  Do I sound the way I should? I really like the way so-and-so prays; I WISH I could pray like that.  DO I REALLY CARE! AM I being wierd; do other people think I'm wierd; this feels wierd. Will God actually respond; When? Soon enough? Am I doing this right?

I remember a good friend, Andrew "The Robe" Young telling me once about writing a book that he has found you just have to start writing.  Don't worry about publishing!  Don't worry about whether you sound or write perfectly; just start writing.

Emilie Griffin once wrote: "the greatest obstacle to prayer is the simplle matter beginning, the simple exertion of will, the starting, the acting, the doing...an abyss of our own making separates us from God."

I cannot speak (or write) for anyone else...so...I know that I can excuse, doubt, and self-evaluate my way out of movement in most things, and it commonly happens in prayer.  I have created an abyss between God and I, and that abyss could be closed if I would just start praying.  I need to forget about the questions, the doubts, the wonders, and START!

The more I put it off, the more bound I get in the wondering.  Then I get to a point where I'm asking myself, "WHy don't I pray more often?"

Sometimes the only way to BEGIN praying is to do exactly that.

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LISTENING TO: "Over and Underneath" by Tenth Avenue North

might be moving

I have been debating back and forth about whether or not to pack up the dusty blog-boxes and move to greener (and cleaner, easier, more accessible) pastures.

I will likely be moving everything to here. Let me know if you would be more likely to read and engage with my blog if it where hosted at wordpress instead of here at blogspot. Of course, most of you read my crap after it transfers itself to facebook anyway, which I will also do in time with the the wordpress account.

Give me your feedback as you would like.



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LISTENING TO: "Over and Underneath" by Tenth Avenue North