Random
I am Iron Man
“I am Iron Man” - Tony Stark
I am up in Lancaster with Megan, and we just went to see Iron Man with her cousin and his fiancee. Talk about a great movie! Tons of action, special effects, sarcasm (gotta love it), and one kick-butt suit. As my friend Dom put it: “Easily the best Marvel movie made so far!” I would agree, putting it above the X-Men and Spiderman movies.
What really made the movie for me was seeing the character development of Tony Stark. In the beginning, we see an arrogant, self-centered weapons dealer. Through the movie, he shifts his focus on good and saving people. Sure, the arrogance is still there, as are the rest of his character flaws. However, he totally rocks. If you have not seen this yet, go right now (or after Mother’s Day) and see it. Hurry up, because next weekend is Prince Caspian and the following weekend is Indiana Jones 4. What a month!
Supporting the Community
At the OC Tabernacle we were rather busy this weekend. The Ocean City Music Pier (a large concert venue on the Boardwalk) is undergoing structural renovations, so all their events for the month of April have been moved to our facility. This weekend it was a local teen scholarship pageant. While not an event we would typically host, it was our chance to help out the community. Since the Tabernacle is not a church, we tend to host a higher number of community events, but every church can benefit from opening it’s doors to the community, whether by hosting a community dinner, blood drive, or even voting.
Some ways that helping the community helps the church:
- Building Relationships with the Community. Community events at your church bring new people into your building, many of them people who would never set foot in a church. Ministering to these people needs to happen one step at a time, and this is an important first step.
- Building Relationship with the City. At the Tabernacle, we help out the city in many ways, from hosting events in our sanctuary to holding the city-wide yard sales on our grounds. Through these events, we are helping the city out. In turn, the city has been very helpful promoting our events and supporting our ministry. We are currently halfway through our building project, and I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been without the support of the city.
Chris Taylor CD out now!
Last month the Ocean City Tabernacle hosted the Kutless Acoustic tour. The opening act for the tour was Chris Taylor, an awesome guy from Florida. I had the privilege of meeting him and getting a chance to talk about Ocean City and about the tour. He is a very sincere guy and one of the nicest guys I have met. His debut album, “Take Me Anywhere,” just released today. It is great! I highly recommend it to everyone. Don’t believe me? Check out Christian Music Central’s review (they gave him 4.5 out of 5 “stars”).
Divine Punishment = Emo
Last week, I was teaching my Jr. High students about the Fall (Genesis 3), when I had an interesting interaction with a student. It went something like this:
Me: “And how did God punish the man (Adam) for his sin?”
Student: “God turned him emo”
Great stuff, but it was not the answer I was looking for.
Shout to the Lord: AI Edition
Apparently this is the talk of the Christian world today: American Idol contestants singing “Shout to the Lord” last night. Since I have not watched the show since Sanjaya was unjustly kicked off last season, I did not see it live. My mom missed it as well, thanks to the DVR stopping 2 minutes shy of the end.
Here is a clip from the show:
P.S. Sure I am a little disappointed they didn’t sing “Jesus.” But just a little. At least they sang 99% of the song, in front of some 6 million people.
In case anyone has been living under a rock the last 2 years, Twitter is a webapp that allows people to communicate using only 140 characters. About the same length as a text message, these “tweets” are instantly sent to everyone following you. It allows you to communicate with a large group of people all at once.
Since signing up almost 2 months ago, Twitter has let me:
- Book meetings
- Ask questions to tons of people
- Communicate
- Talk to my friend next to me (while in class)
- See progress in my job and life
Personally, I think it is a great and easy way to communicate with a ton of people instantly. If you are on Twitter, be sure to follow me @ashorething. While there, make sure you follow @DougFields and help Andy win his bet.
Weekend Review #2
This weekend was the 2nd weekend of Bible Geography Grad class. Not as great as the first weekend, but during class I was able to get a ton of homework done for the class. Then I spent the rest of the weekend in Lancaster, visiting Megan and her family. Tomorrow I am back at PBU, working on a word study for the word ????????. Looking toward next weekend, my work is hosting a women’s conference featuring Gloria Gaither. Can anyone say busy and random week?
Assassination of Jesse James
Watched The Assassination of Jesse James last night with Megan and some friends. Great on character development, way short on action, and entirely too long. The first 1/2 of the movie was confusing, but the characters in the last 1/2 were great. Casey Affleck gave one of the best acting performances I have seen in a while as Robert Ford (James’ assassin). His brilliant performance makes the film worth seeing. B
Stingrays: Human’s Natural Enemy
First Steve Irwin, now Judy Zagorski. As reported by the Associated Press, Judy Zagorski was killed when a 75 pound stingray jumped into the boat she was riding in Florida. From the article:
Judy… was sitting in the front seat of a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water.
Apparently this type of stingray leaps out of the water when being chased by predators, or when trying to jump into moving boats. That is not a pleasant sight: cruising along the water in your boat when suddenly a huge 6 foot wide creature flies into your boat. Crazy.
My sympathy to the Zagorski family for their loss.
Stuff White People Like
You must check out this blog: Stuff White People Like. It is my new favorite blog. Here is an excerpt from today’s post about Dinner Parties:
Immediately following graduation but prior to renovating a house, white people take their first step from childhood to maturity by hosting a successful dinner party.
The dinner party is the opportunity for white people to be judged on their taste in food, wine, furniture, art, interior design, music, and books. Outside of dictatorships and a few murder trials, there might not be a more rigorous judgment process in the modern world. Everything must be perfect.
Brilliant!
