Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

I mentioned in my last "official" post that Walt Disney was one of my heroes. I thought I would give you some insight into my world and share with you who my heroes are. Let me begin by defining what I mean by hero. A hero is someone who has done something or stood for something that I believe can contribute to the way I live. It is not someone who has done something great, that no one else could. It is not someone who has done one act of heroism. It is someone who has added to my understanding and practice of life. The first hero I ever looked up to was Spiderman. Yeah. Red and blue tights. Comic book guy. I really identified with Spiderman growing up. He was a nerdy kid in school. He was picked on and considered an outsider. Until one day he was changed. He took on some extraordinary powers. And he felt called to do something about problems he encountered. What really meant a lot to me, and has shaped my life, was Spiderman's motto: With great power comes great responsi...

Friday night I went out with my wife, mother, and sister to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was put on by the Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival. It was held in the the new Robson Performing Arts Center in Claremore. This is a mini-review of the performance, but there is something more to come at the end. First, let me begin by saying I am a Disney nut. NOT Disney the company, but Disney the ideal. Walt Disney is one of three heroes I have in my life. The ideal of Disney was to put on the best show possible. So when I see something with the Disney name, I immediately look at it with the ideal in mind. Is that unfair? Second, when it comes to plays I have a pretty high standard to meet. New Yorkers are either Broadway or off-Broadway types. It is what they are used to. My first play experience was a little more grand than even that. The first play (opera really) I ever attended was in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. I am not a conoisseur of great plays by any stretch of the imaginati...

Fasting. Wow! What an experience. I have to say that I experienced my first, true, fast this week. Now before any of you get up in arms saying that as a United Methodist preacher that is a shame, allow me to explain. I have "fasted" before. I have given things up. I have gone without food or certain types of food. I believed I was doing the right thing. I thought I was "fasting" the way it was supposed to be done. But my most recent experience taught me something - I have a lot to learn and experience about fasting. The leadership of the church made a voluntary call to members to be in a time of prayer and fasting for 24 hours. It was not an accountable fast. People could choose to participate in prayer and/or fasting as they wanted. The reason for the call to a time of prayer and fasting was started by the concern over the finances of the church. Like many non-profits, we are hurting financially. So the leadership asked the church to spend 24 hours sacrificing and ...

I got an email from Christianity Today with a link to the following article: Back to the Book Seven ways to ignite a passion for reading the Bible. by Kathy Widenhouse The 7 Excuses No time Don't know where to begin Don't get it It's dull Doesn't apply to life I hear it on Sunday It makes me uncomfortable Okay, 7 reasons to not read the Bible. Is that really all there is? I look at that list and see that one very profound excuse, and the honest truth, is not there. I don't want to. Let me just say that I am not great at reading my bibles on a regular basis. I have great, heavenly, holy intentions. But when it comes down to it, I have to answer the question honestly. I don't want to read it enough to pick it up. We are all accountable for our actions. It is not our schedules fault, our Sunday School teachers'/preachers' fault, the Bible's fault. We just don't want to read it enough to make it a priority. We will do what we want, when we want, no m...

Photo of the day: Oklahoma Aquarium Jelly Fish The Little Sprouts mother-day-out program went to the Oklahoma Aquarium yesterday. 50 kids and parents descended and took in all of the glorious fishiness of the aquarium. I have to say that my favorite exhibits were the jellyfish. I don't know why but they were poetry in motion and color. This picture is just one example of the beauty of these simple creatures. And there is also the implicit example of Christ in this image. The beautiful interior cross image reminds us of the place of Christ at the center of our lives. But there is something else to notice. This cross is highlighted and seems to shine with its own light. Of course there is a black light being projected into the tank, thus luminescing the interior membranes. But to the outside observer, this center seems to shine on its own. " You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! I...

For all who believe that Lisa and I have NO capacity for excitement (see Emergency blog previously posted), I am proud to say that we had an outing today. We went out and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Without having flashbacks to the Superman Return review, let me just say I was eagerly anticipating this movie also. I LOVED it! If you have lived in Oklahoma under a rock all you life, you may not know that Walt Disney designed and oversaw the creation of a ride at Disneyland all the way back in the 1960's. That ride was based on the pirates. They built another Pirate's ride in Disney World that was slightly different (not much different...if you need to know...use the internet). That ride inspired a movie just a couple of years ago. Johnny Depp as CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. Orlando Bloom as Will Turner. Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann. That was an outstanding movie. It was funny and exciting and tickled my funny bone in numerous places. CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow e...

Since my last posting (4 days ago) I have had 3 people very close to me express the depths of depression which my blog induced within them. Since I am prone to not own others emotional states, I disclaim any direct responsibility if my posts are making you depressed. BUT - Why not do something about your dreams...even in a small way. I must admit that even I was somewhat depressed this week. One of my dreams seemed to be closed off to me. I want to attend a Youth Worker Summit in Orlando this November. In addition, I was going to take a few days of personal time and enjoy Disney. By myself even. A dream come true. But finances at the church are tight to nonexistant. So I was giving up. I went into a slump. There was a grieving that was taking place. My heart was broken. But then I read my first posting about dreams. I read what I said about Walt Disney. He never gave up. He didn't let the small things stand in his way. He pushed for those dreams to become reality. If Walt is my h...

This is a rare week for Lisa and I. Both of our boys are gone for a week. So it is just us adults in the house. Alone. And last night Lisa said something that just tickled my fancy. In a soft, sweet voice she says,"If you'll hurry and take out the trash, then we can (pause for dramatic effect) watch an episode of Emergency." Now that is exciting folks. What, you don't think that is exciting? Come on, it's Emergency. The greatest television show in the history of t.v. drama. Okay, some of you don't know about Emergency. That is forgiveable. But you should take some time to see it. Emergency was a show that started in the early '70's. It follows two firemen paramedics through all type of adventures and misadventures. It was that show that really gave me my first dream of what I wanted to become. I wanted to be a paramedic. I remember thinking about it all of my life. Oh there were other jobs I really would have liked to do. But always and for as long as ...

I think in the shower. That sounds weird, but I do. It is one of the few times in the day that my mind is idle. So thoughts just sort of pop to the surface. Like this one. The life we live as a Christian can be illustrated by a car. Look, I know it's weird. But John Wesley likened grace to a house, so go with me for a minute. Now I'm not an automative mechanic of any sort. I know enough to stay out from under the hood. But I know the basic working of a car. So here is my analogy. You have fuel, an engine, oil, a transmission, and an axle. The fuel is Bible reading, prayer, and other practices of devotion (fasting, studying, fellowship). The engine is faith. Church involvement is the oil. Our love of God is the transmission. Loving our neighbor is the axle. The fuel - hi-octane or regular? As we read our Bibles, pray, and practice other acts of devotion (called disciplines) we are supplying our faith life with what it needs to run efficiently. When we don't spend the time t...

Last night we went out to the movies. We found a theatre that shows first run movies for $4.00 per adult and $2.00 per kid. After 6 P.M. We went to watch Superman Returns. I have been waiting to see this one. I have always loved the Superman movies and T.V. shows. I even like the old black and white ones with George Reeves. I remember the first Superman movie and still love to watch it. I was a big fan of Lois and Clark. I try to watch Smallville when I can. So I was pumped about getting out to see the new movie. I was also a little hesitant. I wasn't sure about this new guy, Brandon Routh. I can say that he did a fairly good Superman/Clark Kent. Many times it was like watching an understudy of Christoper Reeve. The weird thing was that he looked bulkier as mild-mannered Clark Kent than in the red and blue supersuit. As far as the movie itself...I didn't care for it at all. I was disappointed with Bryan Singer's work. He did a fantastic job with X-Men and X-Men 2. I was rea...

Hello friends and family. Many people think that summer is a slow time for the church. Attendance drops. People are more active outside of church so programs are decreased. It's too hot to get out and do stuff. Well, summer is part of my busy season. My calender doesn't slow down until the last part of summer. In fact, this last week has been crazy. I have been at two different camps in the last week. The first camp was from Sunday the 18th through Friday the 23rd. It was a week-long camp with 69 Junior High Schoolers. J.E.M. is a Junior High leadership camp. We spend the week working with selected youth from local churches. This year's theme was Discipleship: Living the Life. Youth for this camp must be recommended by a pastor or youth leader. This is not a "ya'll come" camp. It is designed to take prospective youth from a local church, provide them training in areas of ministry, and send them back to their church to take active leadership roles. Youth are to...

Last week I had some fun with 6-6-06. I hope everyone survived it alright. No new tatoos or bar codes or anything like that! What are your dreams? Not the dreams you have at night. What do you dream to do or have or become? I watch my boys and see them pretend and get excited about life. And then I look at adults and see reality and the mundane in their eyes. There are so few dreams talked about among adults. Lisa and I were watching a program on Walt Disney World. She commented about how Walt never saw WDW. Walt died before the Magic Kingdom was built. But I remember reading a comment about Walt's vision for Walt Disney World. One of the last people to talk to Walt was his brother Roy. Their conversation about about the Florida project. Walt, using ceiling tiles as a grid, described in detail the layout of the parks that would become Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. Every detail was clear in Walt's mind. He may have never seen the park in the physical world. But Walt's dream was ...