Sham-Wow on auto tune

I don't own a Sham-Wow, but the video below almost makes me want to run out and buy one.

Year in Review

I had an idea the other day to write a Year in Review post here. Instead of writing about my personal year, I though it would be cool to give my opinion on some of the bigger news events of 2009. Things like government bailouts, balloon boy, and "hiking the Appalachian Trail" would be covered. Just as I was getting some thoughts together I ran across a year in review column written by syndicated columnist Dave Barry. Obviously he does a much better and more thorough job of hilariously commenting on all the big events of the year. Take about 15 minutes and read it here. I think you will be glad you did. As for my thoughts on a few big events of the year, I will comment using one word descriptions. Why one word you ask? Because after reading Dave Barry's column you won't have the patience to read what I think.

government bailouts: scary

balloon boy: moronic

Captain Sully: hero

Michael Jackson: legend

Hiking the Appalachian Trail: sad

Jenny Sanford: strong

economy: struggling

America: still great (I know that's two words)

2010: hopeful

Weekend Wrap-Up and Billy Squier

Yesterday's service where we celebrated the Lord's Supper together was a highlight of the year for me. Every time we remember the sacrifice of Jesus by taking the bread and the cup I am overwhelmed by the reality of His love for us, and yesterday was no exception. Chris and the band did a great job with the music to set the stage for what we were doing. I thought that the entire service had a very relaxed and family-type feel to it. Maybe it was just me, but I got the sense that we could all be real and trust one another as we sought to honor Christ together. It was a very cool experience.

Now for an update on my unfinished Christmas list: after this past weekend all of my unfinished business is now taken care of! Friday was lunch at the Beacon in spite of the sleet, Friday night Em and I watched "A Christmas Story", then on Saturday I successfully fought off the crowds to buy Sherry's gifts and enjoy a Peppermint shake. Saturday night we drove around and enjoyed Christmas lights. With all of that out of the way, I can relax a little before the big day on Friday.

Here's the final Christmas video for 2009. I promised you one a week, and I have saved my favorite for last. I posted this same video last year, so I hope you will enjoy it again. This one always takes me back. Lots of fond memories of Christmases past.

Christmas to-do lists

The blogging has taken a small hiatus this week, but now I'm back with another post filled with useless information about my life. Sorry, that it's not an inspired piece of writing, but all my inspirational concentration has been focused on prepping for this Sunday's Lord's Supper service and the following Sunday's message. Now for the useless info:

List of things already accomplished this Christmas season:

- Watched "It's a Wonderful Life". If you can watch the end of that movie and not cry at all you are a cold-hearted dude.

- Drank eggnog by the Christmas tree while watching Monday Night Football. One of the more obscure Christmas traditions, but one of my favorites.

- Watched "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" with Grace. To me it's not really Christmas until I hear Linus quote from the gospel of Luke.

- Helped Sherry with the shopping for the girls. She does 98% of the Christmas shopping, but I do enjoy going with her to shop for Emily and Grace. Of course one trip to Wal-Mart tests my enjoyment of Christmas shopping to the limit.

List of things still to be done this Christmas season:

- Buy Sherry's gift!! Don't accuse me of waiting until the last minute, it's not Christmas Eve yet.

- Piled everyone in the car (including Buddy) and driven around to see Christmas lights. By the way, leave a comment with your suggestions for the best places to go, the brighter and tackier the better.

- Watch "A Christmas Story" with Emily. I realized the other day that she hasn't seen this classic yet. I feel I have let her down as a Father, but we will fix that situation next week.

- Drink a Peppermint shake from Chik-Fil-A. I had one last year and it was mighty tasty.

- Eat at the Beacon. I eat at the Beacon a once a year whether I need to or not. For the last 15 years that meal has taken place the week before Christmas. There's nothing like some greasy onion rings, lemon flavored iced tea, and the pain of indigestion, to help you ring in the Christmas season.

It's Christmas time in Hollis Queens...

For the past three weeks the video opener for each message has featured part of an old hip-hop song by Run-DMC. A couple of weeks ago I asked if anyone knew the song, and Margaret Bowen told me after the service that not only did she know the song but she still has an old Run-DMC shirt! Here's the video for the song. I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that "Christmas in Hollis" was the first Christmas hip-hop song recorded. Hope you enjoy this "old school" Christmas memory.

Sunday scripture

This week we will be continuing our Christmas message series. I hope you will be able to make it. The scripture you can read if you want to look ahead at what we will be talking about is Matthew 2.

Also, remember to bring your check books or cash to purchase a Botswana Project t-shirt. They are $15, and all of the proceeds will be sent to Old Naledi Baptist Fellowship in Botswana to feed children.

There's no need to panic, but Christmas is two weeks from today! Try and enjoy the next 14 days even if you feel rushed to finish shopping and get everything together for a big family celebration. Don't miss the joy of the moment!

Have a great weekend and I hope to see you and a friend on Sunday!

Proud Dad

Everyone one at the Marshall house woke up excited this morning. Thanks to Ben Patat, Emily had her first opportunity to perform her songs before a live audience. Ben's band The Lilies and Sparrows were playing a show at The Channel, and he asked Emily to open for them. She played six original songs, and I know I'm just a little biased, but she was amazing. She had lots of family and friends who came out to support her, so the atmosphere was like a big gathering of friends, which I'm sure helped her not to be nervous. Overall it was a great night, and when I finally fell asleep last night I slept very soundly from all the excitement.

I've included a video from YouTube for you to check out. It's a a short message from Matt Chandler, the pastor of the Village Church in Texas. Matt faced a life threatening health situation recently, and in this video he talks to the members of the Village Church before he went in for surgery. I think his attitude towards health challenges will inspire you.

Sorry, for those of you just now tuning in. The video evidently has been removed from YouTube, so I have deleted the link. If I am able to find it on another site I will upload it. It was really good stuff.

Feed the World

For the second Christmas music video I have chosen "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The song and video were put together very quickly in November of 1985 in order for the song to be released for the Christmas season that year. What began as an idea for raising some money for the famine in Ethiopia grew to become a world-wide emphasis that led to USA for Africa and then the Live Aid concerts of the next summer. I have been hearing this song on 98.9 and 102.5, and each time I hear it I am reminded of what Christmases were like back in high school. If you're a child of the 80's like me, I hope this will bring back some pleasant memories.

Inside Pride

Since I've been working hard on Christmas messages lately, I've been spending lots of time in the first couple of chapters of Matthew and Luke. After Mary finds out from Gabriel that she will give birth to the Son of God, she visits her cousin Elizabeth and while there begins to talk about the greatness of God. Her words are found in Luke 1:46-55. Some refer to this as Mary's Song (of course it doesn't say whether she sung it or not) and the traditional name for this section of scripture is the Magnificat. You can read those verses here.

As I was reading those verses today I was struck by the theme of humility that runs all through the passage. Mary begins by praising God for being aware of her although she is just a humble servant. Then she talks about how God humbles the proud even those who are proud only in their "inmost thoughts". That got me to thinking, none of us like to be around someone who is outwardly proud or cocky. I mean who really likes to hear a know-it-all talk other than the know-it-all himself? While the problems with being prideful on the outside are well known, this passage talks about how God will deal with those of us who are proud on the inside. Evidently, even well concealed pride is something God takes seriously. I think that might be because any pride we have detracts from our ability to completely trust God. Pride is a form of trusting in ourselves which is dangerous. I don't think it's a coincidence that Jesus was born in a barn, in an out of the way town, to a working class parents. By the way He arrived on the earth He was sending the message of how we should live on the inside and out, with humility.

Rain, rain go away...

The weather today is unbelievable. I knew it was going to rain, but I had no idea we were in for this type of rain. This is rain of biblical proportions. In order to try and be positive I will not complain about the rain, temperature, or wind. There are many things you can't do on a day like today, but to remain upbeat I will list a few things you can only do on a day like today.

- Kayak down the side of Hwy. 290.

- Use the phrase "we sure need this rain" like you are a farmer.

- Find out how good of a job the crew did who put your roof on.

- Start collecting samples for that science experiment on acid rain you've been meaning to do.

- Discover whether or not your dog can swim.

- Catch a 2 lb. bream of your back deck.

- Dig a hole in the backyard to get that in-ground pool you've been dreaming about.

- Swim to the neighbor's house.