How to not stress out about the new Facebook changes

Take the fact that Facebook has become such a part of our culture, add to it that change is generally hated by all, and what comes out to the right of the equal sign is an understanding of why people get worked up when the site gets an overhaul. The fact that Facebook has been branded as not respecting poeple's privacy doesn't help clear up the perfect storm. Last week the site made changes to the Home page, Mark Z then introduced us to the new Timeline profiles, and these changes were followed up by either praise or rather loud complaint. 

For those crying mutiny - take heart, you can survive this wave of changes! Here are some things to consider:

Pray Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani doesn't get executed!

Literally just heard of this within the last 15 minutes. 

And in light of the situation, the reality of the above sentence is in and of itself a complete travesty!!!

Here is the situation, copying from the Washington Post:  

Just days after Iran released two Americans accused of spying, an Iranian court has upheld the apostasy conviction and execution sentence of Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. The 11th branch of Iran’s Gilan Provincial Court has determined that Nadarkhani has Islamic ancestry and therefore must recant his faith in Jesus Christ. Iran’s supreme court had previously ruled that the trial court must determine if Youcef had been a Muslim before converting to Christianity. However, the judges, acting like terrorists with a hostage, demanded that he recant his faith in Christ before even taking evidence. The judges stated that even though the judgment they have made is against the current Iranian and international laws, they have to uphold the previous decision of the 27th Branch of the Supreme Court in Qom. 

Here's the the link to the full article: Christian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces potential execution.

Stunned about this. Heartbroken for Pastor Nadarkhani, for his wife and children. Praying fervently for him right now. 

Taking this from another blog I read about the situation, it sums up actions steps that can and should be taken:

• EDUCATE. Read the story below from the Washington Post and educate yourselves. [here for RSS readers]
• ADVOCATE. Click this email form to write the Iranian embassy, urging them NOT to go ahead with the execution following the trial. I’ve included a copy of my letter in the comments.
• PRAY. Pray. And pray some more.
• SHARE. Share Pastor Yousef’s story and faith. 

I wrote a note to the Iranian Ambassador. If you do so, please be respectful and follow the suggestions given on the site. If you're not going to act in such a manner, then don't write an email.

And pray...pray...pray for Pastor Yousef Madarkhani.

Exciting new part of the Moss fam's journey

In the last couple "Week In Review" posts I've mentioned that big news was coming in regards to what's going on with our family. Well, here is:

No, we are NOT expecting another child. =)

This past Sunday at New Life's Lincoln Park campus, Pastor Mark announced that I would be stepping in to take over for him as Teaching Pastor.  Jeannette & I will be joining with Rick & Sylvia Allen to lead the location and bring the gospel to the Lincoln Park area. My primary responsibilities will include teaching/preaching on Sundays, but also to provide leadership in various areas of the church and to help build up the community.

We've been attending NLLP pretty consistently since February. To say it's an understatement that we are excited about this would be an incredible understatement. The people at LP are AMAZING! There are such great people serving and making things happen, and we are humbled and grateful to be able to join in with them.  

Yes, I'll still be working at Logos and teaching at Moody, to answer the expected questions. Logos is my primary job and I love it, being able to travel the country helping people get equipped for Bible study. I'm fortunate to be able to do both. Going into next semester I'm rearranging my teaching schedule at Moody to only be teaching one day (Mondays), so we're going to see how that goes. 

Because of a couple previous commitments in the church and other things, the official transition/start isn't until around Thanksgiving. Between now and then though I'll be teaching most evenings during the 5pm service and also a couple times in the 10am service. 

We are excited, pumped, freaked out, little nervous, but are so ready and anticipating great things to come!!! Without listing all the names here, there are so many people who have carried us through to this point in the journey. "Thank you" seems inadequate, adding "we love you" still not enough. But I feel both very deeply.

Thankful for yesterday, in awe of today, dreaming about the future.

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

It's worth your time to check these blogs out

Supposedly, there are 152 million blogs on the internet. "What in the world is a blog?" you might ask (please don't ask what the internet is). It is basically a way to share information. That's a pretty short, unsexy definition, but it works.  

Blogs can be a way for people to record their daily ongoings and feelings, or they can be a means for corporations to share about their products and vision. There's pretty much a blog out there for any area of life, and any nuance is passionately detailed and received by those who care. 

I follow about 135+ different blogs. Some are written by people that I know, most by people I've heard of. Some have to do with ministry, some with culture, some with techie news, and some are just for fun. Here's a breakdown of some of the blogs I follow that would be worth your time to check them out: 

Give yourself permission today

We are not machines. You were not meant to work 24/7.

God doesn't want you to be like that.

So give yourself permission today to take a break.

Go for a walk

Watch a movie

Play Monopoly

Start a novel

Take a nap

Watch the Bears

Eat ice cream

Play dolls with your daughter

Wrestle with your son

Lock the kids out of the bedroom

Make dinner from a receipe

Sit in a coffeeshop

Visit Lincoln Park Zoo

Get out of the city, go to a forest preserve 

Play Xbox

Go apple picking

Go pumpkin picking

Read your Bible - Try Psalm 139 

Color or paint

Knit

Window shop

Visit Navy Pier

Go on a boat ride

Play guitar

Take another nap

Do something...other...than...work!

Read this or this for some other insights.

You need to take a break. Give yourself permission to do it.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  Exodus 20:8-11

Week in review #12

So this week was one of getting caught up on things. A process that never seems to end. From the last week:

My list of movies that should not be remade

Heard the other night that Hollywood is going to be remaking the movie Scarface. Was a little hard to believe. In fact, I secretly question the producers sanity for making such a decision. Why in the world try to fix something that's not broke?!?! 

It seems there are SO many older movies being remade lately. Add these to all the sequels and it's hard to believe that Hollywood could come up with an original concept. 

Some classic stories are retold again and again. Dickens and Shakespeare stories have dozens of reiterations. You'd need the fingers of both hands to count how many different people have played Scrooge. You'd need a bookshelf to hold all the different versions of Hamlet. But in both cases it is the stories themselves being retold in different ways from different artists. Each movie is different. This is good.

But why take someone's retelling of a story and then try and redo that?!?! Scarface is complete - it doesn't need to be remade! If someone wants to dive into the Tony Montana character and attempt a new retelling of the story, OK, that might be interesting. But retell it, don't remake it. 

A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He retold the story, he didn't just go in and try to reproduce what had already been done. Though obviously close together and compared, there was still a separation between the two.

So this got me thinking of other movies that shouldn't be remade. Those that should have an edict of protection put around them so Hollywood can't mess them up. 

The list is just my opinion because they are movies that I love. I've stuck with only mentioning movies before 2000. To make the list I wrote a ton off the top my head, and then skimmed through this list and this list. 

Yes, there are some movies that need a remake! But in my opinion, these movies are fine just the way they are. Hollywood should use them as inspiration, but don't mess with them!

How denominations see one another

My friend Pete shared this with me and it brought much laughter to my afternoon. 

Had to bring others into the chuckles (click on the image to enlarge it):

The worst Christmas program ever...

...includes what?

Hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner. So I'm looking for some input from whomever will offer it: 

When you think of Christmas programs/services that churches put on - what makes them just plain bad?

What doesn't make for a good Christmas program? 

As I'm thinking through things for Christmas this year - I'm really curious what people will share. Please be honest - and please don't bash/critique someone's opinion. =)

Leave a comment below. Thanks!

A reminder of - "I want to holded"

Back in January I shared this story of Baylee almost bringing Jeannette and I to tears (happy ones): "I want to be holded" It's actually one of the most read posts ever on my blog.

Well, Saturday night before bedtime Baylee and I had the below conversation. It was another reminder of wanting to be held.

Me: "Baylee, will you promise me that after you turn 5 that you won't get any bigger? Can you just stay like this? I really like you this size."

Baylee: "Sure. Wait just a minute." 

She then turns around in front of me, closes her eyes and clasps her hands, "God, please let me be five for a long long time. Amen."

She then turns back to face me and says, "I hope he answers that dad because I like it when you hold me." 

And again...she near brings me to tears.

Tonight's moment made me think of the one back in January. Very lucky to have this little lady in my life - because she continually points me toward seeing what is most important.

"Lord...teach me to pray like a 4 year old. Amen"

DEFIANCE: Turn Your World Upside Down

Today at church we are starting a new teaching series called DEFIANCE: Turn Your World Upside Down. It's going to a great few weeks of digging into the Bible's letter of 1 Thessalonians. 

Here is our explanation of what it's all about:

Our culture invites people into a life of doing whatever you want. People live with no real thought of implication or consequence. To jump in and go with the flow would be pretty easy. But God calls those who follow him to a greater standard. Following Jesus today means going against the flow, because living a holy life flies in the face of our world system. It's anything but easy and yet it's what our returning King calls us to do. So join us for our newest sermon series: DEFIANCE – Turning our world upside down!

One of our incredibly talented artists/video guys in church, Juan Zavaleta, made this awesome teaser video for the series:

Come on out to New Life Lincoln Park as we get this thing rolling: 1110 W Lill, Chicago, IL 60614

Services are at 10am and 5pm (I'll be speaking at the 5pm).

Week in review #11

Just woke up from getting over 9 hours of sleep last night. Can't remember the last time that happened. But based on the past week, the extra sleep was needed:

In Rocky's shadow: I ran up the steps in Philly!

Anyone who knows me is aware of my favorite movie series of all time. But right behind those six films are the Rocky movies. Yes, Indiana Jones and the Godfather movies are up there as well. But I have always loved Rocky. Anything you can say about Rocky V is irrelevant. The story of Rocky, from first seeing Micky & Paulie and first hearing "Yo Adrian!" to the culminating final walk out of the stadium in Rocky Balboa, the films are completely worthy of the title "Classics."

Yesterday my family and I ended a few days in Ocean City, NJ and were flying out of Philly to head home. We had about 2 hours to kill before going to the airport. There wasn't any debate on what we were going to do - I wanted to run the Rocky steps!

And I did...

Don't read this post if flatulence offends you

The names and places in this story have been changed to protect the innocent and not embarrass the guilty.  =)

A couple weeks ago while visiting a public place I was having a pretty intense and serious conversation with an individual. It went from a conversation about some personal matters he was dealing with into a intense theological discussion/debate. Great conversation.

Learning perspective from a 4yr old

Walking the Ocean City NJ boardwalk, Baylee and I were headed toward Wonderland at the north end of the dock. It's a kid's amusement type place. A local I'd met earlier in the day told me about it, but also said they thought it might be closed (does that even count as giving help to someone)?

Don't move on too fast: a lesson from 9/12

Today is September 12th. 

Everyone goes back to the grind, back to the busyness and hectic pace. There will possibly be a few mentions of 9/11 throughout the day:

"Did you see any of the memorials on TV?"

"Did your church do anything special?"

 

Conversation will be sincere, but probably brief. On the CNN & Fox sites there are still 9/11 headlines, but they are smaller and few (Huffington Post though has an awesome article). 

It's 9/12. We've moved on. 

White Ribbon Day: Remembering 9/11 [VIDEO]

The day after the attacks, my friend Dave Trout came to me with 8-10 hours of 9/11 news footage recorded on one VHS and an idea for a video. The plan was to create for church a montage video, set to the song, White Ribbon Day. After two all nighters, about two hours before services started, the memorial video was finished. 

Here it is:

Week in review #10

It's hard to believe that summer is over, but I am indeed one who prefers the weather of fall. Such is life, and we keep rolling on... 

Social Meda Revolution

Last night I was honored to have shared at the SPEAK conference in Minneapolis. It was a conference about church communication, and I had the privledge of sharing about Logos and some of the amazing things Logos is doing to help in those areas.

The night was a reminder to me of the power and potential of social media. If you think social media is just a passing fad, then you need to watch the below video. It's been out for awhile, but it shows in a powerfully visual and concise manner how social media is here to stay. I would say for the better:

Where were you the morning of 9/11?

It was a Tuesday. But you probably already knew that.

That morning I had breakfast with Dane Mentzer, a friend who at the time was a student in my youth group. We ate at the McDonalds on LeGrange Ave in Frankfort, right across from Lincoln Way East. Once done eating, we continued our conversation in the car while I took him across the street to the school's front door. After he got out, I headed back across the street to hit Starbucks before going to my office. 

Since Dane and I were talking, I hadn't turned on the radio yet. But once alone, I tuned to Eric & Kathy on 101.9. They weren't their normal joking selves and it was obvious something had happened. 

"Again, for those just tuning in, we've had reports that there was a terrorist attack in New York just moments ago." 

Important life lesson from a Halo 4 developer

You don't have to be a video game fan to appreciate this. No...seriously.

Halo is one of the biggest video game series in history. Master Chief, the main character, is up there with Mario, Pac Man, Solid Snake, and Zelda. Halo 4, the newest chapter in the saga is currently in development and is for sure a highly anticipated title. 

I read this morning that Ryan Payton, one of the creative directors for Halo 4, is stepping down from his position. This is obviously a big blow for the game's development. It also begs the question as to why he's doing it.

The whole article about his decision can be read HERE, but this is the part that really struck me:

37x's around the sun

If you would have told me on my 17th birthday what my life would be like today and all that I'd have gone through, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Not at all. Maybe even laughed a bit.

If you would have told me a year ago what my life would be like today, I might have believed. Maybe not. But I would have wanted to. Probably wouldn't have laughed.  

Regardless, I have nothing to complain about. Nothing. And I wouldn't change anything from my life, other than maybe my own stupid mistakes or bad decisions. 

I am a blessed man. My wife, my kids, my family, my friends, my church, my job, my God - who am I to look up and utter anything other than a humble and inadequate, "Thank you!"

Normally for my birthday I'd like getting a bunch of people together. And I admit it, I'm a present person. No shame. But this time around I just wanted to be low key and spend time with Jeannette and the kids. After a hectic and crazy summer, just a day to wander around the city is what I needed. And that's what I got. It was a fantastic day, incredibly fun.

Here are some of the pics and a vid from my birthday:

Week in review #9

Fall being upon us helps me recover from my pathetic mourning of not really having a summer. Fall is by far my favorite season of the year! And this is the last week leading up to it:

Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?

An incredibly busy city:

The capacity is of people with places to be. 

Jobs. Classes. Projects.

Meetings. Appointments. Tasks.

Daily, hundreds will drive down this street, LaSalle Blvd: