The best Star Wars news I've heard in awhile

Last November the bomb landed that George Lucas had sold Star Wars to Disney. Some people thought it was great, some freaked, most were completely shocked. The debate of whether Leia is a Disney princess now and other tongue-in-cheek commentaries have been quite humorous. I've been silent on the issue while inside holding an optimistic sense of "wait and see." 

To come clean, I'm cool with Disney moving things forward. They have been handed the the keys to one of the most popular movie dynasties ever, they're not going to just drive it off a cliff. Possible? Yes. But if anyone can successfully move things into the future I'm confident Disney can do it. Tron Legacy and The Avengers are excellent evidence for that (don't mention John Carter to me as cross-examination because I loved that movie). The stories of the Star Wars universe are already plentiful so there is no lack of want for ideas. It really would come down to who would direct and then who would write the screen play.

And then two days ago the news came that got me SUPER pumped. The second I read it on Huffington Post I immediately text my best bud Todd who is a bigger Star Wars freak than I am:

How to pray for one hour

At New Life Community Church we are in the midst of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Part of this includes each New Life location hosting 24hrs of non-stop prayer from 7pm on one day to 7pm the next. At New Life Lincoln Park where I am our 24hrs starts tonight. We have over 30 people signed up for 1hr blocks to pray for one another, our church, and our city.

Praying for an entire hour?!? Wouldn't you fall asleep? What all could you possibly pray about for that long?

Praying for an hour may seem intimidating at first but for the person prepared the time in reality flies by. At the end the prepared person would be checking the clock on their phone with astonishment asking, "That's it? That was an hour?"

Here's how you get ready to pray for an hour:

A prayer for strength and courage

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit  

- William Browning

O Holy Spirit,
give me stillness of soul in you.
Calm the turmoil within,
with the gentleness of your peace.
Quiet the anxiety within,
with a deep trust in you.
Heal the wounds of sin within,
with the joy of your forgiveness.
Strengthen the faith within,
with the awareness of your presence.
Confirm the hope within,
with the knowledge of your strength.
Give fullness to the love within,
with an outpouring of your love.

O Holy Spirit,
be to me a source of light, strength and courage
so that I may hear your call ever more clearly
and follow you more generously.

Found this over the weekend during a time I really needed it.
Maybe you need it today.

The timeline of how we see other people's Christmas decorations

• From the day after Thanksgiving to Dec 25: "Those Christmas lights are great!"
• Dec 26-31: silence
• Jan 1-7: "Guess it's time to take the lights down buddy."
• Jan 8-14: "Seriously, they still have their lights up?"
• Jan 15-21: "Hey you weirdos - Christmas was LAST YEAR!!"
• Jan 22-31: "There should be a city ordinance and fees for people like that!"
• Feb & March: Stunned silence. Burst of laughter or slow shaking back and forth of head. Possibly includes a phone pic sent to your friends accompanied by "Can you believe this?!?"
• April to Sept: "What - are you just leaving them up so you don't have to do any work next year? Ghheezz...the laziness of some people"
• Oct: Silently to yourself, "Maybe leaving them up was a good idea"
• Nov 1 till Thanksgiving: "One holiday at a time people!"

Rinse and repeat

It should be noted that the "silence" of Dec 26-31 represents those who are taking down their decorations during that time.

Trusting in the slow work of God

Last night brought a rare moment of being able to just sit in the living room and be quiet for awhile. It was a prayerful time: who I am, my family, church and all the horizon will unknowingly reveal. While staring at our fake fireplace a line from a prayer I heard a few months ago arrived, "Trust in the slow work of God." It comes from this prayer by Father Teilhard de Chardin:

Like a firework from the air

No chance on starting the year off on a restful note, I had to fly out of town for work this afternoon. Two and half hours later, while on the landing approach coming into Houston I happened to look out my window to see a single firework being shot off. 

It was a professional job, clearly not something bought at a roadside shop. Then again, I am in Texas right now so it's not to say that some cowboy out there didn't have a pro size rocket to blast off. The explosion was blue with a yellow middle. At ground level I'm sure it looked like a huge burst, but from my perspective's altitude it looked like a soap bubble rising above still water in a bathtub. It hung there for just a second and then...pop.

This brought a smile because I've always wondered what fireworks would look like from the air. Of course I kept my eye on the area where it said hello, but no other came. It was there for just a moment and then...pop.

And in the quiet, while still waiting for another, the thought came to me, "That's how this next year will be."

Here just for a moment and then...pop.
 

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16