bblvizJust thought I would share two visuals from last week…

The Cool!

I am always looking for cool backgrounds for church and was looking through my “finds” last week and saw the one to the right.  A while ago, I StumbledUpon this site that had a “visual” of the Bible and its linkages.  Visually, it is pretty cool – seeing the rainbows of colors and their interconnectedness.  But…if it ended there, it would be just another interesting image.  The truth of the “coolness” is that this picture represents God’s Awesome Word!

As faithfacts.org puts it:

“…the Bible contains 66 books, written by approximately 40 different writers, over 1600 years, on 3 different continents, in 3 different languages, on thousands of different subjects, yet with one central theme-God’s redemption of mankind from sin won for the whole world by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

The story behind the image is interesting (and sure, you could do this to many other books, including other works related to world religions); but, it is so much more than just a neat image with and cool back-story about how it was made.  WOW!!!!

BTW, there are some other cool visualizations on this person’s site…check them out!

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I pray as we gather this weekend to worship our amazing and awesome God, that this Charlie Hall song would be the posture we take as we worship Him with our intellect through hearing from His powerful, life-giving, and life-changing Word.

My my peeps and tweeps be blessed where ever they happen to be, o Lord!  AMEN!

x

Closer

Beautiful are the words spoken to me
Beautiful is the one who is speaking

Come in close, come in close and speak
Come in close, come closer to me

The power of Your words
Are filled with grace and mercy
Let them fall on my ears and break my stony heart

Come in close, come in close and speak
Come in close, come closer to me

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So I am four months into Facebook and three weeks into the Twitter (@dennarr) and blog universes and must say that I am having fun connecting so many people.  One of the especially cool things has been the regular encouraging exchanges that I get personally or am part of through online conversations with fellow Christ-followers.

Three exchanges really got me thinking this week and I just had to share!  The first was a question posed on Facebook by Fred McKinnon (a worship leader from Georgia).  The second and third were a barrage of Francis Chan one-line quotes via Twitter from Jenni Clayville (a worship pastor from Oregon attending Exponential 2009) and Dawn Carter (a blogger, God-Lover & Missional Mom from SoCal – attending Catalyst West Coast 2009).  [Chan must have jetted coast-to-coast this week!]

I hope these encourage AND challenge you as they did me!  It is a TON of stuff to ponder and pray about!  [BTW, they all said I could share on my blog for the encouragement of others!]

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sunset

We’ve all seen it on the news…a reporter standing in a war zone talking into the camera – gunfire and bombs going off in the distance. He or she knows the gunfire and bombs are there, but keeps talking – giving the news, describing their surroundings. Suddenly, the gunfire or bombs are no longer in the distance…we see them “hit the deck” – now, they are fully aware of their surroundings. We say to ourselves (or the TV) – “hello, don’t you know what is going on all around you?”

Sadly,  it is often like that for us…with GOD? We know He is THE Almighty and Sovereign Creator – but we miss the obvious affirmation of HIS creation!
O, the Psalm 19-of it all! We take for granted the mind-boggling fact that He was and is so creative by not fully “seeing” everything around us – at any given moment, whether you’re standing on the beach or (like me right now) sitting in front of a computer (“I’m a PC!”  But I love my iPod & iPhone – guess I’m conflicted.)

Think about the snowball effect of our Awesome God’s Genesis 1:3 command. The person sitting next to you, the one on your mind right now, the phone you’re holding, the car you’re driving down the freeway in at 65.1 MPH…while Twittering, the iPod you’re listening to, the amazing creation that you are about to shuttle to soccer/baseball/gymnastics practice, the beans that were cooked/ground up/brewed that you are drinking, the very ground/carpet/pavement you’re standing on…all a result of those four, powerful, monosyllabic words: Let there be light!

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(Sung to the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies)

Come and listen to a story, ‘bout a gal named Sue
Church volunteer – amateur singer, too
The crowds and the judges were doubtful of her skill
She reminded all you can’t prejudge – although we prob’ly will
(Forgive us, Lord. It’s sin. We know.)

AND

Come and listen to a story, ‘bout Carrie Prejean
Christian first, then model…beauty queen!
The crowds and the judges were sure of her skill
Till she showed integrity – now it’s all ill will
(I wonder Lord, would I have done the same? Hopefully, that is,
through the p’wer of Your Spirit!)

Wow…in the space of two weeks, two confident women – with differing public reactions.

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biff-sings-video1Maybe it’s me, but every time I read Isaiah 40:21 & 28 (“Do you not know? Have you not heard?”), I always have this image of Biff knocking on George McFly’s head in that scene from Back to the Future! You remember, the one where Biff is wondering why George hasn’t done HIS homework.  (Need a reminder?)

Anyway, in chapter 40, Isaiah seeks to comfort, assure, and remind the exiled Jewish people about the greatness and faithfulness of GOD. Every time I read this chapter, I am drawn to and held by the descriptive power and awesomeness of  God! I’m also saddened and convicted by how I easily miss or don’t fully grasp how great God is sometimes. I KNOW it; but still, in my distracted humanness, often MISS IT!

Hello? Anybody home? Think, Dennis. Think!

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Two posts today…I just had to share this.

I picked up a few CDs the other day (it’s weird to by music that way…most everything is from iTunes now days) – one of them was Jadon Lavik’s Life On The Inside. This CD is from 2006 and I’ll admit that I had not heard of him before…not sure how I missed his music, but this CD is GREAT!  I actually bought this without a pre-listen, since the bar code on the listening system was not working – the cover looked interesting!

Anyway – every once in a while I’ll hear a song where the lyrics hit a chord in me and I immediately press the repeat on the iPhone, letting the lyrics wash over me and just sink in (this doesn’t happen too often, but when it does – wow).  What a sweet time of worship on Monday’s drive home and today’s drive in. The song below brought to mind these promises of God:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” – Isaiah 49:15-16

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
– Jeremiah 29:11

“…in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

“…for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” -Hebrews 13:5-6

Thank You Lord – Praise Your Mighty and Faithful Name!

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hennyMaybe it’s just me, but isn’t it funny how we often associate things we experience or hear with something we’ve done, heard, or seen before. It’s that déjà vu thing…all over again. Wow, I hope it isn’t just me!

Many of us have probably heard that famous one-liner, “Take my wife, please”…actually originated by Henny Youngman and not Rodney Dangerfield. (if you’re not with me – Google it!) Youngman probably didn’t “really” want someone to “take his wife” – it was a great one-liner, for which he is remembered and that got him tons of laughs.

Recently, that one-liner came to mind.  I was driving to work and the Passion Band version of the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be” came on the iPhone. It’s a great hymn of surrender and I really like the added chorus by Tomlin and Giglio – in fact, we sang it at church this past Sunday.

Anyway, shift to me driving down the road (in traffic) singing/mumbling the words – I’ll admit, probably thinking of a bunch of other stuff (like trying to not rear-end the car in front of me!). I got through most of the song before I really realized what I was saying/singing/mumbling – wow, some pretty serious lyrics!

Did I really mean them? Could I actually sing them…honestly?

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sb-postSo by now you’ve probably heard about Susan Boyle and her experience on the UK TV show Britain’s Got Talent – it’s all over YouTube and she’s even on Wikipedia! If you haven’t, you gotta get out more!

The obvious lesson here is how we judge by appearances – all of us. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, we do it. We know it’s wrong and unfair, but it’s a natural reaction…

In an interview with the Washington Post, Boyle said it all to well:

“Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. … There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”

That’s the obvious take away…I have two other observations:

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sinThere is a laboratory where I work that does research on “extreme deformation and failure of materials and structures.” That’s basically a scientific way of saying that they blow stuff up to see its limits and recommend solutions.  I know, pretty cool! I’ve been to the test range, but they weren’t testing at the time – maybe someday.  The scientists and staff there do some pretty cool research that saves lives of people in a number of situations.

So that is the Explosions part – now on to Tori…

I was surfing iTunes last night and saw that Tori Amos‘ new CD is called Abnormally Attracted to Sin.  Intrigued by the CD title, I did a Google search and found an interview where she talked about her new CD (whose title is a line from Guys and Dolls) and the impetus behind it.  Interesting article – here are some excerpts:

I’m drawn to questioning what traditional authorities have defined sin to be. As a minister’s daughter, I’ve been exposed to the traditional belief system. [Sin] has been used to shame and control people. If you’re controlled by a religious structure, then you’re going to have a very different outlook on life and what you’re open to than if you’re not controlled by these old, crumbling concepts.

I guess I was never a Bible-thumping Christian; I was always trying to question because I had so much religion in my upbringing. I was drawn to those people and those ideas that weren’t accepted necessarily, and it’s not because these ideas in reality are “evil” — that’s just the perception that’s being given. The reality I was brought up in was, “Anything that doesn’t work within the Christian doctrine is sinful.” And that’s a lot of stuff.”

My thoughts – combining both (I write this directed toward Christ followers…me most of all!  I will not pass judgment on Tori or others who ascribe to her line of thinking.):

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