Jason The Scrooge

I started writing this in response to Sean's latest blog, then I realized it would be too long for a comment so I'm putting it here.

Sean, I totally agree with you. I have been a total Scrooge for years. I hate Christmas carols; I hate 98% of the church services that happen on the weekend of; I hate almost all decorations, especially nativity scenes; I hate capitalism; and the list goes on.

This year, however, I'm going to forget all of the negativity and try my best to be cheerful and be in the "Christmas Spirit". To do this I have a few issues to get past.

One issue is that I've always questioned why we give gifts. Here's what I've come up with this year. It may be an obvious statement, but we give gifts because of the gift God gave us. However, I started thinking about this in more depth. "Yay God, thanks for Jesus, I'll give some gifts now too so you're proud of me". How absurd is that quote!? It's kinda how it feels to me though. So now I have to walk through it from the beginning. I was dead in sin and deserving of nothing but hell. God, however, sent His one and only son... Ok, stop there. Let's use Bobby and Kristin as an example, and their beautiful daughter, Aliyah. This is a NON-real scenario...just making a point... Kristin's days are numbered. Yes, Bobby loves her a ton and would do anything to save her from her imminent death. However, the only way to save Kristin is to give up Aliyah. Aliyah has to die to save Kristin. Now, many of you might think this is doable, but you haven't experienced what it's like to have a child, and I assure you in this situation Bobby would NEVER kill his child...even to save his wife. So that one was tough, let's make it easier to come up with the answer. Bobby has an enemy named Billy. Billy hates Bobby, wishes he never existed. Billy is going to die in a week. Bobby, in order to save Billy, has to kill Aliyah. What's he gonna do? DUH! See ya Billy, it was not so nice knowing you! Reality: I hated God, yet he sent his only son to die for me. So, given that the GIFT that God has given us, free of charge, even though we are undeserving, even though we had rejected him, even though the cost was HIS SON; I now have the opportunity to give gifts to others. Forget the ceremony of a tree and singing around the piano, I'm talking about a selfless, humble, for no reason other than Christ type of giving. I need to have an attitude of giving that portrays something other than the typical Christmas season mindset. If I can accomplish this and people wonder why what I'm doing looks different than the rest of the world, I've opened a door to share truth.

Ok, issue #2. Jesus's birthday. It sounds so cheesy to me but I can't really put a finger on why. Perhaps it's the fear that people view this as the day that Jesus came into existence. John 1:1-2 "1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning." Jesus always was and always will be fully God...long before 33BC. Even as a baby in a manger (which was perhaps a cave not a manger though that doesn't matter) he was fully God. Fully human and fully God for 33 years...it's a trip but it's true. I don't have a conclusion to this, just thoughts on the matter and a bit of unsettledness.

Issue #3. Christmas carols. If the lyrics serve as a reminder of what you're celebrating, good stuff. However, even given that, don't expect any from me on Sunday mornings. I have yet to hear or sing a Christmas song that really leads me into connecting with my savior. No song yet that has helped me encounter God. The theme, IF there's actually a spiritual one, is Christ coming to earth. Yet the songs are more cheerful than anything else. They don't deal with the characteristics of God that initiate worship, they're not from the right point of view (1st person vs. 3rd, etc.), and they don't deal with the reason I actually needed a savior. Some are good lyrically, don't get me wrong, but the "some" are few and far in between and those "some" still don't seem to meet my criteria for a worship song. I don't know, I'm probably just ranting and being Scroogish, and a lot of you probably disagree. If so, please let me know about it.

The bottom line. Christmas makes most people happy. My wife loves seeing the lights and trees, children love getting gifts, people like hearing the music. While none of these things have anything to do with the meaning of Christmas, and some of these things make my cringe, these things bring joy to people's hearts. If I can have a cheerful attitude, yet carry myself differently in the way I communicate about Christmas, it might just make an impact on my peers. If I sulk and talk trash about all the cheesiness and such, I will only turn people off. For Sean and Brian, and me, it's OK to be cynical, but we need to keep ourselves in check with how we are communicating our savior. For those of you who put up nativity scenes and crank up the Christmas songs recorded in the 80's, more power to you. Just make sure you understand why you are doing the things you are doing. For the capitalist who puts on the big sales and cleans up from all the silly shoppers, good job. Way to seize a good opportunity. Just know that your reward is paid in full. The money you've earned is all you'll ever have to show for your hard work and creativity. To the atheist, you are likely as cynical as I am to which I give you props. I think you may understand that the whole hype is bogus. However, I encourage you to step back and think "what if?" What if God actually did love you and actually did act on that love. It might change your life. To all, be happy and enjoy the season. Enjoy the time that brings everyone together. Give gifts and enjoy receiving gifts, but do it all in remembrance of the gift you were given. The gift that you never deserved and that cost more than you may realize.

Even More Photos

I finally got some more photos up. I put Authentic Faith Weekend up just a few days ago, and today I posted pics from the Dodgeball Tournament and from the Celebrity Murder Mystery. Unfortunately, I only have pics from our group (granted, the better of the two), so if you have pics from the other murder mystery group...please share.

Ok, so the Dodgeball pics came from Stephanie. She put them on a CD for me. However, within the CD slip she had to give her own color commentary by writing me a note that said:

"Hey,
I know you're old so that might by why you're so slow. Here's dodgeball pictures, please don't be as slow with these like you were with AFW. :)
Steph"

Great...more confirmation that you guys just love me so much (HEAVY SARCASM).

A Special Treat for Members

As I promised on the "wall", I have some exclusive video of certain members of the youth group. I only have a couple (literally two) thus far, and I've only posted one, but boy oh boy did I choose the best for first! I'm not making a link on the main page as to avoid invading people's privacy, but if you are one of the lucky ones that reads my blog, you get the link right here right now!

www.two14sw.com/video.php

Enjoy!

Oh, and equally as important...I added more pictures, particularly of Authentic Faith Weekend. Go check those out and leave all your lovely comments here.

Peace,
Jason

Fooseball's the Debil

Looking forward to tonight! For those that don't know, the guys are utilizing the chill night for football. Bobby and I were reflecting on our current physical state and we realized that professional athletes at our age are at their prime. We, well, I'll just speak for myself...I am in the worst shape of my life. How'd this happen you may ask. Well, I ask the same question. First of all, I'm married. Now don't hear me wrong, being married is the best thing that's ever happened to me, however, the downside is that I have no time. This isn't all due to being married though; work contributes, an hour and half of traffic every day doesn't help, other commitments as well. Then there's the lack of motivation. Working out just to work out is miserable. I'm going to go run on a treadmill or lift some weights!? I don't think so. Play basketball, football, rock climb, snowboard, SURE!-bring it on. I'm just not as active as I used to be and it's depressing. Well, this week should be good. Football tonight, then again Saturday morning with the young adults. Hopefully this will start a trend. Maybe we can get something going on Sunday's after church (when the Cowboys aren't playing at noon). Who's in?

Well, I guess this isn't really something to comment on unless you want to encourage me, or even poke fun at me. You can poke my flab too if you want.

The Day of Master Hacking

So, for those of you who pay attention to the two14 website, you know that Jonathan got banned from the "Wall". I think I accidentally banned Colin as well, but that's cause his IP Address showed up in the midst of all of Jonathan's ramblings. Well, Jonathan became very heart-set on hacking the web site. Since that feat is impossible given my programming experience, I thought I would make an easier and more fun challenge for him.

I bring my laptop up to church almost every Sunday to run the lyrics during worship time. This week (and following weeks if they can't figure it out this week) on the desktop there will be a file. A Microsoft Word file named "Delete Me, I Dare You!" It's a valid file, they'll be able to open it up and everything. The challenge: DELETE THAT FILE! That's all they have to do. Note: I'm saying "they" now because Jonathan's obsession soon became Colin's as well. Jonathan knew that in his inferiority he had no chance, so he recruited Colin.

Sounds easy right!? Well, we'll see........