This video has been posted on a few blogs I frequent, but it’s too good to go unrepeated. 

It is never too late to start fresh. The New Year happens to be a great place to actually do that in our lives. 

God calls us to live in the present, not the past or the future, even though looking at each is very important. 

We all have regrets. Things we wish we would have done differently. That’s part of being human. The key to resolution though is learning from those mistakes and moving beyond them. Dwelling on them does no good, because God has forgiven us. If the God of the universe can erase and forgive, then we should also be able to. I admit that it is obviously much easier said than done, but it is truth nonetheless. 

Learn from your regrets. Don’t let them go to waste. 

Think about it.

I’m gonna differ from the norm a bit today and just offer up some short snippets. 

First of all, I found this sweet techno version of Carol of the Bells. In my mind you’ll play this and read the rest of the post at the same time. [Ignore the background pic]. 

-I’ve recently become obsessed with Collide Magazine. It’s a magazine/website dedicated entirely to ministry and media. It is awesome. They have great articles, and a great blog. They also have tons of resources and links to check out. 

-I’ve also recently been digging into a lot of other church websites to check stuff out and steal ideas and also listen to sermons. A lot of megachurches [defined as over 2,000 weekly attendance] these days are going with multi-location video sermons in which the lead pastor will be at one location, and broadcast live to the other locations. The two I’ve been digging into most this week at least are National Community Church in Washington, D.C. and LifeChurch.tv located in Oklahoma. Play around with them a little! 

That’s all I got for now! 

Explore what God is doing in other churches apart from your own.. It’s fun to see new and innovative ideas in the world of ministry!

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Do you really need to buy a Christmas gift for every single one of your friends and family? For people who already have so much more than they could ever need? 

What if instead of spending hundreds of dollars on presents, you gave a little extra to the church?

Since when is Christmas so materialistic? What if we looked forward to giving as much as we looked forward to getting? 

I challenge you to make a decision to spend less on gifts, and more on those who have real needs. 

I’m sure your friends will understand. And if they don’t, it’s a sad dose of reality. 

Think about it.

I think this is my favorite quote from Lord of the Rings, and I was just reminded of it this last weekend while watching the marathon on TV. 

Sam: It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.

~There is good to be found in our world of evil. Search it out and be it.