Random Thoughts with beautiful Autumn weather

I mean seriously, check it out! If you live in Michigan I hope you've had some time to be outside this week, it has been spectacular.

1) On Sunday South attempted for the first time a truly unique endeavor. Instead of going to Church in the morning, "Southies" were encouraged to "be the Church" by participating in one of several service projects for the community. There was an evening service to celebrate and join together after the day of serving.

The unfortunate paradigm for Churches is that usually 20% of the people do 80% of the work. I was happy to hear that a vast majority of our congregation participated in this service day. To clarify, I know how many participated, but I don't know how many members the Church has, but honestly that's not important. What's important is that those who were involved had an amazing experience. I joined a group that stained the wooden parts of a playground at Hawk Island park and it was a great time.

This was a great idea for a Sunday and I sincerely hope it we don't wait a year for the next one.

2) I had a phone interview with Westland Free Methodist on Monday. This was interesting. I try not to get excited about interviews, because they are a part of the process and you want to keep looking until you get an offer. When I sent my resume to Westland they had already made a selection and given that candidate an offer to join them. He unexpectedly refused and the Church was not at peace with the other people they had interviewed, so they went back to square 1. We'll see where that ends up but honestly I don't think I'm a fit for what they are looking for. I don't say that to down talk myself at all, rather my take on what they are looking for and what I want to do are different.

I've found a few more places that I am fishing out and getting resumes too, it's exciting to see possibilities opening up. God is good.

3) Today during lunch I caught a jeopardy rerun on GSN with Ken Jennings. I like watching Jeopardy and I love the puzzle of some of the clues. However I must say that Ken is really funny to watch. In case I've lost you, here's a refresher: Ken Jennings is the best Jeopardy contestant alive. He was on the show 74 consecutive episodes and won over $2 million while on the show. He's crazy. This particular episode I watched to the finale of the double jeopardy round, at which point Ken had accumulated roughly $24,000 and change. The closest contestant had about $5000 and the third person had $400. That's funny.

4) Gaming - This deserves a mention. Half Life 2 is an incredible game. So many great first person shooting games on the computer stem from "modifications" of the engine (program) used to create this game. Games like Counterstrike, Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat are all very successful games made using the tools used in Half Life 2.

The company who created this game encourages the gaming community to use the tools and the engine of Half-Life 2 to make their own games, or their own "mods." To encourage this further, last week the company took the best 5 mods and made them available for free on their online program.

So why do I mention this? When I have time to set aside for some gaming I have become absolutely enamored with one of the free mods named "Zombie Panic Source." It's all online, multi-player and free. Basically the game is a zombie survival game with many twists and turns. Players play both humans and zombies and success for either team will not happen without teamwork, which is why I love it.

5) Verse of the post: I couldn't find the one I was looking for. I blame myself, not my Bible College education, but while searching I did rediscover this nugget which I thought might be thought-provoking. Proverbs 29:9 "He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination." Interesting.

Have a great rest of the week.

EDIT: I need to throw a classic in:

Random Thoughts that are quite specific

My sister coaxed me into watching one of her Anime shows. Basically an anime is a funky word for a Japanese cartoon. They are eccentric and silly but I was surprised to find a deeper theme under the one that my sister calls her favorite.

The title is Full Metal Alchemist. The plot centers around two brothers, Edward and Alphonso. In their world what most fantasy realms would call "magic" is actually a scientific process called "Alchemy." People who study it are known as Alchemists. Alchemy basically allows you to take something and transmute (transform) it into something else. It has natural rules and laws just like real science.

The principle rule of Alchemy is what I find the most intriguing. "Man cannot obtain something without first sacrificing something of equal value." The Science of Alchemy revolves around this unchangeable principle.

There are other rules that have been set in place to protect the alchemists in their occupation. Chief among those is it is forbidden to practice Alchemy on human flesh. Basically you are not allowed to tamper with any aspect of humanity in your transmutations.

Edward and Alphonso began studying Alchemy when they were very young. They are prodigys of their mysterious father and are quickly discovered to be skilled in the ways of Alchemy. When their mother dies of natural causes they attempt to use alchemy to revive her. This fails miserably. Edward loses a leg and then has to sacrifice his arm to save Alphonso from dying completely, instead binding his soul to an empty suit of armor.

Edward and Alphonso embark on a quest to restore their bodies and bring them back to the condition they were in before this terrible mistake. They are on a quest of restoration.

I find this premise to be so Biblical, albeit unintentionally. We all know the story of the Garden of Eden, how God gave Adam and Eve free reign over it. He only gave them one rule, and ever since they broke it man has been on a quest to restore the broken relationship with God.

Or what the idea that says you can't obtain something without sacrificing something. Does following God require sacrifice? Didn't Jesus say whoever wants to follow Him must deny himself/herself and take up his/her cross?

The show has been interesting to watch and it makes me think of these Christian themes even if it didn't mean to. With themes like these floating around I couldn't resist putting something about it in the blog.

I'll be the first to tell you I don't get into anime cartoons very much. They just aren't for everyone. However if you ever want to venture out and check out something different from what you know, I recommend checking this one out.

I guess this means next time I should highlight my favorite one (Bleach!).

Random Thoughts with a 25 point deficit

1) Not enjoying football today. Michigan is being manhandled by Illinois. I have had a bad feeling ever since Rich Rodriguez was hired as head coach and I hope I don't have to wait 4 years for those in power to come around. Just saying...

2) The Vice-Presidential debates were on Thursday. Was there a winner? If you're a biased media then yes, but you already chose that winner several weeks ago. Let's be honest...the debate was rather pointless. A pot and a kettle stood on a podium and called each other black.

3) Good fellowship with good people yesterday. Always nice to get together with friends you don't get to see very often.

4) Finished reading Eldest today. It was an alright book, I look forward to starting the third one. I would laugh if I finished it before my sister.

5) Facebook continues to frustrate me. Why add a person you haven't talked to in years if you don't plan on talking to them? I'm certain I'm hypocritical on this to a degree, but at least on the initial add I make an attempt to catch up. When the person doesn't write back it makes me wonder why add in the first place? I feel a purge of the friend's list coming and it ain't gonna be pretty. I guess when it all boils down to it I still like community over quasi-fake-community.

6) Verse of the post: Philemon 1:6 "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." -- I won't get to see Religulous this weekend, I am thinking about trying to catch a (cheap) matinee next week or something. I can't resist a chance to get a good look at how the world sees Christians. I think if Christians took a passage like this one more seriously than perhaps a documentary like Religulous wouldn't be made. Of course I say this before seeing it, so I hope to update on that after I have done so.

-Enjoy the rest of your weekend!