How to Host a Kingdom (Adult) Birthday Party

Last Friday we celebrated my friends 60th birthday. He asked if we would host at our home because our home is large and well-designed for parties. He said he would take care of the rest.

He invited 30 people. Almost everyone he invited came, even those who came from out of state. Because of his background the invite list included a former NFL player, a former NHL player, a pastor, coworkers, his pastors, and his immediate family. It was the most interesting mix of exceptional individuals I had ever seen collected in one place.

He catered food from his favorite restaurants and cooked us tomahawk steaks. He served us. Then, once we were all seated, he went around the room, and for each person present, he said honored them with his word, explaining what they had meant to him. Then he gave them a present. That’s right he gave them a present.

When one of the guests stood up to honor him he said thank you but quickly shut him down and told him this was his party and this was what he wanted to do. He continued going around the room honoring each person and then giving them a gift. I had never seen anything like it.

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A Reason for Christians Not to Vote

It’s election season again in the USA, and while anything can happen, it certainly appears it will be Trump v. Biden, round 2.

If you bump around on the internet, it’s easy to find blogs by well-meaning Christians telling Christians why they must vote, many even quoting Scripture, as if Moses came down from Mount Sinai with ballots instead of tablets.

But what do you do if you can’t stomach Donald Trump’s narcissism, name-calling, or have a general objection to your Commander in Chief bragging about grabbing women “by the p****y”? But on the other hand you cannot in good conscience vote for Joe Biden, who continues to support a woman’s right to kill her unborn baby or a man’s right to use the same restroom as your wife or daughter? What do you do?

Some people will tell you that sometimes you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. If someone tells you that, ask them for a Bible verse. I don’t know when the Bible ever says we must choose evil. In fact, the Bible says just the opposite, promising the Lord will provide you “a way out” so you do not have to choose evil. I Corinthians 10:13.

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How Christians Should Journal

In my last blog post I explained why Christians should journal. As I explained there, Christians have reasons to journal that non-Christians do not. But that leaves the question of how should Christians journal?

Sure, you can journal to express your innermost thoughts, practice your writing skills, or for the mental health effects of reflecting on and recording one’s life. But Christians have a higher calling: (1) their own sanctification; and (2) the expansion of the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:33.

Christian journaling-let’s call it Kingdom Journaling-fulfills these twin purposes that Jesus commanded should be our primary focus. That being said, here are six things to write about in your journal.

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Why Christians Should Journal

For the last week, I’ve gone back and begun reading through my journal. I started in October of 2008, and I’m now up to October 2014. It has taken me hours, but it has been worth it. It’s reminded me of the importance of journaling.

I’m not sure why I started journaling. I suspect some Christians journal because they want somewhere to freely express their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams. Others journal because they like writing, and journaling is a way to practice the discipline of writing. Still others journal because they want to record the events of their life for prosperity’s sake.

All these are valid reasons to journal, but there is a more important and more fulfilling reason to journal for Christians, and that is to record the Lord’s work in and through their lives.

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Movie Review: Babylon

I have reviewed many movies here, but I rarely mention whether a movie has nudity, sexually explicit scenes, or other offensive content. I figure if that is primarily what a Christian movie critic is offering the public, it is not worth the effort. Pagans will act like pagans, even when they make movies; we shouldn’t be surprised. I try to overlook it and focus on the themes, messages, and entertainment value of the movie. After all, movies are supposed to be a form of entertainment.

A movie’s biggest sin then, is when it fails to entertain. When it does so after 2o minutes of resorting to every shocking image the most perverted pagan can conceive, from a grossly obese man enjoying a golden shower to a midget on a pogo stick made into a giant penis spraying its pretend semen all over the audience, you know you have a monumental loser on your hands.

In fact, the most fitting metaphor of this movie was the elephant in the first scene defecating all over the man transporting it to a Hollywood party. Call it foreshadowing. After twenty minutes of this movie, I felt like that man, and the only thing I could think to do was look for the exit and the nearest shower. It was perhaps the single worst, most banal and offensive, boring excuse for a movie ever put on film.

I have been a fan of Damien Chazelle’s movies in the past, particularly Whiplash and La La Land, but I seriously doubt his judgment after seeing this one. Chazelle should give back whatever he was paid to write and direct this movie. In fact, he should pay me back. After seeing this abstract-excrement-on-celluloid-excuse for a movie, I feel like I have been robbed at gunpoint and felt-up at the same time.

Save your money. Don’t waste your time. Get a root canal, a colonoscopy. Anything is better than being subjected to 189 minutes of this. GS