I think the Advent Conspiracy was a success. I can't tell you how many people stopped me, emailed me or wrote me a Christmas card thanking me for changing their Christmas forever with my latest sermon series. Very gratifying! I don't know what the offering tabulation was from our Christmas Eve offering yet. But no matter what it is...I know that Cedarbrookers will make a difference this year by helping to fund a least a large portion of a well in some village. There's still time to give by going to www.water.cc/give.
Changed Life; I just had the pleasure of visiting with someone that I met about ten years ago at Arbor Place Treatment Center where I teach three days a week. When people from Arbor attend Cedarbrook they often become friends, as this person did. She received much inner healing in the five years that Lisa and I knew her but continually relapsed back into her addiction in major ways. Then she moved and we felt sad that all of our investment into her life seemed to be for nothing. But we reconnected recently and we found out that she has been sober for the last four years. She's even helping other women in a prison ministry. It was great to see what God has done in her life since she moved on.
Christmas Movie Reviews; My family has started taking in movies on Christmas Day these past few years. Yesterday we saw the new Will Smith movie "Seven Pounds". I really liked it. It was kind of dark yet it was heartwarming at the same time. It had elements of mystery, suspense and romance. You will have a lot of questions throughout the movie but then everything comes together in the last two or three minutes. That's all I can say without giving it away. But I'd definitely see it.
Not so good...Tropic Thunder. We got home late from a Minnesota Christmas and thought we'd watch one more movie on Pay per View. The only thing that looked watchable was Tropic Thunder. I thought I had read a good review on it and I like Ben Stiller. But don't waste your time. There are some funny moments and the premise is fairly amusing (a war movie turns into the real thing but one of the actors is clueless to what's going on around him) but the good parts are too few to justify the bad parts. I REALLY dislike frat-house humor (fart and sex jokes) and this movie turns to that formula whenever they were too lazy to think of something truly funny. I normally don't mind foul language in a movie if it reflects the situation but again, the bad language was pure laziness on the screenwriter's part. So, save your money. There's better things to do with your time! (that goes for your teenagers too!)
I hope you had a good Christmas. I'm enjoying some true down time.
