Adorable Christmas Story
I have nothing to say about this other than it's adorable.
As we learned in the Poteet Class, some aspects of this video maybe inaccurate, but whatever. It's adorable.
Christmas Movies
I am really bad at posting things of importance here. Get used to it. Nothing is changing today. Normally, I jump on the "REstore current events" bandwagon. It's the holiday season, so I guess I can switch things up a bit. At this time of year I (and the rest of the world) feel like I get so overwhelmed with seasonal events, charity work, and family functions, etc. This leads to me neglect one of my favorite this in the world, movies. Every year I will undoubtedly get into a conversation about the "best Christmas movie of all time." People love to tell you what their favorite holiday movie are. My mothers: It's a Wonderful Life. My best friend: A Muppet Christmas Carol (feel like she should feel ashamed.) Co-worker: Christmas Vacation. Personally, I never really had one. I would claim Home Alone, but that was because I loved it as a kid and gave me a real nostalgic feeling. That movie was watched so many times at the Eisenhart household that the VHS tape was messed up from over use. Fast forward to 2004... I was a Sophomore at ATU and went to see The Polar Express at the Pickwood Theater. From that point on The Polar Express was my favorite Christmas movie. It is a beautiful, action fill adventure with a heartwarming ending. Everything you need to get you in the holiday spirit. Below is the trailer for the movie. I would like to highly encourage everyone to see it; especially, if you have never seen it before. The bigger the TV screen, the better. The animation is larger than life.
If you would like... share with me your favorite holiday movies.
Kid’s Shows
Ok let me preface this post by saying it really has little to nothing to do with REstore. Ready? Ok.
I'm a weirdo that likes to watch children's shows. And the way I watch them is a little different than the way I would watch Monday Night Football or CSI. I study them and try and figure out what the show is trying to teach the kids and how the show is trying to teach them. I especially like shows that are bright and colorful. Example: Yo Gabba Gabba
Now I'm not sure what the ultimate lesson is here, but I know there are a lot of bright colors and there is dancing. I think maybe it's just enforcing the importance of moving.
It kind of reminds me of Rent. In rent there are 8 main characters. Four are girls. Four are boys. Four are white. Four are black. Four are gay. Four are straight.
It's like we're all different, but we're all the same.
Check out the Wiggles. They're similar, but they have the weirdo who is Captain Feathersword.
Can't forget the Teletubbies.
Here's a "Christian" kid's show, the Flizbins. Lots of autotune here.
No lesson or deep thoughts, just bright colors.
Buffett
So I was watching Warren Buffett on an internet video. In case you didn't know, he's loaded. And accordingly folks want to envy him and give him all the social acclaim that comes with money. And I admit that my ears perk up anytime I hear news of WB. But what's interesting to me of late is that he's been on this whole philanthropy kick. Recently he, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates got together to challenge some billionaires to give a way half to all of their fortunes.
What's interesting to me about all this is that it causes me to challenge the way I view money, it's role and relationship with society, people and Christianity. I'm not saying that Buffett is or isn't a super Christian, but it's causing me to think about how I view money and what does it mean.
I believe in giving of your money, time, talents, etc to God and others. That can come in many forms, but I'm a simple person raised from childhood in the church. So I can easily translate that into, "Give the church 10% of my income." Which that philosophy has good scriptural backing, but I do believe it's an overly simple way of looking at this issue of giving.
Now if you think I'm going to go on about giving your time and talents you're right. And if you think I'm going to down play the significance of giving money, you're wrong. Give time, talents, love and all that stuff. But I want to harp for a second on money.
From what I hear, the younger generation is pretty crappy about giving money. So we need to get on the ball here. I'm not saying 10% to your local church, but I am saying a predetermined amount to "Jesus-work". (Do you like how I just made up a word there?) It's really hard for me to go to Southeast Asia every month to love people, but I can contribute every month to Jesus-work in Southeast Asia. And maybe 5 years down the road I can go there. I can't spend 50-60 hours a week being a discipleship minister in downtown Little Rock, but I can give a portion of my income to help Betsy do that. So let me challenge you to set a predetermined amount, percentage, figure to give and find one, two, three organizations to give to and do it.
Now we all need to give of our time and talents. So just be sure you're doing that. Maybe that can take the form of scheduling a time to give blood. Maybe you use your professional skills in a non-profit way like tutoring or volunteering at a non-profit. Or maybe we just take time to visit with someone who needs some social recognition and attention.
So in conclusion... Give in all aspects.
The End
JEE