What's your resolution?

Trying to decide on your 2009 New Year's resolutions? Here are a few from some of your favorite Christian artists:

The Serious Ones:

" . . . to be closer to God and family." —Eric Miker (DecembeRadio)

" . . . to have more patience." —Brian Bunn (DecembeRadio)

" . . . to reach further into the world and draw closer to Jesus . . . everything else works out after that." —Boone Daughdrill (DecembeRadio)

" . . . to give more of my time and finances to those in need." —Christine Prankard (Carried Away)

" . . . be more diligent with my homework and work harder in school." —Noah Hayden (Mission Six)

" . . . to read my Bible more and spend more time with God." —Anthony Barthel (Mission Six)


The Not-So-Serious Ones:

" . . . to stop eating so much chocolate . . . it's my weakness." —Josh Reedy (DecembeRadio)

" . . . to find the last three Sesame Street magazines I'm missing from my collection (July through September 1984 if anyone can help)." —Mitch Parks (After Edmund)

" . . . to get whiter teeth." —Ben Hosey (After Edmund)

" . . . to go the entire year without picking my nose. Tissue-assisted blows only, people!" —Matt McFadden (After Edmund)

" . . . learn to salsa dance . . . I want to be ready when Dancing With the Stars calls." —Amy Goins (Beloved)

" . . . not to make New Years Resolutions." —Isaac Alling (Mission Six)

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

• ec's beloved intern, Chansin, spent her last day with us yesterday! She graduates from Belmont University today, then moves to Texas, where she'll be preparing for her wedding and seminary! Thank you, Chansin, for all your hard work. We will miss you!

• Apparently, in ec editor Mandy Crow's home state of Missouri, legislators are moving to strike down a law that bans the sale of yellow margarine. The law hasn't been enforced for years, and restrictions on imitation butter first began in 1895. It's probable the weird law started as an effort to protect Missouri's dairy industry. Read more about the Show-Me State's strange law here.

• Facebook is one of the ec team's favorite social networking sites. We even have a fan page and a group! But Facebook reached a whole new level recently when an attorney in Australia used the site to inform a couple that they had lost their home after defaulting on a loan! The Australian Supreme Court approved the attorney's application to inform the couple via Facebook after his attempts to talk to them in person at the house or via e-mail had failed. Read all about it here.

• Mark Felt, the former FBI agent who claimed to be Woodward and Bernstein's anonymous tipster during the Watergate scandal, passed away this week. He was 95. Watergate was a scandal involving then President Richard Nixon and break-ins at the Democratic National Convention. The story was broken by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in 1973, citing anonymous sources, including one nicknamed "Deep Throat." Mark Felt identified himself as that source in 2005, some 30 years after the scandal. Read the journalists' notes and learn about the movie based on the event.

• Snippets and Soundbites won't appear on the blog next week. The ec team will all be taking a little much needed vacation and celebrating the holiday with their families. We pray you have a very merry Christmas! Stop to thank God for His gift!

The Messiah

It's Christmas, y'all, and aside from one or two releases I already talked about, there's not a lot happening in Christian music this month. For reasons you'll soon read, I think that's a fine idea.

For now, I want to talk a bit about an amazing piece of Christian music that tells the Christmas story from start to finish. To me, it just isn't Christmas without listening to Handel's Messiah. While you've no doubt heard the "Hallelujah" chorus, it is a gigantic piece of music, and there is much more to it than that.

Why? Because Messiah is basically scripture, set to music. Before you shout "boring!" and run away, I wonder if you could tell me what human can tell the story of Christ's redemption better than God Himself. You might find a new perspective on the scripture you've read all your life by hearing it in a different form, so give it a chance!

To listen to Messiah online, you'll need about two hours. Click this link, then click the red "Listen: Handel's Messiah" icon. After a brief advert, the music will play, from start to finish. The words can be found here. You will be surprised at how few words there are.

Here's a bit of history: Messiah debuted in Dublin in April of 1742 (Handel originally intended for it to be played at Easter instead of Christmas). It is an oratorio, which is a piece of music that uses an orchestra, a chorus, and soloists, and tells the story of Christ's birth, crucifixion and resurrection, and return to Earth, so there are three parts to the piece, more or less divided into the Advent, the Passion, and the Second Coming. (The "Hallelujah" chorus marks the end of Part II. Now you know why you shouldn't stop there. It isn't the end of the story.)

Musically, there is a lot of variety - thirty-three individual parts make up the piece, which range from choruses (where everyone sings) to arias (one voice sings) to recitatives (sort of like talking to music). There might be parts you like, or parts you don't (my favorite is "And the glory, the glory of the Lord"). It's okay to skip what you find tedious, snoozy, or too fancy for your taste. But try listening to the overarching feel, sound, and message of the music.

Now about the "Hallelujah" chorus, the final chorus of Part II. Here are the lyrics:

CHORUS
Hallelujah: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!

(It is traditional at live performances of Messiah to stand during this part. Legend has it that King George II rose to his feet at just this point, and when the king stands, so do his subjects. Nobody knows why King George stood up, but people have done it ever since.)

Handel wrote Messiah out of the depths of personal pain, struggle, insomnia, and poverty. He wrote most of it in three weeks. That's full scores for orchestra, chorus, solos, and lyrics...completed mostly in three weeks. Legend has it that as he finished the "Hallelujah" chorus, tears streaming down his face, he told his assistant, "I have seen the face of God."

I like Christmas music - all kinds, from Gene Autry singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to Dean Martin singing "White Christmas" and Harry Connick, Jr. singing "Winter Wonderland." I love singing Christmas hymns at church and playing Christmas albums. Christmas music makes me happy. I don't mind too much that there aren't any new albums coming out in December, because I have Christmas music to keep me busy. The Messiah is one more reason to love Christmas music.

So try listening to Messiah this Christmas. I hope you'll check it out online, from the library or maybe even at a concert. See if maybe it helps you remember why we celebrate Christmas (as Emily said earlier this month). Who knows? You might see the face of God.

Snippets and Soundbites

• You might not be scared of flying, but would you change your mind if your pilot made an announcement over the cabin intercom saying, “Unfortunately, I'm not qualified to land the plane…”?     That’s what happened to some passengers flying to Paris. Apparently the weather was too foggy for a particular pilot to land the plane. The flight authority was only allowing people with a level two qualification to land. He didn’t have that high of a qualification, so he had to return the plane to the original airport. You can read the blog entry about it here, and then check out the explanations people provided in the comments underneath the blog.

• USA Today ranked Stephenie Meyer, author of the “Twilight” series, as the top author of the year. The four books in the series tell the story of a teen girl in love with a vampire. The movie based on the books was a hit, and Meyer even has an adult bestseller, too. USA Today reports about it here. 

• Long before he starred in “Lord of the Rings,” Elijah Wood made his film debut in a movie sequel. Do you know which one? Or what about child actress Dakota Fanning? Where did she get her big break in what film? If you think you know a thing or two about actors who started out young, take this quiz!
  

College Graduation Reflection

Thanks to all my AP classes in high school and a few summer courses during college, I am graduating from Belmont University a semester early. In two days I will walk across the stage and be done with college forever. It’s a bittersweet experience.

I thought about what I might say if I got to make a speech during the graduation ceremony. This is what I would say to my classmates …

"Anticipation. Can you feel it in the room? This is a night you and I have been looking forward to. We are graduating from college and about to enter the “real world.” No more homework; no more exams. Within a couple hours, we’ll have a degree, and we won’t be college kids anymore. We’ll be adults. We have anticipated this day.

One thing I’ve realized during my time at Belmont is that I live life waiting in anticipation. So many times I have prepared well in advance for the next chapter of my life and then thought about it incessantly until it finally arrived. I anticipated going to Towering Traditions, I was excited about moving from Texas to Nashville and making new friends, I couldn’t wait to finish finals each year so I could enjoy the summer, I was eager to begin my semester journalism internship in Washington D.C., I looked forward to changing my major to Biblical Studies and studying something I truly cared about, and I anticipated Debate 08 being over so campus could get back to normal.

Anticipation is not a bad thing, but I’ve learned this is not the way to live. You see, as soon as I have gotten to the place in life I had been waiting for, it wasn’t long before I began looking ahead to the next great thing. American culture tends to look to the future, and I’m no exception. I am always working for something better, always looking forward to the next fun activity, and always excited about what’s ahead. And while it’s fine to anticipate good things, I’ve realized I’m not truly living if I can’t be content in the present moment. I look ahead because I believe the next step is going to be even more fun and fulfilling. But usually, it’s not better. It’s different, but where I came from is just as good as now.

I’m afraid that as I look ahead and think about how much I will enjoy the next chapter, I forget to truly cherish the chapter I’m in. If I keep living like this, life will fly by as it seems to have done these past few years. Perhaps you can relate.

Though it’s taken a while to get it through my thick head, Belmont has taught me it’s important to live in the present. I can think of times I’ve been so focused on getting good grades in my Bible classes that I have neglected praying with a group of friends or I have rejected helping a person in need. I was too busy doing schoolwork so I could prepare for seminary. But community and service are what seminary is all about! It’s easy to get so focused on what you want to achieve in life that you miss out on what God is calling you to today. My ambition to be a good minister has stunted my ability to see that ministry is right in front of me. Thankfully, though, I have not missed out on all the opportunities God has given me.

At Belmont, I’ve learned about ways to be involved. Social justice is a big theme on campus, and it’s clear that there are ways in which to serve today. I’ve heard people talk about the Invisible Children, Fair Trade, going green, and how to work with the local homeless population. Personally, my freshman year I went with Belmont to Honduras to help a soup kitchen and play with orphans. My sophomore year I saw on a Belmont website how to get involved with teaching conversational English to internationals, and now I have a dear Chinese friend. Junior year I walked with some classmates in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Nashville. I was even required in some classes to be involved in service: this year I babysat Hispanic children while their parents learned how to navigate the American school system.

I think being content in the moment means being content in God. Perhaps the relentless anticipation is rooted in a desire to feel fulfilled. Through my years in this university, I have become even more convinced that Jesus is the only One who can fulfill our deepest longings.

The lesson resonating in my heart as I leave Belmont is this: Live and Enjoy. To me, what it will take is slowing down. Let me encourage you to reflect on your life and experiences as you go. Be aware. Train your mind to engage what is around you instead of what is in the future.

Worse than anticipation is anxiety. You know what the Bible says. “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.” And finally, be intentional with your days – the way you interact and the activities you pursue. You are what you do. Do good in this world. Get into the game, the adventure of today. And love! Love is the most important thing.

The reality is that some of our big life markers are already passing by. High school is gone. College life is now over. I’m getting married in a few months. If I keep looking to the future, I’ll miss out on where I am, and soon all my life markers will pass by before I realize it. I don’t want to live like that. This is not practice. This is the real thing.

As I enter this first year of having a full-time job and a new husband, I don’t want to end the year thinking, “Wow, that went by too fast! I didn’t even get around to doing everything I wanted to do.” I would rather end with, “What a fantastic year. I will always remember this special time in my life.” I pray that you, too, as you leave Belmont, will slow down, make memories, and live fully in the gracious love God has for you. Thank you."

15 cool Christmas gifts under $15

If you’re scratching your head, trying to figure out what to give that person on your list who is hard to buy for, consider our suggestions. Just click on the item's name to link to its Web site. (Prices listed do not reflect shipping and handling. Prices are correct as of Dec. 15, 2008.)



Luggage tags ($10)
This handy set offers some laughs while saving other folks the trouble of accidentally picking up your bag.






Reminder to save ($10)
It’s a better take on the traditional piggy bank. Spare change is always available if you obey the simple reminder to “save.”


Gadget pen ($13.95)
Better than a pocket knife (and maybe even more useful!). This pen is actually a 12-function tool, and it comes in three colors. We think guys and girls alike will find this one of the most practical presents they’ve ever received!




Make your own chewing gum kit ($11.95)
Almost everybody likes gum. This is a fun gift idea, although it is not suitable for your friends with braces.



Faucet light ($14.99)
We're not really sure that this product serves a functional purpose, but it sure is fun! Talk about a conversation starter. Plus, you don’t have to worry about not being able to watch yourself wash your hands if ever the power goes out.






Mini water cooler ($12.99)
Instead of getting up to get a drink of water while you study, work on homework, or finish that big project, this mini water cooler keeps you hydrated right where you are. It's way more fun than a water bottle.






Stapleless stapler ($12)
If you have less than five sheets of paper to keep together and you don’t want to use a stapler, check out these! They punch a hole in the paper and fold the flaps together to keep your stack in tact. And there’s a bonus: you get two per set!




Grocery bag holder ($4.99)
Tired of struggling to lug lots of little bags (or tired of watching your mom or dad do it)? Order this handy handle and the problem disappears!




Grow your own Venus Flytrap ($8.98)
Got a friend who likes plants? We bet he or she doesn’t have one of these! The Venus Flytrap grows in 10 weeks and then the gift recipient can watch this carnivorous plant do its thing. (And learn from production editor Emily’s mistakes: don’t feed it bread. It won’t open up again!)




Computer screen cleaners ($6.99)
Tired of the fingerprints, smudges, and other unknown smears on your computer screen? This is the (rather cute) solution to a very common problem!







Lunch decision spinner ($4.50)
If you and your friends waste minutes or even hours trying to figure out what to eat, order one of these little gems! While it won’t pick the restaurant for you, it will give you a more concrete type of food to work with.





Remote Finder ($14.95)
Does your TV remote seem to sprout legs and walk away all the time? Find the missing device quickly and easily with this whistle-activated remote locator. Just blow the whistle, and the locator (which attaches to the remote) starts beeping!


Blockheads ($14.99)
Just because you’re too old to play with blocks doesn’t mean these aren’t really fun! There’s an image on each side of the block, so the combinations of faces you can come up with are endless. A great gift for the person who constantly complains of being bored.





USB desk lamp ($11.99)
These lamps shine the light right where you need it. Practical and fun, one of these lamps will make a great gift for the computer addict in your life.




Auto Air Purifier ($14.95)
Got a brother/sister/parent/friend with a stinky car? Give them the auto air purifier, and the problem’s gone! It operates in the cigarette lighter to rid a car of any bad odors.

It's your last chance!

If you want to see your name in print and your story published in an upcoming issue of ec, well, you better get to work! The deadline for ec's 2nd annual fiction writing contest is tonight. Your story must either be emailed by midnight to ec or postmarked by December 15, 2008 and mailed to us via regular postal mail. If you need more details, check this out:

Music Minute - Holiday Shopping Rush Edition!

Well, here we are again! Y'all, I don't know about you but I cannot *believe* it's already December 10th. I've only bought one gift, I haven't bought Christmas cards...at least I have my tree up. (I have two cats who love Christmas like you wouldn't believe. Their holiday rule is "One kitty must be sleeping under the tree at all times.") Things are hectic. So maybe you're looking for some tasty holiday music to put you in the Christmas spirit, and I'm here to help with two new releases. And next week I'll be back with an extra column about some unusual (for you, probably) Christmas music and why you should check it out.

DecembeRadio released a Christmas EP called Comfort & Joy. And wow, their acoustic-rock version of "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" is amazing. If you haven't already heard it on the radio, check out the myspace link for a preview. Layers of vocals and instruments make this often-overlooked-as-stuffy hymn come alive with a gorgeous, full sound that will put you in the holiday spirit. We hear there's also a cover of Chuck Berry's classic "Run Run Rudolph" on the album, so be sure to check it out!



And for everybody who loves the sound of BarlowGirl's harmonies, there's Home for Christmas, an album of traditional Christmas carols. Minimal arrangements, string accompaniment, and soaring vocals combine to make you hear these carols in a whole new way. We like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," because, well, as Christmas carols go, we think it's one of the best.



There are so many things to love about home, family, and friends at Christmas. When you're decorating the tree, smelling the cookies baking, saying grace with your family, singing Christmas hymns and carols, or throwing snowballs at your brother, take a second to remember a little child in Bethlehem sleeping in a manger. I am pretty old compared to y'all, but I never get used to the idea that of all the ways God could have come to earth to show Himself to us, He decided to become a baby. Let Christmas remind you that God loves you. And have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Ec needs your help!

We're hard at work on an upcoming issue and would like to include some quotes from you! So tell us your name, hometown (city and state), favorite Major League Baseball team, and your favorite ballpark food (and why). You might see your answers in the April 2009 issue. Leave them in the comments or mail them to ec's editor, Mandy Crow.

7 days left. . .

until the deadline for this year's ec fiction writing contest has passed! Don't you want to see your story in print in an upcoming issue?
If so, here's all the info you'll need to get your story to us. Be sure to mail it to godlifefun@gmail.com by midnight on December 15. You can also mail it to the address listed.

Who, what, when, where, and why

Every Monday morning here at work, the ec team gathers with all the other folks in the student ministry department here at LifeWay for a time of prayer and devotions. This morning, our fearless leader (and director of the department), Jimmy Hester led the devotion time.

And even now, almost two hours later, one phrase of what he said keeps replaying in my mind: Christmas is not just about when Jesus came, but why He came.

Think about that. Oh, sure, it's easy to get excited about Christmas. There's all the songs, decorations, gifts, bell-ringing, parties, and special events, even at church. There's a lot of noise around Christmas, and as Christians, we often find ourselves angrily remarking to the sales associate who wished us a happy holiday that Jesus is the REASON for the season.

And He is. Christmas is when we celebrate Christ's birth, when we remember and commemorate that God sent His one and only Son into the world as a tiny baby born in Bethlehem to parents of lowly social standing. He was and is the Messiah, the fulfillment of prophecy. That tiny baby was God in the flesh, the Hope of the nations, the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Emmanuel, God with us.

Yes, Christmas is about all those things, but it's also about a God who would give Himself up for us so that we could be saved. Jesus' birth—from His first cry to when Mary swaddled Him in cloth and laid Him in that manger—began His steady march toward the cross.

Jesus came to this world with a purpose. He came to live among us and display God's love, but He also came to die so that we might be saved. That baby in the manger grew up to be the Man pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our sin. And it is His wounds that heal us from the deadly disease of sin.

So as you prepare to celebrate the season this year, don't forget that Christmas isn't just about Jesus coming to earth; it's also about why He came and what His birth meant for all of us.

Spend some time reading in the Book of Isaiah this week. Try Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:2-7; Isaiah 53; and Isaiah 60:1-2. Thank God that His Light has come, in the Light of the World, Jesus, who lived and died and rose again so that we might be saved.

Snippets and Soundbites

• School lunch menus are getting a vegetarian makeover. CNN reports about a middle school outside Atlanta that has started including and labeling vegetarian options, like vegetarian chicken nuggets, salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, apples, and veggie burgers. It is estimated three percent of teens are vegetarian. School officials want to give those students a good selection and encourage all students to eat healthy and balanced meals. Watch the minute-long CNN report here.

• Have you seen the Truman Show? In this 1998 movie, Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, an oblivious man whose entire life has been broadcast on television and whose family and friends are all actors. With this movie in mind, doctors have found patients who display what they call the “Truman syndrome,” a delusion afflicting people who are convinced that their lives are secretly playing out on a reality TV show. This is a combination of mental illness and pop culture. Read the full story here.

• The millions of cars on this planet and their emissions exacerbate global warming. One earth-friendly car made the first 32,000-mile journey around the world to convince the U.N. and others of its capabilities. It was completely solar-powered. The 36-year-old Swiss schoolteacher and adventurer who made the 17-month trip says we can reduce emissions by 100%. Read more here.
  

Reclaiming Christmas

We’ve got to get Christmas back. Not that it actually went anywhere. It’s just that it’s gotten way out of hand lately as we’ve let all the holiday celebrations overshadow what we’re actually supposed to be celebrating. You probably heard about the Wal-Mart employee who was trampled by shoppers rushing the front door on Black Friday last week. But did you hear about how some of those shoppers then refused to leave that store as it was being closed due to the death? They said they’d been in line for hours and were there to shop, no matter who was killed in the process.

Does anyone else see what’s wrong with this picture? Isn’t it ironic that the holiday that’s supposed to celebrate the birth of our Savior incites such a frenzy in shoppers bent on getting that “perfect” gift that someone ends up dead? When do we, as Christians, step in and say, “We’re sorry, World, but this is not what Christmas is about!”

Then again, it’s easy to point fingers and spout out that Jesus is the reason for the season, meanwhile being offended that someone wished you a “Happy Holidays” instead of a “Merry Christmas.” But how often do you let the thought of gift-purchasing, party-going, and time off from school overwhelm your own sense of awe at the actual meaning of this holiday? When you think about Christmas, where does your mind go?



My mind kind of settles on the decorations, sadly. I was decorating my house for Christmas last night, and as I ate breakfast this morning, I was admiring the sparkliness of it all. I felt like Christmas cheer had finally settled upon me. Then it hit me. As I had been decorating, my primary thoughts had been about how much a friend of mine would love the silver reindeer I’d bought or how disappointed I was that my fireplace didn’t have a mantle that I could hang my stocking from. Hello!? Is that stuff even important? I didn’t even have a NATIVITY SCENE in my apartment to remind myself the real reason I’m even celebrating this particular holiday. I’d once again managed to take something sacred (Christmas, not decorating) and somehow twist it so that it’s just as much about the food, the décor, and the parties as it is about Jesus.

Right then, I prayed and ask that God give me a new sense of awe of Christmas. Of the miracle that He provided. Of the meaning of His Gift. If you too are realizing that you want to shift your focus this Christmas back to the One who started it all, then turn to page 8 of this month’s issue of ec for some ideas on how to do that.

Start now. Don’t let Christmas sneak up on you. And that way, when Christmas afternoon comes and everyone else is complaining of that letdown that occurs once all the gifts have been opened and the anticipation is over, you’ll recognize that Christ’s first coming is not something that you just celebrate while the Christmas decorations are up. It’s a gift you can be grateful for all the time.

ec fiction contest: Time's almost up!

Your chance at seeing your name in print (in ec) is almost gone! So send us your submissions for the ec fiction writing contest. Here's all the info you'll need!

A baby born in Bethlehem

About a month ago, my family celebrated the birth of the first grandchild. My brother and sister-in-law welcomed their new addition, Eli, to the family and life as we know it changed for the better. There's nothing like holding that sweet baby and a special joy when he grabs onto your fingers and holds on for dear life. He'll be a month old this week, and from the first minute I held him, I knew without a doubt that he was a gift straight from God.

But that thought also led me to think about another gift from God: His Son, Jesus. As I held my nephew some 3 days after his birth, I was struck with how tiny he was. Fragile. Breakable. Unable to care for himself. Vulnerable.

Those thoughts led me to think about Jesus. Yes, I've known the Christmas story since I was just a little older than Eli. I know about Mary and Joseph, the donkey ride to Bethlehem, the birth in a stable. I know all of that, but as I held Eli, I was struck by the vulnerability and fragile nature of God's plan for our salvation.

God's plan included Jesus being born to a virgin in Bethlehem, welcomed by lowly shepherds, and cradled in Joseph's worn carpenter's hands. Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby, just like us. He came to walk among us, to be vulnerable and fragile . . . just like us.

Christmas is about love, God's love for us and His plan to be in eternal relationship with us. Eli has taught me about the depth and scope of God's love. It's easy to say that Christmas is about love, but this is a kind of love in which God wraps Himself in flesh and comes to our world to live among us, share in our sorrows, temptations, and the everyday drudgery of life. Christmas is about Jesus making Himself vulnerable and fragile so that we—who don't deserve it—could be in relationship with Him and truly know God. Christmas is about a God who was willing to give Himself up for us.

So be vulnerable and fragile this Christmas. Let the true meaning of the season pour over you and celebrate that this year.