The Beard

So I was looking at this list today of pictures of celebrities that had made "bad choices" in what they decided to wear out in public. For the most part, I don't really care what they are wearing or what not, but this picture of Joaquin Phoenix grabbed my attention. I knew that he had retired from acting to follow a career in music, but I wasn't sure about his new look until I saw this. So It got me thinking about what else he could do with a beard like that. Here is what I thought of.

10) With that beard he could be getting ready to play the Unibomber in some kind of biopic.

9) He could be getting ready to move to Seattle and join a grunge band.

8) He could be heading to the Pacific Northwest to give up both movies and music and become a lumberjack.

7) It could be that he has started trying to live his life according to the Torah.

6) As a supporter of PETA he could be starting a refuge for small animals on his face.

5) It could be that he just really likes being single and would like to stay that way.

4) He is just a really big fan of Cousin IT and plans to enter various Cousin It look-a-like contests.

3) He thinks that the Taliban look is the height of fashion.

2) He is hoping to be part of a relaunch of the old show Grizzly Adams.

1) He's just a really big fan of Jack's beard from the show LOST.

Peace and Love y'all.

Our Vows: Presence

Last week I said that I would write about what the vows of the Methodist Church are, not so much as a Methodist thing, but rather as a Body of Christ thing. I think that it is important to know that when we begin to follow Jesus, there are some things that we should be committed to doing and these seem to be as telling as anything else. Last week was prayer and this week is about our vow of presence.

Hebrews 10:25 says that we "should not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but rather we should let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching." So I've always looked at that as the author saying that we need to not give up meeting together with other followers of Jesus. It's not just about our choosing to follow Him. As one of my former youth ministers used to tell us, this is not a Lone Ranger thing.

Every year that I worked the 6th 7th and 8th Grade Mid-High Camp at Camp Butman there was one rule that was always the same. Every year for 16 years I heard this same thing: If you want to go hiking, make sure that you go in a group of at least three. That way if one of you gets hurt, one person can stay there with them while the other one runs back to get the needed help." It is one of those rules that you hear over and over and you know it by heart and yet it is something that is very important to hear.

We should apply this to our journey with Christ as well. That way when one of us is hurting and confused and not sure which way to go or what to do we have those others who are with us to help us along the way. At the same time by vowing to be present we are there for those who are in need of us. We see at the end of Acts 2 how the early followers of Jesus lived out their faith with each other. They were present and there for each other. There was a sense of community and togetherness and a knowing that when things were hard, as they would be, there would be people there to lean on for that much needed support. That is what it means to make a vow of presence to the Church universal, to the Body of Christ. Peace and Love y'all.

Today

I was thinking a bit about what I could write about today that had to do with pop culture. It seems like there was supposed to be something that was happening today that was going to be a big deal...

That's right today is the day that Barack Obama to the Oath of Office as our 44th President of the United States of America. I think that along with most Americans today I took time to watch the process of the Inauguration take place. It was so very cool to witness this piece of history take place. The grandness of it was incredible. Seeing the cameras pan out over the National Mall and seeing the huge numbers of people who were there spoke to the magnitude of the event.

Rick Warren said his invocation and I was impressed with it. He did just as he said he would I believe and held true to who he is. I know some people felt that maybe he should have used more inclusive language, should have not invoked the name of Jesus, but he said all along that he is a Christian pastor asked to pray and that is just what he did. He prayed as he knew how to pray. It seems that we would not ask a Muslim to not say the name of Muhammad or Allah in a prayer, not to change how they do things or to be more "inclusive" in their wording. The biggest things that I noticed with his prayer were that 1) he ended with the Lord's Prayer, which I wouldn't have thought to do and 2) he sure seemed to have a lot more hair than what I remembered from seeing on those Purpose Driven Life videos.

Joe Biden took his oath as Vice-President. They commented after all was said and done that due to the fact that things were for some reason running behind, when Bush's term was officially over at 12:01 EST, and Obama had not yet been sworn in, Biden would have been the President on a technicality for about 12-15 minutes. Just thought that was interesting is all.

Finally there was the Inauguration of our 44th President. The words of the oath were jumbled a bit and there were a couple of gaps it seemed, but for the most part it went off without a problem. President Obama then took the podium and gave his Inaugural Address. The full text of that can be found here if you missed it or just like to read speeches. In the address he spoke of the greatness of our nation and how we will continue to strive for that greatness and will strive to increase that by reaching out to other countries with an open hand of friendship if they will only be willing to unclench their fists. It was moving to hear him talk of peace and hope. The only thing that I wanted to hear was for him to bust out the line at the end and ask: "Can you smell what Barack is cooking?" That is of course due to the fact that I think he sounds like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson when he really starts getting into what he is saying.

It has been an historical day already. I'm sure that there is much more to come. I feel excited to be a part of this history. If this isn't something that will influence our pop culture then I'm not sure what is. Peace and Love y'all.

Finally!!

Yesterday was Championship Sunday in the NFL. There were two games held and each decided who would play in the Super Bowl taking place in two weeks. The results were somewhat surprising to many people.

In the AFC it was the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens to determine who got to represent that conference in the big game. In what was a game that featured snow, great defense from both teams and some huge hits (the one on Willis McGhee was scary in fact). In the end it was Pittsburgh who earned the ticket to the Super Bowl.

In the NFC we find the bigger and more improbable story of the day. In the match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals, it was the team from the desert who earned their way into the big game. What makes this so improbable and so unlikely is a couple of things: 1) Since the merger of the NFL and AFL in 1970, every team in the NFC except the Cardinals had at least been to the conference championship game; 2) This was only the second home playoff game that the Cardinals had hosted since 1976 I believe; 3) The Cardinals came from the weakest division in the NFC if not the entire NFL, and yet two of the teams that they beat were from what was considered by many to be the strongest division in the NFC and then finally they beat a team that had lambasted them just 6 weeks earlier. The Cardinals are the oldest team in the NFL and yet this is their first Super Bowl.

The match-up between the Steelers and the Cardinals should be a good one on February 1. It is truely David and Goliath. The Steelers are now going to their 7th overall Super Bowl, 5 from which they have emerged as the victors. The Cardinals on the other hand will be looking at having a draft pick in April that is not in the top 10 (virgin territory for this team really). Each team has a quarterback who has won a Super Bowl. Both have defenses that are playing very well right now. It should be a very interesting game come the 1st of February. I am going to go out on a limb and take the underdog for my pick in this game...the Arizona Cordinals will win their first Super Bowl this year, 35-31 and the MVP honors will be split between Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald. Should be a good game. Peace and Love y'all.