Today is the day for the release of the iPhone 3g and Bible for iPhone and iPod Touch. Watch the demo and download Bible powered by YouVersion.com today.

Happy 4th to all. Hope you are having a great weekend. This message from Andy Stanley continues to speak to me. I hope that it speaks to you this weekend.

Freedom Rings

I was reminded of this today and it really spoke to me. What does it mean to be real? What does it take to be real?

Does The Velveteen Rabbit give us an idea?

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Check out this amazing promo that some guys on the Media Design Team made.

Anything Short of Sin from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.

I was in the store the other day and over heard a conversation. After a brief hi and hello the question was asked  if they still attended church X.  The response was very matter of fact that they now attended church Y. I laughed (to myself) as I usually do when things are sad (not really) and did not give it much thought.  Then today I came across a great blog post from Kelly Adkins.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHURCH HOPPER

Dearest Career Church Hopper:

I met you again on Wednesday, the same person smiling at me through a different face, telling me that you’ve been shopping for churches for months now, and that darn it, you “just can’t find one (you) like.” The music’s too rocky at this one, you said; the preacher too funny at that one. The latest one might make the cut, though: you’d had the pastor and his wife over the previous evening for a little “dinner audition” — your words, not mine — and he said things that made you feel good and comfortable, things that you already agree with, so you’re thinking about sticking around. At the very least, you could get your teaching from this church and your worship from that one.

I’m sure we’ll run into each other again, but before we do, I’d like to suggest some things you could perhaps think about before you move on to the next church, as I’m sure you will, whether this weekend or next year:

Christ didn’t bleed for the Church so you could treat your search for one like an episode of Survivor, deciding who to vote off the island this week.

The Church was not commissioned by Christ to meet your needs. You ARE the Church, and you’ve been commissioned to meet the needs of the world.

Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her (Eph 5:25). Quit treating his bride like a Jesus buffet where you can pick and choose what you like, hedging your bets against the pain and sacrifice of making a commitment.

Per scripture’s instructions to use your gifts in service to the Body of Christ — and its lack of instruction to search for a church that scratches you where you itch — you might want to consider what the Church you’re visiting needs from you, rather than the other way around.

If you only want to hear things you already know and agree with, save your Sundays and talk to yourself in the bathroom mirror.

Sincerely,
The Preacher’s Wife