Double Theaters and sitting next to a cutie

I seem to remember going to a movie where I was super early and so I went to another room that had a before-the-movie type of party. I stayed at the party way too long and the movie started. It was a major movie, and it must have been opening night or something, so I ran into the theater that was dark by then. I could not find my seat. I decided to walk all the way up to the top row that felt like it was 200 feet high, and I got dizzy. I must not have realized that I get scared of heights. I worked my way down a few flights.  I found two open spots. I asked if they were taken. There were two ladies on either side.

One girl said Yes, they were taken, and I asked, Both of them?  The other girl knowing I needed a spot said, No, just that one, so I sat down. Where we were sitting, we had side seats. It must have been Christmastime because our side seats were being blocked by fake plants with Christmas lights on them. I was annoyed until I saw that there was another projector going on the side we were facing. (Don't ask me why they had side-seating)

Halfway through, I realized that Pixar, my dog, was getting restless and needed to go out. He was in the theaters with us and was walking all around the place. I was worried that he would have an accident on the theater floor. So, I quietly took him out the back way. He did his business, and then we couldn't get it.

Then, I realized, as you may have by now, that this was all my dream from last night.

Did I trick ya into thinking it was real.

Online Find and Plans for the future

How hard is it to find something online? Well, usually, I am super quick and can find pretty much anything, but this morning I must be off my game.
At the Paws N Shop, (My fav Christmas Shop in CO) I found some parts to a set of hand/kitchen/whatever towels that were red with reindeer on them, one for each of the 12 reindeer. I figured I could go online and find the same thing and hopefully find the whole set (this was not a full set at Paws because it is a thrift store).

Not finding what I want though. Maybe I will go do more Recon today and see if I can get more info- a manufacturer or name for the set. Who knows.


On a short side note, I know you are all looking forward to my 50 days of Christmas blogging, but I did that last year, so you can just go read those again. I am planning on doing 25 PICTURES of Christmas instead this year. I might change my mind, but I think that should be fun if I decide to do it.

Not a Fan

I was amazed yesterday as I was shopping. How could a store such as that charge those kinds of prices. Its ridiculous. How do they stay in business? I certainly got out of there without buying anything.
I am talking about the Cash Connection, a Pawn Shop based in Central Oregon. The company started in Bend and took over the Redmond Pawn as well. I was shopping in Redmond, at the former bowling alley, funny huh.
Occasionally, I like to go to the pawn shops to see what I can find. Often times, I get a dvd or two. This time, I was just browsing for something to do. I was appalled at the prices I saw for electronics and junk. I just recently bought a Portable Power Tool set brand new for $130. It came with four tools and two battery packs and a charger. I saw this SAME EXACT set they were trying to sell for $89. Now, if this was brand new at the Pawn with no marks ect, I would probably have been bummed I did not go there first, but this was in horrible condition. It looked like each piece was taken, dragged in the mud, used hard and put away wet, and drained of all use. There would be NO WAY I would get this set in that condition for that price. Maybe for $50 or less. Luckily, I have my set already.

That was the same with pretty much everything in the CC. You are not paying much less for a lot worse quality. Not a fan of the CC.

Jesus Freaks that Would Rather

I was super excited after Awana last night. First off, it was the first day of my after-school teaching program that I am doing... one hour a day, Sports and Music K-2. Well, I did not have any kids yesterday for my first day because they had small numbers to start and then will later open it up to others, (and because one of the offerings was Karate- I would choose Karate over sports). So, I used my first day to help organize the music supplies that my sister and I will be using.

Then, I rushed to Bend (this was in Terrebonne) to get to Awana, just barely not on time. We had some fun games, handbook time, and council. It was a great night because it was the first of Bring a Friend. One of my students at Awana brought a friend and she was explaining what was happening each time to her friend as we were doing things. I was really appreciative right before council time when she told her friend "This is my favorite part, Would You Rather and Jesus Freaks" What she was referring to was my weekly intro and outro. I always start off the council with a book of Would You Rather questions that I have. They are a great way to get to know the kids more and super fun. Would you rather be bald or not have toes.... ect.
And then the outro is Jesus Freaks, a book compiled by DC Talk about Martyrs. The first week I brought this out, I was a little nervous because these are 5th and 6th graders, and the book is stories about people dying for their faith, but it turns out that the students love them and look forward to them. One young lady even was able to purchase her own book and she brought it last night and followed along while I was reading. I am so happy that things are going well with these special times in the Awana Council time.

Stars and Mexico

Two topics of discussion today.
First off, I noticed after my HUB College Group last night, that it was imperative that I go in my hot tub after group. You may wonder why it was imperative. Well, it was because I looked up into the sky and saw the amazing beauty of God's Creation, the stars. They were beckoning me to stare at them for hours, so I knew that the Hot Tub was a great choice. As I was out there, I thought of something I would love to experience- being in a hot tub watching a clear, starry sky in the middle of nowhere, where there is no traffic sounds, (or any sounds for that matter) no lights, and complete darkness. It would be best to be in the middle of a forest too.

After the hot tub time, I went inside to watch some Office episodes. I watched the Christening Ep from season 7 where CiCi gets Christened at church and the whole office goes. Michael gets excited about it and even gets on a bus to go to Mexico to help orphans with a college group.
I assume that this episode made me dream weird. I dreamed that my parents moved to Mexico and could not find work so my mom went to be a servant at a house. I learn of this and go down to find them. When I get to the place that mom was supposed to be, they say she moved and did not have any address. I lost my parents and they were being held against their will... weird right?

Will there ever be an end to "Fast"

I am a fan of fast cars and adrenaline-pumping, don't-slow-down-driving, and all that IS The Fast and the Furious series. I have every movie on DVD or Blu and really enjoy watching them. Did you know there are Five of the them;
The Fast and the Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Fast and Furious
and now the most recent- Fast Five.

Now, I like the franchise, they are great movies (maybe a little bit too much girly skin at times... did I say Maybe?) but at Five in the series, I would think they would run out of things to drive for. This last movie seemed to be the last... talking of one last heist... go away forever... ect. Well, I assumed it would be, until last night.


I watched Fast Five and at the end I let the credits roll because I was busy doing other things (on my computer, of course) and I found out that they had a little ending teaser for yet ANOTHER Fast and Furious movie. I have to say, I am a bit excited for it, but MOSTLY just sad that these writers cannot find a way to end a movie franchise like this. I guess they just feel, we are making so much money with the franchise, why stop. In some ways, I agree with them, if they are making good money and people still want more of the same thing, then go for it, but why not come up with a new, fresh idea.


That's just my two cents.

POP POP!

"I think that followers of Christ began to realize some time ago, perhaps subconsciously, that more and more people were pursuing God through the culture. We entered a season of boycotts, petitions, and black lists. Like an animal looking for its next meal, the church was driven blindly and obsessively by two primary goals.
First, protecting ourselves from the culture at all costs. So rather than preparing our children to engage, discern, and make good choices, we put our hands over their eyes and our fingers in their ears. However, through the internet and news media, the culture was still able to invade our homes. Unfortunately our kids were ill prepared to deal with it.
Our second goal was to use our combined Christian power to legislate and pressure the culture to change to reflect our values. But society has changed little and our efforts have served to further ostracize us and give every follower of Chirst the feared stereotypical tag of extremist or fundamentalist."
-Pop Goes the Church P.35&6

I have just recently started reading a book that I gave to my father as a gift and then stole from him. The book is Pop Goes the Church by Tim Stevens. This book came out a few years ago and I was intrigued by the use of Pop culture in the church. Is is okay to use culture? Is it bending and skewing the Word? From my perspective, at least so far, I believe that Pop Culture is a great way to engage the community and make Church and fun and exciting place to be, not a boring sermon that puts people to sleep.
When I read the above quote yesterday, it resonated with me so much that I just HAD to write a posting about the words. Read it again... Powerful huh?!

Should we (as Christians) be protecting ourselves from Culture? Is our culture so bad? Does the Bible not say Be in the world but not OF the world. We should be relevant to our culture or there will be no way to connect with those of whom are not in our "christian bubble". How can we "Walk Across the Room" when we do not have anything in common with those around us.

I have known many parents who protect their children the way described- plugging ears and hands over eyes. Does that help the child? They will grow up, get out in the world and know nothing of the world and get a culture shock. Some of those children will grow up and become adolescents and find they do not enjoy hands over their eyes and rebel from parents and become even more worldly than if they were just exposed to parts of culture.

What about the Second Goal?! How does that make you feel? How would we feel if we lived in a place where we were the majority, but the minority with different religious views were trying to legislate their own values so everyone would have to follow. I guess that is why I am semi-happy about the separation of Church and State. And, as it says, that second goal has not worked well for us and just puts up a bigger wall for those who are not a part of the "Group".

We, as christians, need to work more at being in the world. We need to rub shoulders with the unchurched and unchristian. I am speaking largely to me. At my HUB College group last week we talked about this very idea because we go to so many church events that sooner or later we have not outside-of-church-friends. Lord, I pray that I will work harder at developing those friendships outside of church.

In case you know the Title reference, thanks for reading because you thought it had to do with Magnatude  from "Community". If you didn't get the reference, it is a saying that one random character says in a tv show. (Putting that Pop Culture reference in there)