The 2nd Annual Eggy Awards!

Here is my list for 2008 for my favorite pieces of art in film, music, and television. Now last year I had much more bills so I spent much less on entertainment and this list only covers the things I saw or purchased. And the winners are…

Movies:

5. Kung Fu Panda

I had no expectation for this little kids movie when I saw it and ended up having a blast with it. It’s your average coming of age story but told in a hilarious creative way and it was a fun 90 minutes.

4. Be Kind Rewind

Great movie for all movie lovers out there! At its core though is just a small movie about the communities we live in and the stories that we are living ourselves.

3. The Dark Knight

To me this is the best comic book movie of all time and a great crime drama as well. As good as everyone was in this movie they were all over shadowed by Heath Ledger’s Joker. I love the feeling you have when you are watching it for the first time and have no clue what’s coming next from his character.

2. Slumdog Millionaire

I absolutely loved this movie and highly recommend you go see it. It starts about an Indian kid from the slums and ends up being the best feel good movie I’ve seen in awhile.

1. WALL- E

This is my favorite movie of the year because I think it’s going to end up as a classic. It’s a great love story and science fiction picture with amazing heart and emotion and Pixar does this with robots that can’t even talk and I think that takes brilliance.

Music:

5: Coldplay- Viva La Vida

Your typical amazing musical album from Coldplay with sub-par lyrics. I did appreciate the theme of the album having a beginning and an end, and for that this just may be my favorite of theirs along with A Rush of Blood to the Head.

4: The Myriad- With Arrows, With Poise

I had never heard of this band and gave it a listen and was pleasantly surprised. I really like their sound and think they can keep getting better and better. Look out for them in the future!

3. Andrew Peterson- Resurrection Letters Volume II

I have really become a fan of his art. Lyrically he is becoming one of my all time favorites and this record just proves that. Plus I love how he writes a record called Volume II before he has even written and released volume I.

2. Jason Upton- 1200 Feet Below Sea Level

I was blessed this year to see him twice in concert. I love his music but most important is his heart behind it all and the love he has for God. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone in which this is so clear and powerful.

1. Jon Foreman-  Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer Eps

I loved Switchfoot back in the day and Jon’s solo eps are amazing. He sings very prophetically with songs like Instead of a Show, but also manages great songs about love, personal growth, and faith. Love it!

Television:

5. The Cleaner

Great show on A&E about a drug addict who encounters God and gets set free so he can help others get cleaned up. One of the only shows I’ve ever seen in which the main character prays on camera and it’s not seen as a joke.

4. 30 Rock

I love watching comedies like the Office, Scrubs, and the Flight of the Conchords but right now I think this is the best written comedy on television. There is a reason why it’s won best comedy over and over. I love the characters and think it’s an instant classic.

3. Friday Night Lights

My last years favorite had an ok 2^nd season but a great start to the 3^rd season. I still think that the interaction between Coach and his wife is the most realistic husband and wife relationship in television history. They also had the most realistic church services in television. Love the characters and think you should start watching it if you never had.

2. Battlestar Galactica

Ok so I seriously have been trying to avoid this show because I thought it was too nerdy like Stargate or a bad Star Trek series, but I finally made myself watch the first season on dvd and oh my this show is amazing! I watched the rest of the seasons which kept getting better and better and now I’m ready to watch the final season starting on Friday. Seriously though don’t miss this show because you don’t like sci fi, its one of the best dramas ever!

1. Lost

O how I love Lost! This last season probably was its best and it just keeps getting better since they announced the end of the show next year. If you’ve never seen it then invest in the dvds and have hours and hours of great entertainment. O and I cant wait till next Wednesday for season 5!

                                   Congrats to all the winners for the best award ever!

Currently Listening Viva La Vida By Coldplay see related

100th Episode Spectacular!

Well after 100 blogs I have written in 3 years I wonder how much I’ve changed and grown. I came upon this second blog that I wrote way back on June 9^th 2005 to see that some things change and some stay the same. I’m still getting Coldplay albums on the day they come out, still getting sunburned, and still in shock about how God does things. So after three years of being molded continuously by God I have learned that I could still use some more of God’s sand paper. Reading the last paragraph of this makes me laugh and makes me want to build a flux capacitor and travel back in time to tell Brian of 2005 to just wait and see what is next. Instead I’ll just remind Brian of 2008 that there is no telling where I can be in three years so you better stop, breathe in, and say viva la vida!

Living in Technicolor,

Brian

So like a good consumer I am I had to go out of my way to purchase the new Coldplay album the day it came out. I don't know what it is about this band but I am already addicted to this cd. Maybe because it is so fun to make believe I have a high voice like Chris Martin and howl alongside of him. You should here me howl to the song What If, I could serenade anybody. The music on this album is amazing, but their lyrics never really did anything for me and it's the same on this one.

Anyways I have a horrible sunburn on my arms and back from being an idiot and thinking Guatemalans don't get sunburns, but they do. It didn't help that I took the kids from the church summer camp to the Fort Worth Zoo all day in a nice freakin HOT summer day with kids jumping on my back. I can't complain too much because how many jobs out there do you get paid for having fun.

I was having a talk with my roommate, (Peter Gonzales) and we discussed what our reaction would have been like if God told us 5 years ago what exactly he was going to use us for. God is awesome in how He works in our lives progressively until one day we look back or read our journal and are blown away by how many things He teaches us along the way. I was thinking about this today also while I was driving the van back full of kids after I closed my eyes for a second almost falling asleep. But isn't God awesome in how He molds us if we allow Him to. All I know is that I have alot of rough edges that will be smooth one day and i'm ready for the journey.

Anyways I need to go bathe myself in aloe vera gel and jam out to Coldplay. May God bless you.

Currently Listening Spring and Summer By Jon Foreman see related

A Father's Invitation

 TV Fathers when my parents grew up.

TV Fathers when I grew Up

TV Fathers of Today

My point is not to be against any of these shows but to point out the cultural idea of American fathers over the past half decade. Statistics show 11 to 1 that the fathers on TV shows today are more likely to be the inadequate  parent. I know that these are just TV shows but I think it does show us a trend in our culture of weak fathers.

I just believe that fathers are meant for so much more then just comic relief. I believe that becoming a father is an invitation in learning how to love like God. When you can love someone more then you love yourself. When you love someone so much that your own will and purpose becomes second to theirs. That even if that son or daughter were to walk away from you and be that prodigal you would still run up to them with a hug when they came back.

Loving like that is hard though isn’t it? This is love beyond all the lust or loving to get something in return. This is true love! It breaks my heart to see men get this invitation to love like God and not take advantage of it. I know I am a product of knowing the love of my heavenly Father because of my earthly one illustrating it for me.

The only two things that can make me cry is me thinking of my father and the idea of myself being a father. I pray that when I get the chance I take the opportunity to show what true love is to my children, because if I can do that then I can illustrate who God is to them. Up till then though I’ll keep practicing by learning what it means to love my neighbor!

“I am learning to be a father but I don’t know how

To be willing to care for others more than I love myself”

Jason Upton

Happy Father’s Day,

Brian

Currently Reading A Brief History of Everything By Ken Wilber see related

Love is...

Love is…

I never really read mass emails that people send me but I did read this one and thought it was good. It’s a list of children saying what they think love is and I find it to be something we can all learn from.  I added what I think real love is at the end.

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
  You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving
 cologne and they go out and smell each other.'
 

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody eats most of your
  French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a
  sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of
  kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
  My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop
  opening presents and listen.'

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a
  friend who you hate,'

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
  everyday.'

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still
  friends even after they know each other so well.'

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I
  looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and
  smiling.
  He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

'My mommy loves me more than anybody
  You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he
  is handsomer than Robert Redford.'

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old
 clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little
 stars come out of you.'

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think
  it's gross.'

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if
  you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'

 And the final one
 
  The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was
  an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
  Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old
  gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
  When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little
  boy said,

  'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

In my 26 years of life and in my last decade or so of being grown up I have come to the conclusion that the real answer to this question is that love is…

When you can love like a child!

Child of the King,

Brian

Currently Reading Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals By Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw see related

Forgotten People

I really haven’t blogged in awhile. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to write about but more of personal things that can’t go in public. I do think that I am just now learning what it means to be a pastor a year into it now. The honeymoon period has been over for awhile, but that year sure did go by fast.

Yesterday I started preaching to a retirement center in which I will be doing a service for them twice a month. At first I was hesitate to do this because it already takes a lot out of me to set up and breakdown our church and not to mention preach every week, but I saw that they had a need  so I wanted to bless them. I heard that the church doing the services before would sometimes not show up without even letting them know in advance and that’s not cool.

So yesterday afternoon after a quick fajita lunch after church I traveled to the center and found 40 elderly already sitting and waiting. The majority of them have lived rich full lives but now in this stage it’s these little things that make them happy. Since it was just my father and I doing the service I had to lead the group in a couple of hymns, which is something I don’t usually do, lol. My piano player was in his nineties as well as deaf and blind. He didn’t think it was too funny when I picked the song ‘When We All Get to Heaven’ to sing, lol. After my uncanny lead worshipping skills I spoke for about forty minutes and spent some time praying with them. It was a good day!

I couldn’t help but think how some of them have become a forgotten people. Most of them have gone through watching their spouses and friends pass away. Some have no family and some have family that never come to see them. We live in a culture that asks what can you do for me in order to have value in our society. I just happen to think that God sees things differently and runs His kingdom in a different way. I think if we are going to be a people that are living for God’s kingdom today its starts with going to the hurting, the oppressed, the forgotten people first. Maybe that’s where we have gone wrong and messed up in the past. I was just blessed yesterday to be reminded of that while being a small blessing for them.

Brian

Aka Chicano Glory (my gangsta rap name)