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I ran into this article the other day, this is what I call creative marketing.

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Merry Christmas Everyone

It was the day after Christmas at a church in San Francisco. The pastor of the church was looking over the crèche when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. He hurried outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant Jesus.

So he walked up to the boy and said, "Well, where did you get your passenger, my fine friend?"

The little boy replied, "I got Him at church."

"And why did you take Him?"

The boy explained, "Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told Him if He would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give Him a ride around the block in it."

A Christmas Story

When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her Mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heavens knows where.

More stress.

Then, when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys.

So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa! Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?"

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Betcha didn't know that!

I love this...

Is the "Big Bang" a Bust?

Go Ben

God Bless America and God Bless Ben Stein.

Reflection

A milestone has been reached. We get so few as adults, so it is nice when they happen. Paradox, the church Ruth and I have dedicated our time and money to, has reached its first birthday. It was a success, not only in numbers but we as a church had accomplished some of what we sought to do. So with the celebration still fresh on my mind I took the opportunity to reflect upon where my family and I were, not only spiritually, but emotionally, and relationally as well.

This past year has been a blessing, I am not going to ignore the hard times, we have had plenty. But our relationship, between Ruth and I, has grown stronger. We have have grown closer to God, and Kirsten is starting to learn who God is. My personal journey has me looking more deeply at this God/man we call Jesus. I am studying not only Jesus and his teachings but the culture in which he chose to live in. In my opinion, we can not know what Jesus is truly saying at times if we do not know who he was speaking to. I grew up in a church where I was told what to believe, and that it was ok to just come on Sundays and Wednesdays, get lectured to and go home with warm fuzzy feelings. I was also told that if I ran into hard times it was because I did something wrong and God was punishing me. What a crock of bull. Jesus told his disciples, including you and me, to follow him, but where did Christ go? To the cross. To his death. What makes us think that if we follow him we will not face the same. Every disciple met some grisly end. When Jesus predicted Peter's death he didn't want to accept it. As with most churches, that is too much, God is asking too much. I do my time. I witness. I sing in the choir. I read my Bible. Is that not enough. No. That is not what Jesus has called for us.

There is a movement, it has been around for a very long time, and not to many people walk it. Some call it the "Barbarian Way," others, "The Third Way." I call it simply "Jesus' Way." My trials exist cause I choose to walk this path. No more will I or my family sit in a pew and thank God for our "Fire Insurance" and go home feeling everything is good. To call myself a Christian yet not do what Jesus taught or said to do. Nor will you ever see me judge someone for their lifestyle or choices. We are here to serve, to love God, to love people. To walk the narrow path, the road less traveled.

God is moving and I am following as closely as I possibly can.

KOTOR MMO?

A couple of years ago BioWare announced that they were entering the MMORPG(Massive Multi-player On-Line Role Playing Game) industry. Of course this made Blizzard, (of World of Warcraft fame), and Turbine, (of DnD online fame), a little nervous. BioWare, in my opinion, has developed the best RPGs in recent years. With, Neverwinter Nights, Balders Gate, and Knights of the Old Republic, to name a few. After the announcement everything went quiet, until recently. BioWare just opened an office in Austin Texas for their new MMO department, and they are keeping tight lipped on the goings on there.

BioWare has the rights to DnD's most famous campaign world, Forgotten Realms, and the rights to Starwars. Lucas Arts has been rumored to be looking for someone else to produce an online game with the license. Could this mean a Knights of the Old Republic MMO? G4 TV's show XPlay just broadcasted last night that KOTOR is more likely than DnD's Forgotten Realms. I'd be fine with either, but I would drop WoW in a heart beat if it were to be a KOTOR MMO.