No, no, no
Stick to the stuff you know
If you wanna be cool
Follow one simple rule
Don’t mess with the flow, no no
Stick to the status quo

High School Musical sings of it.  It’s easier, right?  You know it, You understand it. It’s what works. And we really don’t have to think very much about it, do we?

Mark Batterson recently blogged some encouragement to challenge the status quo. There is nothing uniquely special about a change in the calendar for a new year or a new decade, but it does offer the opportunity to evaluate your life spiritually, relationally, physically, emotionally, and intellectually.

No, no, no, mess with the flow and challenge the status quo.

He became what we are, that we might become what He is.

- – John Chrysostom

The blog is shutting down for the remainder of the year.

Please know that you and any holiday programs that you might be offering are in my prayers.

But, also, please know that prayers are being offered that we might all experience the treasure that is our families and that we also might find quiet and peace amidst the insanity of the season.

Might we all join in the angelic praise “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace (and) goodwill towards men.”

Because, the story of God becoming man is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas, friends!

It is a simple little cartoon with a challenging little message.

Christmas is probably not really the way that we think about it, or sing about it: it’s not how we presently imagine it.

So, getting past layer after layer of  “creative license,” the nativity is still very much a tale worth telling…

Two thousand years ago, a Savior was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem.

My Christmas favorites are slightly different, preferring Bing and Danny, Rosemary and Vera of White Christmas over Ralphie of A Christmas Story.

Therefore, it follows that my choice for a favorite Christmas television show is similarly obscure. 

A Wish for Wings That Work brings the characters from Bloom County, Opus the Penguin and Bill the Cat into a Christmas tale of community (dysfunctional and odd though it may be) and redemption (strange as it might seem) to us.

I think this is one of the most beautifully illustrated cartoons, even if it is a story that involves hairballs and transvestite bugs.

This weekend, give yourself a happy 23 minute gift and view it all: Part Two, Part Three

Within the Miller clan, there are a few time honored traditions.  One involves sneaking a recently baked chocolate chip cookie into the stuffing inside a turkey.

Another involves a viewing of White Christmas.  It’s a musical connected to Christmastime.  Yet, I would contend that this is very much not a “chick flick,” but truly a guy movie.

It is a “buddy film” of two song-and-dance guys who, in the end, pay tribute to their former commanding officer from their war days. 

And, it has a slightly spiritual side to it as well.  Here is a simple little song, but one that has truth for us in tough times.

Count Your Blessings.

Yesterday, I went absolutely NO where, tried to walk to a nearby bank but it was closed. Otherwise, no hustle, bustle, or shopping, just chillin’ in some sweat all day

Yesterday, I did some cooking that had NO immediate purpose -  cookies for the holidays, waffles for Christmas morning.

Really, yesterday there was NOthing to really do, I caught myself napping a lot and was off to bed early.

This morning, I looked out the window to realize that NO more snow was falling, accumulating atop of the twenty-three inches that we received.  It might be the old paperboy in me, but I was the first to shovel out of the complex and I live in and hit the road.  NO longer were there gray skies, the sun was rising over the glistening snow.  NO one but the plows and paper deliverers were out on the roads.  The world was fresh and new and the journey into winter held NO disappointments of the past, NO barriers in the present, and NOthing but promise.

O Lord, you are the good shepherd. Rouse your power, and come to save us. Stand firm and shepherd your flock. Look down from heaven, O shepherd of Israel, and see; take care of us, and protect us, your creation.

Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved. Might we remain, for now your greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth. Might we come to do your will, O God. Might we be consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the womb of the blessed Virgin, once for all.

Blessed are those who believed that what was spoken to us by the Lord would be fulfilled. Might we be at peace under the care of the Shepherd.

Two years ago, an angry Italian priest got Red Bull to pull the enclosed commercial on the grounds it is disrespectful to Christianity.

Father Marco Damanti, from Sicily, described the commercial as “a blasphemous act.” He complained that “The image of the sacred family has been represented in a sacrilegious way” and that “Whatever the ironic intentions of Red Bull, the advert pokes fun at the nativity, and at Christian sensitivity”.

As for me, I actually think it is intriguing to actually see the Christmas story reflected amidst the onslaught of Christmas advertising. And, not really understanding a word, I sorta enjoy this version.  But, if you want, here’s the English version as well.