H: Um, Mama.  I was thinking about something that was just breaking my head.
M: Yes, what is it?
H: I noticed it is people who don’t have arms or legs, or that guy who sings “Remind Me Who I Am” who are able to see God’s blessings and all the good things.  They are able to talk to other people about God.
M: That’s true.
H: Um, so there is a question that has been breaking my head.
M: Yes?
H: Why is it that people like me who have arms and legs have a hard time seeing all the blessings?
M: Hmm..
H: I mean, do we have to have a heart with just 3 chambers or no arms or legs to see God’s blessings?

So deep, she’s breaking MY head.

5 Tips When Communicating With Women and Men – Nothing new here. You’ve heard it all before. It’s only recently that I realized how dramatic the differences truly are. I struggle/resonate with #2, #3 and #5 on both lists.

Foster’s emotional response to new NFL contract – “When you start comparing yourself to another man’s mirror, that’s when those negative thoughts start creeping in. My journey isn’t anybody else’s journey.”

Drunk Monkeys

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Wendy’s, Small Moments, And Big Attitudes - “The small moments of our lives are the things that make up the big moments.  We may feel like we exist to create big moments for ourselves, our family, and the people we interact with, but that is actually such a small part of our existence.”

100-Year-Old Couple Celebrates Love on Valentine’s Day - ”Being in love moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep it.”

Can I Have Your Number – this is from a while back but it’s still HILARIOUS.  Sorry, they disable embedding so will have to following the link out to YouTube.

I can’t believe it’s been another week!  Time goes by way too quickly.  Down time has been hard to come by these days and as a result what little time I do have left is spent recovering from the busyness of life.  I pray that things might slow down a little so that I can just be – without having to do something or be somewhere.  I hope to be able to sit down and write some original stuff as opposed to just these quick hit posts.  Until that happens these sporadic and, as is the case with this week’s, late Friday Faves will have have to suffice.

“Good” as defined by God - “But I’ve lived long enough in this wheelchair to know that sometimes our idea of good is very different from God’s.” – Joni Eareckson Tada

John Piper’s Unexpected Career in Hip Hop – Take a listen to the music.  It is good, right and God honoring.  What really caught my interest was the comments section where pharisaical visitor “acts2325″ rejects the entire genre of rap as vulgar, debased and unfitting for Christians to have any part it.  Nonsene.

Books of The Bible  – Saw this off Tim Challies‘ blog earlier this week. Neat.

Walk Off The Earth – This was on repeat nonstop last night! They’ve got some pretty unique stuff.  HIGHLY addictive.

Are You Willing? – A good word from Tim Schraeder when you feel like you don’t have what it takes.  I needed this.

How To Eat Food – For a chuckle, a few illustrations on the proper way to eat food.

Sex, Marriage & Fairytales - Jefferson Bethke bringing spoken word on marriage.

Amanda & Jacob – love.it.  an amazing job from the guys at Paperback Films.

Bloodlines – If you haven’t seen it already, Piper is offering his latest book “Bloodlines” as a free download. It’s nothing new since he always offers all his books for free download at desiringgod.com but given that we just remembered MLK, the free PDF was all the rage this week.

Paddling After Jake and Myrtle – encouraging word when so much around me seems broken. It’s my plea that I might one day might have this kind of marriage.

You Never Marry The Right Person – Some sage advice from the wise Tim Keller on our concept of marrying right.

Missing Mike – Tim Challies reflects on missed opportunities with his friend Mike.  Oh, how many Mikes I have let walk right by!

When Your Preacher Is Not John Piper – this, as a result of my own immaturity, is really tough for me.

Pelicans and Flying Rays – this is pretty cool, take a look…

Marriage is more than your love for each other. It has a higher power, for it is God’s holy ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race until the end of time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to His glory, and calls into His kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and all mankind. -Bonhoeffer

You don’t marry 1 person; you marry 3: the person you think they are, the person they are, & the person they’re going to become as a result of being married to you. -Richard Needham

Can you guess where my mind has been at?

Indian Jingle Bells – just as it sounds. warning: kind of addictive.

The Story of Festivus – for those of you not familiar with Festivus, take a listen to the history as told by Frank Costanza.

Hugh Laurie’s Protest Song – and not inline with the Christmas theme but still relevant to our day and time.

Midnight in the Bedroom of Good and Evil – That which has been said before is said again in a fresh way because we still don’t get it. What does it mean to really love?

Driving Over Concrete Blocks – just watch. really short. it’s pretty awesome.

Mini Martial Arts – these kids are deadly.

Devastating Explosions – yeah, it’s just as the name implies. It’s a guy thing.

Piper on Interacial Marriage – AMEN!! Passionate about this good word.

Where the hell is Matt? – just watch it, it’s pretty awesome.

Address is Approximate – stop motion photography and Google Street view come together for something very cool.

Bob Costas on NFL Celebrations – “We live in a culture that grows more stupid and graceless by the moment.”

God With Us – an Advent video from the Village Church.  Love it.

Only Trusting In God Can Keep Me From Freaking Out - it’s not so much my exhausting list of things to do that freaks me out – it’s the expectations that others have of me that overwhelm me.  I don’t stand a chance taking them on, on my own.

Gospel + Poetry + Theater

Frog + Dragonfly = FAIL. 10 seconds of coolness.

Rest In Peace:  What does it even mean!? – I’ve wanted to write on this for a while now but every time I think of it I figure it’d be inappropriate as it usually follows a flurry of “R.I.P.” status updates I see on Facebook.  Barnabas Piper addresses this issue well in this short article on resting in peace.

Prayer About Approval Suck – praying away the suck that is people pleasing. “It’s wrong—it’s idolatrous to give anybody the power to make us through their affirmation, or destroy us by their rejection.”

Marcel With Shoes – a new Marcel video.

“Background” by Lecrae – another music video from Lecrae, one of my faves.

5 Signs of Spiritual Maturity - “When a four year old dons a cape and wears his underwear over his pants, claiming x-ray vision, it’s cute. When his dad does that, it’s concerning (or certifiable).”   #Humbled #DesperateForSteak

C’mon Talk - Dude has sick skills – stuck on replay for me. Dumb that I can’t embed it here so you’ll have to click through for the video but y’all come on back ya hear…

You Are Not So Smart (Procrastination) [3 mintues] – one of the most engaging videos I’ve ever seen.

Remind Me Who I Am, Jason Gray – “When my heart is like a stone and I’m running far from home, remind me who I am.”

Jacob Wrestles - What they didn’t tell you in Sunday school about the night Jacob wrestled the angel. (via @HarrisJosh)

The World of Megachurches [Infographic] - I wasn’t sure how I felt after seeing this.  It was a mix of interest and frustration.  Ultimately, it falls short without a maturity/discipleship graphic.

Camping Apologizes - Admittedly, I’m not convinced, given his apology, that he realizes how detrimental his “prophecies” were to his listeners.  He may very well be sincere – I don’t judge that – it just seems he’s still missing something.  Anyway, since I posted several articles highlighting his flubs I felt that I should also post this.

Gene Simmons Gets Married -  I admit it.  I used to watch the Gene Simmons Family Jewels.  I found the “What does this wedding mean to you?” thoughts from his kids interesting.

Old Guys Talk Marriage - It’s good to sit under wise, Godly men who’ve been there and done that.

Adopting Two Cute Kids from Ethiopia – This video made me smile.

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”   -John Newton

Anyway, with all that said here a few videos that I know should wreck me and change me more than they do right now…

Maurice Johnson – I’m sharing this for one reason: Everyone has a story, if we’re willing to listen. [7 minutes]

Francis Chan on the Middle Road – Convicting. There are times when I relegate Scripture to a game of “Memory” as opposed to “Follow The Leader” as Jesus commands. [4 minutes]

Ed’s Story – Ed Dobson talks about life with ALS and his battle to make the most of the life he’s been blessed with.  Starts a little slow but worth your while. [10 minutes]

Trusting God with Your Heart and Your Future – I love Scotty Smith’s prayers, they tend to coincide beautifully with stuff I’m going through.  ”…trusting you to be the God who opens doors we cannot shut, and the One who shuts doors we cannot open…”

Jeff & Cheryl Scruggs Video [8 minute] – This gives me hope and reminds me that God is a God who redeems.

“Desperate” by Lecrae – There aren’t many Christian songwriters putting out lyrics that are this honest.  I love what he’s doing for Christian music and for the hip-hop culture.

Verge 2012 – I’m thinking about going to this conference.  The theme and vision excites me.  Anyone else interested?

“If we don’t stop and examine the things we caught and the things we were taught, and if we don’t use Scripture to form our own convictions and arrive at a vision for our homes and lives, we will automatically default to our parents’ (or our culture’s) ways of doing things — especially in times of crisis or creeping normalcy. When we don’t form convictions based on the Word, we’ll experience the consequences of a life lived by default.”

*Parenthetical text added by yours truly

If we claim to love Jesus we live a life wrestling with ourselves and our world, else we’re just existing by default.

Examine Thy Father and Mother - the above quote is from this article, highly recommend. “…Scripture must become not just a go-to book for answers, but the lens through which we see the world. It needs to shape our worldview from beginning to end. And part of the way that happens is that we bring things we’ve always accepted, or things we’ve always reacted against, and we search God’s Word to discern good and evil in these things.”

God, Happen To Us! – “It struck me recently that I am all about praying for things that I am not willing to personally invest in…I believe that honest prayer is willing to grow legs.”

Bloodlines – An 18 minute documentary where John Piper discusses wrestling with the status quo as it pertains to racism in the 1950s and 1960s. If you don’t watch it now, bookmark it for later. Well worth your time.

…I love that his mother was willing to rebel against the culture of her day.
…I love the story of how he came to pastor his church.
…I love that he still lives in the same house and still walks to church.
…I love that his commitment to choosing love through the adoption of his daughter.

Mumford & Sons cover “Come Thou Fount” – one of my favorite bands of all time, one of my favorite hymns.

Anybody Know What Love Is? – “In one high bound it (love) has overleaped the massive wall of our selfhood; it has made appetite itself altruistic, tossed personal happiness aside as a triviality and planted the interests of another in the centre of our being.” – C.S. Lewis

Abandon Retirement – John Piper smashes the American Dream.  I understand this in my head but if I’m honest part of me still lusts for the comfortable, luxurious life. Praying against my tendency to find security in things and defining success by comfort.  I don’t want to waste my life.

Pumped Up Kicks Liquid Dancing - I wish I could do this. So sick.

Why The Missional Movement Will Fail  - Want to know what I’ve been thinking about over the last several months?  It’s this very thing.  I’m still thinking – What is a Christian?  What is a disciple?  Can one really be a Christian without being a disciple?  To what degree does growing in maturity play into this concept?  Also check out Part 2 of this article.

A Prayer for Finishing Well in the Gospel with Our Friends - See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Ikea’s Man Land - I don’t know if I should laugh out loud at the the fact that “Man Land” is actually real or cry at the ridiculous “boys with facial hair” that this service encourages. Either way, grow up stupid and just walk the store with your woman. Be a man.