Awards Announced!

Awards Season is upon us, but with all the hype going to the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, etc. We have forgotten the most important awards of all..."The Daveys"! If you're unfamiliar with "The Davey Awards", it's because I just made it up, but I'm expecting this to get big. There are no committees, no ballots or sealed envelopes, just the winners I appoint based on my own criteria. So...here it goes...announcing The Davey Awards honoring the Best in Ministry, Culture, Politics and Entertainment over the past 12 Months (drumroll please)...

Best Show:
24 (We owe our very survival to Jack Bauer).

Worst Show:
The View (My estrogen levels are so high after watching it, that I actually start lactating).

Best Mini-Series:
John Adams (it made me want to go back in time and wear wooden teeth just for the privilege of fighting for my country. It's truly one of the best films of any genre in recent years).

Best Actor: It's a tie!
Barack Obama (very compelling performance trying to appear more moderate than liberal).
John McCain (very compelling performance trying to appear like he could raise his hands over his head).

Best Actress:
Hillary Clinton (trying to act excited for Obama when he won the election).

Best Book:
The Bible (it wins every year)
Axiom by Bill Hybels (personal development category)
The Shack (Fiction)
The Know-it-all (useless but interesting trivial knowledge category)

Best kids:
Cooper and Connor Willis (like I said...I'm the only one who votes on this!)

Hottest Lady:
Ashley Willis

Sweetest person:
Ashley Willis (congrats on winning two categories!)

Best Church:
Stevens Creek Church (www.stevenscreek.net)

Best Athletic Performance (Wheelchair Division):
Dick Cheney at the Inauguration (he also wins the Hunting Division Category)

Best Awards:
The Davey Awards

Well, that's it for the first annual awards! If your favorites weren't on the list, stay tuned for next year's which promises to be even bigger and better.

Toddlers and Terrorists

I've been watching the show "24" recently which centers around controlling terrorists and my everyday life consists of controlling toddlers and I've noticed that toddlers and terrorists have a lot in common. First off, it's always a bad idea to negotiate with either group...it gives them a false sense of power and it never ends well. Secondly, it's not a good idea to take either one on an airplane. Both groups also tend to scream loudly in languages that don't resemble English. If I didn't love my toddlers so much, I think I would turn them into Jack Bauer and say they pose a threat to national security.

Accountability

The funny thing about accountability is that we need it and we say we want it, but when we actually get it, we usually resent it. Let me give you an example...I recently wrote a blog post documenting my New Year's Resolutions and asking my friends to keep me accountable to follow through on them. Well, I'm only a few weeks into the New Year and I've already fallen off the wagon on at least one of the resolutions which was to consistently write at least two new blog posts per week. I've been called out already by multiple legalistic...urr...I mean "detail-oriented" friends who took my post literally, so I'm posting this to up my weekly average and also to thank my friends for their harassment...umm...I mean gentle encouragment.

Truly, for big things and small things, we need to encourage, protect, challenge, correct and uplift one another. I'm thankful to have jerks...I mean, great friends who do that for me!

"I Deserve it!"

I believe these are the three most dangerous words in the English language. We have become a generation crippled by entitlement. We cling to our rights but shy away from our responsibilities. We fight for our comfort often at the expense of others’ basic necessities. Our Founding Fathers accidentally set the wheels of selfishness in motion with their revolutionary spirit and Bill of Rights. For our new generation, maybe we should revolt against self-focused complacency and draft a Bill of Responsibilities to shift our focus from selfish demands to our selfless duty. We should all be thankful to live in a nation that affords us the freedom to serve a God who offers us grace instead of the punishment we all truly “deserve”.

Run, Forrest, Run!

I love the movie Forrest Gump. In the film, Forrest tells us that whenever he was going anywhere, he was "ruh-nning"! The more I think about it, the Christian "walk" is at times a sprint. When we repent, we're turning from our old messed up ways and sprinting in the opposite direction towards the arms of our Saviour. When we face temptation, we're not called to stand there and contemplate our options...we're supposed to run the other way! The Bible inspires us to "run the good race" and run in a way as to win the prize. In this New Year, be intentional about why you're running, what you're running towards and what your running away from. If you need some extra inpsiration, you can watch clips of Forrest running on YouTube.

New Year's Resolutions!

Happy New Year! 2009 is upon us and today we can look forward to a year rich with possibilities and hope for better times. The new year always seems to bring with it the optimism that we can achieve any goal we set for ourselves. I ate at Waffle House at 1:00am this morning (which I won't do again in the new year) and my friendly-but-toothless waitress and I started talking about resolutions for the new year. She proudly told me that she planned on quitting smoking "right after I finish this pack." I smiled and thought about all the times I had "planned" on doing something good instead of actually doing it. Why wait to finish the pack...start now! So for me, here are a few goals I have for the new year. Note that I say "goals" instead of "resolutions" because goals are precise and measurable which makes fulfilling them more likely. If you'd like to comment, I would love to hear about your own goals so we can all encourage each other to keep them!

*Run a marathon (without dying afterwards).
*Do enough push-ups to firm up my "man boobs"
*Become proficient enough at Spanish that I could order at a Mexican Restaurant and make the server think that I might be his light-skinned, long-lost cousin.
*Spend a minimum of two hours of quality time per day interacting with my kids (I could just say spend "time", but if you don't measure it, then you typically don't follow through).
*Take Ashley out on a hot date every week...no exceptions!
*Read at least 25 books.
*Write a book.
*Post at least two new entries to this blog each week (hold me to it)!