Change of Plans

With the reality of my present schedule, ministry life, family life and my work right now in trying to get a small team of teens adults to Kenya, Africa I have decided to extend my hiatus to the summer.

However, this will be a partial hiatus. Instead of publishing daily entries, I will now try to make weekly submissions. Once things begin to subside in the summer I hope to return to daily submissions.

Thank you all for your patience. Please pray for this endeavor to lead a team to Kenya. There is much ahead of us (in particular training and raising the support necessary to get us there). This is a big deal for our small church as we have never in our 100+ year history sent a delegation of teens overseas before (the last group of adults we sent overseas was 17 or so years ago), nor have we actually planted/started another church before - in the U.S. or internationally. Our prayer is that in June we will be able to do this with our first ever delegation of teens!

Thank you in advance for your prayers!
Until next time...
Christian

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HIATUS

Faithful C2 readers: I will be back soon. The tail end of 2009 has been full of ups and downs (I was sick with pneumonia, had several ministry challenges, commitments and more). With the Christmas season here and my increased level of commitments (family and church) I have decided to take a small break from blogging and plan to return in January 2010 (3 weeks away). Thank you for your understanding.

Merry Christmas to you all. Happy New Year.

Let us never forget to thank God for His Grace and to live lives dedicated to loving God with all of our thoughts, actions, desires and more. And when we fall short of doing that, let us turn back to Him who has already given us life and Grace in abundance!
Philippians 3:1-14

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Blog Readers

I am sorry for the delay in posts. I have been battling severe congestion in my chest for the last week and half or more. I'm hoping to be back regularly soon, but until I'm at full health, my posts are going to be a little less "regular". Sorry for the delay in posts... gonna try to post something by tomorrow regarding the Mormon faith, families, culture and morality.

Blessings...
Christian the Christian

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The Delay

Greetings C2 Readers...

I am sorry I have not posted anything new as promised. I returned from the Mission Trip as planned, however, much of our team got sick while in NM and it was passed to me. I am feeling better than I was, but am still battling sinus, ear, throat stuff. I am going to take the rest of this week off and pray I will return Monday with new posts about the world-o-culture and worldview!
Until then...

C2

vacation

In case you haven't noticed, I've been a way a few days. My family is in town visiting and so I am taking some time off with them. I will be back blogging next week. 

See you then!!

Christian the Christian

I'll Be Back...

I apologize but some things have come up in my personal life that need my time and attention. I hope to be back early next week (maybe Monday?) to continue blogging. Thanks in advance for understanding. 

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State of the Blog Address

My son is home from school today so I am not updating my blog with a new entry, per se. Stop by tomorrow... I will be doing will be an inter-blog experiment! My Twitter friend Tami (a worship leader from Illinois) and I will be dialoguing about the state of Christian music, taste/musical preference, worship and more. Check that out sometime tomorrow! Until then... here are some blog highlights:

• Since I started tracking page hits and such (around August of 2008 or so) the C2 blog has had over 2,200 visits. 630+ of which are actually returning readers!

• The C2 blog has been visited by at least one reader from 14 countries!! That is mind boggling! (U.S., U.K., India, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Taiwan, Netherlands)

• The C2 blog got its first award (given by reader Gracie)!

Here are the most popular posts for one reason or another (check them out in case you missed them in the past) - they are still being read even today! Here they are in order of popularity:

High School Musical "Get's Dirty"

Abstinence is Wrong

What Kind of Happy Meals are They Selling?!?!

"WARNING!" "DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" "ALERT! ALERT!" "CODE RED"

Peter Pan, Harold and a Crayon and Heaven

Time to Man Up!

NBC's New Show Steals its Story Straight Outta the Bible

Mom and Dad - Time to Grow Up!

What to Teach Our Children/Teens (About Dating)

Jesus Spinning Vinyl

Interesting Campaign By Skechers


Don't forget to sign up to Follow the C2 Blog on the right (or subscribe to our RSS Feed, also on the right)!!

Again, I created this blog to be a dialogue about culture and our faith, as well as to be a tool for parents in using culture as a conversational point with children and teens regarding their faith. I really had no idea what to expect when I started this ministry, but it has become far bigger than anything I could have imagined! Thanks for stopping by!!!!!

Talk to you tomorrow! :-)

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My Foe Has Won, Yet Again

I apologize, but today has officially slipped through my fingers. I am out of time for putting together a blog entry today, but no worries - I'll have one ready for posting tomorrow! :-) Sorry. I had a lot of things going on here at home and time was my foe... I lost, but tomorrow is a new day!

Until then... Contend for the Faith! (Jude 3)

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I Apologize

Some stuff has come up in the real world that has prevented me from engaging the virtual world of my blog. My wife's grandparents have become quite ill which prompted an unexpected trip to see them and help out this last week. So, needless to say, I have not had a chance to update the blog (nor have I had access to the internet to let you know). 

I plan to post two at once this week to catch up. I'm sorry about that. Also, a side note... I plan to get back to engaging the culture/world around us... so much has happened that I wish I had more time to comment on...

• Bristol Palin's comment that abstinence is not realistic (I beg to differ - it's not easy, but in a world of "fulfill me and my selfish desires above all," that sort of answer is not surprising)
  

• Dustin Lance Black's Oscar acceptance speech for his "Milk" screenplay in which he tells gay children/teens who are told they are "less by their churches, by the government or their families..." is a sad testimony on three fronts. First, the fact that there are churches who do say that. Second, that all churches/Christianity are (is) stereotyped as being homophobic and hateful toward gays. Yes, homosexuality is a sin and it has deep issues within the family, but it is no worse than any other sin (this is a much deeper topic that I cannot possibly grapple with in a few sentences). Third, that churches are so willing to die on the hill of homosexuality and not on the glaring sins present within the walls of the churches or their heterosexual members' lives. I digress... 

• Obama's plans for more funding for faith-based groups/organizations
  

• American Idol and the influx of "worship" or "music" leaders from churches (according to my latest, unofficial count - I believe there are 4-5 in the top 36, maybe more). 
  

• Alex Rodriguez, steroids, baseball and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It seems that easy (and gotta-have-it-now) is the official American standard - no matter the cost. Sad. More could be said, but again I digress.
  

Plus there is more... so much has been happening. I look forward to more dialogue soon. I also think I may begin writing on a more regular basis (than once a week) and begin making the entries shorter. We'll see. 

Look for my next 2 posts to wrap up the series later this week (hopefully by Thursday).

Please remember to pray for both of my wife's grandparents (husband and wife - Milton and Billie)... they are both in the hospital as I type this and have been since last Thursday. 

Also... one last note to my hijacking-blogger wife (for those that missed it, she hijacked my blog and left a very flattering and kind blog entry about me that I was unaware of )... thank you for your amazingly kind and loving words. You humble me. Why you picked me, I'll never know, but I thank God daily that you are my friend, my partner in ministry, my love, the mother of my children and my wife. I pray I make you proud and that God is glorified through our marriage.

  

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Christian the Christian Radio and Books

Ok so it's not really a radio station (it should be!), but I found a sweet internet code that allows me to program my own playlist and post it here on my blog for all to enjoy. :-) So I hope you like the music as you sift throught the blog entries. These songs are, for the most part, some of my favorites with a few scattered throughout that I either like to hear from time to time, or that make my foot tap (I have the episode from Scrubs in my head where Turk tells JD that he's added 'NSync's Bye, Bye, Bye as a ringtone because it makes him want to dance... flash forward to the next scene when he gets a call and all the staff stop what they're doing and break into dance). lol That one made me laugh for days...
Anyway... in addition to the music, I've also a book list of titles that I am currently reading. Enjoy the music, books and blog entries... now if we could only figure out how to serve up tasty, virtual Mochas.... mmmmmmm....

New Entry Coming

I apologize for the delay in posting a new entry, but just wanted you to be aware that I am still ticking and haven't abandoned my blog. :-) I just have a lot going on with ministry right now and haven't had the chance to post anything new. I am working out my next entry and hope to have it posted by Monday of next week at the latest (hopefully sooner, though).

Thanks for stopping by to read this blog so frequently. In one month this blog has been "hit"/viewed nearly 300 times!!!! Crazy!! Thank you also for your comments! I truly appreciate those who are bold enough to express their own frustrations, hurts, issues, opinions on topics I discuss. I also appreciate the parents who reply out of frustration about not knowing how to respond to such a culture (know that I am praying for you and am available any time you need). I enjoy reading all your comments! They humble me, the encourage me and, above all, challenge me in my faith!! Until the next entry...

CONTEND FOR THE FAITH!!!!!! (Jude 3)