Biscuit and Gravy Friday: Five Things

A few things I've been enjoying...

1) Rend Collective's new album As a Family We Go. A friend turned me on to these guys a while back. The song Ireland's Call will have you wishing you were from the Emerald Isle. But my favorite song is the ukulele version of Every Giant Will Fall. Buy the album or listen to them on Youtube. 

2) The Lego Principle: The Power of God and One Another by Joey Bonifacio. If you grew up playing with Lego's and you're a Christian, then this book is for you.

3) Youtube Channel: Behind the Brand with Bryan Elliot. This isn't "Christian" but you can get some great advice watching these.

4) Duolingo-Have you ever wanted to learn a language? This is how you do it! It's totally free! Like no strings attached free. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't. Also, it's easy! It's fun! Give it a try!

5) Coconut oil in my coffee. A doctor friend recommended this a long time ago and I finally tried it. It's delicious and healthy. I'll spare you the gross details, but start slowly. Trust me--heed my advice. 

Have You Ever Seen This?

Do you use the YouVersion Bible app on your phone or tablet? 

I do! (Partly because I like to have a cover, if I'm playing on my phone during church. Also, because it really is a great app.)

This message randomly pops up on all apps, but I really like how they word this one. It doesn't feel like you are rating the YouVersion Bible app, but the Bible itself. The people who came up with this strategy must be retired children's pastors, who know how to get a volunteer or make you feel like a jerk for saying no.

You have three choices:

1) You can be a good Christian and rate it. Seriously, who's going to give a bad review of the Bible? Like you know who breathed it, right? 

2) You can do it later, which the equivalent of saying, "I'll pray about it."

3) You can be a jerk and just say, "No, thanks".

I've pushed in #2 quite a few times.

What would you do?

Overwhelmed Book

Are you overwhelmed with life?

I didn't even know I was overwhelmed until I read Perry Noble's new book-Overwhelmed!

Sound a little like a spiritual hypercondriac? Maybe. Or maybe not. More on that in Reason #6.

Here are five, nay six, reasons this book should be in your hands:

1) Vulnerability: Perry Noble gets vulnerable (like talking about looking at porn vulnerable). Something you've shown me in the last three years of blogging is that you connect with the vulnerable. Pastors aren't supposed to be depressed. What with the love of Jesus and a direct phone line to God and all. Noble gets vulnerable opening up about his struggle with depression and anxiety. No one wants to talk about those things, but he does openly and honestly with you.

2) Practicality: Don't you hate it when someone declares a problem, but never propose any steps to solve it? Or worse yet, they make suggestions, but they are totally inadequate. This book has practical teachings that help you move forward. You won't be left asking, "What the heck do I do next?"

3) No Scriptural Beat Down: You won't get a scriptural beat down that leaves you feeling like crap. Noble uses scripture that will guide you. He doesn't say just memorize these promises in the Bible and your life will be peachy keen. He put several well-known biblical accounts in a context that you probably haven't heard before. If you're overwhelmed, you'll see that it doesn't make you a sinner, but that many biblical figures struggled with feeling exactly the same way.

4) Humility:  Christians love to trump each other with our horror stories. Don't believe me? Just listen intently at your church's next prayer request time. Before long, you'll witness the downward spiral of terrible circumstances that eventually ends in someone requesting prayer for their son's girlfriend's grandmother's cousin, twice removed, who just experienced something that had to have come straight out of a Hallmark tearjerker! If you have a good story, we have a better one. Have a bad story? We have a worse one. This isn't the spirit of this book. Noble isn't about self-promotion (or deprecation), but he lays it all out on the line, humbly, in order to help you connect to the text.

5) No "Sugar Coating": I'm not a prosperity gospel kind of guy. I hate it when preachers preach a weak message of no troubles and easy fixes. Life is messy. Noble doesn't promise that the chocolate is going to melt in your mouth. He knows it's going to melt on your hands. It's messy. If you are overwhelmed, there isn't a magic pill you can take to get yourself out of it. It'll take work. Reading this book is a step.

6) Relieving: There have certainly been seasons in my past that I have been incredibly overwhelmed and I never dealt with it well. This has had lingering effects in my life that I never realized that I was dealing with. Because of the work God is doing in me through this book, I'm starting to heal. Maybe you aren't overwhelmed, but you know someone who is. Buy this book for them. I'm buying a few to give away to people who are struggling, that's how much I believe God will use these words to help thousands who are searching for relief.

Overwhelmed doesn't go on sale until April 1st (that's no April fools). However, you can go ahead and pre-order a copy (the book title is linked so that you won't be "overwhelmed" looking for it).  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  Also, look for a chance to win a copy on Christian Gravy in the next few weeks.

Question:
Are you overwhelmed? What overwhelms you?

Catch the Christmas Cheer

A friend introduced me to these guys yesterday. My friend was my music teacher in high school and church choir director, so much of what I know about music I learned from him and his wife.

The video has over five million views, but about one million are from me watching. Needless to say these Piano Guys are impressive.

If you aren't in the Christmas spirit yet, brace yourself. You are about to be sneezed some red and green Christmas cheer all over you and you're going to catch it.

I dare you to watch it.

Nay, in the spirit of one of the greatest Christmas movies ever…I triple dog dare you.

Now you have no choice.

50 Years Since Lewis

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK.

While that day was tragic, his assassination overshadowed the death of one of the greatest thinkers of all time.

All day long you will hear about that dreadful day, but no one will mention C.S. Lewis. Of course the two died under different circumstances and with different responsibilities.

C.S. Lewis passed away fifty years ago today. There have been very few writers in the last one hundred years to have had such an influence as him.

I have recently fell in love with his works. The words he penned years ago are shaping the way I think and write.

Here are some of his most famous quotes:

Noah and Russell Crowe

Doesn't that movie trailer get you excited?

Like, it's-summer-time-and-VBS-is-about-to-start excited?

Sure Hollywood is going to put their flair to it. And they might even ruin it. But you have to give them credit, when they read the Bible, they get creative.

Often we read the Bible stalely. Void of any feelings or thoughts about what it must have been like.

We clean it up as we read. We make a rated-R story PG.

So let's give Hollywood a chance with this flick.

Also, Russell Crowe is a spot on pick for Noah.

Don't Miss This...

Did you watch Billy Graham's last message last night?

If you didn't, what is wrong with you? You should watch it and be saved! (I kid.)

But, seriously, you should watch it.

It was bittersweet to feel as if Billy Graham was saying goodbye with the message he has faithfully shared for 60 years. What a legacy!

Deleting Facebook and Twitter

Last week, Lacey challenged me to delete Facebook and Twitter off of my phone.

She noticed that we spent a lot of time paying attention to everyone else’s lives and thoughts instead of our own.

Her points were compelling, but I wasn’t about to delete the apps without a triple dog dare.

Never take on a challenge, if a triple dog dare isn’t issued.

What’s the point?

Without the issue of a triple dog dare, the challenger is admitting a lack of dare importance.

She served the triple dog dare.

So I deleted them off of my phone and haven’t looked back.

The withdraws the first 48 hours were fierce.

I would grab my phone, swipe, and then look for my two friends.

But they were gone. I had betrayed them.

A cold sweat would break out on my forehead. The shakes would overcome my body. Cottonmouth filled my mouth. Tears would run profusely from my eyes. My central nervous system revolted.

The Art of Laughing Together

Last week our television was like the government (not working). Instead of doing a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick on it, my wife and I decided to go to bed. Because let's face it when you go all Walker Texas Ranger on your television nobody wins.

Jon Acuff had posted this tweet a few hours earlier. 

I thought Brian Regan was an Indie singer. Since Jon hasn't led me astray with music yet, I checked him out. We had a horrible week and I thought some sweet Indie tunes might help ease our frustrations (or help the tears flow more freely, but whatever). 

That shows my ignorance. 

The channel came with a warning of possible explicit material. I wondered if Jon listened to gangsta Indie or something. Turns out it was a comedy channel.

We listened for a minute. And just when I was about to turn the channel, my wife laughed. 

There is no sweeter sound to me then my wife's laughter, so I left it. Before we knew it an hour had passed with us laying in bed in the dark (without me putting any "Biblical" moves on her) and laughing together.

It'll be a night I'll always remember. 

We need to laugh more. All the stress lifted for a while and we were able to just be.

Married people need to laugh more together.

Unmarried people need to laugh more together, too.

So for this Biscuit and Gravy Friday, it's being recommended that you create a Brian Regan channel on Pandora and listen with your spouse or with a friend. Or perhaps rent a comedy. Just laugh together and just be for a little while.

Just enjoy hearing one another laughing. We always laugh harder when we share it with someone else. It'll do wonders for your soul.

Biscuit & Gravy Friday: Questions of a Curious Nature

I don't recommend books on here often. Not because you can't read, because you have proven yourself fluent in English and Christianese.

However, there is one book that you have to read.

Reading it will make you closer to Jesus. Jesus and I shared a moment somewhere around page 46. Somewhere around page 88, my facial and chest hair started to come in more fully. Upon finishing it, a rainbow appeared in the sky and it hadn't even rained!

It is a book like no other. 

The book is Questions of a Curious Nature: The Incredible Interviews of Annabelle Farrow by Matt Orth.

I have been around the author some in person on several occasions. (Although, he couldn't pick me out of a line up.) Wisdom pours out of his mouth. Very few of his words are wasted. Even his humor is purposeful. So when he speaks, you better listen.

This book is unlike any other Christian book out right now.

It is a fictional work written for the purpose of small group discussion. But an individual will benefit from reading it. If I led my own small group, we would read this book.   

However, the best thing about Matt O's work is that it's offensive.

You read that right.

He will offend you.

He will take something that you hold true and sacred to your faith and he will challenge it.

You will be uncomfortable in your La-Z-Boy while wearing your Prayer Snuggie and listening to Casting Crowns and drinking your coffee.

But we need to learn how to be offended by other Christians because it stretches our faith. This book will do exactly that.

So check it out. Click on the title to buy it from Amazon: Questions of a Curious Nature.  Also, check out his website (Less Without You) and his blog (Rusty Tug Boat).

Biscuits and Gravy Friday: Little Jerusalem

One of my dreams is to go to the Holy Land. Not the Holy Land Experience by IKEA in Orlando, but in Israel.

It's more than a dream. It's a pull that comes from deep within my soul. To experience the same land that Jesus sojourned on.

That's why I love this suggestion to you-Little Jerusalem. I'm hooked on these videos.

Shaun Boshoff takes you all over Jerusalem in short YouTube videos. 

The videos are quick and quirky. However, don't let his hip hop, skater, worship pastor look fool you. Shaun's creative work closes a cultural chasm that Christians who have never visited Israel struggle to grasp. In other words, the Scriptures will come alive to you. 

Here is his trailer, but go to YouTube and search "Little Jerusalem". Check him out!

You can follow Shaun on Twitter @shaunboshoff.

Bisuit and Gravy Friday: The Greatest Christian Movie Ever

When it comes to "Christian" movies, I tend to be cynical. So cynical that I still haven't watched Courageous.

I have a litmus test on whether or not I will watch a Christian flick. If a church will show it, I don't watch it. (I know that makes me sound like a jerk, but that isn't my intention.)

Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz passed the litmus test. It was so great that I watched it twice within 24 hours.

 
This isn't a movie that has been shown in many churches.

It's PG-13. There is cussing, crude talk, drinking, drug use, and lesbians in the film. And none of those things are overtly condemn. Kirk Cameron isn't in it. (That's a change from most Christian movies.) They did get an actor from Full House and you know how that show affected the church.

You might not be comfortable with all that. 

Biscuit & Gravy Friday: Magnum Ice Cream Bars

Have you ever indulged yourself with one of these delicacies?

If your answer is no, you probably aren't saved. Okay, that's a stretch. But it's safe to say that you haven't fully experienced the love of Jesus yet. (And your taste buds haven't spontaneously busted out in the Harlem Shake.)

That's why I'm suggesting Magnum ice cream bars for Biscuit and Gravy Friday.

It's an unknown and untrue fact that they make you a better Christian.

How so? Well, they come three in a box. And how many days was Jesus dead? That's right--three. Magnum should be right up there with LifeWay, Chick-Fil-A, and Hobby Lobby as top companies that Christians support. Not to mention, they melt the stress right off of you.

If you are feeling a tug at your soul right now, don't resist it. That's the Holy Spirit guiding you to try a Magnum bar for yourself. You won't be disappointed. This is my best and most loving suggestion yet. Your taste buds may thank me later.

Question:
Are there any Magnum lovers out there? Is there a better ice cream bar that you can incorrectly suggest?

Bring TGIF Back!

Friday night television is horrible compared to when we were younger.

Every Friday night at seven o'clock, you would hear these words:

"It's Friday night,

and the mood is right.

Gonna have some fun,

show you how it's done.

T-G-I-F!" 

Does that take you back?

What followed were two hours of awesomeness with shows like: Boy Meets World, Step-By-Step, Dinosaurs, Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Perfect Strangers. 

Someone should start a petition to bring back TGIF to ABC...oh wait, they did and it failed.

Tuesday's posts, The Full House Message Resolution Method, got my nostalgia juices flowing. Which naturally takes one to YouTube to spend endless hours that one will never get back. 

However, I found this Youtubalicious video of the most popular TGIF themes shows. Chris Thompson with help from the Black Nerd (not being racist here that's what he calls himself) put this together and it is creative.

It's called TGIF Theme Song Medley (A Capella). Get ready for your Friday to be transformed!

Truthfully, Chris is a talent. There will be jealous worship pastors all over Amercia, who will attempt to do this to Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons this weekend.

To watch the four minute and forty-five second video, click below.

Question: What was your favorite TGIF show?

Biscuit & Gravy Friday: A Bathroom Book

Did that just happen?

Was Biscuit & Gravy Saturday moved to Friday?

Was your mind blown?

Are you thinking, "Can he even do that?"

Yes, it did! Yes, it was! Probably didn't! Yes, I can!

Biscuit & Gravy Friday are posts where I suggest music, books, blogs, best frisbees, most awesome dog bred, great coffee beans and hot tea, beautiful argyle color schemes...I believe you get the idea.

Today, I want to recommend a book that has impacted me.

The book is Amazing Encounters with God by Clayton King.

I cannot say enough about this man (www.claytonking.com).

He is one of the godliest men I've ever been around.

I am not going to go on and on about him, because things start to get weird. And he lovingly refers to me as a "stalker". (No joke, he called me that once). But I could tell by his statement in the restraining order that he was only kidding.

This book had such a profound effect on me that I got braces at 28 years old!  It is not a step-by-step guide on how you can experience God more. It is a collection of stories where Clayton experienced God's power in the ordinary.

Why am I recommending this book?

Largely, because of the overwhelming response and support that you showed for my post on Tuesday (A Changed Perspective on Homosexuality).

In three short days it has tripled my previous most read post ever! A huge thank you to anyone who passed the Gravy by sharing it, liking it, commenting on it, forwarding it, plus one-ing it, retweeting it, writing it on a bathroom wall, or talking to others about it. Gravy readers are the best!

This book intentionally shows you how, "God...is never far from you. He is close, maybe as close as the next person you meet, the next song you hear, or the next conversation you have."

We all have moments where we experience God's presence. This book will help you to recognize your own. This book helped me to better understand how I experienced God while waiting tables at Cracker Barrel.

By the way, it is a terrific bathroom book.

Meaning, it's great to read while you are riding the porcelain throne.

The chapters are short and you can read them in one or two sittings. But once you start reading, you aren't going to want to put it down. Just don't lend your book to someone when you are finished!

You can buy the book for less than $10 at Amazon.