Good Sites to View

Hello everyone:
Sine moving to Pulaski, Tennessee in August I have been roughing it in my new townhouse without cable and internet at home. This has left me up to task of finding entertainment through books, movies and CDs. I thought I'd share with you some websites of people or groups that I have been thinking a lot about recently, whether through reading their books or listening to their music. Check these out and give me feed back if you like anything you see.

Take care,
Chris

Donald Miller - Author of Through Painted Deserts, Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What

Derek Webb - Some say he is today's Bob Dylan...His new album Mockingbird will be released just after Christmas.

Bob Dylan - You can't like the Dylan of today if you don't like the Dylan of yesterday and today. Through Derek Webb I have gained a new appreciation for Dylan and his lyrics...his attempt to find the truth and injustics in society through lyrics and song.

John Piper - An author and evangelist in Minneaplois, Minnesota who preaches truth, not Christianity.

Blood Water Misson - Check this out! This is a group dedicated to raise support for Africa to help fight the death of AIDS victims by building clean water wells in villages that's waters are filled with parasites that a weak immune system cannot begin to fight.

Movies:
Crash (2004) - A film that makes you examine your inner prejudice toward people of other ethnic back grounds.

Motorcylce Diaries - The story of Che's journey that set up the ideals that led him to Cuba to join the revolution in the 1950s...not political beliefs ai agree with but other intersteing things that make you think.

RENT (2005) - This will make you take a look within yourself on your response to those with AIDS and the "outcasts" of society.

Off the Map - I stumbled across this B-list movie and really liked it.

I guess my big thing recently has been developing my thoughts toward the seperation of relgion and a relationship with God. There is a difference. Religion gets too wrapped up in a set of dos and don'ts sometimes...too leagllistic, but Christianity is a relationship with a Savior...an acceptance of a gift that was freely given through sacrifice of salvation to be a transit for us to God. (don't get me wrong - community of believers in a church is needed, yet we should be seeking the right place to serve, not just any church that says it is a church for Christ.) These films, books, teachings and lyrics have made me examine the call to love our neighbor as we would love ourself - and hang up the hangups on theology and partisan lines. Christ is not a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green, Communist, Libertarian or of any political association. We should not try to make Him the head of our politics, yet the head of our life, through which we learn our values, to which we accept values, through which our opinions are made and politics manifested, yet through which human error is always vested.

My challenge for this New Year is to look outward, then inward. How do we respond to different situations life gives us? Who do we love more than others? Why do we love them more? What is so different? Who are we more willing to give ourself to in a time of deep need? When others are in need and we can help, who will we turn to and who will we turn away from? These are the introspections that I think need to be made daily in our lives - thus a challenge for 2006.