I mean, isn’t it just the scariest thing when the calendar numbers happen to align just right like that?  I still remember 07/07/07 like it was yesterday.  Some crazy stuff happened that day.  08/08/08 was no better.  Oh, boy, the hi-jinx that ensued that day, it makes me blush just to think about it!  Now 09/09/09 was pretty tame by comparison, but 10/10/10 totally made up for it.

So of course, I am very much anticipating 11/11/11.  I have no idea what’s going to happen, but absolutely something must happen, right?  It’s not like our calendar numbers are completely arbitrary, or the fact that before the 5th century BC the Romans used a 10-month calendar (ever wonder why September, October, November, and December are all named liked that?).  Nope.  Clearly it was all a conspiracy, and those guys knew something we don’t.

Whatever it is, I’m sure we as a society will pull through and somehow get on with our lives, at least until 12/12/12.  Then things are will definitely go downhill from there.

~My Two Cents

DO NOT DO BUSINESS HERE!!!  These people are extremely rude.  And yes, I know postal workers are rude by nature, but these guys take the cake.

Yeah, that’s it.  I’ll try to have happier updates soon.

~My Two Cents

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How many times in our daily life do things happen to us and we throw up our hands and scream, “Oh, great!”  If we are not careful, we will get to the place where we think that everything happens to us is for hurt and judgment.  Remember Romans 8:28?  Are all things really working together for good to them that love God?

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.  He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none came.  Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and in which to store his few possessions and food he had found.  One day, after searching for food, he returned to his hut to find it in flames and smoke billowing high into the sky.  The worst had happened!  He had lost everything.  How would he survive?  What would he eat now?  He was so stunned with grief and anger that he looked toward Heaven and screamed out, “God, how could you do this to me?”  In despair he fell to the ground and fell asleep.  After a few hours, he was awakened by the sound of a horn from a ship that was approaching the island.  When the rescue party reached the island and rescued the man, he was so happy and thankful.  In his joy, he asked his rescuers, “How did you know I was here?”  Their reply was, “We saw your smoke signal!”

It is easy to get discouraged when things go wrong, but we should not lose faith.  God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.  Remember, the next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just might be the smoke signal that summons the grace of God upon your life!

Ministering to the Multitudes,

Dr. Todd Lasseter

Pastor

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Comment and share!

~My Two Cents

A lot of things have happened in the past few months, and I meant to make an update back in January about this particular bit of news.  One of my favorite website’s is Brad Douglas’ Spider-man Crawlspace, the premier Spider-man fansite on the web.  Brad posted a wanted ad for new comic book reviewers.  At the time, I had just picked up a new book, Spider-girl, and made a review of issue #1 to post on the message boards.  This same review I submitted to Brad for a position as reviewer.  Soon enough, I get the e-mail saying that I had the gig!  Unfortunately for me, Marvel Comics canceled Spider-girl with issue #8, which will be available in a couple of months.

I got another e-mail from Brad.  The reviewer for Avengers dropped the book, so he asked me to take over for him.  Today, my combined review of the last six issues of Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers went up.  I think it’s exciting to see my writing on a website other than my own, so of course I’ve been pimping it out all day.  So yeah, be sure to check it out and leave a message in the comments there.

Here’s a list of the reviews I’ve published so far.

• Spider-girl #1
• Spider-girl #2
• Spider-girl #3
• Onslaught Unleashed #1
• Spider-girl #4
• Avengers #7-12 – Reviews Assembled!

Putting together the Avengers review was no easy task.  I went old-school with it and wrote it down on my notebook during lunch at Whataburger (it was more of an issue of not having a decent laptop).  I re-read the issues several times, making notes of the things I liked and dislike.  I typed it all up back at home.  It took me several hours to scan the pages I wanted (that silly scanner, thinking that I only wanted part of the page instead of the full thing), and a few more getting them and the covers to the right size on screen.  The formatting took considerably less time than before, knowing the quirks of WordPress with its tagging system.  The whole process must have taken me about 8 hours (I am reviewing six issues at once, after all).

All in all, I’m very proud of the way it turned out, even if it only has 8 comments at the time of writing (I need a Marvel editor to troll my reviews so they can balloon up to 100+ comments).

Remember to leave your comments on the section below and share!

~My Two Cents.

As I found out writing this article, there are boatloads of Christmas songs out there.  While I can call the above list my favorite Christmas songs, there are several worthy mentions, which, though good, did not impact me as much.  Most of them are the ones considered “classics”, such as “Angels We Have Heard on High”, “Christmas Canon” (which I have a hard time associating with Christmas, seeing how it’s actually “Canon in D”, a wedding procession), “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, “Go Tell It on a Mountain”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “Little Drummer Boy”, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”, “Silent Night”, “Away in a Manger”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Let it Snow”, “Ding Dong Merrily on High”, “Jingle Bells”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, “The Christmas Song” (what the heck does “nipping at your nose” even mean?), “Joy to the World”, “White Christmas”, “winder Wonderland”, “Blue Christmas”, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas.”

Then there is the more modern songs that I didn’t feel like adding to this list.  It’s just too much!

Through this research, I found out about the performers most often associated with Christmas music.  There’s the oldies-but-goldies, such as Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, the Carpenters; and there’s the new talent, such as Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Amy Grant, and other Christian singers.

And then there’s Celtic Woman.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch their videos of their Christmas concert at the Helix Center in Dublin (where Chloe Agnew always seems to steal the show for me).  They made for me some of the “classic” Christmas songs enjoyable.

Wow. I’m beat.  Merry Christmas and stuff!

Most Favorites

Initially, I was gonna do a top ten countdown, but then I decided against putting these ones in any sort of order, because, truthfully, it’s not a competition.  Except for the first one, these are my faves in no particular order (click the titles to see a YouTube video of that song):

“Mary, Did You Know?”
Lyrics by Mark Lowry.
Music by Buddy Green.
Performed by various.
I heard said once that this song has become “a new Christmas standard.”  It’s true.  I fully expect this song to be played all time and am disappointed when it’s not.   It’s somber.  It’s biblical.  It’s powerful.  It’s thought-provoking.  I like it.  There is not a “definitive’ version, in my opinion, even though it’s been interpreted by different Christian singers and celebrities, such as Clay Aiken.  I heard the Kenny Rogers/Winona Judd version, and it was awful.  They totally made it about themselves instead of Jesus and Mary.  If you’re going to pick a version, go with the rendition in the link above, performed by the original authors, which also includes a killer harmonica solo by Green.

“O Holy Night”
Performed famously by various, including Martina McBride and Celine Dion.
I just love this song.  There’s a certain majestic feel to it.  It really evokes that feeling of standing in awe at the miracle of the birth of Christ.  And I love when it gets to the lines “Fall on your knees” and “Christ is the Lord.”  Good stuff, man.  Now, apparently the Celine Dion rendition is one of the most famous, but I’m more familiar with radio-favorite Martina McBride.  I have no idea who she is, but it would appear she’s a big deal in the country music realm.

“Do You Hear What I Hear?”
Lyrics by Noel Regney.
Music by Gloria Shayne Baker.
Performed famously by Bing Crosby.
I may sound here like I’m contradicting myself, but I love this song, even if I’m not quite clear on how exactly this is a Christmas song (apparently it had something to do with the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Look it up!).  It’s that Bing Crosby, man.  Some people just have a cool voice.  In particular, that version also has that “marching band” melody going on for it, which I dig.  Other versions include one by Carrie Underwood, which is good too, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Crosby’s.  So yeah, this one is here sorely on the merits of the music.

“Grown-Up Christmas List”
Music by David Foster.
Lyrics by Linda Thompson.
Performed famously by Amy Grant and Kelly Clarkson.
Next to “Mary, Did You Know,” I’d put this one right up there with the songs that best encapsulate the best things about Christmas.  It’s true, when we grow up and start thinking about others instead of ourselves, we tend to think of our wishes for the season differently.  It’s totally the polar opposite of “Santa Baby.”  It’s got a soulful melody, too.  While Amy Grant made this song popular, I’m torn between her rendition and that of my favorite singer, Kelly Clarkson.  Oh. My. Goodness.  That girl can sing.

“Carol of the Bells”
Performed by various, including David Foster, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Celtic Woman.
I know next to nothing about this song, but I like the melody.  I’m more familiar with the TSO version of it, since it blasted my ears off when I was at Six Flags that one year.  The David Foster version is pretty popular, too, and I generally prefer it over TSO, simply because the former sounds more grandiose and elegant compared to the “judgment day”, “let’s rock and roll” feel to the latter.  I should note that those two have no vocals.  Celtic Woman, whom I will talk about in greater detail later on, sings an amazing version, complete with violins playing.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas”
Performed by various, including John Denver and the Muppets.
The only reason this is even here is because of the Muppets.  John Denver just came with the package deal.   The song coming originally from a ’70s TV special, you just gotta love it when Miss Piggy sings her part. “Five Gold Rings! Badum-dum-dum”

“All I Want For Christmas Is You”
Written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff.
Performed by Mariah Carey.
Before she went crazy, Mariah Carey was a pretty good, successful singer.  I honestly didn’t know this was her own work, and regardless of what you may think of her as a person, you gotta admit this is a fun song.  Much like “Grown-Up Christmas List” (though I hesitate to lump both songs together), this is a song about wanting something other than the material, in this case just to spend time with a loved one (which resonates with me, not living in the same town as my girlfriend).

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.
Performed by Judy Garland.
Performed famously by Frank Sinatra, Carrie Underwood, and the Carpenters.
There are many different versions to this song.  Some may like the Frank Sinatra.  There’s that rendition by Celtic Woman.  Personally, I like the one by the Carpenters (Karen sings while her brother Richard plays the piano).  When I first introduced my dad to those awful Christmas songs, he in turn showed me this by Karen Carpenter, loved by many for her fantastic voice.  And he was right.  She was awesome.  This is a good feel-good song.

“Sleigh Ride”
Performed by various, including the Carpenters and Amy Grant.
Another Carpenters hit.  Also, another song that apparently had nothing to do with Christmas (at least originally).  While I picked other songs in this list because of their tune, this one is here because of Karen Carpenter.

“The First Noel”
Performed by various, including Elvis, Carrie Underwood, and Jaci Velasquez.
Of the songs most considered Christmas classics, I like “The First Noel” because it makes me feel serene.  That’s a good thing.  And believe it or not, Elvis did record a version of this song.  The version I heard on the radio that made me put this up here was that of Jaci Velasquez, but Carrie Underwood’s is good, too.  Anyone have any idea why is it called “The First Noel” though?

“Silver Bells”
Written by Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans.
Performed famously by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards.
Performed also by various, including John Denver.
Oddly enough, I found the version by Crosby and Richards to be, well, dull.  Denver’s version is a more folksy, and I was far more entertained by that one.  So there you go.  Yeah, I don’t know what the song is about either.

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”
Performed by various, including Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Celtic Woman.
I don’t know what it is about some songs, where one famous artist ruins it for me while another makes it awesome.  Such is the case here, where Bing Crosby makes this kinda dull for me.  Nat King Cole, on the other hand, makes it very entertaining.  I also get a kick out of the chorus.  They sound like they are chanting at Masonic Temple or something.

“What Child Is This?”
Written by William Chatterton Dix.
Performed by various, including Carrie Underwood.
Another slow and serene song, sung powerfully by Carrie Underwood (the version I’m most familiar with through the radio).

But I was missing out.

To me, the catalyst that got me started down the path of discovering Christmas music was when I heard the song, “Mary Did You Know?” for the first time.  It completely captivated me in a way no other song had done before.  It became my favorite song, Christmas or not, but when you play the same song over and over again, you tend to yearn for more.

In recent years, I’ve come into contact with people that absolutely LOVE Christmas music, even outside the regular season (I’m thinking of a few people right now who might be reading this).  The more I thought about it (and when I REALLY have to think anything, I become borderline obsessive about it, like it happened last year with vampires), the more I wanted to look for more great songs to add to my playlist.

As it turns out, most Christmas music is wonderful.  It was like a whole new world was opened to me.  My friend Tim first introduced me to Christmas radio stations.  This year, I was eagerly awaiting for the time to listen to them again.

And then I was disappointed.  ”Why were they playing these lousy songs?” I said to myself.

Turns out, they are both good and bad Christmas songs.  Your preferences may vary, but as for me, and because I want to put a rest to my Twitter rantings, I present to you, in the total and controversial style that you’ve come to expect from this site, my least and most favorite Christmas music.

Least Favorites

Of course, this is my opinion, and you may not agree, but I found these songs to be completely insufferable for details in which I will go to now:

“It’s Cold Outside”
Music by Frank Loesser.
Performed by various.
My original rant concerned the fact that this song had absolutely NOTHING to do with Christmas time.  Upon further research, I found out that it was just lumped together with other Christmas songs because it was usually played during wintertime.  I still don’t like because it sounds like a couple bickering about nothing.

“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
Music and lyrics by Tommie Connor.
Performed originally by Jimmy Boyd.
Performed most famously by The Jackson 5.
First of all, I “get” the song.  I know it’s the dad that it’s dressed as Santa Claus and kissing the mom.  That’s not the point.  Maybe 50 years ago it would’ve been funny for a kid to see his mom kissing another guy that was not his dad.  Maybe it would’ve been a laugh when he told his dad about it the next day.  But if you think about it, if that happened today, wouldn’t the child go through immediate, SERIOUS emotional issues or be scarred in other ways?  That’s just hitting too close to home when most kids nowadays deal with situations where one parents might be unfaithful to another.  Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I just can’t get behind a song that makes light of something like that.

“Santa Baby”
Written by Joan Javits, Philip Springer, and Fred Ebb.
Performed originally and famously by Eartha Kitt.
Also performed famously by Madonna.
Yes, I’m also aware that it’s a “joke” song, giving us a glimpse of what a frivolous woman desires for Christmas as opposed to, say, peace on earth and stuff.  And if you go for that of thing, hey, more power to you.  The melody is what bothers me.  It makes me uncomfortable because it has a decidedly sultry feel to it.  As it mentioned elsewhere, it sounds like something that came out of a ’20s bar, sung by a woman in one of those cocktail dresses completely with bobbed hair, pearls, and a martini, for good measure.  Yeah, I’m okay thanks.

Thankfully, those are the only ones I can’t stand.

As you may remember, my friend Tim Ingram was a collaborator for this blog for all of three weeks (you can see his posts under the Tim’s Two Cents tab).  While he’s not directly contributing to this site anymore, he’s still an active online personality maybe.  I happened to run into this video he did recently, and while this site is not usually associated with sports and/or current events, I figured this would be relevant and/or funny.

The video description reads “A true Texas Rangers fan bids an emotional farewell to fulfiller of dreams.”

Leave your comments and share with others who might care!

~My Two Cents

God blessed the Gold Lions bus with 15 riders last week… that may not be an impressive number for you (or for me), but I’m glad that all the kids that rode the bus last week… rode the bus last week. Ahem. Since I didn’t really have a promotion in mind that day, I decided to treat the kids to a bag of Oreo cookies and their choice of grape or orange soda. Who says I’m cheap when it comes to promotions?

…Actually, I kinda am, because I got me an offering plate, which I’m dubbing it, “the promotion offering.”

Next week, it’s “Beat the Devil” Sunday.  Or as I’m dubbing it, “Let’s Try to Get More Than Fifteen Kids on the Bus This Time, Guys” Sunday. To that end, I’m pulling out all stops and using our church’s bus fund (we get $20 a month for this kinda thing, which I was saving for a special day. I think this calls for it) to have our very own pizza party with soda! I’m hoping Saturday we can sign up a bunch of new kids and maybe encourage some of the ones that have left to come back.

Sunday I am also preaching for the teenage class.  I haven’t really taken the time to explain the current status quo.  After Bro. Robert Graf left to pastor a church, I was approached to be the new group leader… and quickly passed up on it, unless there was no one else who could do it.  And there was.  My friend since the old teen department days, Steve Lemmon, also captain of the Yellow Jackets, is now running the afternoon teen program with his wife Liz.  With the invaluable help of Valerie Green, who plays the keyboard, and Ben Armstrong, who does a contests before the lesson, and the other staples of the SS class, things are going great, and the transition was without consequence.  He is a good fit for this group.

Sunday being Halloween and “Beat the Devil” Sunday, I thought of preaching on the devil, straight from the Bible. At the time of the writing, I’m still trying to come up with a few ideas to “spice up” the presentation of the message. Nothing fancy, but there is this projector that we use, and I do have this flanograph laying around… I don’t know yet.  I’m confident it will come together on Saturday.

So that’s it for now. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things and update more frequently, but I already envision posting another apology post late in November.  Here’s hoping!!!

Leave your comments in the section below and share with your friends!

~My Two Cents

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates these past two weeks.  I can’t speak for Tim or Phong, but I know I’ve been kinda lazy, followed by extreme moments of busyness, and so I haven’t been able to just sit down and type. Believe me, I have several pre-typed articles that just need to be fine-tuned before they go live. For now, enjoy this late ministry update.

The Lord blessed our bus on the 19th with 23 riders.  On the 26th, we had 34 riders.  Our workers (not so much me) were shooting for at least 47.  You see, we made a little deal that if we hit 47, the bus captain (aka me) would have to shave his eyebrows.  To further sweeten the deal, if we somehow managed to hit 50, I would shave my whole head.  Needless to say, I still comb my hair in the mornings.

Luckily, our church campaign is starting this coming Sunday, so I don’t see the need to rely on this “promotion” to increase our attendance (this is something commonly done by captains who have nothing to lose. And I have a girlfriend visiting in two weeks, so you can probably see why I am glad, just this once, that we didn’t hit our goal).  Our bus driver, Ben Stover, has promised our kids some awesome prizes if we manage to hit our weekly goals.  Our attendance has suffered lately because our kids keep disappearing without a trace, so we hope that we can reach some new riders in the upcoming weeks.

As we made our way to the first stop last week, I noticed on my Twitter feed that a couple of friends of mine decided to change their membership to another church in the area.  I am not going to divulge the specifics because they are irrelevant to the point I want to make.  In 2003, I began to ride the then-Yellow bus (which is now the Silver Spurs, led by my fellow brother-in-Christ Terry Hill, who also drove for us in those days).  Brother Cliff Donnelly was my bus captain.  He befriended and visited me almost every Saturday.  He always picked me up on Sundays.  He always had a smile on his face.  He always shared something he had learned in the Bible.  He never failed to encourage me to serve Christ.  It is because of him that I am still in church to this day.

Brother Cliff Donnelly and I, at my graduation from Bible College

As you may imagine, the bus ministry is very dear to my heart.  It was through it that I was reached.  As you may also know, I am employed by a missions organization known as Global Church Planters, which is now a ministry of another church, which does not currently have a bus ministry (this is not a knock against it. We support several foreign church plants that don’t get bus/van ministries off the ground until years down the road).  I get asked quite often if I’m ever going to switch my membership.

And the answer is… no.  I could never pry myself away from the bus ministry unless it was God’s direction, and I hope I can hold to this statement in the future (that means throw this article in my face if I ever do).  I could never turn my back on my bus kids.  I couldn’t live with myself if I was to abandon my workers and those kids that look forward to seeing me every week (and even those that don’t).  This bus  needs a captain, and that captain is me.  So I shared this little pep talk with Grace and Steve, and now I am sharing it with you.  So God help me, unless He directs me somewhere else, I am staying at Trinity Baptist Church, and I’m staying with the Gold Lions Bus.

Please don’t forget to leave your comments and share with your friends.

~My Two Cents