Parody of Our Modern Church Service

I came across a YouTube video called "Parody of Our Modern Church Service". The elements in the video aren't necessarily right or wrong, but I found it quite hilarious how they captured the flow of so many church services these days.

How does your church structure its service? How much of it is God-focused?

The Lex Talionis of Baseball

Lex Talionis.... It's the law of retaliation. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

My wife and I had an interesting discussion over the weekend as Lex Talionis was on full display in the series between the Oakland A's and the Kansas City Royals. If you didn't follow the games, one of their players slid into one of ours and injured him. One of the laws in baseball is this: you mess with one of our guys, we hit one of yours. So it went back and forth the entire series.

Trisha said that it was wrong to retaliate. I replied, "When it comes to hitting someone with a pitch, baseball is a self-regulating game with built-in rules that everyone follows." She didn't buy my answer and still insisted that it was wrong. 

I may be wrong, but I maintain that it is OK. It does make you think, though, about Lex Talionis in life. What if everyone operated according to the law of retaliation? And maybe we do. I hear a lot of people about the word "Karma" when they someone punished for am unkind deed. Perhaps we are more retaliatory than we imagine. 

Guest Blog: Review of The Little Mermaid

Today, I have the pleasure of having guest blogger Eliana Jacobs. She will be reviewing The Little Mermaid, a book that she just read. Enjoy the talents from this wonderful young writer. ~ Josh

Today, I read The Little Mermaid. It was a great story! My favorite part was when the little mermaid and the prince fell in love. I thought it was pretty romantic! But just one thing that we all need to remember. Just as the little mermaid and the prince love each other, Jesus loves us and we need to love him. I love the story of The Little Mermaid! I also like how they added some nice details. It was a good story! ~ Eliana Jacobs

Welcome to The Three R's: Reading, Religion, and the Royals

I looked back over my Facebook and Twitter accounts and noticed that virtually every single post was either about what I'm reading, the nature and practice of Christianity, or my favorite baseball team in the world---the Kansas City Royals. So when I decided to start this blog, it was easy to know what I would write about.

Reading
I read... maybe too much. From classic novels such as Victor Hugo's Les Miserables to modern blog posts and magazine articles. Admittedly, I'm not much into reading poetry and I'm just now getting into graphic novels, but I enjoy just about genre out there. I like to post what I am reading, what I'm studying.

Religion
Out of everything I am interested in, the most important thing in my life is Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, performed miracles, was crucified, was buried, and rose from the dead. I am a follower of Christ. He made me his child and that is my identity. I am a husband, son, dad, and huge Royals fan, but my identity is a child of God.

Royals
Oh gosh. To say that I'm a fan is an understatement. I was rooting for the Royals in those 100-loss seasons before it was cool to be a KC fan. I follow almost every game on my phone. For example, I recently went to a concert in which the entire crowd started to roar at the same exact moment that Salvador Perez hit a home run. I cheered along with the crowd, but I clapped and yelled for something completely different than everyone else.

I hope you enjoy the blog. As the title suggests, my posts will be about reading, religion, and the Royals.