The Movie’s Over. It’s 4 O’Clock And We're In Trouble, Deep.

Have I ever mentioned that I like watching movies?

I thought so.

I stayed up way too late last night watching a movie and when it was over it dawned on me that I'm different than I used to be. It seems that I no longer enjoy scary movies. Horror movies for me have always been something to laugh at, either at the foolish decisions of the victims (Why would anyone run upstairs when being chased by a psycho?), or at the gruesome special effects utilized in trying to make the gore appear real. Well, in the past 2 weeks I've attempted to watch "Saw IV" and Rob Zombie's new "Halloween". Both of these were very scary. I don't know that I've ever said that about a movie before. I actually found myself flinching from time to time and fast forwarding over parts that were too gruesome. (Although I'll admit, I did grin during "Halloween" when Juni from the Spy Kids movies was killed. I've had to watch those movies way too much recently.)

So now I'm wondering what has changed. Is little Shawny growing up and getting more mature? Are my fatherly instincts taking over and making me think of these victims as people and not just idiots to be laughed at? (I was especially shaken by young Michael Myers in Halloween. I couldn't help but feel bad for him and think of him as a child who needed better parenting.) Or is it possible that I'm simply no longer entertained by images of actors being murdered on screen? I'm not sure of the answer, but I do know this. I don't think I'll be watching "Saw V" or "Halloween 2" anytime soon.

I think I'll stick with comedies and action movies for now.

(G.I. Joe premiers August 7^th. Who's going with me?)

Sunday Setlist 07-12-09

This entry is part of the Sunday Setlist blogs at Fred McKinnon's website. I encourage you to check it out. Whether your a worship leader or not, it's interesting to see what other churches are doing in their services.

Here was our Sunday with some notes to follow....


Orchestral Prelude - It Is Well
Announcements - Shawn
Forever
Famous One
Prayer / Fellowship – Bro. Steve
At Calvary (Hymn) Very Southern Style
It Is Well (Hymn)
Who Can Satisfy (Chorus and bridge only from choir arrangement)
Offertory Prayer
Choir Special: Use Me, Send Me w/ Just As I Am (From the musical Experiencing God)
Transitional Chorus: Use Me, Send Me
Message: Bro. Steve – “The Parable Of The Missed Opportunity” (Luke 16:19-31)
Invitation: Wherever He Leads I’ll Go
Closing Chorus: Take Up Your Cross

This week, I purposefully stuck with some more traditional, more familiar songs. Even the "newer" songs (Tomlin's Forever & Famous One) are ones that we've been doing at Westwood for at least 5 years.

We've been doing a lot of new music lately, whether it's been through new songs or new arrangements of older songs. I decided a few weeks ago that it might be time to simply utilize some songs that more people would be more familiar with. I was very glad I did.

Sunday morning, we found out that my father in law was going to be at church with us. My family, with my wife's sister's family, and my Mother in law have been members of the same church for years. But my Father in law hasn't been in a church service for over 20 years. I gotta admit, I felt a real rush, a real feeling of the joy that only God can bring when I saw him sitting with my Mother in law in the sanctuary that morning. He is a man that I truly admire. He always puts his family's needs above his own. He's a very disciplined and hard working man. And he's very intelligent. I won't go into the whole history here, but I will say he knows a lot of scripture and always felt it was important for his family to be in church, but it's just something he hasn't done with them. Until this week.

As we sang through the two hymns that I had planned in a row (which normally doesn't happen on Sunday mornings) I remember him sitting in the audience and I realized that it was possible those might be the only two songs we were doing that he'd ever heard before.

I am so thankful that God led me to plan the service this way, not just because of my Father in law, but because of the many raised hands in worship that I saw during almost every song. But I will admit, it was interesting to see those expressions of worship from different age groups depending on the song.

Happy Birthday To...

Today is Gavin's 3rd birthday.

Gavin is my youngest son. I'd like to tell you a little about him (plus I am writing some of these things down so I remember them later. ) Right now, he enjoys wrestling, playing with Bakugan & Transformer toys, and in general doing whatever his older brother Ethan is doing. His favorite movies are Spy Kids: 2 & 3. But we do watch a lot of recorded "Justice League" shows too. His favorite phrase is "Uh... Hmmm?" Example:"Gavin, do you have a dirty diaper?" His answer.. "Uh ....... Hmmmm?" He'll use it alot when he either doesn't know the answer, or doesn't want to tell you the answer.

He can count to ten, recognizes some letters, and has used the potty once. (But we're really working on that last one.) He hates confrontation. His answer to any stressful situation is to cry. When you ask him why he's crying he'll blame it on some old scrape he got on his knee weeks ago. (I know a certain daddy, that used to do that as a child too.) He is a cuddler and will gladly give his Mommy AND DADDY a kiss. I am so thankful God has allowed me the privilege of being his Daddy.

Happy Birthday G-Money. I love you.

(I've just realized that shirt is 3 years old too, and is still worn in heavy rotation. Might be time to shop for some new clothes. Happy Birthday goofy Wal-Mart t-shirt!)

Sunday Setlist 07-05-09

This entry is part of the “blog carnival” going on at Fred McKinnon’s site.
You should check it out and submit an entry about your Sunday service whether you were a leader or an attender.

Here’s our list from this past Sunday with comments to follow.

Orchestral Prelude – America The Beautiful
Welcome / Announcements – Shawn
Presentation of The Colors – Marine Corp League
Pledge of Allegiance / The Star Spangled Banner
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Prayer / Fellowship – Bro. Steve
Down At The Cross - Hymn, done with a southern, off-beat feel.
Ministry In Song: Glorious – Children’s Choir, with Praise & Worship Choir backup on Chorus
God of This City - 2nd Time we’ve done this one. I could see a real difference in those who worshipped and those who just thought it was yet another repetitive chorus.
Agnus Dei
Offertory Prayer
Choir Special – The Battle Hymn Of The Republic - 1st, 4th, and 5th, verses. Very worshipful
Transitional Chorus: God Bless America
Message: Bro. Steve
Invitation: I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
Closing Chorus: God Bless America

Sunday was part of Independence Day Weekend. We have an AM service followed by a festival in the evening with fireworks, bouncy thing for the kids, and lots of food and music. There were a bunch of conversations going on online last week about the use of patriotic songs in worship services. For our church I felt it would be best to include some of those elements as part of our worship. While I understand the argument that the worship hour should be used for only worship related things, we do spend time telling jokes or making announcements. And those things are not necessarily strictly worshipful. So I don’t feel that it’s inappropriate to recite the pledge of allegiance to our flag which is a symbol of our “One Nation Under God.” Plus we have many Veterans in our mostly senior adult congregation, so it was a worshipful service to some of them.

I’ve mentioned before that we strive to have a blended service. This often means that no one is completely happy with the music. This was evidenced by the comments I heard about Sunday morning’s service….

- Someone rolling their eyes - Seen while singing the traditional hymn “Down At The Cross” . From 30-something female.

- “That was a perfect choice of songs. I really worshipped today. Thanks.” From a 40-something female.

- “I was with a group of ladies who were complaining that we don’t do any Baptist Hymns like we grew up with anymore. I asked them if any of them had talked to you about it. They said they didn’t feel comfortable doing so. So, I told them I’d talk to you.” From a 70-something female.

- “You are doing such a great job mixing the styles of music and teaching us new songs. Keep it up. You’re the best worship leader we’ve ever had here.” From a 60 something male. (I was humbled by this compliment, but also wondered if he’d forgotten to take some medication that day. Clearly his judgement was impaired.)

So here’s my thought on this, and I have to quote the great Bill Cosby….
“I don’t know the key to success. But the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

I think I'm just going to keep doing what I feel God is telling me to do.

Resistance Is Futile

I've never been a big fan of bluetooth earpieces.
You know, the little pieces of plastic that people put in their ears so that they can walk around Wal-mart talking on their phone without spending the energy it would take to hold the phone in their hand. Usually when I see those people, I first hear them talking to themselves and I become concerned that they might need a visit from "those nice young men in their clean white coats" ((They're coming to take me away! Ha! Ha!))But then I see their earpiece and I realize that they are on the phone. Second, once I see the device in their ear, I'm reminded of "The Borg" on Star Trek. Once we start adding electronic devices that light up on our faces, we're only a few technological steps away from becoming part robot.

I started this by saying I'm not a big fan. I think before I go any further, I should probably admit that I do own one of those little annoying gadgets. But I've only used it a handful of times. But only in the car, and only when I was by myself. Plus I got it real cheap. Ok, that having been said, I'd like to tell you about my new toy.

For Father's Day this year I got some nice cards from my wife and kids and a little cash to play with. I had heard from Chris that with the new iPhone software update that I could now use wireless headphones to listen to it in stereo. I decided to look into that a little more. I wanted to find something that could be used both for the ipod and the phone and that would be rugged enough that I would not have to worry if I dropped it while on the treadmill or chasing kids around the house. So that led me to the Motorola S9-HD headphones. They don't exactly make me look cool, but I figure they don't make me look like a Borg either. And they're definitely better than driving down the road with wired ipod earbuds in my ears.

So If you're driving down the road and you see this handsome devil in the car next to you....


do two things...
1.) Give me a call. so I can say hello to you from my new toy.
2.) Get far away quickly before you get caught in the gravity of that massive face.
Wow that's a big face.

Are You Being Productive?

I've never been diagnosed as having A.D.D., but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I have it. I'm very easily distracted, especially from things I don't enjoy. If I'm watching a movie, it would take a catastrophe happening around me to get my attention away from the screen. On the other hand, when I'm at work or at home doing something chore-ish (laundry, washing dishes, etc.) the smallest distraction can lead me astray.

I’m distracted easily when I’m at a computer. At work, I get calls all day long and I recently found myself talking with a Welding Distributor from California who’s name was Gordon. Now Gordon is not a very common name, so it brought to my mind the only two Gordon’s that I’ve encountered in my life. One, I went to high school with. The other Gordon that came to mind was Gordon Shumway. Now you may be asking yourself who is Gordon Shumway? That’s Alf’s name. You remember Alf don’t you? The 1980’s sitcom about the Alien Life Form that lived with a suburban family and ate cats. He was a puppet. Before coming to earth and being called Alf, his name was Gordon Shumway on his home planet. (Sadly, this is the kind of information that takes up space in my brain, not tons of scripture, not 2 years of high school Spanish, but details about ALF.) Anyway, so I get off the phone with Gordon, and I’m thinking about ALF, and I remember that I saw every episode of that show but never saw how it ended. So of course, rather than taking time to file something or do anything work related, I decide to take a few minutes and google info about ALF to learn how it ended.

Before long, I had spent approx 10 minutes AT WORK surfing the web learning about ALF. Once I had learned about ALF's sad demise (it never really ended, just got cancelled after a cliffhanger season finale) I realized I owed my boss about 10 minutes of work time. I knew something needed to be done to help me stay on task.
That's when I found a piece of computer code. If you...

1.) Input the following code into your notebook or any simple text editor....

' Written by Robert Matusky ~~
' 2009-04-05
minutes = 20
seconds = minutes * 60
milliseconds = seconds * 1000
do
userContinue = msgBox ("Are you being productive?" , vbYesNo + vbSystemModal )
yesVal = 6
if userContinue = yesVal then
Wscript.sleep milliseconds
end if
loop While userContinue = yesVal


2.) Save as productive.vbs
3.) Click on that file you saved....
It will create a note that will pop up every 20 minutes asking you "Are you being productive?" If you answer yes, it will go away and pop back up 20 minutes later to ask you the same thing. If you answer no, it will go away and stop bothering you until you click on that file to start it running again.
Believe it or not, this has actually helped me be more productive at work.

On the other hand I've also realized that this code can have other uses. If you change the text in the code you can make it ask whatever you want...
I'll leave you with some examples.

1.) Do you look Marvelous?
2.) Should you XYZ? (Examine Your Zipper)
3.) Have you paid Shawn the money you owe him?
4.) Did you remember to use deodorant?
and of course....
5.) Have you googled ALF today?

There's An App For That

I am not an iPhone expert. But I've had one since Christmas.
Yes, I talk about her (Iris the iPhone) frequently. So people have been asking me recently what apps I like. For those of you who have your own personal Iris or are considering getting one. This blog entry is for you.

My Top 10 List of frequently used and enjoyed iPhone Apps.
(in no particular order)

1.) Say Where? - My friend Chris introduced this one to me. With the simple click of your screen you can tell you phone where you want to go (address or business name) and it gives you detailed directions via the GPS.

2.) Facebook - Gotta have access to facebook while on the road. One advantage is that this mobile version won't bog you down with goofy quizzes or farm town requests. You can choose to only see folk's status updates (a feature I miss on the facebook website.

3.) Tweetdeck - A great Twitter app. Allows you to separate the folks you follow into groups. Now if only more people I knew would twitter it would be even better. (You can follow me on twitter @cshawnstinson)

4.) The Weather Channel - The iPhone has its own weather app, but this one from the weather channel will give you satellite images. Nice feature to have when you're at the ballpark wondering when the rain's gonna pass.

5.) Mint - Financial tool. Helps me keep track of my debt (and cash and savings if I had any)

6.) Flixster - Quick access to Movie reviews, trailers, and local showtimes.

7.) Bible - Youversion - Numerous searchable translations of the bible.

8.) Pandora - portable music of any style. Simply type in an artist or song name and it creates a channel just for you.

9.) Evernote - I'm still learning this one, but so far I like it. A great reminder tool. You can write a note, take a pic, or record a voice note.

10.) Shozu - Another new one I'm still figuring out but love so far. Quick upload of pics or text to your favorite websites. Example. I can take a pic and upload it once and it will post to my blog, my facebook and flickr. Definitely a time saver.

Honorable mentions... Ebay, Google reader, & Phone flix.
And I didn't even include any games.

What apps are you using?