I assume that Daniel requested a blog on world domination because he has a secret desire to rule the world. This is not uncommon. We play games like Risk to curb our inner desire for world domination. We watch Pinky and the Brain and secretly relate when the Brain is assembling his contraptions that will place himself as the ruler of the world. When we see a character like Dr. Evil we know that we, in our hearts, have raised our pinkies to our lips with a desire to rule the world.

At the same time we see the innocence of Pinky or the hero who tries to thwart the plans of Dr. Evil and we desire to be like them too. You see, there is a side of us all that wants the world to rotate around us. There is a side of us that wants everyone to bow down and do our bidding. There is also a side of us that knows that this is wrong...dangerous even, and we desire to be free from it.

So Daniel, I understand your desire for world domination, but its just not going to happen. Despite my desire to rule the world, I can't even seem to rule over Faith Extreme on Sundays. The Brain never succeeds and Dr. Evil never wins. You see it in the movies all the time and it plays out in real life too. There is only one who rules the world, and its not with evil intent. Most who want to take over the world want to oppress everyone else. Read Revelation 21. God wants to, does, and will continue to rule the world, but His rule brings life and joy and peace to all who trust in Him.

I had no good ideas for what to write about rubber ducks, but I checked out some web links and found thoughts that led to more thoughts. I remember playing a game called Pooh Sticks that I learned about while reading Winnie the Pooh as a kid. It's basically a race that two friends have by dropping sticks off of a bridge and seeing who's reaches the other side first. Apparently this is a somewhat popular game to play with rubber duckies. I just got this relaxing feeling, remembering the times when I was just able to play and enjoy the simple things in life. I now have multiple rubber duckies in my house as little Abby loves to splash around with them in the tub. She's so in tune with the simple pleasures of life. She loves to just touch tree trunks, ride her bike, play with her octopus toy and go swimming.

Sometimes I wish I could go back to being a child. You guys are all at the point of growing out of childhood and are probably SO ready to be older. The Bible shows us a couple of principles that relate to childhood. The first is that we need to be humble, like little children who playfully gaze into our Father in heaven's eyes without trying to work and earn His favor (Matthew 1-4). The second is that we need to grow out of the immaturity of childhood and into genuine love and the knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 13:4-12).

With this in mind, I don't want to go back to wasting the day away playing games. I do however, want to have a playful freedom that allows me to trust in my Father and not be so worried about my life and how "well" I'm doing. I hope that as you all grow up, that you'll hold onto the innocence of childhood, but grow out of the immaturity of it to the glory of God.

I am very acquainted with house paint! I've done a lot of work to my house as well as working on the house that John Saffold lives in now. Painting isn't my favorite thing, but its definitely a nice finishing touch.

Here's the thing about a nice painted wall, you never know what's going on behind the paint. I recently had to have my house tested for lead. Despite the fact that the interior paint is new, if there's lead paint underneath it can still be hazardous. Also a nicely painted wall may be covering really poor construction or termite damage. While good looking paint is wonderful, its one of the least important elements of a solid home.

I think this is also true of our external appearances. Its easy as Christians to be very focused on appearing to be "on track with God" or virtually sinless. Don't get me wrong, right behavior is the best. Right behavior though, should be the external finishing touch that is produced by a heart that is healed and at peace with God. If the external appearance of Godliness is all we have, we will disappoint ourselves and others when the truth about our heart comes to light.

Remember when Jesus called the religious leaders of his day whitewashed tombs? He said they looked good on the outside, but they were full of death on the inside (Matthew 23:27). I have seen houses that looked OK until you stripped away the paint and wall coverings. Inside I found damage and issues. We need to remember that while people look at the outer appearances, God looks at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:6-7). God's desire is to make us more like Him, starting on the inside. He'll get around to the outer finishing touches, but let Him work on your heart first. Hope that made sense!

Whether you're one of the people who likes to sleep with one flat pillow or one of those people who likes to sleep in the midst of a pile of pillows while clinching a body pillow, we all love to lay our heads down on something and get some rest.

Life is such a rhythm.  We can't go long without rest, and this is God's design.  Our lack of energy points us to our need for Him.  Some of us rest merely because its a necessity.  Some of us would take a nap every hour if we could.  No matter who you are though, rest is a necessary reality.

God has promised rest to all of us.  It is a deeper type of rest than mere sleep.  It is a spiritual rest that comes amidst and at the end of our tiring lives.  Jesus talks about it as He prays in Matthew 11.  He says that everyone who is tired and carries a heavy load can come to Him and He will give them rest.  Then in the next verse He says that is walk through this life sharing His burden instead of just carrying our own ("take my yoke upon you") that He will give us rest for our souls.  Heaven isn't the only rest for us.  Jesus desires that we experience rest now, by laying down our burdens and sharing His.  

Pillows represent rest to us.  Think of our God given need for rest.  What burdens am I carrying that keep me from rest?  How can I lay those down and what is the burden that Jesus wants me to carry with Him?

I was tempted to write a deep thought about the significance of crowns in the Bible, but for some reason another thought seems like it would be more useful for us. Crowns are used to designate someone as being a ruler or, in some cultures, a god. Basically, crowns are used to show that someone is very important.

We don't often see someone wearing a crown these days, sometimes a girl with a tiara. We do many other things though, to make ourselves appear important and to make ourselves stand out. Sometimes we use our clothing style, or lack of (seriously) to get attention. Sometimes we make a public spectacle of how smart we are, or we act like a complete fool publicly so that people will notice us. Sometimes we show off our grades or sports accomplishments. Sometimes we even act very spiritual so that people will think that we're "good" Christians. I think that it is good to be proud when we do something well, but sometimes we get carried away.

Crowns, as they were intended to be used, were placed on a persons head by someone else. Kings received their crown from their fathers for example. Of course throughout history kings have overthrown each other and in a gesture of pride, have crowned themselves.

I think that God's desire for us is that we not attempt to get noticed or to try and look important. I think that this is why Peter (1 Peter 5:6) was led to tell us that we should be humble and let God exalt us when He decides that the time is right. Most of us don't walk around with crowns on our heads, but we should be mindful of our inner desires to be noticed. God desires that we be appreciated and honored, but it is best if He places the honor on us. It means more coming from Him than when we do it ourselves.

So, Jim Denker requested a blog on Coke. I am a Pepsi guy personally, but I am currently trying to avoid soda completely. This is why it was so funny to me when I discovered that Coca-Cola was originally marketed as a medicine. How weird is it that something that we once considered good for our health is something that we now know will rot your teeth and give you a pot belly. Of course, when it was marketed as a medicine they didn't expect people to fill up 44 ounce cups of it at their local convenient store everyday.

So the deep thought is this. Sometimes we have the tendancy to take something good and use it recklessly. I think chocolate is a wonderful gift from God, but we end up with issues if we eat it constantly. We also don't always have the best grasp on what is good for us. Just like Coca-Cola didn't turn out to be that amazing of a medicine, we often think we are on the right track to happiness, but we find out later that God really has a better option. This is OK, its part of life. I know some guys who get angry easily and think that what they need to do is run a mile or wail on a punching bag to get their anger out. That sort of works, but it doesn't solve the issue in their heart that causes the anger. As we grow as Christians, God wants to show us that he has better medicine. He wants us to sit with him and allow him to speak to our hearts when our emotions flair up. Just like I, as a adult, am losing my interest in 44oz cups of soda, I believe that God will lead us to his better remedies for us a we grow up in him.

What do you guys think about this? Do you have any examples of things that you thought were good that turned out to be kind of a letdown?

This is my friend Sarah Macdonald. Now you can google her and find her picture. I decided to write a short poem about Sarah since poems often more clearly portray feeling and emotion.

Sarah Mac, she's got your back
After soccer she eats a snack
Upon her head, her hair is red
And when she talks, you hear what she said
She gives announcements to Faith Extreme
And at Middle ground she blows off steam (?)
She likes to smile and say hello
She's not too short, but still will grow
Now you know who Sarah is
And that I'm not a poetry whiz.

Wow, that was beautiful. Everyone memorize this poem and recite it to Sarah at school tomorrow.