10/15/15 - Yoda Was Too Hard on "Suffering"

10/15/15 - Yoda Was Too Hard on "Suffering"

Perhaps the most memorable movie quote on "suffering" is Yoda's:

However, Eckhart Tolle, extremely popular spiritual author, might disagree with Yoda.  Watch this 5 minute video of his thoughts on suffering:

What are your thoughts of the video?

Eckhart says that "you need suffering to come to a point of ending suffering."  Is this true?

What is a time in which you drew strength from a moment of suffering in your life?

Is suffering, to any extent, a self inflicted action as Tolle suggests?

Eckhart also states that when you see your own suffering, you can avoid inflicting suffering on both yourself and others because "the two go together."  Do you agree?

In what ways has other people's suffering led your own suffering?

In what ways has your suffering caused that in other?

Discussion point:  External Suffering vs Internal Suffering. 

How do we change the way we interpret suffering? 

If we are to truly live like Jesus, does that mean we should embrace suffering as He did?  Should we embrace that suffering for others' sake?  Just as He did...  How did He interpret the suffering He endured for our sake? 

Bible References

2 Corinthians 1:2-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

1 Peter 5:10

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Matthew 10:38

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

10/07/15 - Life is a Song, Start Dancing

10/07/15 - Life is a Song, Start Dancing

10 years ago where did you see yourself today?

Think hard.  We all have done those "where do you see yourself five/ten/twenty years from now" questions.  So what was yours?  Specifically, what goals do you think you accomplished?  Did you graduate high school?  College?  Grad school?  Did you meet someone special?  Did you get that promotion?  Did you start that business?

Pick one of those goals (or likely goals) that you had once upon a time in which you achieved.  Sometimes this can be hard, but you've accomplished something in the last five/ten years to be proud of - so focus on that.  Is life perfect now?  Did you "make it"?  Is it all you dreamed it would be!?!  If the answer is "yes" then congratulations!  I'm guessing that's not the case for someone reading this blog or attending this small group...


Try this: what is a goal that you have achieved in that time frame in which God had planned for you...and possibly you had no idea about at the time?


The philosopher Alan Watts (1915-1973) gave many memorable speeches; watch the video below to hear one of them.  Also of note, you may recognize the art in this video.

The video, you may have guessed, was created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, both of South Park fame.


What are your thoughts on the video?

Have you ever thought of crappy song like what they detail at the beginning of the video?  How boring would that be?

God intended your life to be a song.  Just like Alan states "it was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or dance the whole time."

Dancing is a great analogy in this context!  Think of that famous quote "dance like no one is watching."  Why is that quote so popular?  The reason is because people are so self conscious about how good (or bad) they are at dancing that they are constantly worried about how they look instead of doing what the dance is meant for - to have fun.  Have you ever danced with someone who was dancing as if people were watching (self conscious and worried) and then with someone who danced as if no one was watching (fun and free)?

God wants to dance with you and He wants you both to have fun (don't say that to 7th Day Adventists or the people from the Footloose town).


Are you dancing through life?  Or are you just waiting for the dip?


Bible References

Ecclesiastes 5:18
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Ecclesiastes 2:24
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,

1 Timothy 6:17
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Matthew 6:24-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...

John 13:1
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

9/30/15 - Sight is a Perspective

9/30/15 - Sight is a Perspective

Have you heard of the show "Hit RECord on TV" starring Joseph Gordon Levitt?  It is a show which celebrates the global network and focuses on collaborative efforts to create short films, music, stories, etc.

Watch the video below which was taken from one of the Hit RECord on TV episodes.  This particular video is based on a true story essay one woman wrote about an experience when she was 16 years old; Joseph Gordon Levitt adapted it to a script, a woman from Scotland recorded the voice over, a "ton" of visual artists added to the special effects, an animation company volunteered to put it together, while someone composed the music.  A total of 83 contributors (by my count) from around the world uniting to make this short video: that alone is actually pretty cool.

What did you think of the video?

Any key takeaways?

When discussed, our conversation quickly turned to perception.  How interesting it is that when hearing descriptions of the night sky, none were terribly consistent with the rest.  It created a difficult picture to put together for herself.  This girl could only imagine this beautiful sight to be seen by everyone else; but she couldn't see it; and she was struggling to imagine it.

Have you ever struggled to see something beautiful that seems to be observable to everyone else?  What were the circumstances?  Did anyone try to "describe the stars" to you?

On the other side; so many non-believers seem to search to see the "stars" like we can but all we seem to do is describe it to them.

How do you describe Jesus to non-believers?  How about the Holy Spirit?

It wasn't until someone who truly loved this girl, her father, gave her night vision goggles to see that she was finally able to see what everyone was describing; if with her own hue.

What is the "night vision goggles" you've been waiting for to see the beauty?

What "night vision goggles" can you give to someone to introduce them not to the thought of Jesus, but to Jesus himself?

What beauty can you create on your own?  Better yet, what beauty can you create in a collaborative effort with others?



Bible References

2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Matthew 7:21
"Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father will who is in heaven."

2 Corinthians 4:4
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the Glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Romans 1:19
For what can be known about God is plain to them; because God has shown it to them.