What an intense weekend! We kicked off a new series. We married off 2 of our staff weekend. It was complicated by the fact that I had been gone on 2 different trips for all but one day of last week.
GATM & SLUMDOG – Our God at the Movies series kicked off this weekend. It always takes a little extra energy from our entire team when we kick off a series, but that’s more true with God at the Movies than most series. Our technical people outdid themselves in staging & other assorted cool stuff.
MESSAGE – The extra energy thing is totally apt for the message part too. Every year I feel like I have to re-learn how to do these messages. SDM may be our best movie in the series, I’m not sure, but it is certainly the easiest in terms of finding God’s story & message. 
The biggest challenge was keeping it within the time. I feel badly that I went so LONG! I cut a point & a clip out of the outline before we even got to the Friday night service. Then we cut another one after the Friday night message and it was STILL REDICULOUSLY LONG! The worst part was feeling rushed when I got to the last scene. I really think that the last scene is one of the clearest pictures of our destiny of reunion & connection, of heaven & our moment of arrival that I have ever seen in a movie. Then you throw in the dance scene (in how many other movies are the credits a must see?) and BAM! You got yourself a killer picture of heaven.
When I got finally got back to my office, I received an email about Megan. A while back I wrote a post called “This is Church” about her & her friend Claire. Click here to read it. Here’s the brief exchange:
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 1:08 PM
Subject: Megan
Megan passed away today with Cris, Megan’s parents and brother at her bedside.
Prayers for Cris and his family.
Claire
I’m so sorry for your loss & theirs. I’m happy she is free from suffering and with the Lord.
Ed
‘m glad you were part of her Journey. She loved our church and how it was so different from her Catholic upbringing. I love that about Journey!
Claire
Yes, please pray for them.
I had this thought a little later: Megan is having that moment that is pictured at the end of SDM! I’m so glad to be a part of a church where people can find their way to Jesus without having to step over a lot of “Christian Cultural baggage”. The song that the Holy Spirit seemed to land on for me this weekend was Jesus Paid It All. I don’t believe in coincidence. The last verse is so dinero: “And when before the thone, I stand in Him complete. Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat.” 
SLUMDOG PASTORS VIDEO – Dan Stevers is amazing & hilarious. The video he put together inserting Jason, Rod & me into SDM was hilarious. I’ll try & post it this week.
MESSAGE DELEATED SCENES – Later this week, I’m going to try & blog on the points that I cut. One of the most incisive comments of the whole movie was in one of the points that I cut for time sake. I don’t know if I’ll be able to embed the video.
DANIEL & SARAH WEDDING – I was privileged to officiate at Daniel Benitez & Sarah Merk’s wedding on Saturday. They have a wonderful story that has the fingerprints of God & the marks of His mercy & grace all over it.
LAKERS ARE IN THE FINALS – YES! O.k. I’m only asking for 4 more wins this season. That’s not asking for too much, is it! Here’s my prediction: Lakers in 6, maybe 7. The home court will make a difference. Phil will make the right adjustments to the beast that is D Howard. Should be fun. I love watching the NBA this time of year. After this all we have is…yawn… baseball.
FINALLY SOME SURF – Not a lot, but I headed down today, not expecting much & some friends of mine were out there enjoying knee to waist high glass. Muy Fun.
Look for a post on “deleted scenes” from the message later this week.
