The competition was excruciating. The judging was tense (see below). After hours of deliberation, my kids voted on a winner.

The WINNER of the

1st Annual Delony Christmas Card Contest Bonanza of Amazingness

is…

THE BUSSEY FAMILY!

Going with the homemade feel, the judges found it irresistible. Sure you can buy a snappy card, but make one of your own? Genius. The card was drawn by young miss Hope Bussey, so we’ve decided to award Hope one prize and the family another. Congratulations!

Second prize is award to: April DeFelice (I won’t mention that she’s my sister in law, because some may cry nepotism). And second prize carries with it the knowledge and pride that you could have been third (even though there is no third). Congrats!

Thank you to all those who played. They were all valiant efforts, better luck next year losers.

This is something we always do with kids when we take them on trips. At the end of the day we sit around a campfire and discuss the highs and lows of the day. So as we near the end of this year, let me ask you…

What were your highs and lows of 2007?

Here are mine:

High: the birth of Tristen Haley Delony on August 19, 2007.  Read about it here.

Low: going up against an angry mob about a controversial decision I made in my ministry.  Read about it here. 

Hanging out on Christmas vacation with my kids I’ve learned many things. I’ve learned a new (to me) slang term that I’ve begun to use and so should you.

Stink Eye (n) - a facial expression of doubt, distrust, or dislike; a dirty look; skunk eye, the hairy eyeball. “When that dude cut me off I gave him total stink eye.” [Doubletongued.org]

“Stink eye” should not be confused by Stinkor; an action figure from the 80’s. I owned him as a kid. He was simply amazing.

“Stinkor was first introduced in 1985 as an action figure from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toyline and came packaged with a mini-comic titled The Stench of Evil. The Stinkor action figure had a semi-foul scent, giving it the distinction of being one of the few toys whose “action feature” is an odor. “[Wikipedia]

[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKDC2iBQTYg]

[Warning: Clip contains mild language and material that could be deemed offensive and convicting to Christians]

This is one of my favorite and poignant clips when it comes to American Christianity. It’s all about which Jesus we choose to follow. It’s classic.

We often gravitate to a Jesus that is not convicting when it comes to our own lives and prefer a Jesus who is confrontational to the lives of other people we don’t like. Who doesn’t prefer a tiny infant? We want Jesus to be kind, merciful and giving towards us. We want Jesus to make life easier. We want to be blessed. But when dealing with people we don’t like, we like a harsh and convicting Savior to deal with them and their sinfulness. It’s like we’re dining at the Jesus buffet, we pick and choose the Lord we like best. We end up seeing Christ for who we want him to be and not for who He is. It’s the American way. Whatever way is most beneficial to me must the right way. We trivialize and commercialize anything sacred (and I’m talking about Christians - NOT nonbelievers!).

I’ve been using this past few days to reevaluate which Jesus I’m following. I often find myself only being thankful when things are going well and only dependent on Him when things aren’t. I don’t like persecution. I don’t like struggling. I don’t like the hard road. I don’t like change. I want a Santa Clause version of Jesus - one where I sit on his lap, smile, and ask for stuff. I don’t like being convicted or stretched. I like the easy road.

Though I know I am not called to the easy road…

So which Jesus are you following?

I’ve just had quite a few discussions lately about what makes a good blog and the best reference to quality blogging is in a post Mud Puppy had a while back. I read it from time to time as a good reminder. So here are the 4 C’s of blogging.

COMMUNITY

Invest — Your community will only be as good as the amount of effort you put into cultivating one. Get Involved.

Listen — It’s not about responding to every single comment—but it is about listening and facilitating

Cultivate — Give your community something to think about. Ask their opinions. Don’t provide all of the answers—let them fill in the blanks.

—–

CONSISTENCY

Find — Don’t know if you’ve “found your voice”? Then you haven’t. You’ll know the moment you do. And when it happens—Speak up!

Write — Talk about the things you care about. Be true to yourself.

Experiment — The Beatles experimented and evolved, yet they were still the one and only Beatles. Experiment—just do it consistently.

—–

CLARITY

See — You need to “see” where you want to go even if you don’t know how to get there. Having a definitive vision is everything.

Communicate — Your communication and conversation should be clear and articulate. Rambling doesn’t make for good conversation.

Vision ? Visionary — Don’t let the word vision scare you off. It doesn’t mean you need to be a genius—you just need to keep your eyes on the road.

—–

CONTENT

Frame — Your content will be as unique as the way you frame it. Don’t just report—have opinions and seek the opinions of otheres.

Share — People are hungry for knowledge and “know-how”. If you know something, share it.

Serve — Make no mistake. You are in the service industry. If your content offers no value—neither do you.

[originally from Logic + Emotion]