Books worth reading

Today I want to recommend two books to you.  The first one is the book I mentioned earlier this month: Tim Tebow’s book “Through My Eyes.”  I cannot overemphasize how much I enjoyed this book!  This is a great book for the football fan, but more than that, it is a good look at the heart of Tim Tebow.  High points in the book for me included the chapter where Tim describes the events of his miraculous birth, and the chapter where he describes his first season with the Broncos (understandably he spends more time talking about the games where he was the starter).

The second book I want to recommend is “Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins” by Michael Wittmer.  The other day, I read “Love Wins” with my own eyes just to make sure that I wasn’t unintentionally misrepresenting him.  Reading it only intensified my concerns for the unbiblical material Bell presents.  Wittmer does a great job of articulating a rebuttal of Bell’s views in a fair and gracious manner.  Wittmer is quick to point out that he likes Rob Bell (he says this very early in the book), and I believe he is sincere.  That said he is not afraid to point out the unbiblical elements that Bell asserts in “Love Wins.” 

Kevin Bauer

A true story of heroism

After what I wrote about sacrifice in my last blog, I thought it only fitting to share this story of a husband who literally gave his life for his wife.  A big thank you to Zachary Roth (the writer of the link I've included) for bringing this to our attention. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110527/us_yblog_thelookout/husband-gave-life-to-save-wife-from-tornado-he-was-my-hero

May we all follow this man's example.  Jesus said, "greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friend."  Remember we can selflessly give of ourselves in less drastic ways.  We can serve when we'd rather be served.  We can give when we'd rather receive.  We can love the people that aren't easy to love.  You get the idea.

Kevin Bauer

Musings on sacrifice

The other day, I was thinking about the subject of self-sacrifice for a writing project that I recently completed.  As I pondered it, my mind went to comic book heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man.  It dawned on me perhaps for the first time that I love these heroes for many reasons, but high on my list is their choice to live a self-sacrificing life.  You may not have given it too much thought, but these fictional heroes constantly sacrifice to protect the lives of the citizens.

Of course, there are real life examples of men and women who sacrifice for others.  Monday is Memorial Day.  We will once again contemplate those who sacrificed their very lives for this country.  What a grand display of selfless heroism!  All of these examples (both the fictional and historical ones) inspire me to sacrifice for the good of others; perhaps not in as drastic a way as our fallen heroes, but I'm inspired to sacrifice my comfort, time, and energy, for the good of others.

Kevin Bauer

We're still here!

I’m sure that many of you have seen the billboard signs that predicted that the world was going to end on May 21, 2011.  That was yesterday.  I noticed these billboard announcements months ago, but I wasn’t going to blog about it until today, not because I was worried, but because I wasn’t going to give any glory to the one who made this prediction that I knew wasn’t going to come true.  It was Harold Camping.  Check out this link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20110512/ts_atlantic/haroldcampingquotes37632

As you see, this isn’t the first time that Camping has predicted the end of the world; he also said it was going end back in 1994.  He was wrong both times!

I entitled my blog today “we’re still here”; I did so because I was trying to convey sarcasm (not an easy thing to convey in word form); because Camping’s claim that the world was going to end yesterday was asinine.  It was asinine to claim the world was going to end back in 1994, and then to try again now just makes me shake my head.  

My heart goes out to those of you who were severely impacted by Camping’s words.  Some of you may have legitimately believed that yesterday was going to be the last day of your life.  To anyone who had such pain because of Camping, I want to say that clearly Camping doesn’t speak for every Christian.  I, for one, didn’t change my routine one iota as I saw May 21st approaching.  I want to say I’m sorry to anyone who was negatively impacted by Harold Camping.

I always try to look at things in a positive way, whenever I can.  The good news about this whole Camping episode is if you were not ready to meet God yesterday, if you were not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, you now have a second chance to do so!

I’m reminded of what I blogged about last month when we celebrated Good Friday and Easter.  On Good Friday, we celebrated how Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and for me.  He did this because we are all sinners; our sin is repugnant to God.  Jesus was the only one who was qualified to pay the price of that sin (because He is sinless; He is the spotless “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” as John put it in John 1:29).  Because of His substitutionary atonement for us, we can be in right relationship with God.

Furthermore, on Easter, we celebrated how Jesus bodily arose from the grave!  Consider this: if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then He is a liar.  I say this because He repeatedly declared that He was going to die and subsequently be resurrected.  Hallelujah, Jesus is not a liar; He really did arise from the dead!

This only leaves us with how we are going to respond.  There are only two options, actually just two words: acceptance or rejection.  Accept God’s plan of salvation or reject it.  Accept Jesus (or “believe” in Him as it says repeatedly in the book of John) or reject Him.  It’s your choice.  I implore you, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:20: “be reconciled to God.”

Kevin   

Attention Bronco fans...

Yesterday, at Amazon.com I came across a book called "Through My Eyes" by Tim Tebow.  It is due out on May 31st. 

http://www.amazon.com/Through-My-Eyes-Tim-Tebow/dp/0062007289/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306000486&sr=1-1

Having already learned about Tim's life and Christian faith, I can't tell you how excited I am to read this book!

To be continued.

Kevin Bauer

Remembering Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man

A superhero movie called "Thor" is in theatres now.  I was reading what movie reviewer Roger Ebert had to say about the movie and here's an excerpt of what he wrote - this is from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110510/REVIEWS/110519987

"The standards for superhero comic book movies have been established by "Superman," "The Dark Knight," "Spider-Man 2," and "Iron Man."  In that company, "Thor" is pitiful.  Consider even the comparable villains (Lex Luthor, the Joker, Doc Ock and Obadiah Stone).  Memories of all four come instantly to mind.  Will you be thinking of Loki six minutes after this movie is over?"

The Spider-Man 2 reference was timely because I had already been thinking about this movie lately and I was going to devote this blog to recommending it to you, and his comment added weight to my case.  Like Ebert, I have a very high opinion of Spider-Man 2, it's probably my favorite superhero movie (this is not to minimize some of the other superhero movies that Ebert cited).

It's basically yesterday's news that Tobey Maguire has been replaced as Spider-Man and the new actor who will play the webslinger is British actor Andrew Garfield.  They are actually rebooting the entire movie series, it will have no direct continuity with the movies starring Maguire.  The new movie is scheduled to be released in 2012.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/first-look-superheros-a-stretch-for-new-spiderman-20110114-19qw9.html

I wish Andrew Garfield and everyone involved in this project a successful movie.  Any Spider-Man movie is worth seeing simply because the character of Spidey is so intriguing.  Having said this, however, I must admit that I was sad to see Maguire replaced in the role.  There was something about how Maguire portrayed the character that made the hero more accessible to me in a way that I hadn't experienced before.  I actually loved all three Spider-Man movies - I cried at the end of all of them.  Maguire left Garfield some big shoes to fill.

Kevin Bauer

Mother's Day, 2011

I just wanted to send a quick Mother's Day wish to everyone who reads this!  Initially, I was going to send this wish to just the mothers, but then I began to think of those of you are like a mother to many people even if you aren't a mother in the technical sense of the word.  Don't be discouraged that God hasn't yet blessed you with motherhood.  You still have wisdom, insight, and love to impart to others!

Incidentally, check out what I wrote about my own mother (on March 8th, her birthday, I blogged about her).  My mother is a very special lady; I am blessed that God chose her to be my mother.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Kevin Bauer

(Proverbs 31:30)

Everything we have is from God, including friends!

Today is my best friend's birthday.  Thus I am thinking not only about this particular individual, but also about the subject of friendship.

A while back, I came across a quote from John Chrysostom; he said, “It would be better for us that the sun were exhausted than that we should be without friends.”  I consider all the friends that I have a precious gift from the hand of God.

To have a friend is to always have someone in your corner.  To have a friend is to have someone who supports you and encourages you, no matter what.  To have a friend is to have someone who accepts you as a person.  To have a friend is to really have someone who “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).  In short, to have a friend is to have a wonderful thing!
 
A possible reaction to what I’ve written is the person who says, “I tried having friends and they hurt me.  After what I’ve gone through, I am not going to touch that friendship deal again with a ten-foot pole.”  The fact is if you form a relationship with anyone there is always a chance of getting hurt.  Even in the best of relationships you will let each other down periodically and you will then have to extend forgiveness to each other (just ask any married couple, they know this is true).

Certainly, there is risk involved, I will concede that.  But my perspective is this: the rewards of friendship far outweigh the risks.  I believe that we shouldn’t go through life without taking advantage of the wonderful gift of friendship.

Kevin Bauer

My Chick-fil-A blog

Some of you may have found it strange that for all these months I have never devoted a blog to the company of Chick-fil-A (this is my place of employment, as you see in my bio).  I didn't do this on purpose; I guess I just seemed to focus on other topics instead.  The fact of the matter is I really love the company of Chick-fil-A.  We seek to serve and honor God, not just make money.

Today I went to a meeting where we were encouraged to go above and beyond with customers by creating what is called an "emotional connection." 
 
An emotional connection is probably best defined by doing something that is not typically expected of a food service company.  The best example I've heard is when we discovered that a young mentally handicapped boy was about to have a birthday, so we decided to throw him a birthday party with his friends!  His father was so happy that he cried tears of appreciation.  That's an emotional connection!  Another instance I heard is when one employee gave a very pregnant woman a small stuffed, plush cow to give to her baby when she gave birth.  You get the idea.  It's simply trying to do something that says "you are more than a customer to us.  You are an important person with a life story."

In this meeting, we were asked, "What can you do to improve in providing emotional connections?"  I answered this by quoting something that Dan Cathy (Truett's son) said a few years ago.  He once encouraged us in a training video to obey what he called "the warm-hearted impulses."  I went on to say that sometimes I will have an impulse to do something kind for a customer, but I don't do it.  I wrapped up my thought by saying that I just need to do as Dan exhorted, obey the warm-hearted impulses.
 
It was a fast meeting, but if I had the time I would have quoted Jesus' observation that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).  Often when this verse is quoted we focus on the monetary gifts that we can give.  But we can give to others simply by serving them; we can give to others by obeying "the warm- hearted impulses."  This is true whether you work in a food service company or not.

So I would encourage everyone who reads this (including myself) to "obey the warm-hearted impulses."  Open the door for people.  Give up your preferred seat at church for the newcomers.  Let others go ahead of you at the grocery store checkout line.  It will bless them, and you'll feel better as well! 

Kevin Bauer

(Philippians 2:4)