Josh Griffin | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Start of Seminary

OK, my first class starts in 20 minutes … here we go!

Side note: Epistemology was in Microsoft Word’s spell check. Amazing …

JG

Add Comment August 26, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Movie Review: Surf’s Up

I like a movie that takes risks, and this one does with quite a bit of success. OK, maybe not a ton of risk, but it takes the idea from the start of the The Incredibles and lots of nods from The Office and pulls out a documentary-style animated movie that’s quite entertaining.

The story follows an unlikely penguin surfer (what’s with all the penguin movies lately? Please be the last …) who follows in the footsteps of his idol surfer Big Z, who died in a surfing accident some years ago. This is a story really of believing in yourself when no one else does, the importance of friends and ultimately redemption. I enjoyed the movie and loved the style – not sure it’s worthy of a sequel but there was plenty of good values in it for my kids to see and enough humor to keep me entertained as well. Fun. B+

JG

Add Comment August 26, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Movie Review: Shrek 3

The third time is not a charm.

Although all of the pieces are there to make another great Shrek film, the last in the triology falls apart with a thin plotline and more, more, more of the same. Yes, there are some great moments – the little Shreks and baby donkeys are great and when some of the characters switch voices you have to smile, but all in all it falls flat with just a few spots to really laugh out loud. Mike Meyers isn’t his best and Cameron Diaz is sadly underused.

My boys loved it, but it felt like it wasn’t a “Return of the Jedi Last Crusade Return of the King” kind of ending. Worth a buck fifty with the boys last night at the Dollar Theater, but that’s about it. I actually hope they make a 4th so the series can end on a high note. C+

JG

Add Comment August 25, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Hit with a Racquet

Didn’t know racquetball was a ‘contact sport’ until yesterday morning … got wacked with a raquet – it hit just above the ankle and square in the middle of the calf. Two thoughts: 1) should my calves have their own MySpace page, and 2) where do I get a temporary handicapped sticker?

JG

99 thoughts

Add Comment August 25, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts My Learnings this Summer

At the intern meeting on Wednesday we went around the room asking what people had been their learnings this summer – there were some really great ones and I thought I would share here what mine has been over the past month or two.

I think I’ve been having somewhat of a mid-life crisis.

I’m just 32, so that either means I’ll die before retirement or perhaps this is all just a bit premature. But I think the concept of death has been a bit rattling to me for some reason, even keeping me up a few nights. I have faith, I believe what Jesus said about eternity, but for some reason this was haunting me.

Maybe it was the fact that we noticed that my life insurance policy needed to be increased because our family had grown. Maybe it was because John Ortberg’s It All Goes Back in the Box message (that I heard 3 times then read the book) had me fixated on it. Don’t know. But I do know I came to some realizations here at the end of the summer.

Every day I am going to live and love. Live for eternity and love people.

Live for eternity – this sounds a bit cheesy, so let me unpack it. Every day I want to make a difference for God’s kingdom. Maybe it’s something small, maybe it’s something big. I added a reminder to Outlook at 10:55 every day asking me if I made a difference in the past 24 hours. Did it count for God or was it wasted? Was someone encouraged, trained, built up, saved, changed because of my life?

Love people – again, perhaps cliche? But my heart is that every day I want to say I love you to my kids. Every day I want to kiss them. Every day I want to love and be loved. I want my wife to know I am madly in love with her. I want to be generous, forgiving and authentic. I want to make people smile, give away touch, smile too often and laugh out loud.

So there you have it – I would think that at the end of my life I would be pretty proud of that if I managed to do both of these things each day.

JG

Add Comment August 24, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Shopping-Driven Life

This funny spoof appeared in today’s UK Satire. Made me laugh! Here’s a clip:

That void was filled by the book “The Shopping-Driven Life” by the Rev. Arnold Rogers, which her friend Betsy Tompkins recommended that she read, if she could. “It literally changed my life,” says Threlkeld. “I realized I only had so much time on this planet, and I’d better do what I could to max out my credit cards while I was alive.”

Rogers’ book was written in response to Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?”, which has held a place atop bestseller lists ever since it first appeared in bookstores in 2002. “Being useful isn’t something that everybody is capable of,” says Rogers. “If all you can do is shop–well, what’s wrong with that?”

Rogers counsels women that shopping is a means to an end, and should not be pursued without a larger purpose in mind. “A lot of credit cards give you frequent flier miles and other promotional rewards,” he notes. “If you’re passing those up, it’s like you’re throwing away fishsticks in your grade school cafeteria.”

JG

Add Comment August 24, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts 30 Days to Live

Didn’t know if you’ve seen LifeChurch.tv’s new series – 30 Days to Live. It’s a pretty compelling series idea, and they’ve done an amazing job with the website for it. Check it out, and be inspired by the stories, the videos and the Scripture. I love it that people can post their own comments and thoughts. This is a great example of using technology to support message. Awesome!

JG

99 thoughts

Add Comment August 24, 2007

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Review: The Blogging Church

Just wrapped up what is now my favorite book of the past month – The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch. If you’re wondering a) what this whole blogging thing is about, b) how to can take your blog to the next level or c) if a blog can be helpful or hurtful to your church – this is the book for you.

It takes you on a journey from the beginner to the advanced principles that make blogs work. The framework for the book is firmly the church and it really gives both sides to the question of whether or not a blog is right for you. Of course, the authors are great bloggers so you can see where they’ve landed on the issue personally. And obviously I’m super pro-blogging, so most of it was singing to the choir for me.

Two things really stood out to me – the first being lots of practical advice and strategy. If you have a blog, even a pretty good one, there’s lots in here you should grab on to. I know my blog will be changing some due to my learnings (notably shaking up my blog roll and adding in a formal disclaimer). Secondly, I really enjoyed the interviews and advice from top bloggers. These are the people that have been there from the beginning or at the very least are very, very good at it. Lots to learn from the authors and from the people they interviewed for the book.

This is a book that needs to be in the hands of anyone who communicates (internally to a team or externally to the community) and the people that control your church’s destiny on the web. Highly recommended.

JG