What some churches call “worship.”

While laughable for its cheesiness, it’s extremely disturbing to see this video. I hope something like this isn’t as widespread in the Christian church as I think it is. But I’m probably wrong.

The church is to engage the culture, but it shouldn’t be conformed to it (Romans 12:1-2).

I’m not arguing against Christians listening to secular music. I’m arguing its use in a “worship” service, in a time set a part specifically for the Lord.

While the original context was to address the use of spiritual gifts, didn’t Paul admonish the Corinthian church to conduct their services with order (1 Corinthians 14)? This “worship leader” makes a mockery of the biblical principle by asking his audience to take off their shoes and to spin their “sockies” in air.

The Bible calls Christians to bear a good testimony to those who are outside. How does the church live this out if they’re journeying into the realm that’s nonsensical and comical? Has the contemporary church become nothing but a circus?

God is not a God of confusion, but of order.

It’s a fallacy to say that all Christian churches are screwed up, but it’s probably not too far fetched to say that true Biblically-abiding churches are in the minority.

Can you spell A-m-a-z-i-n-g?

Yep. That’s right.

Having some fun at “Chuck” Filming in Los Angeles Union Station.

After hanging at Master’s for the day, I arrived at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles at around 8:00pm on Friday. As I passed the Traxx Restaurant on the way out, I noticed it was closed for business because there was a film crew in there. Turns out they were filming an episode for next season’s Chuck, a sitcom on NBC. [I don't watch it and have no idea what it's about]

I decided to stick around to watch the production in process for a bit. While seeing film crews in Los Angeles is quite the norm, I’m still interested in the whole effort that goes into making a big time Hollywood production. I also wanted to find some humor in the situation,um, responsibly. No, I didn’t crash the scene. Here’s the two things I did do:

1. Some normal lady walked up to me to ask me what was going on. I said they were filming. She asked if anybody famous was in the restaurant. Just for the heck of it, I said “Tom Cruise” to get her reaction. As expected, she almost flipped into a fit of excitement, replying “TOM CRUISE?!?!?! REALLY?!?!” Calmly, I smiled “No, just kidding” Disappointed she walked away. I hope I didn’t  spoil her night. She was a good sport about it and chuckled a bit.

2. Of course, the restaurant was roped off. I was standing right up against the rope watching the production when some guy comes up to me. “You work here?,” he asks me. Considering my incredibly good looks and my Hollywood swagga, I replied, “Yeah, I’m an actor.” “Huh?,” he replies. “Yeah, you want you want my autograph?” “Yeah, you need to back away from the rope because they’re filming right now” Humbled from my high horse, I backed away because heeding authority is a good Christian testimony.

Lesson: Security guards may be termed “rent-a-cops.” But they know a poser when they see one. Serious conversation.

I thought Mr. Security Guard was another  commuting Angelino. It was only after he turned his back that I saw “SECURITY” printed across his back. I like to have fun every once in a while and wasn’t really trying to convince him that I was famous. I didn’t want to give him trouble. I respect the guy for doing his job because it’s guys like him that keep order in a crazy city like Los Angeles. The guy probably does his job to support his family. Nay, he probably works both a day and a night job.

Three lessons to take away from this post:

1. Respect security guards.

2. Don’t be a poser.

3. I am one good looking guy with a swagger cooler than Hollywood.

Movie Night: The Killing Fields

So I started reading a book called Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and not the Problem. It’s a very interesting read thus far. What author Jay Richards seeks to do is lay out the case for capitalism as being the best system that will alleviate poverty. His main goal is to examine capitalism in light of Jesus’s teachings. In flipping through the book, he also apeals to a lot economists, facts, and data. It doesn’t seem to be one of those fluffy, feel good books for sure. I will for sure evaluate what he says in light of biblical interpretation.

Anyway, his tour of socialism and communism throughout history is very clear and easy to understand. He mentions a movie called The Killing Fields, which I am very interested in seeing. It’s about a New York Times Reporter who catalogues the Pol Pot regime and ends up receiving a Pulitzer Prize for his whole account. As far as the movie’s accuracy, I’ll find out soon enough. From what I’ve seen so far in the trailer, it’s usually movies like this that tend to be an eye opener to the atrocities that have taken place in history.

Aside from reading about the Pol Pot regime in historical accounts, the moving visual tends to provide a whole new perspective of the suffering that has taken place at the hands of brutal dictators. From a Christian perspective, we can look at it as testimony to the fallen nature of mankind, attempting to bring heaven on earth apart from God.

The Los Angeles College Football Rivalry

USC and UCLA Football. The two teams seemed to have started a little tradition within the past few years; namely, calling each other out for a little, um, friendly battle.[The first clip above is from this year's USC victory in the crosstown showdown.] By no means do I want the two teams to escalate the situation into a full out brawl, but the trash talk does add to the game’s competitiveness as a whole. As long as the two teams don’t hate each other’s guts to the point of wanting set up a South Central style shootout…

The same type of taunting between the two teams happened last year as well [as shown in this second clip]. No one got hurt fortunately and that’s the way it should stay.

The USC-UCLA football rivalry. While there’s nothing but city pride at stake when they play, it has to be one of the most treasured rivalries in all of college football. Their games don’t lack any excitement whatsoever. After all, it’s a battle for Los Angeles.

If I had to pick between college football and professional football, the former is absolutely more exciting. Every college game is like a do-or-die playoff game. You never know what to expect because some no-name team can come out of nowhere and take down the top team in the country.

The Muppets Rule Again!

In an age where all the good TV shows are gone, there’s still one piece of good & clean entertainment actually worth watching.

Thoughts on the American Music Awards and on Culture in General

I am a Christian, but I’m not going to pretend like I don’t know what’s going on in this culture. I know the hip trends, the music, and the movies. I don’t have a television, but I do read the newspapers, I do have the internet, and am around people who engage with the various items that pop culture is trying to sell.

I don’t need to go into detail about what happened at this year’s AMA’s. It’s not appropriate to do so. I didn’t watch it. But based upon what I read, it was one of the raunchiest shows ever to go down on prime time television. What I was struck with was that parents who sat down in front of their television sets with their kids expected the program to be family friendly.

Really? Do you really think that all these music icons give a care in the world about being family friendly?

Read the lyrics to alot of their songs and you’ll find that being family friendly is not their mission statement. Even the youngest of stars isn’t concerned with being kosher (aka Miley Cyrus in an awards appearance earlier this year).

In light of some literature I’ve been reading, the culture’s shift into the vile debauchery of Adam Lambert and Miley Cyrus becomes all the more interesting to examine.  In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s masterpiece, the characters in the Conditioning Centre were sexualized from the time that they were kids. Hence, when I read that and when I read about the antics of Miley Cyrus, there’s a frightening connection. Either Huxley was possessed by the devil or he was absolutely brilliant in his foresight of society’s downward spiral.

I have yet to read Orwell’s masterpiece 1984, but I am somewhat familiar with the newspeak concept thanks to my father. I listened to Lady Gaga’s new single to check it out, to see what all the buzz is about. I didn’t do it because I enjoy Lady Gaga, but because I wanted to get a sample of what was happening. When I did, my ears were utterly irritated. I couldn’t help but think of the Orwellian newspeak. Nonsensical, repeated words. And that goes not only for her music but for alot of the music that’s played today. All intelligent thought is condensed or eliminated entirely.

Like I said earlier, I’m not going to pretend like I don’t know what’s going on in the realm of pop culture. I’m not going to endorse it, but I’m also not going to ignore it and I’m not going to get sucked into it. To me, it’s important to be aware of it because it’s an indicator of where society is headed. It, for sure, is one the most influential mediums that affects the other sectors of society. From what I can assess, we’re not in a good shape.

Getting Schooled by Mom and Martha Stewart. Reasons I’m Learning to Cook.

One facet of  my personality is that I, Chris Guzman, like to cook (as if it’s not already so blatantly obvious). And when I say “cook” I don’t mean out of the box stuff; rather, I mean that I like cooking stuff from scratch.

This hobby of cooking has a lot to do with my mother. When I was a child, I grew up hanging out with her in the kitchen. In my younger pre-junior high years, I was just a passive sidekick, watching her doing all the cooking for my dad and I, not really being allowed to handle anything because the kitchen was a dangerous place for someone of my small stature.

As I got into my junior high years, the folks gave me a lot more freedom. I whipped up a mad bagel, cream cheese, salami, and egg sandwich quite a few times. There was that one time that I caught the kitchen toaster on fire, which scared my drowsy mom silly as she jumped from the bed to take that burning baby outside as soon as possible.

Other than that one incident, life in the kitchen has been pretty good. Recently, I’ve been able to perfect a scrumptious lemon pepper chicken and steak recipe among other things. Today I was able to hang with mom in the kitchen as she prepared some home-made mac and cheese as well as our own dinner. One axiom in life is that, to become a master of a craft, you strive to emulate the best. And that’s what my mom is to me when it comes to cooking. Her step by step teaching method is phenomenal. Plus, I can never go wrong with spending time with mom.

As strange as it sounds, this is where Martha Stewart comes in. Today, I actually picked up one of her books on cooking because it’s a step by step guide on everything cooking related…everything from grilling on the BBQ (my personal genre of cooking) to dessert (another favorite genre of cooking) to even making homemade pasta (never can go wrong with a little Italian). The book, Martha Stewart’s Cooking School, is sure to become a personal favorite as I seek to put it to good use every now and then.

I’m not going to make a career out of cooking because politics is a subject that I am more passionate about. I don’t expect to be the next Emeril Lagasse or Bobby Flay. And I’m certainly not going to be one of those stay at home dads while the wife seeks to support the family. Nope. I’m not one of those. None of that.

So why on earth would I want to master the art of cooking to the best of my abilities? I’m glad you asked because I’ve compiled an improv list.

1. I like to cook. That’s a given.

2. I will (hopefully soon) have my own pad. This, combined with the fact that I’m quite the people person, means that I will have friends and family over my place a lot. And since I’m Mexican, having people over without making them food automatically eliminates one’s Mexican-ness. My grandparents on both sides have taught me that when you have people over the house, you feed them by making them food. None of this take out business. So in order to affirm my own Mexican-ness and in following the wisdom of my elders, this is another reason I am getting schooled by my mom and by that one lady who got thrown in jail for insider trading.

3. If I happen to get married and have kids in the future, the wife will probably cook most of the time. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to give her break once in a while. Plus, what if she needs to go out of town for a weekend or a few days for business or whatever? Typically when this happens in households today, lots of dads are lost when it comes to whipping up something edible. Before you know it, the house looks like a disaster scene from something like War of the Worlds or even the coming flick 2012. Many times, the path of least resistance is to order take out. Nothing wrong with this, but sometimes its good to be innovative with your own resources. And its possible for a man to do this without blowing the house to pieces.

Sure, some amount of protocol is going to get screwed up if the wife/mommy leaves for a few days. But the damage can get minimized if the man of the house can cook. Plus, I can teach the boys how to BBQ. If they don’t want to learn to at least BBQ, I’ll question their manhood (this last sentence is sarcasm…just saying…).

4. Most compelling reason: There’s nothing like a homemade meal. I’ve been to good restaurants. I’ve been to people’s houses. The food at well-known restaurants is good. But the people that make them are only hired help. They cook mostly because they get paid to cook. Other than their cooking for pay, they probably don’t give a care about you.

Not so at people’s houses. They invite you because they genuinely want to serve you. It might just be me, but the food is much more enjoyable in this latter case because you sense the care that was taken in making the meal for you…and you get some good roundtable conversations in with your host.

I want people to feel that I appreciate them. I want to serve people. And in my cooking as a hobby, this is one way that I can accomplish this. As a Christian, this is isn’t something that I ought to do for friends exclusively. Such would make me no different from the Gentiles. If the opportunity were to ever arise, perhaps I would use cooking to minister to those in need both in the church and to those outside of the church.

Random Thought about the Balloon Family.

Not sure if you saw it the news today, but the authorities spent a few hours looking for a kid who supposedly was flying around in a balloon over Colorado.

The kid’s dad is into flying balloons that transport people and is an avid storm chaser.

There has to be a homeschool connection somewhere with this family. There HAS to be! I’d be surprised if there wasn’t.

Before you accuse me of making fun of home schoolers, I was homeschooled, having my own share of homemade adventures. I used to build big towers with milk crates from the market, knocking them down for the heck of it, taking glory for the loud crash that they made when they came crashing to the floor.

So there. Go homeschoolers!

Love in the Heart of the City

I’ve always been a city kid. I grew up in Alhambra, being a mere ten minutes from Dodger Stadium (without traffic), and frequently heading into the city (i.e. Hollywood, Downtown LA, ect.) to hang out.

Sure, there are plenty of opportunities in the city to have plenty of fun…like heading to Pink’s Hotdogs or City Walk or the Santa Monica Pier. But there’s also another factor fitting into my equation for loving the city, which is the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life (particularly the people who have been and are at the bottom, broken, and living in misery and hopelessness).

For some reason, in my interactions with them, some of these people have opened up to me about what they’ve gone through in their life time. Some pretty intense stuff from what I have gather, experiences I have no idea of because the Lord has spared me from such situations. Definitely some money gospel presentation opportunities.

In my post-Master’s days, I look back and wish I wouldn’t have been so intimidated by Skid Row. If you’re a new Master’s student reading this, go to skid row! I don’t think you’ll regret it.

In terms of the time I did go into the city for whatever reason on my own, I sometimes saw the pain and weariness on these people’s very faces both in my DC and LA days. I can’t particularly explain why these people particularly grabbed my attention.

In all honesty, I hope to one day be closer to these types of people in terms of proximity.

With me living in a very quiet neighborhood, it’s sometimes easy to forget about the world lying out there (both in the inner city and globally). There’s crazy stuff happening. There’s nothing wrong with in a nice little neighborhood. The Lord has each and every one of us where we are for his purposes.

At the same time, I (and alot of us) tend to forget about the world abroad. Those who have gone on missions trips know this concept in a more literal sense than I do.

In reflecting on our blessings of everyday life, let us not forget the broken-hearted. If the Lord so calls us, let us minister to them in the ways the Lord provides whether that’d be here or overseas. If Christ gave us the Great Commission, He will provide us a way of delivering it.