Mark Moore's Blog

Reading, Watching, and Thinking

I thought I would take a brief moment and ramble about some random things going on in my life. I guess what made me decide to do this was an announcement slide in church this past Sunday. As I was checking out the slides on the screen, one flashed up pointing everyone to my blog and said something to the effect of, "Check out Mark's blog to see what he is reading, watching, and thinking about." So, here is my attempt to make the slide look true and me to look like a real blogger.

Reading
This coming Sunday I am starting a new series in the book of Acts, so my reading is somewhat heavily weighted in that area. Below are some books that I have either recently read or am currently reading. The list is not in any particular order, just as I look around my desk and see them lying there. It is also not exhaustive, though I'm sure to many it appears exhausting.

"The Acts of the Apostles : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary" (Ben Witherington III)


"The Message of Acts: The Spirit, the Church, and the World (Bible Speaks Today)" (John R. W. Stott)

"The Book of the Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament)" (Frederick Fyvie Bruce)


"The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption" (Dennis E. Johnson)


"Authentic Christianity (Lloyd-Jones, David Martyn. Studies in the Book of Acts, V. 1.)" (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)


"Acts of the Apostles an Introduction and Commenta (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)" (I.Howard Marshall)


"Paul's Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in Their Cultural Setting, Revised Edition" (Robert J. Banks)


"Going to Church in the First Century" (Robert Banks)


"Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity" (Martin Hengel)


"The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ...." (Rodney Stark)

Watching
Often times on Mondays, a day off for me, I will watch a movie while my kids are at school and my wife is at the gym. Yes, it really is as terrible as it sounds; I sit in my robe and drink a pot of coffee watching a movie while my wife works out. Yesterday I watched The Last King of Scotland, which was excellent. In previous weeks I have watched Blood Diamond, The Office (Seasons 1 & 2), and Broken Trail. At the theater, I recently saw Shooter, 300, and Disturbia.

As for television, I am a self-confessed 24 fanatic. This has caused me great distress because with each week I grow more and more disappointed with this season and hope that I am not witnessing the demise of one of my favorite shows. This could also be due to the fact that some new shows have stepped in and captured my attention this year. My favorite is Friday Night Lights. This show is centered around a small town Texas high school football team, but is not really about football. It is about life. Week in and week out, this show tackles some of the most pressing issues in our culture and does so with clarity and boldness (such issues have included: racism, adultery and divorce, teenage sexuality, rape, steroid use, domestic violence, etc.). The show received critical acclaim, but it lagged far behind in the ratings. I can only hope that it comes back for another season as it far surpasses the joke that is American Idol. Friday Night Lights is over for the season; if you did not catch it, I highly recommend you grab it on iTunes or on DVD when it is released.

Thinking
What have I been thinking about? Wow! Where to begin? I've been thinking about all of the books above and then some. I've been thinking about how happy I am to go to a movie with my wife each week so that I can quit thinking about what I am reading. I've been thinking about church planting--a lot! I've been consumed with thinking about how to plant at least 100 churches in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, as well as helping guys plant churches in Europe.

I've also been thinking about shaving. I know it sounds random, but I never knew that there was such a major interest in "wet shaving." Don't believe me? Just type in wet shaving on google and watch what pops up. You will be amazed! Well, ok, maybe not amazed at wet shaving itself, but at least amazed that there is so much interest in it. I'm sure you want to know why I was searching wet shaving on google. Well the truth is I was searching ingrown hairs on google. One thing led to another and before you know it I was sucked into a subcultural maze of men devoted to the lost art of wet shaving. Within a couple of articles you discover all about DE safety razors, the importance of pre-shave prep, glycerin based creams, and above all...the badger hair brush. There is even an entire collection of YouTube videos on wet shaving. Maybe I'll shave more frequently now.

Well, I'm sure that is far more information than you ever really wanted to know about me and what I have been reading, watching, and thinking about. Needless to say, I felt like a real blogger when I typed all of that. Blessings.

Technorati Tags: books, friday night lights, wet shaving

24

Wow!  I am blown away.  No pun intended.

I will readily admit that I am a 24 junkie.  I live for Monday nights so that I can watch Jack Bauer run around and save the world in one very long day.  The beginning of a new season of 24 has become a traditional two night, four hour event.  It is meant to grab the audience and leave you screaming for more.  Once again, the writers and producers of the show did not fail to deliver.  The seven days between each episode are almost as torturous as being interrogated by Jack in some dark room with medieval tools.

I am not going to say anything about the show itself other than if you did not see it you should go online immediately and watch it.  If you have never seen any episodes of 24 then I suggest you join Blockbuster or Netflix or both and take a week off of work and watch all of the past five seasons without sleeping so that you can get caught up and join the rest of us who secretly wish we were Jack Bauer.