LukeDooley.com

I promised some reviews of the other shows I watch, so here goes:

LOST – This was an awesome season. I got a little nervous half way through the season that it was going down the drain, but they did an awesome job of ramping up the intensity in the last 10-12 episodes. The finale could not have been more dramatic. I loved it… it had twists, turns, drama, and it furthered the storyline (somewhat). I can’t wait to see what they do with the show next year. I think they get rescued, but some elect to stay on the island… the show will then continue in 2 parts, showing those still on the island, and those not on the island, and their pursuits to either return or move on with their lives. Rating: 5 SchruteBucks
The Bachelor - This is a GREAT story!! Jenessa watched the entire season of this show. I watched most of the episodes with her. You know the show… it all boils down to the 2 hour finale where the guy picks between two girls (both of whom he apparently “loved”), and then asks one to marry him. Well, we DVR’d the show as usual, and were watching something else in the mean time. I kid you not… the minute the show we were watching ended, and we hit “Delete show”, it kicked back to our other tuner (the one recording Bachelor), just in time for us to see and hear: “Tessa, will you marry me”. Jenessa gave me a look that could kill… we deleted the show, and moved on with our lives. I effectively added 2 hours on to my life, and I could not be happier. Rating: 25 SchruteBucks (it was that good.) American Idol – Didn’t watch the finale. Two hours for a simple announcement is ridiculous. Add Ryan Seacrest to the mix and I almost poked my eyes out. Fast forwarded through most of it… did stop to watch Blake perform with Dougie Fresh. That was awesome… Blake is a performer, he will be a star, and I will buy his album. All that said… the girl won. I’m not even sure of her name… Jordan something? Whatever, she’ll be mediocre at best… Can’t wait till the next time they start making fun of people again next season! Long Live Simon! Rating: 1 SchruteBuck

Boston Legal - Still have 4 episodes on my DVR… this is not good. I love the show, it just hasn’t been a priority in my life recently. Sorry.

It’s that time of year… All of the spring shows are wrapping up with their season finale specials. This means 2 things: 1.) The Dooley DVR will get a much needed rest for the next few months. 2.) I have some strong opinions about some of these shows… I will share them here:

1.) Heroes - The first season of this show was incredible. I’m a sucker for anything superhero, so I was hooked all season. The plot was very solid all year, it was constantly interweaving the different characters, and was definitely building a serious climax for the finale…. or so we thought. It became very clear at the final commercial break with only 10 minutes of show time left that this was going to be a disappointment. The whole“Save the World” part of the show turned out to be quite lame, and extremely predictable. It appeared as if the writers spent a lot of time on every episode except for what I would consider the most important episode. Rating – 2 SchruteBucks

2.) The Office – Funniest show on TV: without question! If you are not watching The Office, you simply are not in the loop with about 80% of my comedy… this could explain why some of you think I’m not funny. The finale was great… Michael Scott made me uncomfortable the whole time… you know it’s a good episode when you are talking out loud to the screen saying things like: “Don’t say it…” “Don’t do it….” “Not in front of her boss….”. SO FUNNY! Jim is back in Scranton. I think that Karen will stay in NY, and leave Dunder-Mifflin. Ryan (the temp) got a corporate job with the company…. he will have a recurring role, and it will be hilarious to see him bossing his former bosses around! Can’t wait till next season! Rating – 4 SchruteBucks

3.) Desperate Housewives (or is it Households?) – I love this show. It’s so real… sure there are some really over the top situations, but for the most part these 4-5 families are dealing with the same things that we, along with everyone else around us, are dealing with. The finale was sweet… It was cool to see Bree and Orson back in the mix…. they are so shifty! Gabby made a mistake marrying the politician/mobster. Is Edy really dead, or will Carlos slide in to save her? Susan and Mike are in love… blah blah… it is good to have Ian off the show however! Lynette and Tom are such a team…. If you can’t find something to like about them, and relate to them in your marriage/parenting, then you aren’t being honest with yourself. They are the biggest reason I watch the show, as their storyline is typically the most believable. Very cool show… Looking forward to next season. Some really cool church should probably rip this show off and do a teaching series based around it. Rating: 4.5 SchruteBucks

This post is really long… I’m going to have to split it into two separate pieces. Look for more reviews from these shows later this week:

LOST (Who lives… who dies… can’t wait till Wednesday night)
American Idol (Go Blake!)
Boston Legal (4 unwatched episodes on the DVR right now… yikes)
The Bachelor (The funniest thing happened. This is more for my wife than me… honest…)

I’m really excited about the new teaching we are starting this weekend at Journey Church and BIG Student Ministries.

In the “Disciples” series we will be looking at three things that Disciples of Jesus do. We’ll be looking at three examples from the Gospels of people who made a conscious decision in their life to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Can’t wait to teach on these three stories!

I’m currently sitting in a teaching session at the State office of the CHOG. The speaker got on a little bit of a rant earlier talking about disciples and made the following statement:

“Too often in the church we disciple people for 60 years and never apostle them.”

The idea behind the statement is that we can often teach, train, equip, foster gifts, and strengthen people, and then miss out on the part where we send them out to do the work. He was speaking in reference to Jesus sending out his disciples as apostles in Matthew 10. He equipped them in verse 1 (and of course throughout their journey together), and then He sent them out in the later verses. He didn’t simply disciple them… he “apostled” them.

It is the vision of Journey Church to be a community that disciples and apostles people. This is laid out clearly in our Vision: “To shape the moral and spiritual climate of West Chester and beyond by gathering a community of Christ followers who emulate Christ, embrace one another, engage the culture, and empty themselves into others.”

Sign me up for that! I love working at a church that has a clear vision to shape people in the mold of Jesus who will in turn shape people in the mold of Jesus.

What an unbelievable title to this post. That should win some sort of web award!

Jenessa and I spent this past weekend visiting her family in the northeastern part of Ohio. The occasion was her youngest sisters Junior Prom. Jenna is such a beautiful girl (see picture as evidence). She is the little sister I never had, and I treat her as such. Trent (her boyfriend) and I had a nice little chat while I was there. I hope he’s not a liar, that would not make me a happy big brother.

Jenessa grew up in a little town called Sugarcreek. You may know it as Little Switzerland. Or you may simply know it as “Amish Country”. I used to constantly tell new people that we met that Jenessa used to be Amish. She is not amused by the joke.

I must say… I used to loathe going to that part of the state (NOT due to the in-laws, please don’t read into that…), simply because of the lack of anything modern, and the overabundance of horse manure on the streets. However, I have recently changed my tune about the Great Northeast {Ohio}. It’s nice to get up there once in a while. No wireless internet , almost no cell phone service, not a lot to do, simply time with family.

I think there is some divine connection when we unplug from the digital world. I think we become more in tune with what God has to say to us when all of the distractions are minimized. For instance… I watched a sermon on my computer in it’s entirety for the first time in a while. No i-Chat to disturb me, no e-mails bouncing in, no blog updates to read… simply my headphones and a beautiful sermon about God’s grace for humanity. I cried at the crescendo of the sermon… the speaker used an unbelievable illustration that I will never forget seeing. I don’t think I would have cried during a sermon in my everyday context. God used Amish country to shake me up.

Since I mentioned it in the title, I better refer to it in the post. I saw several snowmen on a golf course yesterday. It was unbelievable… I can understand there being one, but 4 in the course of 18 holes… that’s unreal!

Wondering where and how this is possible? I challenge you to go golf the only Top 100 public course in the tri-state and see if you don’t find some snowmen as well!

Okay, I know there are some of you out there who will think this is bogus… that’s fine, you are allowed to feel this way. I however would like to win some free stuff.

I read this on Josh Clark’s blog. Who is Josh Clark and why should you trust him? He is a really cool Christian Author / Student / Web-Designer from Lexington, Ky. You should trust him because he advised me on how to receive a free Apple Macbook Pro, and it actually worked. In fact, I’m just going to steal Josh’s entry from his blog…. why re-invent the wheel. Click the link at the bottom of this post, be my friend… lets win prizes together.

Blingo: A search engine powered by Google, but with a twist. Use their site to search and you still get the same Google search results, but each search is a chance to instantly win any of these prizes:

• Brand New Ford Escape or $20,000 cash
• $5,000 Cash
• Home Theatre Package or $2,500 cash
• $2,500 Cash
• $1,000 Cash Every Thursday
• $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
• Fandango Movie Ticket

Simple as that. Just search like you normally do, but each time you have a chance at winning (up to 25 chances per day, though you can do more searches than that).

Blingo Friends

You can also refer people to Blingo, and when they sign up under you they become one of your “Blingo Friends.” Then, if any one of them wins a prize, you get the same prize, even if it’s a new car.
People who sign up under you can still refer other people as their own Blingo Friends.

So sign up as one of my friends and start using Blingo! Then if you win something, I win something!

Here’s the link:

http://www.blingo.com/friends?ref=xfHH3zIq9jaVrfDjQkHengOzhBI

There are a lot of good movements out there doing things to advance the Kingdom, and spread God’s love to the nations. One of my favorite organizations out there is the Passion Movement, lead by Louie Giglio. My generation is blessed to have Passion paving the way with their outstanding conferences, awesome worship leaders, and tremendous love for college students.

This website is a simple example of the kind of people who supply the vision for Passion. Pass this link along to friends who might be in need, or download the tracks for yourself if you feel the need to.

www.hopeforthehokies.com

Seriously… two posts in 2 days about 1 guys album.

I wanted to give a quick update. Jon’s album “Indiana” is currently 5th on i-tunes top albums list. Keep the love coming… it would be really cool to see him climb to the top of the list (remember, it’s only $7.99). Also, I ran in Target for a minute with my lovely wife today and saw Jon’s album on the new release rack for only $9.99.

Go here, here, or here to check him out.

For listening pleasure, I recommend the tracks: Industry, Human, and the single Beautiful Disaster.

You may not know this about me, but I love music. I’m quite eclectic in my tastes, so don’t be surprised when you hear me recommend albums that are quite different… although that is not reflected in this current entry.

A couple times per month I’ll throw some albums / artists out there that are currently on my “Hot List”…. okay, I don’t really have a “Hot List”, but it sounded right so I just let it flow.

1.) Jon McLaughlin – Indiana : This guy is actually a quasi family member by marriage. We’ve hung out together, we were in the same fraternity (at different schools), etc… Bottom Line: if you don’t go buy this album, I will be personally offended! You can pick up Jon’s brand new album “Indiana” on i-tunes right now for only $7.99. That is a steal for a beautiful, full, 13 track album! GO BUY IT!

2.) Dashboard Confessional – Dusk & Sumer: I listened to Dashboard a lot in high school in college. While Dashboard is the the king of the emo genre, their latest album proves to be much happier and does a great job attracting new audiences. I think you’ll enjoy their tunes… check out the tracks “Stolen” and “So Long, So Long”. *Note* I refer to them as Dashboard because that is the band name, but in reality it is one guy named Chris Carrabba.

3.) Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American : Classic. Tough to beat Jimmy Eat World. They always get me pumped when they shuffle through while I’m on a jog. If you’ve never heard them, check out the tracks “Bleed American” and “Sweetness”.

That’s all for now… more to come later.

It’s a great feeling when I finish a book. I start a lot of books… very seldom do I finish a book, and if I do it’s likely months later.

This past Thursday on the flight home from Orlando I finished the final 2 chapters in an unbelievable book by Rob Bell entitled: Sex God: {Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality}. I’ve already decided that this book will be a “mandatory” element of my pre-marital counseling sessions. I already have my first two guinea pigs lined up (thanks Billy and Po).

Rob is a great communicator and a top-notch author… I highly recommend either this book or his other book: Velvet Elvis. If reading isn’t your thing, check out his series of short films: Nooma.

Here are a few gems from “Sex God”. Soak them up, then go by the book to get the full story.

“The author of Genesis makes it clear that there is something different about humans… something of God has been placed in them. We reflect what God is like and who God is. A divine spark resides in every single human being. Everybody, everywhere. Bearers of the divine image” (pg 19).

“How you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator. When a human being is mistreated, objectified, or neglected, when they are treated as less than human, these actions are actions against God. Because how you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator” (pg 28).

“It’s possible to be married to somebody and sharing the same bed and be very disconnected. It’s possible to be married to somebody and sharing the same bed and even having sex regularly and still be profoundly disconnected” (pg. 45)

“As human beings, we take part through our actions in the ongoing creation of the world. The question is: What kind of world are we going to make” (pg. 63).

“God constantly commands his people to remember who they are, where they’ve been, what they’ve seen, adn what’s been done for them. If we stop remembering, we may forget. And that’s when the trouble comes” (pg 74).

“Sleeping with lots of women gives a man the feeling of being a man without actually having to be one” (pg 126).

“The failure to understand the infinite depth of the human soul is often why people who are married have affairs. They stop exploring the person they married. They find somebody who appears more interesting” (pg 159).

“Sex… in its greatest moment is free from power and coercion and manipulation and agendas and fears, when it is simply two people giving all of themselves to each other, holding nothing back” (Pg 166).