I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Our Christmas Eve and early (early!) Christmas morning was spent criss-crossing NY seeing both sides of our family and exchanging gifts, funny, odd and meaningful.

Today was spent picking up much of the mess created in the last twenty-four hours, part of which included a trip to the dump and recycling center. My Senior Pastor, Kirk Gilchrist, needed to go into town so he tagged along for the ride. We used the time to catch up (as we haven’t connected in two weeks). But amidst our conversations he brought up an amazing point, something I thought worth repeating here:

We spend so much of our time teaching, preaching and meditating on just three-and-a-half years of Jesus’ life. Miracles. Healings. Great teachings. But we forget that there were 30 other years of his life, years spent working, maybe owning a business, fulfilling duties, managing money (and maybe even the lack thereof), training, and possibly managing employees. But regardless of the details, they were years spent in the mundane, everyday life. Life devoid of the miraculous perhaps. Years–thirty of them–spent just passing time.

It really spoke to me. How much of your time do you see miracles happening? Big ones? How much profound teaching do you receive? Conversely, how often do you say ask yourself, “What am I doing here?” Why am I spending so much time doing this? Feeling stuck? Feeling bored? Feeling like I’m not going anywhere?

Jesus knows. And not just a little. He spent 30 years in it! (That’s three decades for you adults, and a little more than 7 four-year high-school careers for you teenagers). Thirty years before the Holy Spirit came upon him! Thirty years of growing up, learning a trade and making money. Thirty years of wondering when he was going to fulfill his great purpose here on earth.

That’s a long time of waiting.

We all are in that kind of place somewhere along the line. Even though I see God move in my life on a weekly basis, I still struggle with the simple things like paying bills, making deposits on time, managing leaders, cleaning, keeping records and changing diapers. And, yes, even sometimes wondering what I’m doing and is it really making a difference.

So I hope you take this reminder to heart just as I am. He knows your situation. And he is intimately acquainted with what it means to engage in the mundane over a long period of time.

But know that He, Jesus Himself, is searching your heart through it all. He is looking deep inside to check your motives and purify your ambition. Think of it: Would you endure thirty years of back-breaking labor just to be butchered in the end? The truth is, I think sometimes I can’t even handle stress for a few months before I get cranky. But it’s in those moments where I hear his loving voice saying, “I know what it’s like, son. Keep going. And give me your best–your very best.”

So to all of us enduring the mundane, dismal and frankly boring elements of life, may we be reminded today that He is our example, our source of Hope and inspiration. He knows what it’s like. He’s been there. And He is rooting us on.

Give me your best–your very best.

Just when you thought your particular situation was “un-spiritual,” think again. The mundane is natural, yes. But when done with an eternal, God-inspired perspective, it is so much more. It is actually a point of identity. It is the understanding that Christ lowered Himself to our playing field and experienced everything we could possibly go through, not just the physical pain and suffering we frequently point to at Calvary. We are identifying with Him.

And ultimately, in God’s economy, those thirty were the proper gestation period for what was to come…

…something glorious and far from mundane.

CH

Here’s wishing everyone of my readers a very Merry Christmas today! May the whole world know the name of Jesus and experience His saving grace.

(And if you’re reading this on Christmas Day, get off the computer!).

Blessings from the Hopper Family!

CH 

I just wanted to wish my wife a very happy 4th Anniversary. We were married four years ago today.

With not a flake of snow on the ground, and none forecasted for the day, she asked the Lord for it to snow–her one marriage-day wish. Sure enough, as we arrived to the church it began snowing–hard–and never let up.

And I got my wish: The woman of my dreams. It has been the most wonderful four years of my life. I love you!

CH 

After so many posts challenging the status quo with regard to Christians producing high quality, culture shaping art, I felt it was time to do a little good ole’ fashioned exhorting. 

Huh?

That’s encouraging to you, Junior.  

But I want your list. What artists, producers, musicians, graphic designers, photographers, choreographers and writers do you see doing their best to produce art that glorifies God and affects culture? 

I’m sitting here watching Facing The Giants for the first time. OK, sure, there are some scenes with some poor acting–I won’t deny that. And getting to know some of the characters is a little cliché. But I got down on my knees and wept after two of the scenes (and I’m not done yet! I just put my son to bed and took a break to write this). So I have to hand it them. Here’s a group of Christians trying to make a difference. And I commend them for it. 

Yes, it didn’t outsell Nemo. Yes, no one won any Oscars.

But not yet.

I’ve realized we all are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We all are inspired and supported from behind, learning from our teachers, making better what was first made. So who will you recognize?

If you could, please take a second and post a comment or two with Christian artists or works, whether overtly “Christian” or simply made by a Christian. I’ll put them all together after this week and post it; but not only now, I’m going to keep a running tab. Anytime you want to add someone, let me know. I’ll do my best to revisit this and keep building the list in the hopes of doing two things: Showing where we’ve come from, and showing where we are now and the future it speaks of.

May the Lord get all the glory.

CH   

- – - 

(OK, so I have a little soccer reference with that last pic…had to fit sports in their somehow!)

So my wife was just in my office laughing at me.

“You’re one of the most geeky guys I know but yet you don’t even know how to navigate around MySpace.”

She’s right. First off, I initially stayed off MySpace because I spent one hour on it two years ago and couldn’t believe all the soft pron advertising. Honestly, I really don’t need that as a man. But secondly, I get over 150 emails a day as it is, plus maintaining a host of other websites–I don’t need another vehicle to send me messages or demand updating.

But I realize people out there love communicating on MySpace and yes, it is a great way to stay in touch with people, and even advertising for band and authors (*wink-wink*).

That’s why I have a secret…

I let other people do it!

But since I’m getting so many requests from friends who have personal sites that only allow you see see stuff if you’re a member, I broke down and had Hillary design a site for me (it’s like a spiritual gift for her).

So please go check it out and leave me comments or whatever it is you do.

CH

          

For those that are not aware, today is National Goo Day in the Hopper and Nesbitt clans, also known as Luik’s 1st birthday to be exact. The word “Goo” is derived from the genealogy, “Luik>Lui>Lu>Gu>Goo.” Thanks for wishing my son a very merry, messy, gooey birthday!

CH

As most of you would imagine after my recent rant on the time-consuming nature of television, I get most of my news through the radio and the internet (both lines of communication I’m easily prone to becoming addicted to–but hey, at least I have one of the three booted). Within a short time of it’s happening, my father forwarded me a story about a Sunday morning shooting in Denver, CO at a YWAM base. The shooter tragically killed two of the staff. You can read the AP story here.

I was deeply grieved to read of yet again another senseless shooting. My deepest condolences to the families and church staff close to this situation. I have long loved the YWAM program, involved myself for many years, and now active in sending teens into it. And as the president of the similar two-year international discipleship program, I can not even begin to imagine the sense of loss and vulnerability they must be experiencing.

While this story fuels the fire for the agenda of stronger gun-control, and likewise may not see as much press because of it’s purely Christian environment, the tragedy reminded me of a distantly related happening late last week.

On Thursday morning’s national airing of Glenn Beck’s radio show, a young man called in from Texas regarding this month’s other tragic mall shooting. Another host from San Antonio was sitting in for Glenn (I would have loved to hear what Glenn would have said himself) and remained rather silent to the caller’s opinions–I think mostly because the host didn’t know what to say.

“What do you expect?” said the caller (I’m paraphrasing; you’ll have to become an Insider to get the real quote from the audio archives). “When you remove God from culture, take Him and prayer out of schools and make it a faux pas to speak about Jesus and his teachings so as not to ‘offend’ others, what do you think is going to happen?”

I had a sense that the host was thinking, “What a wacko.”

But truth be told, I agree with him. But even more so…

It’s not just talking God out of the culture, but it’s the Christians backing down from the fight. Saturday night I heard of a teacher in our local high school right here in Clayton, NY, a single solitary teacher, complained that she didn’t like the term “Christmas Dance” for the school’s December ball. So they changed it–for one teacher who spoke unopposed. It’s now the “Winter Dance.”

Edmund Burke’s famous quote rings true in my ears this morning: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

“Christopher, changing the school dance name is evil?” It’s worse than that. It’s the fact that we’re loosing our American chutzpah, continuously letting a fraction of a percentage of a minority sway the direction of our nation on a number of core issues. I won’t say that no one is doing anything to counter it; that would be too broad and certainly disrespectful. But clearly, there aren’t enough.

Back to the topic. About ten years ago I contemplated sending a letter to all local and national law enforcement including the FBI and CIA. In it I would simply write that, if left to a Godless political view that truly pursued the unconstitutional farce of the “separation of church and state,” their bureaus would continue to see an increase in pointless, violent crime completely devoid of any logical motive.

I believe that’s what the caller to Beck’s program was really trying to say.

I truly believe that we must see a revival in our land that brings Jesus back to the center of our focus. Why do people unload on innocent YWAM staff, malls and high school and college campuses? Because the Author and the Finisher of their faith, the Creator of their very DNA has been forced from His rightful place in our thinking, leaving us to the devices of our own sinful natures. And He will not push His way into the will of the individual. He will stand, waiting to be chosen.

He wrote it in the best selling book of all time. He sent prophets to warn us. He allowed 4,000 years of failing human history to transpire just so he could prove the point. He sent His perfect Son, God in the flesh, to amend the course. And He has been more than tolerant, if ever there was someone who did not need to be.

And though He is sovereign and long-suffering, though He wishes that non should perish without knowing Him, it’s as if I can hear Him in the background saying…

What did you expect?

Taking a break from politics, let’s talk about something light, like the media, pop-culture their affects on society.

The Bachelor. AIM. Seventeen Magazine. Covergirl Top Model. e-mail. Survivor. Xbox 360. Bachelorette. PS2. The OC. Punk’d. TRL.

Everything starts with the question, the question that pull us to and fro, demanding attention, demanding to be answered. There’s one being posed to you at this very moment probably. It’s asking you right now.

Are you watching yet?

That is the ever looming, constant drone of a question that hangs around you, perpetually suspended in the atmosphere, waiting for you to respond. Are you watching yet? Put this article down. Put that book down. Stop talking to your friends.
“Watching? Watching what?” you might say.

But the question ignores you and becomes all the more incessant. And you’re not alone; it’s asking all of your friends, too. And each day it finds another way to ask you, another creative means to slide in front of your face and lure you in. But for others, the relentless nagging has finally permeated their minds and they have changed their answer.

“Yes, I am watching.”

However, instead of silencing the little voice, this provocative answer has actually does the opposite. A victim has been found. And instead of backing away from a new convert, the question haunts them more loudly than before and moves in for the kill. It is like a smooth-climbing spider that has caught a fly and laughs at the winged insect’s futile attempt to free itself.

So what are you talking about, Christopher?

Two weeks ago I went to Wal-Mart and bought The Transformers: Double Disc Collectors Edition of the recent box office hit. Unlike many of the teens that went to see the movie, I grew up with the original cartoon. Watching that movie was a journey to Mecca, a temporary state of nirvana. But my wife still doesn’t understand why. In her words, asking her if she wants to see Transformers is like asking me if I want to see her Barbie collection from when she was little. Not really. Point taken. I have my “Manly DVD Cabinet of Power,” she has her make-up collection.

I haven’t had cable now for about 4 years. But I watch stuff when we’re visiting friends or family. Call me a heathen bound for hell, but I liked the first few seasons of American Idol. Because I’m a former kick boxer and I like Sugar Ray, the reality series The Contender with Stalone had me visiting my aunt’s house on a semi-weekly basis. And just because I can’t stop laughing when I watch it with my wife, Everybody Loves Raymond, has to be our favorite sitcom–and we were sad to see it end.

How about video games? Since I’m airing out all my dirty media-laundry, I might as well tell you I own an X-Box and, yes, I do plan on getting the new one someday. To my wife’s dismay I actually enjoy getting on Ghost Recon II and taking out Communist North Korean’s with my state-of-the-art military assault rifle. And don’t act like you don’t either; because either you or someone you know, if honest, can completely identify with me.

Music? Sure! Anyone who’s visited my site at least once knows that I not only like music, I get paid to make it! And if you come over to my house and ask me what I listen to, I’ll show you everything from Dave Matthews and Sting to Norah Jones and Diana Krall. What about Christian music? Sure I own it, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

The fact is that worldly media surrounds us all. We are immersed in it. It’s quickly becoming the backbone of our culture. And whether you chose to admit it or not, 98.2% of the people you meet are media junkies at some level or another. How did I get this number? From the US Census Bureau which found that 98.2% of Americans owned at least one TV in 2001. And the average amount of hours spent watching those TVs was 1,669 hours per year, or about 70 full days in 2004.

Did you read that?

Think of it: 98.2% of Americans spent 70 days in front of the TV in 2004. And many of them, much more time, because playing video games isn’t classified as “watching TV.” That’s a whole separate category.

Another private study (Nielsen, 2003) found that 70% of males, ages 18-34 played over 30 billion hours of video games in one year. And still another study by MediaFamily.org released findings that most children’s “non-school” hours were spent playing video games or on the computer.

So what does all this mean from my perspective? Well, first off, I’m not about to go off on a rampage about what’s “good” and what’s “bad” to watch, listen to and play. Sure I may think that watching a bunch of people stuck on an island is about as stupid as watching cheese balls disintegrate in a cup of water. But other people may say American Idol is equally as dumb. Each family is different and I cannot make the rules for anyone’s family but my own.

I do know that in my household I would never desire my daughter to watch something that demeans her feminine characteristics and shows her that she is to be an “object” for the whole world to indulge in (like the Top Model Covergirl reality show). I know that I would not my son to watch some Bachelor series that paints a “try it out” lifestyle of love, heartbreak and infidelity. When I saw that show I had to laugh at how stupid I thought it was, although very entertaining; but then I remember being so grieved knowing that millions or girls and guys are being sold a lie. And even with American Idol, we have to be clear that these people aren’t our idols and that not everything that show portrays is correct and Godly. Family’s need to make their own rules and guidelines. I’m all for it! Go to it!

I want to make a strong point about is a very simple word: TIME. To illustrate, I’ll use a simple story.

My first youth pastor once told me an amazing fact about himself. “Christopher,” Pastor Tim said during a youth retreat we were on together, “when I was in high school and college, all I did was play Dungeons and Dragons. Hour after hour, day after day, I spent consumed in that game, learning every detail and getting better and better at it. Me and a few friends would get together every day after school and all during the weekends, on through summer break and between classes in college.” But what he said next I never forgot. “And then, a few weeks after I was saved in college, I became very sad with a profound revelation: had I spent all those thousands of hours studying scripture and lost in prayer, I could be the Pope by now.”

Well, not really. Both of us were protestant evangelicals. But I got his point.

A wise man once told me, “If you show me your calendar and your check book, I can tell you what you love and who you serve.” Boy is that true.

See, I don’t have a problem with the idea of video games or music or TV or movies. Yes, the content of them is highly debatable and needs to be governed in your individual life, but they are merely “things,” just as are food, possessions and clothes. But what I do have a problem with is how much time our culture, and specifically our young people, spend immersed in those “things.” Granted, I’m saying this as a published author and recording artist! Seems like bad business.

But I sincerely challenge you to examine your own life. Look at how much time you spend watching TV, or instant messaging your friends or playing video games. A study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that high school students spend an average 40 minutes a day instant messaging friends, 31.4 minutes downloading music and 22 minutes sending and reading e-mail. Ask yourself this question; what if all those teenagers spent those 93.4 minutes a day in prayer and reading their Bibles? What kind of a culture would we have today?

And do you know what the Kaiser Family Foundation sited as the number one reason for this behavior?

“Because I’m bored.”

Bored? No wonder our nation is changing so rapidly; we serve the Maker of the Universe and we are bored? A friend of mine once asked a teen girl at church if she thought God was boring. She shrugged her shoulders and eventually said, “Yes, I do.” He looked right at her and said, “The truth is, He’s not boring. You are.”

Now about my TV. Someone else gave me the same challenge I just gave you. And after examining my life, I realized I was a TV addict. Maybe not as bad as some, but enough to where I noticed I would “zone out” when other people were in the room, and eventually to such a place that it began to dictate my life. When I still lived at home, my mom would have trouble getting me to do dishes and help clean the house and pick up after myself (not only a sign of disrespect but of addiction). It was then I realized I needed a change.

I ended up moving to work for a ministry later that year and when I got a new place I didn’t bother to get a new TV. It wasn’t until after I was married that my wife and I decided to get a TV–but it’s not plugged in. We decided that we didn’t want cable in our home. We use it to watch DVDs now and then and to play a little Xbox with the youth group guys. I even broke down and found a deal on a projector last year (a life long dream); we have set up in our family room. It makes Storm Troopers 7′ tall! But still no cable. I finally realized how much more time I had for my family, my friends, to build relationships and to enjoy life, and not worry so much about a whole bunch of fake people’s lives.

Not mention how much more productive of a person I became.

People ask me all the time, “How do you have so much time to do everything you do, Christopher? You travel, record CDs, write books, pastor, speak, lead worship, organize conferences, open restaurants; how do you do it?”

I just smile and say, “I don’t have cable.”

Oh yeah, when I got rid of TV, I also had more time for Jesus. Imagine that.

Back to politics for a second…

In most all my discussions with friends lately, there seems to be a reoccurring thread once the Republican Presidential Campaign comes up. And it goes something like this:

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t like any of the candidates.”

One wants to kick terrorism’s butt but supports abortion, one wants to secure the boarder but secretly has an addiction to spending, another wants to reduce taxes but wants to grant amnesty and supports the homosexual agenda.

If you’ll permit me to wax a tad negative, I must confess that I have a secret fear being played out in the back of my mind. (I promise I won’t dwell here for very long in this post). Again, it goes something like this:

Hillary and Obama get on the same ticket with Obama as the VP (because I don’t think Hillary could tolerate second place). Because the Republican Party can’t put together a true conservative effort which ensures mid-standing voters (because they’ve forgotten what that means), the race goes to the liberals. While our dollar is lost to the UN and socialism singlehandedly destroys our health care system (if it could get any worse), it does do something else: it calls a right-wing, conservative movement to action. But is it too late?

Now, those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis (as long as there is something fresh to read), you know that I’m not traditionally a doom-and-gloom person. And nor do I mean for this post to be.

But the above poses a real question: What will it take to stir the true conservative voice to action?

I really don’t believe the answer to our nation’s problems lies in the hands of the politicians; I believe it lies in the hands of the Christians. Now I’m not about to throw stones at the Church or my brothers in sisters in Christ. I hate that. But I also will not sit here and say that “we’re doing as much as we can.” I truly have to believe that if we rallied, we’d lead. And in leading we’d bring a nation back to center, to the mark our founding fathers laid long ago.

Honestly, wouldn’t you rather have conversations where people were saying, “Man, I don’t know who to pick,” because they are overwhelmed with so many good choices, rather than trying to piece together a “permissible” option? I honestly think that day is coming, my only worry is that it will take a whole lot of back stepping before we see it.

So here on my humble website today, I join my voice with others out there, endorsing a Third Party.

Now the fun part: What would a 3rd Party look like? Please leave your comments.

Thanks for spending some time with me today.

CH