Seth Bartal's ADVENTURE

Cultural Christmas

Christmas is very cultural in the United States.  By that I mean the way we celebrate Christmas has more to do with the way we were raised in our culture than it does with the Biblical meaning of the holiday.  Whereas it is important not to lose the Scriptural value of celebrating Christ's birth and the unveiling of God's plan to redeem humanity, I don't think it's necessarily bad to include our cultural nuances into the celebration as long as they don't take center stage.  Here are few things from my cultural Christmas that I have come to love each year in addition to the celebration of Christ's birth:

• Movies - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Elf, Holiday Inn, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, etc.
• Food - Wassail, sugar cookies, fudge, roasts, red and green M&M's, etc.
• Gifts - I love giving gifts to people that I think they will really like but would never buy for themselves
• Music - I think I have over 20 hours of Christmas music on my iPod ranging from Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby to Jars of Clay and Michael Bublé
• Friends - I enjoy spending time with people, and I really like Christmas parties
• Christmas lights - It's fun seeing houses that are tastefully decorated

Those are my favorite things about Christmas.  What are yours?

The busyness is over...

Tonight finished up the end of my Christmas busyness!!  It was a crazy week, but I'm glad that's it's all over now and I can enjoy the rest of the season.  It's so ironic that we spend so much time doing "Christmas" things and yet we sometimes forget why we're even doing them.  The same can be true with the Christian life in general.  If we're not careful, we can end up becoming religious like the Pharisees and missing out on what God wanted to do in their midst.  Take some time to remind yourself when you're out running around, shopping, and fighting for a parking spot that we're celebrating the unveiling of God's unique plan to redeem the world.  Christmas is more than gifts and stress; it's a celebration of the hope we have in Christ for all eternity.

A little decorating fun...

Yesterday afternoon a group of my Student Ministry staffers helped to decorate the Cove.  We decided to take some goofy pictures to resemble awkward family photos.  Here's one... and you can see the rest HERE.

A busy weekend!

I had a busy weekend speaking at a youth retreat for Community Congregational Church.  I love the opportunities I get from time to time to speak, but it sure wears me out!  This evening I spent several hours writing our support letter.  We're hoping that it can go out in the next couple of days.  If you're interested in receiving a copy, please email me your address! 

A fool and his words

I have been spending a long time in Proverbs lately.  Honestly, I have spent the last week in 10 verses of Proverbs.  I'm not staying there because I'm so holy and I'm digging in deep; I'm staying there because I'm having a hard time learning the lesson.  My hope is that if I pray more and keep focused on this simple lesson, something will start to change.  This morning I wrote a specific verse in my journal: "A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul," (Proverbs 18:7, ESV).  My words can get me into trouble because I talk too much sometimes.  I think that's the Christian sin that we like to avoid saying is actually a sin.  But I'm convinced that it is.  Something struck me a few weeks ago: I pray for wisdom in every decision-making area of my life except when it comes to the words I choose to say on a daily basis.  Sure, if I have an important meeting or something I pray that God will give me wise words, but I don't pray that on a daily basis.  My prayers are changing from here on out, though.  I want my words to be wise.  I don't want to blather like the fool whose words become a snare to his soul.  So I give you permission to challenge me if you hear me say something that is foolish.  Hold me accountable; I need it!

Welcome to the NEW SITE!

Hey, everybody!  I hope you like the new look of sethbartal.com.  I decided that it was time to give things a bit of an update.  You might notice that the cityscape at the top is a view of Recife, the city where Kari and I are planning to plant a church.  Check back soon, as I will be sharing the story of how we came to this decision of moving to Brazil right here on the blog!

Legacy

This summer is off to a fast start!  We just returned yesterday from our annual High School Retreat.  This year we traveled to Beulah Beach Christian Camp and Retreat Center in Vermilion, Ohio.  I think this was the best HS Retreat we have ever had.  The theme, "Free Fall," tied well into the sessions, and we started the week off at Cedar Point. 

As the leader of such trips as this, God is always teaching me something, and the overwhelming truth that He put on my heart while we were away is the idea of legacy.  What kind of legacy will I leave when I'm gone?  See, Beulah Beach is a special place for our family because it is at that place that my uncle entered into a relationship with Christ as a teenager.  When he returned home, he told his family about his change, and one by one, they all became followers of Jesus.  That's where I come in.  I am a follower of Christ today because of the faithful decision of my uncle several decades ago to put his trust in Jesus.  My guess is that he had no idea that his personal decision back then would have such a lasting impact on God's Kingdom both today and moving forward from here. 

I hope that I will leave a legacy of faith behind me.  I hope that those I lead and those who are part of my family will come to know Christ because they have known me.  Isn't that the goal?  To reflect Christ in such a way with our lives that when people meet us they actually meet Him? 

What will your legacy be?  How will people remember you? 

500 Posts, and still posting...

Hey there, world!  You might wonder where I've been for the last few months.  Honestly, I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had updated here.  My life has been really hectic with lots of things going on.  I'm going to try to do a better job to post a little more regularly, but let me sum up the last two months:

• We have a new senior pastor at LifePoint!  His name is Jym Gregory, and I have already enjoyed working with him and getting to know him.  The transition was really smooth, and I have a lot of respect for the way that both Pastor Tom and Pastor Jym handled things.  If you want to meet Jym, visit the LifePoint web site here.
• I'm in the process of preparing for our High School Summer Retreat and our Middle School Camp.  These take place on back-to-back weeks at the beginning of June.  YIKES!  Lots to plan for, but I'm excited... these are two of my favorite weeks of the year!
• Kari and I are taking three students with us to Brazil this summer!  We will be spending three weeks with our church-sponsored missionary, Tele Moraes, serving with medical clinics, an English camp, and light construction work.  We are in the process of raising support for our trip, so if you would like to contribute, please contact me, and I will let you know how you can partner with us.
• I'm learning Portuguese.  This might actually be the main culprit for taking me away from my blogging.  Kari and I bought the Rosetta Stone so we could know some Portuguese when we're in Brazil for three weeks.  It has been a long, but hopefully rewarding process!
• I'm reading Crime and Punishment.  If you've never read it, I highly recommend it.  It has some really cool thoughts about sin in it.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and I can't wait to finish it in about 400 pages.
• My sermons are now available for download from LifePoint's web site and will no longer be posted here.  Sorry for the confusion, it's just easier that way.  You can get them here.  Also, there is a new podcast link from the LifePoint web site.

Well, that's about it for me.  I'll try to be more on top of staying up to date here.  Keep me posted on what's going on in your lives, too. 

I also just noticed that this is my 500th post!!  That's something to celebrate!

The 21C Museum Hotel

As I mentioned in the last post, I surprised Kari this evening by making a stop to the 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, KY.  It's certainly a unique place.  We gave ourselves a tour of the museum part of the hotel a little bit ago and found some very interesting artwork.  I thought it was worthwhile to share a few pictures here that I took with my digital camera.  I decided to add my own captions to the first two, and the last picture is an approximate quote by the artist.

You want your Happy Meal kid?  Come and get it!

 
The next hottest Christmas item: Super AK-47 Teddy
or When Teddies turn bad

 
Man eaten by drawer while searching for a sock.

If you have a better caption for any of these, leave it as a comment, and I'll add your caption to the artwork.  This was only a small sampling of my favorite images.

Surprise!

So Kari thought we were going to drive through the night to South Carolina, but I surprised her with a stay at the 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky! Nice place with some odd artwork...