What is it about these storylines that pulls us in?

The indestructible guy who will do anything to stop evil from winning, all in a 24 hour period.

The geek who gets the girl.

The girl who can’t choose between the bad boy and the good leader.

The team that utilizes each individual’s gifts to beat evil and save the day.

The young adult from the “middle of nowhere” America who risks everything to be a star.

The team of scientists that use all the clues to catch the bad guys.

The sarcastic genius doctor who solves every medical mystery there is.

The Lying experts who can tell you’re lying by talking to you, which is helpful when talking to a murderer.

The island that goes berserk and takes its inhabitants around different time periods like Forrest Gump hits a ping pong ball.

If you were to write the next hit TV show, what would your concept be?

Marty Holman

Jack Bauer

The following is a sore subject with me, and happens between the hours of 12 am and 12 am the next day.

Last night I watched the two hour adrenaline rush that was 24 via my DVR, which made it about an hour and a half.  It was so crazy I had to walk around the living room for the better part of a half hour of the program.  Without going into detail about the happenings of Jack Bauer, I can tell you this has been one of the best seasons yet!  Which is fascinating because I really disliked season 6.

Now one of the things that is a constant on 24 is that there are always people that you cannot trust.  Anyone may turn out to be a traitor or a terrorist, which got me to thinking about something.  One thing I do not handle well is when someone who I’m very close to drastically becomes someone different.  I’m kind of aware that this is America and anyone can do what they want to do, so please save those comments, I’m just venting.

In fact, this is one of those areas where I could probably work on the art of forgiveness the most.  Watching a husband or a wife decide they’ve  “outgrown” the other, only to justify a new lifestyle which he or she has transitioned.  Or a close friend who somewhere along the line has been talked into the idea that they are not into those of the opposite gender, and then relays the new idea that they never were.  Or even the couple who all of a sudden can’t stand the idea of a culturally relevant church, and decide that the very idea is from Satan.

Now if you’re offended that I’ve brought any of these “offenses to me” up, don’t be.  This post has nothing to do with the offenses.  Maybe we’ll save those topics for another day – maybe not.  This post has everything to do with how I look at these offenses.  When someone in my life makes a drastic change, making them a new person in my eyes, I have a hard time forgiving them.  I become the new Jack Bauer, targeting the offender, and trying desperately to stop the change from happening.

What I’m saying is that it’s difficult for me to buy the “I’m just not that person anymore” change.

Maybe it’s because I live in a dream world.  Maybe it’s because the family history between my parents and both sets of  grandparents maintains about 160 years of marriage straight through (60/59/38).  Maybe it’s because my “never change” baptistic ways which I was indoctrinated as a child are still deep inside fighting the now prevalent idea of evolutionistic theory that runs amok in the things I read.  I don’t know what it is, but I’m just telling you, right here and right now…

I think I need to work on it.  Or do I?

This man is indestructible...except to the LAPD

The Following takes place between the hours of ….

Last night I watched my 7th viewing season of 24, a show I really like.  But now, as happens to all good shows eventually, the dialogue seems stale and I’ve seen all the action before.  Ya know, somebody on the inside turns bad.  Somebody threatens a catasrophic event.  And nobody, and I mean nobody can stop Jack Bauer.  Only the last of these 3 mainstays on the traditionally wonderful show still makes me happy.  Being able to take down Bauer would be like one of the Marvel Comics superhero movies ending, and the last thing that happens is the good guy loses.   It can’t happen, and that’s why we watch.

But a question I asked myself last night after I watched the first 2 hours was this:  Do I still watch because I enjoy “24″ or because I’ve enjoyed it in the past?

If the answer is the first one, then I have no problems.  I enjoy it. It only takes an hour (or two)  of my night.  It captures my attention.

But if I watch it because I’ve enjoyed it in the past, is that a good enough reason?  I’m going to put this one on the writers and all artistic folk from television to movies to live theatrical performances to all venues (including churches) that aim to “capture people’s attention.”

Once you’ve been succesful, it’s not enough to rest on your laurels.  You have to continue improving.  So many times, productions stay stale because they were once successful, and then fall on their faces wondering why people don’t watch anymore.

Nowhere is this more evident than the church.  I remember  in one church I worked at about 10 years ago, a secretary came to me and openly remarked that no one was “committed to the church anymore,” and I remember thinking that ‘people are just as commited to the church (or the body of Christ), they are just not as committed to your way of organizing church.’ Nothing fresh or creative had emanated from that atmosphere in about 20 years, and the results were starting to show.

As a pastor of an amazing and growing church, I realize that there is a meal given to me to provide (see Matthew 28:19-20), but the way I present the meal doesn’t have to be the same meals Caroline Ingalls presented her meals on “Little House on the Prairie.”

I’m creative.  I have creative people around me.  We can create venues and vehicles to share those meals with those who are going to eat.  And when we’re successful, after a bit, we can begin looking for more creative ways to share the meal. Just because I created it doesn’t mean it’s the gospel.

But still, Jack Bauer should never die.