Today Lent begins. I’ve never been much of a Church calendar guy. Even now I still don’t fully understand what Lent is all about, but my meager knowledge tells me that Lent is a season of preparation that leads us to Easter.

For many it is a season of giving things up. Some fast from certain types of food, others fast from entertainment or social media. I’ve heard of one Christian leader who fasts from religious oriented books, and instead reads the writings of skeptics. I don’t have any fasts planned at this point, but instead I plan on adding a couple of things to my schedule.

1. I’ll be reading through the CB Lent book, which is a set of readings and devotions. The readings are derived from liturgies ancient and modern, and the devotions are written by the CB staff. It is designed to focus the reader on the life of Jesus, which is exactly what I want to do during Lent. If you go to CB, but didn’t get a book we’ll have them out this week. If you don’t go to CB but you want access, send me an email and I’ll get it to you.

2. The second thing I’m doing for Lent is something I’m doing with my community group. We are committing to the missional practices represented by the acrostic B.E.L.L.S:
B- asks us to Bless three people every week
E- to eat with three people every week
L- to Learn from Jesus
L- to Listen to the Spirit
And S- to reflect think about what it means to be a sent person.

We didn’t develop these practices, but I’m very excited that we have adopted them. I really do enjoy my community group, and I look forward to hearing the stories of my friends as we seek to walk through this Lent season living missionally.

We are taking 20+ weeks to work through the Book of Acts.  Who knew we could have done it in 3 minutes?

I was really hoping that Florida could get out of the national spotlight when it came to elections, or at least out of the “why is your state so incompetent when it comes to elections” spotlight. (Even storm-ravaged NJ seemed to do a better job than us.) Well, it’s Thursday and the results of Tuesday’s election are still outstanding. Some fine citizens in the southern half of our state had to stand in line until after 1:00AM to cast their ballot. (According to reports anyone standing in line at 7:00PM when the polls closed where permitted to vote, meaning that these people stood in line for over six hours.) It appears that the people of S. Florida may be a little more committed than many of my friends. I think election officials have some justified questions that deserve attention. The only reason this is not a more major news story is because the presidential election is decided and Florida’s 29 electoral college votes don’t really matter. For this let us all be thankful.

I do understand that we had a record turnout, and a record number of absentee ballots. I also have been made aware that our laws require us to compare the signatures on the absentee ballots to the voter’s signature on file, which appears to be a significant time investment. I cannot, however, believe that this is the best effort our state can give when it comes to accurate and timely elections. Here’s hoping for next time.

Of course if I’m wrong feel free to educate me.

Someone showed me this today and I thought it was worth sharing. Enjoy:

For my fellow Harry Potter fans who are feeling the absence of a new Harry Potter film this year: Here is a video worth watching.

Thanks Kees van Dijkhuizen. I may now turn my attention to rereading the Hobbit.