If there was ever a time to hear about the realities of heaven and hell, it’d be during Summer in a place called Palm Springs (CA) where the heat tops 100 daily and to walk outside is a taste of the burning fires of hell and to finally get into a convention center fully air conditioned is the refreshing contrast that heaven is to the alternative. If there was ever a time to hear about the realities of heaven and hell, it’d be where five great preachers meet on one stage to break down the myths and common misconceptions of heaven and hell; analyze the Biblical assurance that there is a heaven and hell; and proclaim the awesome realness of heaven while warning the masses of the horrors and permanence of hell.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with Resolved, it is a conference that Rick Holland’s ministry puts on every year that brings the most prolific preachers in America to one stage and pound the minds of a young Christian generation with no-nonsense Biblical truth. This weekend’s speakers were John MacArthur, John Piper, Rick Holland, Steve Lawson, and CJ Mahaney. All are phenomenal men of Christ and all are extremely devoted and well versed in the scriptures. You can see it in their preaching and in their genuine passion for what they believe in.

The messages are displayed for you at resolved.org. These are spectacular messages not because the men are spectacular but because we have a spectacular God. Enjoy.

Having your own customized blog is great. You are essentially writing a journal that’s not really for yourself but for other people.

For example, I knew exactly who subscribed to my Xanga digest. Ahh the precious subscription digest. Every morning people would open that email up and read the latest dirt from their friends, comment about it give them eProps to show them how much their life rocked (or in some cases sucked). It was great when you had a list of friends longer than your blog itself. It’d extend down two or three screens and that part of your site would shout to the world, “DANG LOOK HOW COOL I AM! I GOT A POSSE!”

Well this is how cool I am:

Yup, I have 1 friend so far. Seriously? I have parenthesize the puralization of ‘Friends’? How sad is that.

Well what about Mr. Mathew Kiang (dot com)? Well he’s straight up lying. Sir, that is ONE friend, don’t put that ’s’ at the end to make you feel like you’ve got more homie.

Nope not the car. One of these little guys (great shot taken by the AP):

It’s like a really really big cat.

True fanhood is a beautiful thing. I witnessed it first hand the other day at Starbucks. After walking away from the experience, I realized in retrospect how cool it was.

After coming home from church on Sunday afternoon, I was frantically racing home to catch the rest of the Lakers’ Game 1 against the Jazz (had the ESPN Gamecast on my Blackberry the whole time but that’s never the same). Granted, I was a little tired that day so I wanted to get a refreshment to perk me up. I walk into the Starbucks near my house and ordered a lemonade iced green tea (deliciously refreshing btw, highly recommended).

Before finalizing my order my cashier picked up her cell phone and had exclaimed that the Lakers were up at the half. I looked straight at her and said, “Laker fan? Right on!!” and we exchanged a fairly complicated handshake, high-five, and bump (she followed my every move like a high-five pro). We then had a simple 10 second conversation while she was prepping my drink. It went something like this (as above),

“Laker fan? Right on!!”

“Oh yes, you know it.”

“I’m going to catch the game right now at home.”

“Haha okay, you enjoy it for me.”

“I sure will.”

I got my iced tea about 5 seconds later and it had on the cup written in big bold letters, “Go Lakers!” That totally made my day and the person who handed me my drink said, “Oh that’s from Lizzie.” I thanked Lizzie and she ordered me to save the cup and which I replied with an emphatic “of course!”

So here’s the profound part. I had a fun connection with a person I didn’t even know on a random Sunday afternoon. We exchanged high fives, I learned her name, and she gave me a personalized Starbucks drink all in a matter of seconds all because we both loved watching the same basketball team. Friendly Laker fans rock, especially ones that work at Starbucks (now I know two, you da bomb too Michelle).