Today, on the third day of dealing with a software company on upgrade issues on a specialized piece of software, I just about lost it. I was fuming. After it became apparent that they were not going to be able to fix the problem again, I left the location where i was at, went to our office, dug out my laptop and wrote an e-mail to the owner and President of the company. I was dissatisfied, I was unhappy, I was ready for something to change.
I am dissatisfied with my spiritual life. I don't study my Bible as much as I should. I don't pray as much as I should. I have not brought my children up and fully taught them what they should have been taught when they were younger - I left them to fend spiritually for themselves, with just my poor example. I sometimes look at my spiritual life and say to myself; " Is this it, is this how it was meant to be?" There are things that God has told me to do that aren't going like I think they should go. I want to say; "Come on God, you have told me and others to do this. Show us what to do."
There is a current of dissatisfaction - I know God made us for more than this. You have something you want me to do. It is almost like a hunger - a knawing in the gut that prompts me to not be satisfied with the ordinary. I am prompted to write out these thoughts I have, almost like a mental vomit that must be released.
It is coming......................................................................
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
More Americans Say They Have No Religion
SOURCE STORY - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506849,00.html
According to the story, most traditional forms of Christian religiosity are in decline in this country. Less and less people are calling people of faith. The only groups on the increase are non-denominational groups (though there was also a story from a few months ago I commented on showing that non-denominational groups falling away from a charismatic tradition are also decreasing) and people that are increasingly bearing the label of evangelical or born-again. More and more people are apparently unable to continue an association with mainline Protestant, Catholic and some other groups.
So what is missing?
Why are people disassociating themselves from religious institutions?
Is it because of perceived empty tradition. Is it a failure of some Churches to be relevant - to be real - to fail in entering into relationship - to be Jesus? I know those sound like catch words, like I an trying to use the new terminolgy that people want to hear, but that isn't what I am really trying to say. I don't want us to be relevant by using relevant terminolgy - I want to be relevant by making a difference.
I want to be a revolutionary!
I want Jesus to live in me enough so that I can show others what he looks like. Not the man-made rules we have made up to keep people in line - to get them to act like good little Christian boys and girls.
Maybe we appear to be too safe to the world. Too content in our womb-like sanctuaries. Some people might even think we seem angelic in our comfort zones and masks and facades. But, even the worldly image of angels is wrong. Angels aren't safe. Why do you think they had to tell people don't be afraid every time one appeared. Angels are dangerous. maybe it is time for us to be dangerous - it is hard to put dangerous people away in plain sight and pretend to yourself that they don't matter. Dangerous people are exciting. Dangerous people affect everything around them.
I want to be a dangerous revolutionary.
According to the story, most traditional forms of Christian religiosity are in decline in this country. Less and less people are calling people of faith. The only groups on the increase are non-denominational groups (though there was also a story from a few months ago I commented on showing that non-denominational groups falling away from a charismatic tradition are also decreasing) and people that are increasingly bearing the label of evangelical or born-again. More and more people are apparently unable to continue an association with mainline Protestant, Catholic and some other groups.
So what is missing?
Why are people disassociating themselves from religious institutions?
Is it because of perceived empty tradition. Is it a failure of some Churches to be relevant - to be real - to fail in entering into relationship - to be Jesus? I know those sound like catch words, like I an trying to use the new terminolgy that people want to hear, but that isn't what I am really trying to say. I don't want us to be relevant by using relevant terminolgy - I want to be relevant by making a difference.
I want to be a revolutionary!
I want Jesus to live in me enough so that I can show others what he looks like. Not the man-made rules we have made up to keep people in line - to get them to act like good little Christian boys and girls.
Maybe we appear to be too safe to the world. Too content in our womb-like sanctuaries. Some people might even think we seem angelic in our comfort zones and masks and facades. But, even the worldly image of angels is wrong. Angels aren't safe. Why do you think they had to tell people don't be afraid every time one appeared. Angels are dangerous. maybe it is time for us to be dangerous - it is hard to put dangerous people away in plain sight and pretend to yourself that they don't matter. Dangerous people are exciting. Dangerous people affect everything around them.
I want to be a dangerous revolutionary.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
How Christians Are Like Bad Drivers
I do a lot of driving. Besides living in Monroe County and working, going to Church and almost everything else in Macon; my job has me driving 2-3 days a week up to Marietta to work at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. Besides that, the company I work for has a contract that can on any given day have me driving to the Florida state line, near any of the other surrounding states or anywhere in between. The point of all that is to say - I do a lot of driving - and it occurred to me that in some ways some Christians are like bad drivers.
CONSTANT TURN SIGNAL CLICKER - This Christian sees the signs of the times in everything and points it out to everyone. Not just about earthquakes, famines, and war but they see the signs in a local traffic accident and other mundane events.
THE SLOW DRIVER - The Christian equivalent to this driver is the person who won't move from their current place or do anything new unless God tells them to do it. They haven't figured out that God has already given them a lot of direction in the word and insist that they get direction for everything they do from God.
SLOW DRIVER (BLUE HAIR VERSION) - There is another type of slow driver and those are the people that insist that we can never do anything different from the way that we have always done it. They will threaten to withhold their time and giving to keep something new from coming to their church.
THE SPEEDER - You have seen them blow through your church. From unsaved visitor to the emotional saving event to eager volunteer to burned out and gone in a matter of weeks.
THE SWERVER - Never content with a church for more than a month or two they speed through and are off to the next one - sometimes leaving chaos in their wake.
THE RUBBERNECKER - Is there for the show and to be entertained. The word is not as important as the presentation. This person thrives in a church with a lot of behind the scenes drama and controversy.
I think there is a little bit of some of these in a lot of us - the trick is to realize when we are being a bad driver and then correct it.
These are all the ones I come come up with off the top of my head - are there any others you can think of?
CONSTANT TURN SIGNAL CLICKER - This Christian sees the signs of the times in everything and points it out to everyone. Not just about earthquakes, famines, and war but they see the signs in a local traffic accident and other mundane events.
THE SLOW DRIVER - The Christian equivalent to this driver is the person who won't move from their current place or do anything new unless God tells them to do it. They haven't figured out that God has already given them a lot of direction in the word and insist that they get direction for everything they do from God.
SLOW DRIVER (BLUE HAIR VERSION) - There is another type of slow driver and those are the people that insist that we can never do anything different from the way that we have always done it. They will threaten to withhold their time and giving to keep something new from coming to their church.
THE SPEEDER - You have seen them blow through your church. From unsaved visitor to the emotional saving event to eager volunteer to burned out and gone in a matter of weeks.
THE SWERVER - Never content with a church for more than a month or two they speed through and are off to the next one - sometimes leaving chaos in their wake.
THE RUBBERNECKER - Is there for the show and to be entertained. The word is not as important as the presentation. This person thrives in a church with a lot of behind the scenes drama and controversy.
I think there is a little bit of some of these in a lot of us - the trick is to realize when we are being a bad driver and then correct it.
These are all the ones I come come up with off the top of my head - are there any others you can think of?
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