Da Vinci Code: The Movie

I made it to "The Da Vinci Code" movie yesterday. I was bracing for the protest , but not much of one (about 8 people with two signs at the marquee).
The movie was good. Because I has already read the book, I was "informed" as to what was going to happen, so the shock factor wasn't there. The coolest thing was seeing the places talked about in the book. I am a Tom Hanks and Ron Howard fan, and I liked Tom's performance and Ron's direction. There was a bit more visual to the self mortification of the albino monk than I think was necessary, but what you gonna do. All in all, a good action/thriller.

Somethings I Have Learned From My Kids

I, as I have been for some time, am reading several books (Currently, "The Importance of Being Foolish, How to Think Like" Jesus by Brennen Manning and 1st to Die by James Patterson). I have mentioned in earlier posts that I feel the more I read the less I understand, which still holds true. One thing that I am really trying to learn right now is what Jesus' thoughts were and what He really focused on. To me, when someone talks enough about a subject, it would seem that they are passionate about that subject. I guess there are people in the world that talk about things that don't really matter to them, but I would venture a guess that the numbers are few. In regard to Jesus, He really cared about the "poor". Your guess is as good as mine, but my thoughts have changed on what Jesus means by "poor". Used to, I would understand that to mean, lacking in financial means, now it seems to me to mean much more. For instance (and I will not bore you with exact biblical references, things I myself usually read over when someone else does), when asked about kingdom greatness, Jesus uses a child to illustrate. I have recently learned that a child in ancient Israel was not as esteemed as children in modern America are, and sometimes, even looked upon with disdain. A child was considered of little or no importance until such time that he (girls/women's place in society never changed)was old enough to be considered an adult, around adolescence. Knowing that, Jesus used an object of "poor" reputation in society to illustrate His point, those that are of little or no importance by the world's standards are "poor". He said to His disciples, who were wondering how to get the best seats in Jesus' Kingdom, that to enter God's Kingdom (God's Kingdom? Here, now, later? Not sure on that), one had to become like a child.
I have wrestled with that statement for several days. Jesus talked very highly of children, going so far as to ridicule His disciples who were trying to prevent children from approaching Jesus. He was a little angry about that. Again proving His esteem for children.
That being said (boy, that took awhile to say) and if you are still reading, here is where I am with "being like a child". Those of you that have kids, have you ever sat down and observed your kids without them noticing. Of course, you may see more than you want to see, but there have been times when God has really taught me a valuable lesson simply by observing my kids. For example, kids play with anybody that is around. They don't care about what their skin color is (mine simply say they were playing with, "that boy" or "that girl", rarely is color mentioned and when it is, it doesn't mean anything, they are just communicating to me who they were playing with), they don't care if they are dirty, poor, well off, tall, short, etc. They just play. Another thing I have learned about God through my kids is, I like to watch them sleep. I know that sounds weird or freaky, but in some profound way, it gives me great peace to see my kids sleeping. I think that God gets pleasure watching us sleep (which, not to change the subject {but I will anyway}, I think this goes a long way to disprove that I have to do something to please God).
Lastly, an important thing that I have learned is, God loves me as I am, no matter what I do. My kids will always be my kids and I will always love them. When I have said this in the past to people, they quickly challenge me with questions like, "What if one of your boys grows up and "becomes" (not quite sure how this happens) homosexual?" or "What if one of your boys marries a girl of ethnicity?" or "What if one of your boys kills someone?" My answer is the same. I will love them as I have always loved them. Granted, none of these things have happened, but I really feel deep down in my gut, that I will still love them the same. This gives me great comfort. I believe that God loves me just as I am. Lazy, depressed, fat, selfish, any other trait that would, by the world's standard, be considered unflattering, God loves me. I don't wish to be these things, and I am not this way all the time, but I am from time to time, unappealing. But through it all, God still loves me more than I could ever imagine. He forgives my short-comings everyday. Its as if everyday, God has completely forgotten those things which hurt His heart just hours before. To prove my point, think about Jesus' attitude towards His disciples after the resurrection. He greets them in the upper room with, "Peace to you. Do not be afraid". No, "Well, if it isn't the scardy cats..." or any other sarcastic statement. Even when He visits with them, after they have spent the night fishing, He doesn't even bring it up! What does He do, cooks them some fish! It's as though it never happened. This is God as I understand Him to this point and frankly, He will not be the One changing.

Help me God to understand You more and more. It is my dream for my life. Thank you for loving me in spite of all the crap in my life. I know that I don't deserve Your love, but You give it anyway. Its hard for me to say most times, but I love You.

The Beloved,
SIM CP

For everything else....there's childhood.

Garden hose----------$10
Water sprinkler------$5
To be a kid again----Priceless

Even More on Dan's Diabolical Treatise...

At Barna.org there is an interesting article from the Barna research group about "The Da Vinci Code". The whole article is good and focuses on the fact that overall this book has not effected most, 95%, of people who have read the book "cover to cover".
As a side note, The Town Talk (local newspaper), in the opinion section today, a group of people will be having a PPP, peaceful, prayerful protest outside of the Grand Theatre May 19th. There reason is because they want to "honor our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ and to console him and make reparation for insults to his sacredness". WHAT!?! Console Jesus? Insults to His sacredness!?! What does this book/movie do to people who are probably somewhat normal otherwise? Do we have to defend the Lord? Is He not God? Does He need mortal humans to defend His honor? I think not! He is God! Regardless of what a book or movie says. Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and He certainly doesn't need me or anyone else to "make reparation for insults to his sacredness". Come on, give me a break!

SIM CP

More on "The Code"

"Christianity, Christian ideas and ideals have for good reason withstood so many challenges that a 'Da Vinci Code' whodunit in no way presents a threat," director Ron Howard recently reassured the German press.

I was reading the Drudge Report and came across an article which tells how "The Da Vinci Code" is being reacted to by different religious groups presented by the media on a global level. Ron Howards quote sums it up for me. What is Christianity if it cannot withstand a "whodunit" fiction book? Christianity, or the following of Christ, has nothing to fear. What are we if a book of fiction is shaking the foundation of our belief system? I believe what the bible says about Jesus. He was/is God's Son, wholly man, wholly divine. He was without sin. The bible doesn't say specifically that Jesus never married, but I understand that to be true, on faith. It has never been an issue for me. When I was reading the book, the only thing that kept me turning the pages, was finding out the different codes and their solutions. The book's facts about Jesus and Mary were not even on the radar for me. It was a page turner because it took enough fact and blended in a lot of fiction, and the result was great. Once I got to the halfway point, I didn't put it back down. I stayed up till 2:30am to finish it. I wasn't let down. After that, I got all of Dan Brown's books and they are very similar in style, meaning they use a small amount of fact and mix in great amounts of fiction and...Viola! a great book. Not all of them are excellent, but all are good.
My hope is that when all of this hoopla is settled, we can get back to enjoying a good tale of "whodunit".

SIM Church Planter

The Dogs Playing Poker Code

Without a doubt one of the funniest things that I have ever read. Go here to read this hilarious take on "The Da Vinci Code". While your there, cruise around this great satire magazine on religion.

SIM Church Planter

The DaVinci Code

I have to write an entry on this. It is so apparent that the world is on the fundamentalism bandwagon. If it is not Harry Potter corrupting all the children of the world with his "magic", it's Dan Brown's DaVinci Code making life for the modern-day Pharisee's down right unbearable. I have to admit, I just don't get it. When I was growing up, I didn't think that people had fairy godparents that would grant them any wish. I didn't think that taking a bedknob and turning it three quarter turns clockwise would make the bed, on which it was on, travel to the bottom of Naboomboo lagoon. I didn't think that, despite the fact that he wore a cool cape, Superman could really fly and stop bullets with his chest and jump over skyscrapers. It's called fiction. I am really getting tired of all the hype surrounding fictional characters and storylines. If you have nothing else to do but protest fiction, well then you really do have too much time on your hands. Fiction is by definition NOT REAL. I will admit that there are probably some poor souls out there that believe Harry Potter can cast magic spells or that Jesus was married and had children, but these people are also the ones that propitiate things like conspiracy theories, UFOs, and crop circles. I don't buy for a moment that sane, mature, clear thinking adults will believe the DaVinci Code or Harry Potter are things based on reality. They, as I, have seen these things for what they are, fiction (again not real). The other thing that bothers me is the people making the most noise about it are usually the people that have never watched a single minute of the Harry Potter movies or read The DaVinci Code. That really makes me ill. How can someone make a judgment call on someone else's opinion. I challenge anyone reading this blog, to read the DaVinci Code or watch an episode of the Harry Potter series. The catch is watching or reading without a presupposed opinion, that'll be the tricky part.
The bottom line is fiction is just that, fiction. It is not supposed to be reality. I really enjoy fiction for that reason. Reading or watching a movie/book of fiction allows me to go places I'll probably never go. See (in my mind) things I'll never see. It is an outlet from reality. It is a break from what is going on around me that I can't change. It's freedom, for a time, from the hecticness of life.
As a closer, I'll close with a quote from Jesus (my interp.),"The way you are judged is in direct proportion to how you judge".
SIM CP

A Glimpse of Jesus

I am reading another of Brennan Mannings books, "A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred" and so far it is not a let down. I read the "Ragamuffin Gospel" not long ago and it oozed with grace and so does this work. This morning, I was reading and I came across a story Brennan tells about a vision he had while on a spiritual retreat. I would like to transcribe it here for you to read. The context of this story is it follows the question, "But who do you say that I am?"(Matt. 16:15). This answers that question for me.
"Praying over the passage of the washing of the feet, I was suddenly transported in faith into the Upper Room, where I took Judas' place among the Twelve. The Servant, who had tied a towel round his waist, poured water from a pitcher into a copper basin and reached out to wash my feet. Involuntarily I pulled my foot back. I couldn't look at him. I had betrayed the vision, been unfaithful to my dream(and thus unfaithful to his plan for my life).
Sensing my dismay, he placed his hand on my knee and said, "Brennan, do you know what these years together have meant to me? You were being held even when you didn't believe I was holding you. I love you, my friend."
Tears rolled down my cheeks. "But Lord, my sins, my repeated failures, my weaknesses...."
"I understand. Brennan, I expected more failure from you than you expected from yourself." He smiled. "And you always came back. Nothing pleases me as much as when you trust me, when you allow that my compassion is bigger than your sinfulness."
"But Jesus, what about my irritating character defects-the boasting, the inflating of the truth, the pretense of being an intellectual, the impatience with people, and all the times I drank to excess?"
"What you are saying is true. But your love for me has never wavered: your heart has remained pure. What's more, even in darkness and confusion, you've always done something that overshadowed all the rest. You were kind to sinners. Now I'll go. I've washed your feet. Do the same for others. Serve my people humbly and lovingly. You will find happiness if you do. Peace, my friend."
After reading that, I had to re-read it. What a revelation of grace! What a beautiful answer to the question of who Jesus is to me. It's not what others have said Jesus is. Not the eloquent writers of scripture. It's not what the preacher said. It's not what the teacher said. It's not what any author has penned. It's a very personal answer that only we as individuals can answer. For me, Jesus is Grace.

...Film at 11.

I have tried and tried to "get into the news", but so far I have been unsuccessful. I have tried the local, national, and world news, but to no avail. I have tried different medias, ie. TV, newspaper, etc., no dice. I don't know why this is when people who are my age seem to keep up regularly with it. I just don't have the motovation. The newspaper to me is good for comics, sales papers (for my wife), and crossword puzzles. The news is of little concern for me. Watching local news at night usually becomes a long commercial as I wait for the late shows to come on. I realize that there have been important things that I have missed, nothing life or death...yet. All I have to say to all the people out there that stay informed on a regular basis, keep me informed!

Good Night and Good Luck,
SIM CP

Superman Returns 6-30-06

One of the coolest lines in a film is in this trailer for the much anticipated Superman Returns (select player at bottom of screen). In case you miss it, here is the line from Jor-EL (Superman's dad) to Superman (Kal-EL): "Even though you have been raised as a human being, you are not one of them. They can be a great people, Kal-EL, they wish to be...They only lack the light to show the way...For this reason above all, their capacity to do good, I've sent them you, my only son. Does this not ooze spiritual overtones!?! The story of Jesus Christ, the original Super(Son of)Man, is paralleled with an awesome soundtrack for added emotion (if the little hairs on the back of your neck don't stand up when you see the Kent's mailbox in the forefront of the Kansas sunrise with John Williams' theme playing, you might not be a fan of Superman). Just thought this was really cool.
SIM CP

Churches and Hospitals

I would like you guys to read my friend's blog entitled All You Need To Know here before reading this one, it's sort of a opener. I'll wait here...
Wow, that was quick. You must have made all A's in reading! Just kidding. ANYhoo, here is some of my thoughts on The Pensacola Project.
The place is indeed crawling with churches on every corner, street, road, and edifice you can imagine, but hospitals/medical offices are seemingly on every corner as well. I spoke to a marketing person with Baptist Memorial and she said to me, "Pensacola has lots of hospitals and with that, a lot of medically related professions, its a large part of our economy". I of course agreed with her having rode around Pensacola and some of its surrounding communities. The two thoughts of churches and hospitals being everywhere sort of rolled around in my mind. What is this observation trying to tell me. Here is what I concluded (keep in mind that this a spiritual observation about something physical). The church is supposed to be a hospital too, right? The difference is physical and spiritual of course but the resemblance is there. That being the case, the people should be very "healthy" physically and spiritually, right? But they are just like any other town. They have all the same issues. The same problems as most other towns. They are a resort town and I'm sure rely heavily on tourism. But the tourists I know that go there don't come back with more "health" as they do with more sand on their feet. So what you ask? The point that I am trying to make is the same point that my friend makes in his blog, "Have you told us everything we need to know?" I don't think so. The answer is not more churches with their own specialties but rather churches with healing mentalities. We have cultivated an idea that more churches (in the traditional sense)=more genuine spirituality. However, the result is the same, more churches =the same or less spirituality. Why is there so many not seeing this?!? I am not specifically picking on Pensacola, but rather in a general sense (or nonsense). When will we wake up and realize that having a church more accessible to the already churched is crazy talk. We should be non-traditional in our approach to "doing church". Church in this post-modern world of which we are a part of (like it or not) is not beginning a change its already changed and setting up for newer changes. No matter if you offer a new wrapper on the same pack of underwear, it's still just underwear. Changing the wrapper isn't enough, the contents have to change in order to be effective. Endnote: I am not saying that we should change the message of the gospel to make it more appealing (which I personally appall). I AM saying however if we don't change how we PRESENT the message we are going to lose the battle of communication. Let's check our Christianese at the door and build a relationship with someone purely to have a relationship with them. If something becomes of that relationship and they join the Way, glory! If not, we have no less reason to be their friend. Jesus called us His friends. Sinners (of which I am the president of the local chapter) were Jesus' friends. How can I do or be better than that?
SIM CP

The Oval Office

While recently in Pensacola on business, my buddy and I went to eat at a hole in the wall place called The Oval Office. We went there because of the advertisement we saw in the hotel's local eatery guide. It said that we would receive a 10% discount if we showed our room keys and they boasted the best burger of Myrtle Beach. Well we got there and the place was more of a bar than an eating establishment, but what the heck, we decided to stay and eat a burger. At the close of our meal, I showed our waitress our room key and asked about the 10% discount. She seemed at first confused but then realized what it was we were asking about and said that she would get that done for us, but had never really done it before (should have been a hint to what is to come in this story). My back was to the bar and my buddy was facing it when he said that we were in trouble. He went on to describe the scene. Our waitress had put her reading glasses on and had gotten a calculator out...to figure 10 PERCENT. Now I know that I am being harsh, but isn't that one of the easiest things to figure? Anyway, to make matters even funnier, she brings us the ticket and tells us that she made sure it was right because she had used her calculator. Holding back a gut-laugh, we thanked her, and left the eating establishment. This one event stayed with us and we laughed about it many times while away. So thanks Oval Office waitress for making our trip enjoyable.
SIM CP

Amazing Grace

The book entitled "What is so amazing about grace" by Phillip Yancey is a must read for any fundamentalist. I for some time had grappled with the apparent lack of grace offered by that faction. I was a proponent for most of my life, but the lack of grace seemed evident. There seemed to always be a "but" at the end of a grace statement. For example, "The homosexuals are part of the world and God loves them and died for them, BUT they are living a life of sin". Yes, I will consent to the fact that in deed they are living in a life of sin, BUT so am I! I live in sin everyday. How does this make me better loved by an all-loving God? It doesn't. I guess the chapter in Yancey's book about his friend Mel (who is homosexual) was followed by the chapter on cheap grace for a reason. There is a fine line where grace is concerned. If we are not careful though , we will hold to one side of the law/grace fence and one will ultimately be missing the "balancer".
I was talking to my friend the other day and asked him what he thought the balancer of grace is. I thought about it and I kept coming back to just "ungrace" which seemed a surface answer. Something was missing. The statement he made came from the same book by Yancey in which Phillip states that grace is cheap when in advance we conspire to sin knowing that God will forgive us in the end. He also used an example of me (who is married) going out and cheating on my wife. Now according to grace, God will forgive my sin, but the consequence of that sin is that I will have broken up my marriage and family. At best, I will have only put her trust in me in peril. Without trust, our relationship will be set back years possibly decades. The bottom line is why do I not cheat on my wife. The answer is love for God and love for my wife and family. I do not do that because I love God and want to follow His commandments and love my wife and family too much to chance losing them.
I guess what I am trying to say is grace, though the coolest thing God arranged for us, has the greatest amount of room for error on our part. Let's be careful not to go overboard on either side, too much law or too much "cheap" grace will only harm us and those around us.
Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker, "With great power comes great responsibility" and that is how we should treat the grace of God.
Graciously,
SIM Church Planter

It's Been Awhile

I just realized that it's been ten days since I've put down some thoughts. Time sure does fly when...well you understand. Anyway, I would like to let you all know that there have been some up times and some down times since last we met, but that is life. The cool thing is that God never lets me get too low before He shows up with some really cool stuff. For instance, last week I was able to hook up with some guys from Sling 'n Stone who are doing the same stuff we are in Natchez, MS area. It was so uplifting to talk to these guys. You know how when you feel all alone in your little world and people show up and let you know that your world isn't very small after all. That is what happened last Thursday night at Fire Mountain. It's in those much needed times that an encouraging takes place and you can go on with the vision before you. You realize that all the question marks are actually exclamation points that you see in the rear view mirror on the bill boards of life's road. They'll probably never know how much just talking to them about their trials and tribulations along side our struggles made me feel that night. So here's to the guys at Sling 'n Stone, may you continue to do what God says to do when and where God says to do it. The world is changing and you are it's agents. Godspeed on your journey.
Do you hear that Mr. Anderson? It's the sound of inevitability.
-Agent Smith in The Matrix
SIM CP

You Haven't Played Yahtzee?!

I was traveling to Monroe, LA with my good friend/co-worker/future business partner/fellow church planter from Words Less Spoken and we were just talking about life in general when the topic went to games. I love games. Board games, card games, table games, computer games, any game really. I was telling him the games we play when we are at my ma-maw's house, which include progressive rummy, scrabble, dominos, and Yahtzee. After a few minutes of my rattling on and on about the fun we have, he confesses to me, "I've never played Yahtzee." Of course I'm glad I wasn't driving or I may have driven off the road in dis-belief. This was like an alien was speaking to me. Once I regained consciousness, I looked over at him and said, "Are you serious?" like he had just admitted stealing from the pope. You must understand, he and I are so similar. Similar backgrounds, similar likes and dislikes, similar...lots of things, so to here this come out of his mouth, well let's just say I was shocked.
Why in the world did I just tell you the story? It made me think of some things the next day (remember, I received quite a shock and had pondered the idea of someone close to my age never having played Yahtzee). What it made me think of was: 1. No matter how similar people are to us, they are still different or, better yet, unique and 2. Just because something is so loved by us doesn't mean that others will find those things even enjoyable. Let me explore these two things further.
Similarities are the things that bring individuals together, also referred to as "common ground". We assume lots of times that similarities are enough, and for starters they are enough, but as time passes we will learn more and more about others and the un-similarities. At this point, we have decisions to make, either call it quits or work through the differences. The example about Yahtzee is not a big deal, easily overcome, but what about those harder issues. What if we find someone that is similar to us and we find out in time that they have no problem with something that you have a big problem with, say abortion. I think that abortion is hideous, and I am passionate about that, and at this point in the conversation your similar buddy says to you, "Hey man its no big deal", what is your response. My response to that has changed in the past few years and this has been the progression thus far, five years ago, intense hatred, three years ago, pity, last year or so, inquisitiveness, now, acceptance. I still think that abortion is hideous, and my buddy's response doesn't change that, we can still be buddies. He has an opinion and so do I, that doesn't change, what has changed in my life is the simple realization that everyone is different/unique just as God made them. The point expressed by Jesus, "love your neighbors as yourself" doesn't mean just when they agree with you on all points but all the times they don't too. Can't we all just get along?
Secondly, those things that we hold so dear in our hearts are sometimes not all that important to others. I would like to insert here beliefs. I believe one way(which I am finding is being refined constantly) and someone I know doesn't even care about those beliefs, how do I react to that? History tells us that beliefs were so sacred that if you didn't believe the same way, you were killed off. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, it doesn't matter. Look at the history of these "causes". Violence, greed, hatred was what provoked "crusades" to take place in order to remove the "heathens" from existence. This is, sadly, not only in the past. In today's world, we are still seeing violence, greed, and hatred when it comes to those that don't believe the same as others. Is it our job to wipe someone out when they believe differently than us? Are we always right? I know I am seldom right and this is not a false humility, I really don't know the answers to a lot of questions. I thought it was my responsibility to love everyone unconditionally as Jesus loves me. I am to go to the poor and wretched and the different and love them without prejudice. I think I've read that somewhere before. This whole entry boils down to this, love is the answer to those "toughest of all" things we deal with everyday. Out love your neighbor and see if what a difference your life makes now and forever.
Love,
SIM Church Planter

Eureka!!

I have had a revelation. This morning. During my four book "read-a-thon". Particularly in two of the books. First, revelation had to do with fasting. I am trying to develop spiritual disciplines in my life and have found a book entitled, "Spiritual Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups on the Twelve Spiritual Disciplines", edited by Richard J. Foster. This book is good for me because it gives small "snipets" of other's works on the disciplines which makes "digestion" easier. This mornings reading is from Catherine Marshall, wife of Peter Marshall(known for his chaplaincy in the US Senate), who was embattled with criticism of others. In obedience to Lord, she fasted a whole day from any criticism. She states that she wasn't sure what the Lord could be trying to teach her through this exercise but when the day was complete, well, hindsight, 20/20, we get the picture. She discovered that she was more gracious to others. Thoughts of peace and harmony were on her mind. Creativeness flowed. She discovered that criticism was a heavy weight to carry around. I can almost hear the, "Duh" on your mind but I am a slow learner. The point is this, fasting is a much needed spiritual discipline and it has nothing to do with the absence of food but rather with the absence of a needed discipline.
The second moment this morning that really caught my attention was from Philip Yancy's book,"The Jesus I Never Knew". I have to say here that I have never read any of Yancy's work, but after reading this one I will be reading more of it. He is a remarkable writer that really touches on the uncertainties in his own life making his dialogue... "real"? I guess real is the word I'm searching for, maybe "tangible"? Hopefully you get what I am saying. This morning I am reading the chapter on the Ascension. Yancy states that this part of the Gospels is the most difficult for him to understand and I on the other hand, have not even given it much thought. As he begins to map out his problems with the Ascension, I begin to see his point, and a good point it is, why did Jesus leave? The Good News would have seemed to have flourished at even greater speed if Jesus could have showed up at the next Sabbath at the Temple. Or even better than that, the next Sanhedrin business meeting. Can you imagine the faces on those stuffy-shirt fundamentalists(I use the term not as a jest, but rather in its truest sense)? It would seem to me that the message of hope and love would have taken off like a rocket. But as it has been my understanding of things, God never chooses the easy path. In His infinite wisdom, He chose rather to put the keys to the kingdom in the hands of a bunch of undisciplined, scared, ignorant men. What was He thinking?! The part I missed, Yancy makes. The men to whom He entrusted this great task had something no one to that point in history had, Jesus in them. Yancy uses the illustration of dandelion seeds being blown off of the stem. Jesus left Himself in the disciples in Spirit, more to the point, the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself said that He had to leave in order to send the Comforter, so He did knowing that this was the better way, exponentially. Little Jesus' all over the place and eventually all over time. God is, as my pa-paw used to say about those he saw as intelligent, "A pretty smart feller."
One last point. In the same chapter Yancy makes a statement that is something that will be with me today and probably many days to come. The statement has to do with the parable that Jesus tells His disciples about the sheep and the goats, where the sheep and goats are separated and judged according to the action or no action taken in regards to the poor, naked, hungry, thirsty, imprisoned people. Jesus says that we are to be about the business of ministering to these people because we are in essence doing it for Him, or as He said, to Him, Jesus in disguise as Mother Teresa put it. The statement Yancy makes is the reason we are not ministering to these folks, and the statement is this, "we are looking in the wrong places". These people are not typically in the institutional church. They are not usually welcome. I know what some will say, "They are welcome", but the truth is they will not stay long if they even come in because they are not like "us". We have created in the institutional church the mentality that we are the mold to which all must fit. "If you are not like us, there is obviously something wrong with you", is what we will never say, but our actions prove the point. The mandate Jesus gave is this, go to where they are. Go to the alleyways and byways. Go to the places that no self-respecting church goer will dare go. And minister to them as though they are Jesus Himself. What an example Jesus gave. What a life we are to follow. Seems all to obvious now. Till next time...
SIM Church Planter

Someone back home is saying, "Why don't he write?"

I have been reading so much stuff lately (currently four books at a time) just to learn what it is that is the splinter in my mind. I am literally unlearning as fast as I am learning if that is even possible. I want to share with you that there is so much more out there than I first perceived. I have been falling down the rabbit hole for about a year now, and there is still no ground in sight. I wish that I could tell you that this has been an easy journey, but it has been anything but. I have faced many crossroads and have come to many dead ends, but there are good days. There are the days when I seem to be getting a hold of what is in my brain, and there is alot there to grasp. Not because I have a huge intellect, but I am feeding it alot of information. Once put into my brain consciously,sub-consciously things sort of roll around up there and the things that are produced are sometimes a shock to me. The questions go from being answered, to unanswered again, to....what was the question again? While this may be confusing and down right asinine to most, this is where I find the most comfort. The questions don't bother me near as much as the logical answers do. There was a time in my life when I thought I had a pretty good grip on spiritual matters, heavenly things, but alas I have no clue. If you are there now, let me leave you with a bit of advise. When traveling down the rabbit hole, don't try to see the end. Don't try to grasp the sides to slow the fall. Try to rest in the faith that you are right where God would have you to be. The controls are not in your hands any longer. The law of gravity is pulling you toward a profound foundation that will be unshakable. Trust in the Unseen One, He has made you indestructible until He is finished with you here and takes you to Himself.

SIM Church planter

Me at Christmas

Playing cards, drinking egg nog, listening to Alan Jackson Christmas music.

Grace and Peace Be Unto You

I am still not ready to return to my Pagan Christianity critique, so I will instead give you a something a little on the lighter end. I was traveling in town the other day and saw a bumper sticker I had never seen before. It said, "It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not". I also noticed some of the other bumper stickers on the car and its occupants and understood the heart in which this bumper sticker was displayed. The riders were without question living an alternative lifestyle and this made the bumper sticker seem more angry than soulful as I had first read it. The reason that I say that is because most of the homosexual people that I know are deep down angry. I don't know a lot of homosexuals, but the one's that I know are this way. They seem to be angry at the lack of grace shone them by those who swear to be bringers of grace. I have been struggling with the concept of grace. How deep is mine? How deep is God's? My understanding of scripture tells me that I will be given grace in the measure by which it has been extended from me to others. In other words, if I am not willing to give grace, I will not be given grace from God. I am not building a defense for homosexuality nor do I wish to encourage it. I am simply saying that we as "Christ imitators" need to do just that, imitate Christ. When He was present here on earth, He was very clear on the supremacy of loving God and loving each other. He also said that people who don't know Him will know us as His when we obey Him. More to the point, when we obey Him, live as He lived, we are either going to be loved or hated. Liked or disliked. Befriended or shunned. This brings me full circle with the bumper sticker. Those of us who are Jesus' disciples have a decision to make. Will we choose to be loved for what we are not? Or will we choose to be hated for what we are?Let us not hide the facts. Lets be willing to give grace to those who need it, regardless of what they choose to do with their life. Let us love one another and let God bring salvation to them in His way in His time.
The SIM church planter

Taking a break from Pagan Christianity...

I have been reviewing the book by Frank Viola and am now going to take a small break. I would like to begin by saying the new year feels...new. There is something to all the hype about the beginnings of things. There seems to be a slate cleaning that takes place. Here we are at the beginning of January and I feel like last year is so...last year, like everything is refreshed. This is good for me mentally and emotionally. I feel that all my 2005 "sins" have been forgiven (please understand, reader, that I understand that my sins are forgiven each time I ask God for forgiveness, I meant the point to be more metaphorical) and that there is a huge burden of guilt lifted off of my shoulders. I have felt increasingly better about things in my life and that is always a good thing. I hope that it is been such a uplifting time for everyone as '05 was concluded and '06 begins.
As a side note, I will posting more "church" related topics at here, come check it out. Feel free to leave your mark (comment) if you so desire.
Until next time, Happy New Slate Cleaning.
SIM church planter