The journey

What if what we have always been taught is not accurate? I feel as if there is more to life than I have been taught. Life does not equal cleaning house, basketball practice, sprinkle in church and sleep, and viola, LIFE. Life is about relationships.

Its about having people to share those things with. Its about having people that you can lean on. Its about occasionally being the crutch. Life is about laughing, crying, throwing things, doing things you sometimes regret, apologizing when you're wrong, showing grace when you're right, and above all, having people in your life to take on this journey with you. If your job gets in the way of forming these types of relationships, change jobs. If like me, church gets in the way of this type of community, then step back and readjust your priorities.

If you have no shoulder to cry on, no ear to listen, no one to jump with when you experience joy, then your journey is just beginning. Look for those who need you, find those who will let you need them, and hang on, fight for the privilege of community. Community is messy and it is hard and it is sometimes painful, but when you find it, when you really have "it" with someone in your life, you will never be the same. Only then can you and I understand what Jesus meant by having life to the fullest ability. I want my life to be about community. My journey has just begun. How about yours?

Its interesting what God can do in our lives despite our efforts to thwart His will. Why do we sometimes struggle to find the surface? God sets in front of us what we need to follow him, kind of similar to using road signs to get direction. but today, I just don't feel like reading those signs. Stupid, yes, but also common. Why do God's "people" continually make life harder than it should be? My heart is again completely ripped open. I am not a depressed person, usually, but this is different. I empathize with those individuals who suffer from chronic depression. It really sucks. why do we as "Christians" take so much and give so little? Why do we trash those around us to make ourselves look good? Why do we take advantage of people really seeking God's will? Why does God allow this to happen? I KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS!! I just seem to enjoy asking them so I can wallow in self pity for a while. Great rambling. Great journaling. Great release to the great cloud. I want to find Jesus, and I mean FIND him. As a church-goer, I have a lot of head knowledge, but not much heart knowledge. I KNOW I belong to Him, but I feel like the prodigal son, at the bottom of the pig pen. My Father is out there somewhere, I just need to find the way home. I just get so tired of the game. Church really does focus on our filling roles to keep the machine alive and Christ, in many ways, is nowhere to be found. Enough! of the game and comments for today.

Thoughts for May 6th, 2009:

1) Ministry is hard when God lets you run ahead of Him.  

2) Prayer really is the basis of finding God's will for our lives.

3) Churches without direction suck to be a part of

4) What will happen when we yield to God all of our agendas and get in behind His desires for us?

5) Revelation from God can be seen through the blindfolds that the god of this world puts on our eyes.

6) God has the patience to allow us to figure out we can't do anything without Him.  He's got nothing but time.  

7) Why is it so easy to fall into that trap???

Enough for today

Fast forward

I have not blogged since my initial post on July of 2008. Man, a lot has changed

However, My attitude has not changed. Church was never meant to be cumbersome and exhausting. It was meant to share the gospel of Christ with the world; Uninhibited, unbiased, with clarity, authority, and power that we only find in Christ. The gospel is easy to hear and easy to accept as truth, but man it stings from time to time. When is the last time we gave our shirt to someone who needed it? When is the last time we offered a cup of coffee and an ear to someone who just needed a friend? Its been a while for me.

All around us people are hurting. All around us people are looking for healing, authentic spiritual healing. In my recent trip to India, I had to reflect on the differences in culture. India has severe poverty and extreme wealth. In the impoverished areas, the people have something that many of us do not: Community. They live together, cry together, celebrate together, play cricket together, mourn together, eat together, and do many other things together, in community. We have stuff that's supposed to make us happy. I think we miss out on community because of our wealth. So who is poorer? That is the question that I am stuck with.