community.

One of my dearest friends commented the other day that bloggers think they have all the answers…that their opinion is not an opinion at all, but gospel truth.  [Correction: Blogs aren't gospel truth unless they actually are GOSPEL TRUTH tce] To speak to that, I just want to say that this blog (as all blogs are) is an opinion. If you don’t like what I say, don’t read it. I never want you to take me more seriously than I take myself…and I really don’t take myself very seriously.Searching endlessly for your meaning in life? Can’t find it in school, business or pleasure? Of course you can’t! Find it in Christ and His Bride, His Church.  Most of my siblings, and many of my friends seem to be searching for something. They even profess to be Christians, but they can’t help feeling that something is not quite right. My answer is simple.  Get involved. Serve Christ through service to people. Teach, sing, move people, move chairs, clean toilets. Find purpose in serving.  Get involved in other peoples lives. Laugh and cry with them.  Become a part of a local body.That is all.

anti-intellectualism.

Christianity has often been referred to as anti-intellectualism, and Christians are portrayed as bigoted dolts and morons.  Anyone who believes this should pick up Tim Keller’s new work, The Reason for God. Tim attacks the most commonly anti-God or anti-Christian arguments and addresses them in a concise way. 

“simple” theology.

Flying home from Atlanta, I sat next to a guy in his late thirties. His name was Matt. He saw that I was reading the aforementioned book, The Reason for God and asked me what it was about.  I told him it was a book that spoke to culture’s problems with God and the seemingly narrow theology of Christians.He then spoke to me about how he needed to be a “better Christian” because wanted to set a good example for his children.  He said that he went to church, but he often fell away and stopped attending for awhile, and when he came back, he felt guilty.I told him he needn’t feel guilty, that Christ knows the heart and knows that we all fall short of serving him 100%. Christ didn’t die on the cross for us to feel guilty not for going to Church.  I encouraged him to use his gifts in the church, and get involved–that it is what helped me fall in love with Christ and His Church even more.I worry that performance Christianity is the main form practiced today.  We need to get back to the basics, to the heart, and most of all, the Gospel.  Wherever you are Matt, I am praying for you. 

the problem with politics.

I have often aligned myself with the ideology of conservatives, and I am a big fan of Beck, Rush and Levin, but recently I have been quite shaken up over my beliefs.  I have been doing much debate as to what I truly believe as a result of reading a stellar book The Reason for God by Tim Keller, and a discussion with my historically liberal (now much more conservative) friend, Mark.  The problem is sin and injustice.  How do conservatives deal with it?  Of course some Christians understand the issue, but a majority of conservatives are often quite heartless when dealing with issues of poverty and injustice.   They embrace free market economies and republican democracies and state that in such a system, the impoverished and oppressed are most benefited, but that is a very laissez faire, altruistic view. Liberals are no better–but no worse.  The view of liberals is to solve pain through solving everyone’s problems for them. Can’t go to college because lack of funds? Can’t afford healthcare? Can’t read? Here is a free pass. Don’t strive. Don’t work. Don’t reach your potential. The motivation is not Christian service, or the glory of God’s kingdom.  Often the motivation is power, fear, guilt, greed.  Appealing to these base instincts is wrong in any moral framework.  In a conservative system, the solution to solve social ills is easy, incentivize.  Why do you think that you get a tax deduction for getting married, having children, your house, charitable donations?  Because the government believes that these are good things for a society to run on.In a liberal system, the solution to solve social ills is to let the government handle it.Both systems are broken–one runs on greed, and the other on power.  As Christians, we are called to the cause, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked.  What am I doing to do this?   I know that God IS sovereign.  Am I confusing God’s will for my political views?   Pray for me to have the heart for God’s people in need.  

people watching-atl.

I’m sitting here waiting for a flight at Hartsfield Int’l Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, and I am amazed at the broad spectrum of people here.  Growing up in the very vanilla midwest, I am often caught by off-guard by the immensity of God’s grand plan, the diversity of his children and his love for his people…and in turn, I wonder if I truly share that love or if I am categorizing people as they walk hurriedly to catch their flights to various parts of the world.  I wonder who knows Christ-and who doesn’t. 

It is currently about 3:30 eastern, and my flight doesn’t leave until around 9:30pm. I couldn’t get an earlier flight…I have nowhere to go…nowhere to be.  I thought it would be bored and frustrated. Instead, I am enjoying listening to a great jazz pianist in the main terminal, relaxing, reading and blogging.  I realize that I need moments during the day to rest and slow down. Even God rested.

I am looking foward to being home with my wife and boys after a long trip.  Something I need to be better at is devoting the effort to my service to the church, parenting and as a husband that I do to work.  I bend over backwards and go the extra mile for my work (in the case of going to Atlanta, an extra 1000 miles) but how am I doing at home or in the church?  I have reluctant attitude at home and often complain about things. I need to do better.

the purpose:

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”  C.S. Lewis In an attempt to enter the 21st century, I have decided to create a blog. The purpose of this particular blog is to encourage others (and myself) to attempt to shed the distractions of this world so that God may be better glorified.  Our hearts are so bound up in the things of this world, so I will attempt to continue this theme as I blog my way through my daily walk with Christ, as well as other topics such as parenthood, marriage, money and politics. Because this blog emphasizes simplicity, my posts shall be short but pointed. Happy reading.