Today, I am just enjoying the quiet while I write and think a little bit.  The next few weeks are going to be a radical shift for my family and I.  I’ve never done a long-distance move before.  I’ve contemplated it when I interviewed at churches in Lake Havasu, AZ and Kalispell, MT & sent a resume out to Juneau, AK.  As you can tell probably, Becca & I are really excited about the move.

There is a bittersweet part of moving in all of it too.  We had gotten pretty close to our church family at Narrow Road Community Church.  I mean, they knew we were looking for where God would take us since we first started attending there.  I had mentioned it in prayer enough while I was frustrated with the job search (which was often).  They knew also that it was wearing on us considering Becca being pregnant and also the primary provider for our family financially.  But we love these people.  We had gotten involved in numerous ways (not as much as we wanted even) and really felt loved.  They have in many ways become family to us.

I know there are problems in every church, but being at Narrow Road Community Church has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with a church… warts and all.  We have been blessed beyond measure, prayed for, lifted up emotionally & spiritually and invested into while being a part of the family there.  There’s been way more opportunity to get connected with the church family that I’ve never been able to take advantage of.  More ways to serve than you could shake a stick at.  I can honestly say that no one in that church feels like they are left out feeling that they don’t know how they can get involved.  If they do, it’s their own fault.  Now I know not every church is destined to be a mega-church.  I had never understood that till I came to Narrow Road.  Some churches are meant to be small.  Small is what they do best.  A congregation can be cared for adequately.  People can grow together in ways they just can’t in a big church.  The pastors (both of them) excite in me a passion for preaching the Word, really caring about people, and just being around them you know you are loved and cared for yourself.  I don’t know if Narrow Road is destined to be a large church, but I can say they do small really well and I think they would do large well too.

I am not belittling the lessons I’ve learned elsewhere before coming to Narrow Road as a burned out (probably mostly my own fault) recent Associate Pastor from another local church, but here is where I’ve been re-ignited, reforged, and set aflame with passion again.  Narrow Road has been a refuge for me and a place of renewing for both Becca & I.  I hope in the future I can maintain the relationships I’ve found at Narrow Road and bridges can be built in the Kingdom of God for God’s Word to be spread all the more because of it.

I got a job!

But job sounds like something you do for money as in “selling out”.  I prefer the term “position” because it sounds more like the way I view it.  Doing something you love while getting paid and being able to provide for your family doing it.  So what does this mean for the immediate future.  Well, we are moving for one.  Right now the moving is scrounging around for moving boxes and trying to pack while looking for a place to live.

So now for the details.  The church is Franklin First United Methodist Church in Franklin, KY.  This means we are moving in the next few weeks.  Becca is really excited as it means going back south.  Kentucky is her home state and as she’s lived pretty much all over western Kentucky, she counts the whole state as “hometown” for the most part.  We will be about an hour away from Mammoth Caves, 45 minutes away from Nashville, 30 minutes or less from Bowling Green.  I will be the Youth & Young Adults Pastor at the church Full-time & Becca will get to be a stay-at-home mom (which is what she wants to do).  She is also probably going to start writing on her site a lot more, www.motherhoodfordummies.com.

Now, the only thing I’ll be worried about is the fact that I’m going to be working with this guy below as he is the pastor at the church I’m going to.  He’s the one on the right.

See I didn’t realize the underlying Jewish Rabbi Cult that has permeated the United Methodist Church.  The fact that he has Henna Art on his hand along with painted fingernails.  I will assume that this image is of some strange new age Jewish wedding or “The Night of the Henna”.  Looking at Wikipedia I find: (via this link under the section for “Traditions of Henna as body Art”)

The Night of the Henna was celebrated by most groups in the areas where henna grew naturally: Jews,^[11] Muslims,^[12] Hindus, Christians and Zoroastrians, among others, all celebrated marriages by adorning the bride, and often the groom, with henna.

But if you aren’t doing anything on Sunday and you live in the area, we’d love to have you join us.  Check out the post on the church website for more info.

Over the years I’ve struggled with the sin of anger in my life.  I’ve never came out to say that I am an “Angry Person” and just expected people to embrace my anger as a part of who I am.  It would be ludicrous to think that just because I struggle with an issue that I need to define myself by that particular sin and label myself accordingly.  God’s word says anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires (James 1:19-21).  Sure I can try to justify it and say that “God made me this way” but the truth of it is that it’s my own selfish desires that cause me to be angry.

God’s word is pretty clear on God’s stance on homosexuality.  It is clear that homosexuality is sin according to God’s word.

But, I am not here to argue that point.  Can someone legitimately struggle with homosexuality just as much as one struggles with pornography or a gambling addiction?  I think the answer is yes.  But just as you wouldn’t hold a person up who is an excessive unrepentant alcoholic and present them as a leader, you also can’t in good faith say that a homosexual is fit to be placed in authority in the Church.  The two things don’t mix.  Light and dark cannot coexist.

Now that probably sounds harsh.  I know.  You don’t say those things today in our culture.

So what is the place of person who refuses to acknowledge sin as being sin?

• To be welcome as a participant, but not a leader.  (Worship)
• To be loved and built up in the knowledge of Christ as a brother or sister.  (Fellowship)
• To be spoken to forthrightly about the sin in their lives in love.  (Accountability)
• To have an understanding that they are choosing to be in the midst of those who believe that God’s word is authoritative and that sin will be confronted wherever it is found.  (Teaching)
• If they chose to assert their will over that of God’s word openly for the purpose of inciting others, they will be asked to leave because God has called us to live in peace.  (Discipleship)

What is the place of the person who struggles against the sin in their lives and fights against it?

• To be welcome as a participant, and depending on the influence and nature of the particular sin, serve as a leader.  (Worship)
• To be loved and built up in the knowledge of Christ as a brother or sister.  (Fellowship)
• To be spoken to forthrightly about the sin in their lives in love.
• To have an understanding that they are choosing to be in the midst of those who believe that God’s word is authoritative and that sin will be confronted wherever it is found.
• If they chose to assert their will over that of God’s word openly for the purpose of inciting others, they will be asked to leave because God has called us to live in peace.

Did you notice anything?  Only the first of the points was any different.  Let me throw one more category in here.

What is the place of the person who says they have no sin in their lives?

• To be welcome as a participant, but not a leader.  (Worship)

Yes, it’s the same as the first category.  The other four areas are the same too…

• To be loved and built up in the knowledge of Christ as a brother or sister.  (Fellowship)
• To be spoken to forthrightly about the sin in their lives in love.  (Accountability)
• To have an understanding that they are choosing to be in the midst of those who believe that God’s word is authoritative and that sin will be confronted wherever it is found.  (Teaching)
• If they chose to assert their will over that of God’s word openly for the purpose of inciting others, they will be asked to leave because God has called us to live in peace.  (Discipleship)

So what is the difference?

Pride and Humility.  The unrepentant sinner refuses God’s will and so their pride keeps them from being in relationship with God.  To them, they have set themselves up as a God in their own eyes.  They are not fit to be a leader.  The ones who say they have no sin in their lives are fooling themselves and living in the delusion that they determine what is right or wrong.  The one who struggles against sin is the only one who acknowledges that they are indeed in need of the forgiveness and grace offered by Jesus Christ.  This is the only person who is capable of repentance.  Both of the other categories much first reach the place where they have acknowledged sin in their lives before they can come to this place.

Sin is defined by God.  We all do sin.  If you are struggling against sin in your life you have come to the place where you know you are fallible and are in need of God in your life.  In short, you are where God wants you to be so He can change you from the inside out.

If you have labeled yourself by your sin, you are in need of healing that God can provide.

If you say you have no sin, then you are delusional and in need of healing as well.

Many so-called Christians want to fight it out with the atheists about if there is a God, historical data, and silly philosophical questions.  The best way to fight atheism isn’t knowledge.  It isn’t knowing more historical data.  It isn’t even having the answers to the fossil record that neither Christian nor Atheist can explain in full.  It’s in how we love.

If we truly love, the fighting won’t matter.  It will be seen.  If we love the atheists that try so hard to convince us that there is no God, we nullify the very argument through genuine compassion, real prayer and a life lived in the Spirit.

Today, there are Christians who are fed up “with the institution of the church”.  Sure they phrase it all sorts of ways.  Really, it’s a cop out.  They are fed up with people who play at being the church and excluding the very people they need to be showing love to.  Don’t get me wrong.  A life that is actively being lived in sin has no place within church leadership.  But we all fall short of God’s perfect will.  We all sin.  Yes, Christians sin.  It’s the belief in Christ forgiveness of our sins that we find grace.

So my encouragement is yes, steep yourself in the knowledge.  Study science.  Study biology.  Study philosophy.  The church has long neglected the sciences and arts because of those who use it for evil.  But inquiry is made not just for knowledge.  It is made for the affirmation of faith.  But don’t use the weapons of knowledge against the ones who have made up their mind already.  Knowledge without faith is merely looking at the creation and refusing to aknowledge a creator.  Only half of the puzzle makes any sense at all.  If you turn it around and look at science, history, sociology, philosophy from the perspective of realizing that God is, that He exists and is active within His creation, all of creation will speak… nay, sing of His wonder

We have watched unborn infants sanctioned to death by a government that does not value life.
We have become fearful of stepping up and speaking of our faith because it may offend someone.
We have a history of fakers, slanderers, liars, cheats and scoundrels in our midst.
We have more voice than ever before to show Jesus Christ at work in our lives.

While all around us our liberties and freedoms are not being ripped from our grasp. They are being given away. Easily deceived by hopes of a grander future, we have handed over the inheritance of gold to be made into golden calves that we all bow down to. We will taste the bitter cup of that drink in good time.

But there is still time today. We have today, this moment to make a difference.

We need to stand together across denominational lines, across racial, economic and personal ambitions and be the church we were called to be.

I don’t care if you speak in tongues. I was not blessed with that gift of the Spirit. But, one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience. Another is self-control.

We are one body after all. The fruits of the Spirit need to be evident now more than ever so that we can enact the message of Christ that we need to be presenting and quit dividing ourselves along lines that do not matter more than the fact that Jesus Christ came and died for our sins, to set us free from sin and give us the gift of life. Abundant life in Him.

We cannot hold to both life and sin which causes death at the same time.

It is not up to what I think, or your professor thinks, or the blogger who you read…. or how we twist the word of God to say what we want it to say. It says what it says because God said what He meant for all generations and He used men from all walks of life to convey that message.

I was given a book the other day.  I’m not going to share what it was just yet.  But it made me think a little more about some things that I’ve thought over the years.  A lot about the way I have thought about things in relation to the churches I’ve been a part of in a leadership capacity and as a fellow lay minister at times.

Let me first say publicly, I am sorry.  Now, I know that on it’s own doesn’t really seem to make much sense, but let me share a little about why I am sorry.  I’ve often been critical of leadership in churches.  I’ve never been public about these criticisms.  It’s been more of an internal struggle about how I should submit to the authority of someone who in my opinion wasn’t submitting to God themselves.  I may have outwardly done all the right things, but often internally I’ve struggled when I have seen churches do things at the bidding of their pastors or ministers that has been contrary to what I believe God wanted.  Often, I believe that feeling may have been folly.  Not because the ministers or pastors were right, but because in my mind I tried to judge how God was leading them to lead.

Granted, I didn’t act on it in an outward fashion.  I’ve thought about it.  I’ve laid schemes in my head hundreds of times about how I would do things differently.  How I would change things if “I were in charge”.

I think one of the greatest gifts God has given me is a short attention span.  I entertain ideas and move onto things very fast.  I don’t hold grudges because I often forget why I am holding grudges in the first place.  So I think that has been beneficial to me in the past for avoiding the types of conflict I otherwise would have found myself in.

But here is the point.

I have been blessed by God in the sense that He has kept me from personal ruin thus far because of the way that He created me.  I don’t think God has shielded me for my own sake though.  I think He has protected ministries from me more often than He has given me authority because He knew that it was beyond me to be the leader that He wanted me to be.  I won’t dare claim brokenness.  I also won’t claim that I have been chastened to the point that I am the ultimate embodiment of who God wants me to be.  I will claim instead, Christ.

I don’t understand Jesus. I don’t get Him at times.  I sin.  I fall short at times.  If someone were looking to me for guidance and an example, I hope they don’t check their brains at the door and forget that I am fallible.

I claim Christ because of grace.  This is the thing that separates Christianity from all other faiths.  The fact that a perfect God could love an imperfect people and give Himself up for them.  I guess this is why I don’t feel that I “belong” to a particular denomination. I belong to Christ.  No General Superintendent of whatever conference took my sin.  Jesus took it.  Often we could fight all day about open communion or closed communion, but ultimately it doesn’t come down to a ritual practice.  It comes down to a relationship between us & God, and our relationship with people who though fallen, were created in His image.  How I treat those people in my thoughts regardless of whether they are right or not, reveals how I am also treating God.

found via shallowfrozenwater (awesome find by the way)

All we get out of sin is death and destruction.

Sure, sins seem nice when they are happening. We even try to justify them a thousand different ways. But what it ultimately comes down to is that God is God. He is the one who decides if something is sin or not. In fact God even holds Himself up as the standard of Truth and righteousness.

If there is question about it, stay away.

It gets me that some argue that certain things are not sin because it’s part of their genetic makeup. I find it amazing that they have come to that conclusion because scripture tells us we have a problem called “sinful nature”. I won’t deny it.

• I am likely to speed every time I drive, so I use the cruise control to keep myself in check.
• My mother was an alcoholic, therefore I stay away from beer.

It’s really that simple.  I realize that I am prone to a certain sin so I take more measures against it. Sin is still part of our nature though. Often, those sins we are most likely to commit are also the ones that we are most aware of actually being sin and are the ones we usually fight most vehemently that they are not.

The opposite of rebellion is repentance.

Once we are aware of our sin, we can accept God’s grace. Repentance means humbling yourself and turning around and going the other way when you realize you were wrong. Rebellion is going the way you know is wrong knowing it is wrong.

Sin and the Church.

Unfortunately, many people who attend church have gotten it backwards. Church is a gathering of sinners who recognize their own depravity and want to be in community with other people seeking out the way of repentance. So the church can be divided in several categories of people.

• Those who recognize their own depravity and are somewhere in the process of turning away from it and seeking God.
• Those who think they have it all figured out and so waste their time by telling those who are seeking God where they think He is.
• Those who are delusional that their particular brand of sin is somehow acceptable to God and are seeking the acceptance of the church to somehow justify themselves.
• Those who really don’t care one way or the other so they go with whatever the majority thinks.

I’m a mess, you’re a mess, we’re all a mess.

Not to sound like an AA meeting, but we are all sinners and we have to come to recognize that fact first. You don’t have to justify it to me because God’s the one who has set the standard.

It’s not who I want to be.  It is by nature who I have become and I dislike it.  Oh sure, I justify it through saying it’s a great way to connect to people I’d never meet in real life.  All the while, real life is going by.  When I was about five my dad and I moved to Jesus People USA.  Good place, good vision… but terrible leadership.  They lived in a commune that was self-sufficient.  They had work crews that would go out and build porches (those great big five or eight story ones) or be a part of a roofing crew.  The money from these projects would come back into the ministry and it would be used for things like food & shelter.  I was young but I have an astounding memory about my early childhood.  The homeless would come in off the streets of Chicago and we’d feed them.  Resurrection Band (or REZ) was in their heyday and Cornerstone Music festival was all the rage.  I remember kids my age coming into the ministry with no clothes and old boots that hurt their feet.  I remember my dad giving a kid a pair of my shoes because he had holes in his feet from wearing some old pair of workboots without socks.  There was a guy down the hall who had a huge mohawk and a turtle that had his address scrawled onto it’s shell with a sharpie.  It was in reality a remnant of the Jesus People movement in the 60′s and 70′s, with a distinct 80′s twist.

We were probably there for about eight months.  I started kindergarten early.  We left because there were some in the school who used more corporal means of punishment for the children.  Wooden spoons to be exact.  I wasn’t a bad kid, but if I didn’t memorize a verse for homework or spoke out of turn or something, I got the spoon.  The bruises would last a few days.  My dad saw this and decided he needed to talk to the leadership.  They didn’t see his point of view and we left.  My dad is a fan of spanking and to this day is very adamant about it, but he knows the difference between abuse and discipline.

But back to the point.  I am growing as a Christian day by day.  I have my struggles.  This idea of community keeps coming back to me.  Not the exorbitant online facades we throw up to mimic  genuine interaction and life together, but the real thing.  Not a group or a place but a reality of purpose and vision that supersedes the petty everyday Christianity we get caught up in so easily.  Today’s churches can become so centralized and self indulgent that they forget why they are there in the first place.  See Matthew 28:16-20

As I write this, I write it with clarity that I can’t just pick up and move my family out to some woodland hut and begin a new experience of community off the cuff.  I am not even sure if it’s what God wants from me right now in my life.  I do know that even if the most radical of ideas is what God wants of me then doing anything else is sin.

Maybe I should learn to make my own clothes first?

For the Sake of Christian Community – Audio Version

Let me back up a bit though.

Saturday night, my parents had called to say that their car had broken down.  They needed someone to come and get them and take them home.  Now if you know my family, you also know that my dad has AIDS and with that a weakened immune system.  So staying out of cold nasty weather in the middle of flu season is a good idea.  Becca was working on Saturday so she wasn’t with me when I picked them up and took them home.  I drove back and picked Becca up when she got off and scheduled to meet my parents Sunday afternoon to drive my dad around to fix their car so my mom could get to work on Monday.  It was an easy fix and would only take about an hour or two, half of which was going to be going to get parts.  That night Becca started feeling terrible just before bed.

She felt better Sunday morning so we thought we’d head to church.

Little side note here is that this is when I am informed that all my sites are down and I have to call my webhost and get them all back up.  Stupid little database issue.  It gets fixed and we think we are going to be late to church.

There’s a new church that I went to last week and really liked.  I wanted her to come yesterday.  Since she was feeling better with some rest, she went.  Of course, we completely forgot about the time change.  We showed up, asked where the children’s workers are and was told that we forgot about the time change.  So, we went and got the breakfast that we had skipped because we thought we were going to be late.

The service was good.  A passage from the beatitudes about the righteous inheriting the earth.  We then drove with Aidan out to my parent’s house.  Of course with my dad’s weakened immune system him and my mom decided that it would be best if Becca did not ride in the same car with him and her staying at their place probably wouldn’t be a good option.  It was decided that Becca should be taken home with Aidan and they could both take a nap.  Becca was starting to feel worse at this point.  Not too terrible.  Just sick like any other cold.

It gets worse from here.

I drive back to my parents house, pick up my dad and go find his tools at their house here in town.  (yeah, they have two places, one they live at and the other they use for storage at the moment)  We go back take the part of the car and head to the parts store.  At this point Becca calls me.

“My temperature is 103, I called R&T (some friends of ours) they are coming over to get me and take me to the hospital.”

I love my wife.  Sometimes, though she does things without a whole lot of warning though.  My first thought was “why didn’t she call me?  I’m close.  I can take her.”  Then I realize she thought the whole thing through already.  If I take her, what do I do with my dad who is stranded?  I could take him with me while I take Becca to the hospital, but it could kill him.  I could take him back out to his place and tell him to wait another day on the car, but I would be another hour doing all that running around since my parents live a bit further away.  See, I love her partly for this reason.  She thinks things through then comes to a conclusion and lets me know the end result of her whole process.  Many times I am tempted to get upset because I wasn’t a part of the whole process but when I think about it I usually come to the same conclusion she did, just after the fact.

So, in short without consulting me, she came to the best conclusion.  Call friends, finish up with your dad, meet me later.

T takes Becca to the hospital.  R comes over and watches their three kids and Aidan in our home.  I meet Becca at the hospital to check in on her while she sits in the waiting room, then I drive my dad back to the car where he finishes up there.  An hour has gone by.  Becca calls me.

“The lady who came in after me who has the same symptoms… they told her it would be four hours.  They also told her that they have an urgent care facility about twenty-three miles away that has no wait and are equipped to treat flu-like symptoms.  They close at six.  It’s five-fifteen now.  R&T have offered to drive me up there.”

“My dad and I are finishing up here.  I am on my way.”

“I don’t think we have time if we are going to make it before six.  R&T said we have to go now.”

“I am on my way.  I’ll be there in five minutes or less”

“I don’t think we have time.  Meet us at the hospital.”

“I’ll take you.  I’ll be there…. or just go, I’ll catch up.”

Racing a Train.

I turn to my dad, ask him if he is good.  He is.  I jump in the truck and head home.  Albeit a little quicker (except for those stupid speed camera traps).  Halfway home I have to cross railroad tracks.  A train is coming.  Oh great!  Just what I need.  To sit at a signal and wait.  I see the train.  I see the lights.  I also had friends when I was in youth group who died of a car-train collision.  The train is far enough away by the time I get to the tracks.  Of course I sped up upon seeing the train.  (what would you do?)

You know trains look further away when you are both heading for the same intersection.  It was a slow train, I will say that.  When I got to the tracks it was about 1/10 of a mile away.  There were no crossing bars across the road, just lights.  Still scared me though as I crossed the tracks a little faster than normal.  I think I scared the train driver more cause he laid into the whistle like a banshee.  Under normal circumstances I would not have crossed the tracks.  The mere prospect scares me.  I stop if I see lights a mile away usually.  In short, don’t do it even though I did.

That was the fastest I’ve driven in awhile when I pulled into our parking lot at five-twenty-five.

Everyone was piling into R&T’s van when I pulled up.  Four kids, two of which were under 10 months old.  I get quick directions.  Becca jumps in.  They tell us that they will take Aidan home with them, while I take Becca to Urgent Care.  I try to keep my speed at only a-little faster-than-normal speeds up to the urgent care facility.

We make it at five-forty-five or so.  They were still open.  No wait, just as promised.  Becca feels horrible.  (But to me she looks as beautiful as ever.. ‘cept paler)

Influenza A.

Okay, so that little section heading says it.  Regular seasonal flu.  Still nasty.  Still contagious.  Still could be really bad for someone with a really weak immune system.  Treatable.  Prescription prescribed.  We leave.  I take Becca home. I drop of the prescription.  I go get Aidan from R&T’s house.  He is sleepy.  I stop and get pizza as both Becca and I are hungry.  I pick up the prescription.  I make it home.  Becca is in bed.  I put Aidan to bed.  I am exhausted.  I call my friend in Arizona, M who I don’t really tell the whole story to because I don’t want to unload on him randomly (even though he is more than okay with it and I know it).  He proceeds to tell me how something I said the other day really helped him.  Of all the times I needed to hear that, it was then.

Other Contagions

I am truly blessed with friends.  I may not have a whole bunch of really close friends in life, but I have a select few and they are good ones.  R&T who come over take my wife to the hospital, watch Aidan on a whim and we can trust them with him are amazing people.  I don’t usually say too much about how good a friend someone is because it sounds hollow just saying it.  People always feel like they have to respond with “oh’ it’s no big deal”  or “that’s what friends do”.  Maybe a card is a better way to go for me or maybe it’s one of the many reasons I am writing this post.  This is one of the few places where I feel I can be myself and think through what I have to say before saying it because the rest of the time  even though I speak from the heart.  But when I do, the words feel rushed and inadequate to what I really want to express.  M in Arizona, I’ve never met in person.  We actually met on Halo 3 a few months ago.  Somehow over the distance and through some silly online game that we both play we have become good friends.  Our wives get on and play with us sometimes as well as M’s kids.  He’s been a great encouragement to me, sent me jobs he’s found that could fit what I am looking for.  R,T & M.  Thank you for your help, your encouragement and just being there somehow for us yesterday.  It may not have seemed like much, but it helped me get though the day.  It is friends like these that make me want to be a better friend myself.  This is one contagion I want to spread.

I am truly blessed with my family.  I love my wife. I love my son.  I love my dogs.  Becca does her best to provide for our family while I’ve been hunting for a position, working from home on websites, and being a daddy to Aidan.  With a wonderful family like this, one can’t help but feel that there is something more they can do.  Right now, I’ve been hunting all over the country for ministry jobs and nothing has opened up.  Becca has a really decent paying job and she is good at it and it’s close to home.  We don’t want to relinquish this time with Aidan to a daycare, so I stay home.  Sometimes I feel guilty about it, more often than not, because I want Becca to be able to stay at home with Aidan and come home to her.  I know that
is something she wants as well.  I think that makes it hard.  If there is one thing I would wish on anyone, if I could do one thing for someone it is this, to give them a family that loves them.  This is another contagion that I would infect people with.

I am truly blessed with my faith.  I think it sounds haughty if I say it that way, but there are days I couldn’t get though without God.  After all, he’s the one who gave me this beautiful family and these good friends.  I struggle a lot with my faith though.  Not in the sense that I wonder if I have faith, but in the sense of learning to trust God.  I think it became more real yesterday than it has in awhile.  I don’t think I would have raced that train if I really had a perfect trust in God.  I would have just said “thy will be done” to God and waited for the train to pass…. maybe.  See there’s an issue with that scenario too.  We have an extraordinary God who sometimes calls us to extraordinary measures.  No, maybe I didn’t feel like God told me to come within a tenth of a mile of being hit by a train.  Then again, maybe he wanted me to see something about myself.

If I would jump in front of a moving train to merely get my wife to a doctor sooner with a sickness that isn’t too terribly life-threatening, go out of my way to help my dad and out of my way to prevent him from getting sick from the same sickness, then there are a lot of people out there who still need to have someone love them enough to simply tell them the good news that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross 2000 years ago as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could have life that no one could take away.  Without, the wages of sin is death.  As followers of Christ, this is our calling.  Save those who would die from death, and present them with not only life, but introduce them to the author of life.  What is a person worth?  Maybe this contagion is love.  I hope you catch it.

So is the church a huge rock tumbler for Christians?  We polish off the hard edges and reveal the gems underneath.

Oh how we resist that rubbing against each other though.  Learning to live with each other is hard work.  I can understand why many churches resist any kind of outreach.  They have approached that perfect synergy of not enough people to make it crowded enough that they have to touch anyone else.  They sit scattered throughout the sanctuary on a Sunday morning.  Reserved seats to avoid any kind of traffic jam upon leaving and far enough back that they don’t feel like the pastor is speaking to them too personally.

Then there is the other side.  The perfect oiled machine with jewel movements to prevent any undue friction.  It will be a politically correct sermon without really any kind of reference to sin but will focus on how God loves us just as we are.  We can scale this they say.  We can grow, make satellite churches, and take the message global.  Make easily digested meals and serve it up to the masses.  We will have our five year goals (regardless of the verse that says tomorrow has enough worries of it’s own), a perfect game plan for ministry that is a clean room dissection of the messy coagulation we find ourselves in every week when we meet together and real flesh and blood people have to touch other flesh and blood people.

I think I have figured out that this church thing isn’t about being nice.  It’s not about getting in and out unscathed.  We are humans after all.  We hurt.  We cry.  We ooze emotion and puss and blood when things don’t go right.  We get diseases of mind, spirit and body.  It’s about being close enough to feed the hungry.  It’s about being near enough to dry a tear and be a shoulder to cry on.  A community that comes into the sanctuary and huddles together to keep each other warm and safe while they devise a plan to bring in more hungry, naked and diseased children out of the wind, rain and dangers that circle to devour the unsuspecting.  A city of refuge.  A training center for those who would risk everything for those who without knowing that there is a hope for life would choose death.

When you get close to people and you learn to love them, you hold them accountable for their actions.  Not because it’s right, but because you do love them.  This accountability is hard sometimes.  Hard edges don’t get rubbed off overnight.  It’s a process of being together and going through the pain of having those edges rubbed off gradually.  Every jagged edged rock in this tumbler is valuable though.  You are valuable.  The marks we make on each other in love are a part of the process.  Who have you made a mark on this week?  Who have you held accountable?  Who have you allowed in your life to hold you accountable?