What to wear, what to wear?

Good Clothes - Tomorrow Good Shepherd will host a clothing give away. Kathy Stitt and her dedicated crew have spent the last week sorting through what must be thousands of pieces of clothing to allow "shoppers" to get the clothing they need. Our patrons will be made up of a wide variety of people (there are no limits on who can shop.) Primarily though, the shoppers will be people we have invited by alerting our school district counselors to pass along the information to their students in need. I look forward to being at church from 9 to 11 to help out however I can.

Bad Clothes - Yesterday I was at a Pizza Hut in Blue Springs. Two couples came in with the cutest little toddlers with them. A curly headed blonde boy and a near twin (though from different parents) curly headed blond little girl. As I was smiling at their childish enthusiasm for pizza I noticed that one of the moms was expecting another child. She was wearing a t-shirt that was designed for an expectant mother. It had a picture of a sonogram down in the belly area. I thought that was kinda cute until I looked more carefully at the picture. This "child in the womb" featured a little hand giving me the finger! It was the point to the shirt and the message was loud, though not clear. What wasn't clear was the question in my head, "Is this really what she wants to teach her toe-headed daughter or the sibling within?"

Marathon.... are you joking???

Well I said I wouldn't but I guess I will. Stephanie asked me this weekend if we could do a marathon together and I said yes. Am I nuts, probably. Will it kill me, most likely. I'm about 40 lbs overweight and have high blood pressure. I'm getting ready to run this morning as day one of a marathon training program. I've got a book from Runner's World as a guide and I'll seek out the advice of those who have run one. (or more than one.) I'll post my training on the side bar like I did for my half marathon training. Let the fun begin.

At the Crossroads

A rabbit sat at a crossroads. The middle of a crossroads. It’s a dangerous place for a rabbit. Innocent yet aware. Afraid yet brave enough to be there. Right in the middle. Not venturing one way or the other, just… just sitting there.

It’s the middle of night as well; rabbits tend to inhabit the night. In some ways the most dangerous times for others are the safest for rabbits. Fewer predators. In this case, fewer cars. Being run over at this time of night at the location of this crossroads is highly unlikely, so the cross roads isn’t completely unsafe. As long as you don’t move.

In the crossroads there’s street light. Two actually. Through some unconsidered action on the part of the utility workers there are two lights at this crossroads. That doesn’t have anything to do with the rabbit, except that it makes the crossroads unusually bright, as crossroads go. Perhaps safer, as crossroads go. Unfortunately the placement of the lights means that there is darkness behind and before… in both possible directions.

The rabbit must move. Eventually the rabbit must move, but what will cause it to move is the mystery. Unlikely to be a car, but it could be a car. A predator, fox or cat, or even a dog, though dogs don’t tend to wander the night as much as others. Perhaps hunger. In the middle of the crossroads there is no food. Perhaps the smell of grass on the lawns that line the streets the intersect at this point will prove to be so enticing to that the rabbit will choose to leave the relative safety of the crossroads to satisfy a hunger.

Are rabbits curious? Will the wonder of what is beyond draw the rabbit out of the light and into the darkness of possibility? Or are they simply content to stay where they are until moved by predator or car or the hunger that drives the most basic of animal behavior? Curiosity kills cats and mother's inventions, but does it drive rabbits?

And why do I even care? I care because I too often find myself at a crossroads and when I spot a fellow creature at a crossroads of its own I can’t help but notice. Care? I really can’t offer care. I can’t become its owner, no one owns a rabbit, not a wild one like this. And so what do I have to offer? Protection? To protect would be to cage and to cage would be to interfere with its God given right to decide its own destiny beyond the crossroads. Do I scare it away from the middle of the crossroads in an attempt to prevent the tread of a tire from becoming its fate? Doing so may drive the rabbit to the jaws of a predator and then how have I helped? I can’t care for it, I can simply care.

Somehow I have to believe that my caring, the fact that another being cares, is enough to sustain a rabbit as it sits at a crossroads and ponders “where next?” Sometimes caring is all we can offer. Sometimes it’s the best we can offer.

“The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Goodness and self-control pause hand and hand at the crossroads.

BarBeCue Sauce

Several people have asked about my barbecue sauce. There's really no science to it, since I never do the exact same thing twice. However, I'll try to relate the spirit of it:

Ingredients: (In order of use)

• butter, margerine, or oil
• about a 1/2 large sweet onion (like Vidalia or Walla Walla)
• Garlic (2 cloves +/-)
• Can of pop (Coke for beef, A&W Root Beer for pork, Dr. Pepper for beef or pork, A citrus soda for chicken) (Don't use Diet and don't use off brands!!! )
  
• BarBeCue spice (maybe a tablespoon. more if it is salt free. more more if it is salt free and heavy on the sugar)
  
• Catsup
• Barbecue sauce (I like Kraft Original, it's a good base. KC Masterpiece is also a good base but it has more flavor and can end up being too much.)

1. Saute the onions in the butter, add the garlic and barbecue spice near the end.

1. Add the can of pop. It's best of you've opened it and let it go flat for a while. It's also best if it's at room temperature. You're going to reduce this down to about half of what you've put in. Stir often, being sure it doesn't burn on the bottom, this will cause a bitter flavor you don't want.
2. Add about 1 cup each of the barbecue sauce and catsup.
3. Simmer stirring often, about 2 hours.
   
4. It will be thinner than you expect but once you let it cool it will thicken quickly.
   
5. Brush it on with about 3 minutes left to barbecue or serve as a condiment or both. Use caution, this is very high in sugar and will burn quickly over a hot fire, again leaving a bitter taste on your meat.
   

Those Scripture References I Promised

Somehow the sermon didn't get recorded on Sunday, so there won't be a posting of it on our church website. However, I did promise to post the scripture references I used, so here they are:

The question is why we should surround ourselves with people of faith (faith friends, small groups, prayer groups, bible studies, sunday school, etc.)

1. Experience a closer relationship with Christ
• And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." (Matthew 18.20, The Message)

2. Comfort in our times of need
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9-10 It's better to have a partner than go it alone.
Share the work, share the wealth.
And if one falls down, the other helps,
But if there's no one to help, tough!
11 Two in a bed warm each other.
Alone, you shiver all night.
12 By yourself you're unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped.

3. One Anothering
• "I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. (John 15.11)
• So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory (Romans 15.7)
• learn to be considerate of one another (1 Corinthians 1:10)
• Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. (Galatians 5:13)
• Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31)
• Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another. (Ephesians 5:21)
• Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. (Colossians 3:150
• So speak encouraging words to one another (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
• And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24)

4. Encouragement
• You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Other People's Garbage

Over the last several days I've been running at Happy Rock Park. There is a 1 mile loop which is pleasant and not over crowded. Makes for a nice run and a chance to do lap splits, etc. I recommend it.

Yesterday, when I got to the park I noticed an elderly woman walking around the parking lot. She walked very slowly and with a cane in one hand. In her other hand... a box for a 24 pack of Budweiser!!! It was only 7:30 a.m. But as I got closer I saw what she was doing. She was stooping over and picking up the empties off the grass and lot, and putting them in the box. My next time around I saw her picking up some other trash and placing it in the dumpster that was only about 5 feet from where it had been tossed. As I ran by I shouted out to her, "Thanks for picking up other people's garbage." The look on her face told me one of three things; (1) She was hard of hearing, (2) She didn't understand what I said, (3) She thought I was a stark raving lunatic about to attack this defenseless poor woman. Oh well, my intent was sincere.

I sometimes wonder if Christ followers aren't often called to do just exactly that, "pick up other people's garbage." Jesus says in Matthew 5 "³⁹But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you." Pick up their stress garbage. Pick up their lack of planning garbage. Pick up their "shoulda known better" garbage. Pick up their "I've got too much on my plate" garbage. Pick up their "I can't cope today" garbage. Generally, just pick up their garbage and aid them to make a better life. And if they don't get any better at their aim, pick up their garbage again and place it where it belongs. It's just the way of Christ.

Stalled

I ran this morning. For those of you that know me that shouldn't come as a surprise. But, truth be told, I haven't been faithful to my training lately. You might say I've stalled. Lately I've just been under-motivated to get out there. I've been going to be late and then waking up too late to run and get to the church at a reasonable hour. A number of other things have contributed to my lack of diligence, but the face is that I've just stalled out in my training. What happens when you're stalled? You put on weight that you've lost. Muscles tighten up and you lose that tone they had gained. Your diet, if you're like me, gets out of whack. Mood declines too as the exercise is actually a mood enhancer.

I've decided on a solution to my stalled running.... I'm going to run! GENIUS! A few weeks ago I bought a book. "Runner's World Guide to Road Racing." It has several training plans. Since I've stalled out and I'm once again out of shape, I'm going to do the beginner's training. It's a 6 week plan to train for a 5k. Then I'm going to do the intermediate, 6 week plan. Then the advanced 6 week plan. Then I'll tackle the 10k training programs; beginner, intermediate and advanced. Then... well I decide later on the 1/2 marathon and marathon training. Right now, I'm going to begin again as a beginner.

This morning I logged 2 miles of running and one of warm up and cool down. Day one complete!

What about you? Where have you stalled in your life. One study indicates that we all stall our in our faith journey as well. What step will you take to get beyond the stall? Bible Study? A class on Faith issues? Commit to weekly worship? Invest your energies in volunteering? Invest your income in giving? Whatever it is take a step.

Need an accountability partner? Email my your next step in fitness, faith, or personal life. Outline a plan and send me a copy. I promise to call, email, text or tweet to hold you accountable. You can do the same for me.

A Whole Faith

Recently we've been looking at the wholeness of our faith. We've done a sermon series entitled "Fit for Faith" where we talked about having a fit mind, spirit and body such that we are better able to live out our lives in faithfulness. The coming series is going to focus on proven movements in your faith life that will help you take a step closer to God.

With that in mind I've recently read about churches doing these sorts of things (read story here) and I wonder about the advisability of this. Let me preface these remarks by saying that I know the pastor quite well. He was one of my mentors in the ordination process and I respect him. I'm not offering a critique of him as a pastor, but rather a critique about this practice.

Let me share some background thoughts on this. In my faith maturity there have been several ideas that have been my guide. Each of them is built around the idea of having a holistic faith. The first was when I went through confirmation in the 7th grade. I was asked by my pastor if I would support the church with my prayers, presence, gifts and service? That's a rather holistic understanding of how to live your faith. In recent years the United Methodist Church has added witness to that list and I appreciate the addition.

More recently Rick Warren published the book Purpose Driven Life in which he encourages us to live out our faith through worship, fellowship, discipleship, service and evangelism. Then United Methodist Bishop comes out with a book entitled, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, in which he outlines the following practices of congregational life; radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity. Both of these illustrate for us a more whole understanding of what it would look like to live a life as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Right now there is a team at Good Shepherd that is seeking to come to grips with how we respond to our recent participation in the REVEAL study. This study has important implications for how a church assists a Christ Follower to deepen their faith. The study reveals that there are five main areas that a person needs to work with in their faith life. When a person engages these areas at appropriate places in their faith journey they will find they are moving to deeper areas of faithfulness. I won't flesh these out right now, but they are; a deepening of biblical knowledge, practicing personal spiritual disciplines, engaging in spiritual activities with others, learning what you believe, and serving others.

All this is to say that I think there is a danger to the practice outlined in the news article. (Danger is a strong word, maybe concern would be better.) The practice of cancelling worship in order to do service seems to suggest to your constituents that there is an either/or option here. "If you don't want to worship, just go serve." The bible doesn't set up such a dichotomy. John Wesley even warned against setting up such a conflict when he instructed that if you happen to be in a small group meeting and learn that a worship service is going on, cancel your meeting to go to worship.

I also struggle with the hospitality aspect. Last Sunday we had 11 first time visitors at Good Shepherd. Imagine if they had arrived at church to find it locked up. Maybe we've left a sign that says, "We've gone to serve people in need. See you next week." Generally, first time visitors show up to your church because they are in need. Not that all are in crisis, but a that moment, they needed to worship and your church failed to provide opportunity.

I recognize the problem. Most of those in worship attendance spend only one hour a week with God. If they even go to worship at all. Another segment in worship will give you two hours, but then they have to decide if it will be in a leadership position, or a learning opportunity, or serving in some way. Even though this is the case, do we really need to make it easy to get in that one or two hours? God doesn't ask for an hour, God demands our whole life. A holistic faith isn't one that is lived an hour a week. It is one which is lived out in a variety of ways, throughout the week, and includes spending time worshipping the One who gives us our life.

{As a side note, in two weeks I'll be running in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. It's on a Sunday Morning. The race coordinators came up with a campaign to encourage churches to cancel worship and have a "sacrifice Sunday" instead. Racing as a sacrifice rather than worshipping. It's no different than cancelling worship to serve, is it? I wouldn't be doing the run if I didn't have the opportunity to attend Good Shepherd's 5:30 pm service Sunday evening. Worship isn't what we should be sacrificing.}

The Fourth and Faith

Theologian and Author Len Sweet made this post on Facebook:

Leonard Sweet My favorite 4th of July quote: "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." Erma Bombeck

Bombeck hits it on the head here. The greatness of our country is that we're focused on our neighbor and friends. That we don't need to have a show of force, but rather take a break to have a show of unity.

I can't help but point out the correlation to the church. Through the Lord's Supper and our baptism we are united to Christ in one mission. There's no show of power or strength. Our power comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. Our strength is in living faith together in our worship, church ministries and mission, and small group faithfulness.

What makes America great is that we're United. What makes our churches great is our unity in the mission of Christ, which is celebrated in the communion meal.

Waking and Sleeping

I awoke early this morning... the dog and a mess on the floor at 4 am. I won't go into that any more. I couldn't get back to sleep because I have a lot on my mind. I spent some time praying, reading my bible (John 4: did you know that in the time of His ministry people thought there was a "baptism battle" between John the Baptist and Jesus. To take the focus off the perceived competition, Jesus left town. Hmmm.) and catching up on my email/facebook/twitter/blogs. I came across this article in the Harvard Business Review blog. His second point encourages making two lists. The first is what gets you up in the morning. The second is what keeps you up at night. Now that would be a good practice.

The author and founder of Fast Company Magazine, Alan Webber, goes on to say, "Managers and leaders have got to know themselves before they know their businesses. They've got to have passion for their work and concern for their world. Otherwise they're just punching the time clock and risking every one's future." Passion and Concern. These sound like spiritual issues to me. On his site he doesn't claim any particular connection to a spiritual expression, but this sure reminds me of the expressions of God in the biblical Prophets.

So what is your passion that gives you a reason to get up in the morning? What concerns of the world so occupy your mind that you stay up at night? The answers to these two questions should have a lot to do with what you do in the hours in between.

The Sum: Jobs

You are the sum total of all your life experiences. I believe that to be true, so when I saw this post at http://leadhership.net/ it led me to reflect for a moment on the experiences I've had at all my workplaces over the last 30 years and how they've shaped me. Here are some of my cursory thoughts in order of the dates I held the jobs:

Nursing Home Food Service: I learned that all people are of value, even if they have lost their ability to make a contribution to society. That man who had severe CP always shouted incoherently as you passed by but stopped if you would just place your hand on his arm or shoulder as you passed.

Steak House Busboy and Dishwasher: There was a reason why turnover of employees was every month. The management here was poorly trained, hated their job, always high, and abusive to the employees.

Camp Wyman: For two summers (ages 16 and 17) I was in charge of the outdoor/pioneering part of the summer camp for under-privileged children. Wyman was my first exposure to working for a non-profit. Dave Hilliard, the president, was great to work with and I've followed his work ever since. If you're in the St. Louis area, this is a guy worth learning from. Under his leadership Wyman has gone from a summer camp to a year 'round teen/child leadership training program. Good Stuff.

School District Lawn Maintenance: For about 3 weeks I carried a weed whacker around trimming around trees, buildings and fences. I learned I could quickly get frustrated and board with lawns. I realized that grass would grow back no matter what I did. Quickly figured out I better get a job where something could actually be completed.

Iron worker: For one summer I worked "tieing rods" as an iron worker at the construction of the GM plant in Wentzville, MO. This was my first experience with labor unions (though I grew up hearing about them at home.) I experienced people drinking on the job, fighting for longer hours, and several other negatives. I also learned that if you work hard you can make good money.

Gateway Ready Mix: I was a laborer and sometime office worker. While I had noted this in other jobs, it was here that I learned that some people really could care less about their job or employer. I also experienced more labor unions. Some good stuff, some bad. Through these two experiences with unions I realized the tenuous relationship that exists between labor and ownership is not easily resolved.

Ozark tie and timber: This was a college age job where I was a laborer/carpenter in a pallet manufacturing company. I learned that shooting a nail through your thumb with a pneumatic nail gun is not a pleasant experience. This was my first exposure to worker's comp. It wasn't a positive experience. I've been very aware of employee safety in all my areas of employment ever since.

Boy Scouts of America: My first job out of college was working for the Boy Scouts of America in St. Joe, MO. While I eventually realized this wasn't the career field for me, it was the best education for non-profit employment available. I learned how to relate to volunteers and donors alike. As a person fresh out of college, I don't think it matters what career field you would ultimately end up in, the training program for Scouting executives is second to none.

St. Charles Quarry Company: I worked for a 2 quarry company selling rock to the construction industry. As the sole salesman with the company it was communicated to me by the labor force that I had to sell or they got laid off, and they didn't like getting laid off. Though this wasn't a commission sales job, it became quickly clear that there was a direct relationship between my work and the success of the company.

Kurtz Concrete: Same ownership as the quarries. When the one salesman went to alcohol detox I became the salesman. I quickly developed a relationship with the commercial contractors and a few residential builders. Sales were based upon relationship (every concrete company has the same product, there's really no differentiation there.)

Adminco: This was the owner of the quarries and concrete. They quickly acquired enough concrete plants to become the largest supplier in St. Louis. I became the sales manager at age 26. At 27 they sold out and a new president demoted me, not because sales were flat (they weren't) but because he considered me too young. Putting me in the position of Sales manager was a creative risk on the part of the ownership. Demoting me was a complete lack of creativity and vision for the new ownership. I learned that judging too quickly when you are in charge is a poor way to manage. I still feel I had the skills for that job even at that young age. I judge based upon skills not age.

Henges Manufacturing: Commissioned sales in construction products. Even though sales depended upon me alone, manufacturing and delivery depended upon others. I learned how to coordinate my efforts with others. There's no such thing as working alone, we all exist in some network where what we do influences others and what they do influences us.

Salem-In-Ladue UMC: This was my first pastorate. I was the student associate for two years followed by 2 years as full-time associate. It's a great experience to work as an associate. You get to make all sorts of mistakes without taking full blame. And I wasn't a very good associate. I kept wanting to go my own way and not along with the vision of the lead pastor. That was something of a mess sometimes. I think I caused his heart attack, though that happened 4 months after I left. I learned a world of information and skills about leading a staff of a larger church. Good Stuff.

The Oak UMC: This was a new church start. The training to launch a new church is the most valuable training for evangelical Christianity. The experience was great and it allowed me to understand the challenges to grow a church from 0 to 80.

Macon UMC: As lead pastor of a church that grew from about 130 to 210 in worship I had a great time learning along the way. The pastoral to program church transition was not one I got to complete, but I became very aware of church size issues. We expanded a floundering contemporary worship service, did a capital campaign and planned for a new building. We struggled through staff issues and had some great staff moments. It was also a significant time for me as I developed a pastoral theology for the first time.

Good Shepherd UMC: Still learning here.


What job served as your greatest learning experience.

What is Truth

In John 18:38 Pontius Pilate asks Jesus "What is truth?" Pilate isn't really looking for an answer. He didn't care what Christ had to say. He was challenging whether or not there really is such a thing as truth. I opened my sermon on Sunday sharing the same question, but for me it was more of a concern. I am concerned that we have moved everything in our lives to the realm of situational ethics. In that case, if we are the center of the universe, if the world revolves around us, then the truth is what ever suits our selfish needs. That can't be good.

Let me suggest that when we decide to become followers of Jesus Christ there is a center of truth that is universal and forever. I've found that there are 4 layers of truth for the follower of Christ. To hear the full sermon on this click here.

Here's a synopsis of those four layers:
HONESTY- Proverbs 12:22 says, "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are truthful." God cannot lie. It is not a part of who God is. There is no motivation. God owns all, created all, has all, and needs nothing. If we are going to imitate Christ, the human image of God, we must seek honesty in all that we say.
INTEGRITY- Honesty is about what you say, but integrity takes another step. It’s about follow through. Jesus says in Matthew 5:37 "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Keeping promises. Doing what you say you’ll do. These are the evidence of integrity.
ACCOUNTABILITY- Paul says in Ephesians 4:15 – "Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head of the body. Accountability means speaking truth into the life of a friend. Holding them accountable to live according to God's truth. Make clear that you are asking the question, “Is this the message that Christ wants me to bring to my friend?”
PROPHETIC JUSTICE - This higher level of truth unites God’s passion for a world with injustice, suffering and poverty with your willingness to be used by God to make a vocal and operable call for a change. This is when you search your heart, your prayer life, and the scriptures to discern what God is passionate about and then you speak in word and deed. This is the place where you take action against poverty, bigotry, hate, and violence.

One of the Points

One of the points in my sermon on Sunday is that the follower of Jesus Christ takes initiative in the area of love. I want to pursue that a little bit more.

First, I've always maintained that, from the perspective of God, love is not an emotion. Love is the activity of showing undeserved care and favor. As imitators of God, love is how we live out unconditional love for the people God calls us to care for (that's everyone in our sphere of influence.)

Second, our posture as followers of Christ is to be that of one pressing forward. God's love presses forward. As I said on Sunday, we have a tendency to pull back when we're hurt. If we reach out our hand and get burned, we'll pull it away quickly. The same is true when we reach out in love. Our tendency when we get emotionally or spiritually hurt is to pull back; but that isn't God's posture or tendency. And aren't we fortunate that it isn't. You see, at the crucifixion God would have been within His right to pull away from us. To say to us, "You killed my son... go to Hell." Not figuratively, realistically. "You've turned from me, rejected my love, so just plan on spending your eternity in Hell." That's not the way of God though. God presses forward with forgiveness, the resurrection, and the promise of eternal life.

What are the implications? As the body of Christ, the church, we should always be pressing forward in love. We should be moving outside the walls of the church to assure our community that they are loved. We must always focus ourselves on reaching out to our neighbors, and if rejected, not to retreat, but to continue to press forward.

How do you press forward in love?

What are you thinking?

On Sunday I posted (on Twitter and Facebook) the subject of this coming Sunday's sermon; Can I be a Christian if I Still Have Doubts? I got several replies, I'll share them with you below. I'd love to hear what you're thinking, what faith doubts do you have? You can post an anonymous comment by clicking "comment" at the bottom of this post.


Facebook Responses:

of course a doubt is....am i "good" enough for god to always to be in my life, even though sin and temptation are everywhere

How about the mythological parts of the book? Are they just paradigms?

And unfulfilled promises, even when there was faith? Esp. with uncured people who die...

I guess the apostle Thomas did OK with it!

{Husband} and I were talking about this Friday as we waited for surgery to begin...sometimes I wonder if there really IS a God...and if so, why would I matter to Him? I sometimes wonder if the "idea" of God is created by humans to instill a sense of hope...I hope I don't get tossed outta church now that I've told you my secret doubts...:)

Read "The Shack", if you still have doubts or not.

I've read it...twice...I'm a doubter... :) It's how I dance...

I am sure that there has to be a higher being. but there are so many bibles and people who say their god wrote or influenced their bible. I just wonder how much of the bible really is to be taken literally...like kathryn said maybe the bible was just an "idea" that people had and therefore created the bible to create a way of living and sense of ... Read Morehope. every community has to create a way of living within its self. with rules and such....the bible has great teachings and is good to live by but everyone is going to read it in a different light what is the RIGHT way???? and who gets to answer that really?

Lee Stobel wrote several good books for those with doubt. "A Case for a Creator" is a great start!

I think {another response} was touching on this, but how about the whole "Why do bad things happen to good people" and why doesn't God step in...

Along with what {another repsonse} was saying, I most definitely believe that there is a higher being and I believe that my Almighty is God. I don't know who we, as Christians, are to say that we are right and others are wrong. How can we tell people that they are wrong just for worshiping someone or something else. I also sometimes doubt people when they call... Read More themselves Christians when some have so much judgement and hate in their lives. It breaks my heart when brothers and sisters in Christ are judged and ridiculed because of their sex, race, background, sexual orientation and many other aspects that makes a person who they are. I believe that God loves everyone for who they are and that we should do the same, no matter what their lifestyle is.

i have NO doubts!!!!!! i know my Redeemer lives. Praise God

No Doubts about being a Christian and my salvation. I have more questions like am I where God wants me to be? I am doing all that I should for the kingdom of God?

Doubt? how about Thomas, Peter on the water, etc. Doubt is about what we can't see. Hebrews 11:1 says it all. i could go all day about this one.

I'm way out of my league commenting on this one... I think I'll just sit back and watch the experts post! BTW, does this count as going to Mass for next week?

Doubt is part of our human nature that we must alway keep in check thorugh prayer. Eve was the first doubter, otherwise she would have never been tempted and we would all have no doubt. Also I believe doubt is part of God's design, if we knew for sure there would be no free will and our expressions of Love and Adoration for a God that loves us would be diminished.

a doubt....does God really give us what he thinks we can handle? At times it's overwhelming but everyone always resorts to that consolation. Sometimes, I think, what if things just happen and God doesn't really control it but he's just there to pick up the pieces? And if so, why? Hence the reason it's so hard for me to let go sometimes and stop trying to control everything myself.

I have my doubts, but those doubts come and go. I guess for me it is about not letting evil take over in those moments of doubt. If I didn't have friends in my small groups or a church home to worship in, I could see those doubts push someone over the edge. The doubt that I mostly have is there really life after this one?

Who hasn't had doubts? But what is the alternative? A vacuum, emptiness, a lack of purpose? Jesus fills that void. I'll never look back.

Deep or Wide

Recently I've become addicted to a social networking site called "Twitter." Not sure why, but I like it. It is similar to the Face Book Status feature, and that's all it does. Status's. You go to your home page and it asks you to type in (140 characters or less since it works like MMS text messaging) "what are you doing?" That's it, you type in what you're doing and then everyone who cares to know, can know. There's more to it than that, and the strategies and uses is broad, but essentially it's about social networking.

When you have a Twitter account you can search for people to "follow." That means whenever they update their status, it will show up on your home page. Now, the polite thing to do is to follow the people that follow you. Not everyone does this, and there are some people that I've found I really don't want to know what they're doing... I mean some provide TMI. Others share bad jokes and totally useless links, etc.

My original goal in doing this was to follow people who might be able to share things that are helpful to me as a pastor. I branched out from that a little to include news sources, interesting posts, and even some political types. Every time someone decides to follow my posts I get an email that states "So and So" is following you. Sometimes that's a little intimidating, like when I got the note that "Jesus Christ" is following you (people can pick any name they want for their profile.) It was also a little scary when I learned that "Karl Rove" is following me too.

It seems there is a huge number of Twitterers who have made it their goal in life to garner as many followers as possible. I think the top is around 250,000. I have about 80. People constantly click to follow me in hopes that I will in turn follow them, even if I'm not interested in what they have to say.

Life is like that as well. Some people want to be known and to know as many people as they possibly can. Others want to deeply know the people they know, and thus limit the number they know. I find myself in the middle on that. As the pastor of a church with 550 on a Sunday, and having served in 4 churches, and having had a career life before ministry, there are a whole bunch of people I know. You might say that my relationships are "wide." But "deep" is really the way of a Christ follower.

While I'm sure Jesus knew a wide number of people during his ministry, he only went deep with 12. Of those 12 he only went way deep with three (Peter, James, and John.) But it was that depth that made all the difference in the influence that spread all over the world and down through two millenia. I think there's a lesson in there. When it comes to width, seek to have as much positive influence on as many people as you possibly can. When it comes to depth, work on knowing and being fully known by a few people (12 seems to be a good model), and really work on those relationships.