story time

I love the power of a story. I love that I live in a culture and world that embraces stories as foundational and powerful way to express all that we are and all that we wish we could be. Tonight I listened as people told their stories about how Christ had and continues to work in their lives. The telling of a changed life is an amazing thing.
Somehow most of what I know and believe is lodged into my brain because of stories. I credit the Chronicles of Narnia for more of my theology then any seminary class. I remember stories from years ago from good sermons I heard in church or at some conference but rarely remember the point they were making. Jesus was an amazing story teller. His stories still resonate with the core of our very being and challenge those who listen to move from where they are to a much less comfortable place, toward the likeness of God himself. So the question then is why is the Christian culture so poor at story telling. Maybe I am wrong about the power of the story or that Jesus was a great story teller. We do after all have an amazing tendency to see Jesus as we want to. But I think the fact remains. Christians are as a group not a group that work well within the realm of story.
What does it say if Left Behind is our great novel? We are in need of those who can communicate Truth in the form of exciting., personal and moving stories. So with that said, all you creative people write, paint, sculpt and create films. Help the Church be what She is called to be. A power which will change the world. Now off to bed to dream...

the fog has lifted

Do you ever have those hard choices or conversations that you know that you need to have but you just do not want to go there? I am not sure if it because of my personality or if it is how all people are but I find it paralyzing. It weighs upon my thoughts and slows my actions. I find it an incredible opportunity for self-reflection after the fact but in the midst of these times, I hate it. There are few things I hate more. And it makes me wonder what it means to live with courage. I think courage really is found in the small daily choices we make everyday that are hard but are right. I also am finding that the best way to deal with hard things is to face them right away. Otherwise they grow like those little foam animals that came in the gel capsules and when you added water they expanded to enormous size. Come on people, that is a great comparison. So I guess this is not likely any sort of revelation for the average person but it kind of is for me. Would it not be awesome to live in a community where people went at issues right away instead of letting it fester and grow. Come on passive-aggressive people, join me in stopping this kind of behavior.
All I know is that when I step up and act, the next day looks brighter. So as I enjoy a brown ale and listen to switchfoot, here is to tomorrow, a sunny day no matter what the weather.

duplicity

duplicity

I was reading yesterday in Relevant, which as a side note is a great magazine, about leading a double life as a Christian. An element of the story that jumped out at me was how the author expressed a past need to 'get away from his Christian life' for awhile. I can relate with that. What does that say about our faith when we have a desire from time to time to get away from it and live like 'normal' people? How can we move toward having a life that is so full that we do not want something else? In Smell of Sin it talks about how moving toward sin instead of what is offered is like eating rocks. So why do they look so good so often?
Okay so this is starting to sound depressing but I want to be the kind of person that is so taken with what I believe that I do not want to escape from it. I want to live in a community that wants that too. I think that is what God wants all of us to have. No more church buildings filled with smiling tombs but instead clumps of people who truly feast on life and daily want more. I want that.

First go at this

Well here it goes... I have no idea if this will be a regular thing but we will see. I have a feeling that a lot of blogs get started with a very similar phrase. My question is, 'why the crap are these so popular?' In my pseudo-intellectual guess I would say that we are a population hungry for community and we have no idea how to find it. Is that too pseudo-deep for these things? Anyways, I look forward to posting what may or may not be of interest to a single other human being.
I am guessing this will be a place to pontificate on such matters as life, religion, politics, etc. We will see if these ramblings will come together in any coherent form or will merely result in utter incoherence. I invite you, whoever you may be, to join me in this potential short and uninspired journey. Who knows maybe my dream of being able to express interesting or at least personal thoughts with words will become a reality. However I must warn you that I used to cry in 7th grade when asked to write anything more than a page and I lost in the first round of any kind of spelling competition I have ever been a part of.
Let the adventure begin.