Pillars are Just Crutches

I’m reading an amazing book by Eugene Peterson entitled, “The Contemplative Pastor”.  I would suggest that anyone even thinking about going into pastoral ministry read this book.  It’s quite thought-provoking and profound.  Here’s a bit that I appreciated about evangelism (page 79).

The witness points, mute, so as not to interfere with the sound of silence … [Witness] is an important biblical word in frequent contemporary use.  It is a modest word saying what is there, honestly testifying to exactly what we see, what we hear.  But when we enlist in a cause, it is almost impossible to do it right: we embellish, we fill in the blanks, we varnish the dull passages, we gild the lily just a little to hold the attention of our auditors … important things are at stake – God, salvation – and we want so much to involve outsiders in these awesome realities that we leave the humble ground of witness and use our words to influence and motivate, to advertise and publicize.  Then we are no longer witnesses, but lawyers arguing the case, not always with scrupulous attention to detail.  After all, life and death issues are before the jury.

Another quote along the lines of quietness and silence is a quote that I have on my Facebook page which is attributed to A.W. Tozer:

Man has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity, and bluster make a man dear to God

I need a job. I hate job hunting. It feels a lot like begging, and I don’t beg.

What adds to my frustration is what I look like.  I’m 27 but I could easily pass for very early twenties and even into the teens. A couple years ago, while I was working for my dad, people would ask me why I dropped out of high school.  sigh.

Most people tell me that it’s a blessing but when it comes to looking for a job I’ve found that it is really a problem because it screams, ‘INEXPERIENCE’, often louder than my resume can talk.

So I have an interview tomorrow. The guy has my resume, but hasn’t seem me.  He’s probably expecting someone close to 30 … he’s getting someone close to 20.  Let’s pray he can see beyond that.

On another topic, is it just used car salesmen who are sleezy or car salesmen in general?  Just wondering …

Ray Boltz, a Christian music artist who has written some of the most iconic songs about the Christian faith,  recently told the world that he is gay (shortly after seperating from his wife).

Now a lot of people are thinking of disregarding his entire career because they think his entire career is an act of hypocricy, I think this is a mistake (both disregarding his career and his ‘hypocricy’).

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Pre-Game Coin Toss Makes Jacksonville Jaguars Realize Randomness Of Life

Hilarious!! I don’t know how they come up with this stuff! Pure Gold!
You’ll have to click the link, I can’t get the video embedded.

There was a time in my Christian journey when I would get down on my self for not being distinct from the world.  I didn’t think that I was that different – other than a few things here and there.  Then, I got a job in the secular workforce and learned very quickly that I was completely different, not just on surface level, but at a worldview level.

Lately however, it seems it’s very easy to see that I, as a Christian am very different, and I am convinced more now than ever that the current North American culture is completely and utterly evil.

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If it’s your first year of college check out these tips.  I agree with almost all of them.

I’ve discovered that blogging takes dedication and commitment.  It’s not one of those things that someone does once and has a hope for anyone to read it.  For example, I left my blog for a couple days to go on a little long weekend getaway with my wife and everyone decided to pick-up and leave!!

Crazy!

Anyways, I’m back.  I’m in school, I’m reading books that are interesting and generally in the same thrust as the blog tends to go so hopefully we can continue to have some fun.

Right now I’m reading ‘Planting Missional Churches’ by Ed Stetzer.  Good times.

There is an incredibly insightful blog about the parallel of theme of evil in Biblical terms and the movie The Dark Knight.

I wonder if the lack of a back-story for evil in the Bible is related to Nolan and Goyer’s rationale for ignoring the Joker’s back-story? Without an explanation or origin, God is emphasizing the utter meaninglessness and anarchy of evil. It cannot be understood; it cannot be rationalized. To do otherwise would be to legitimize its place in his creation or to create sympathy for an enemy that deserves none.

If you’ve seen the movie I would definitely reccomend reading this thoughtful article.

There is a good article on small group myths that I think hits the nail on the head on why small groups don’t really work.  At the beginning however he gives some reasons why small groups in North America are easier said than done:

1. We have few role models, at least in our own culture.

2. The literature on the subject has promoted the idea without offering practical methods.

3. The American concept of home privacy causes such ministries to develop more slowly here than in some countries.

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Back for another year of college!  This semester I only have 3 classes, which means that I am a part time student, which means that a lot of the mandatory things that full-time students have to attend, I can skip out on.  Which I like!

I’m eager to get this all done with, I started my college journey in ‘99 so I’m finishing it 10 years after starting, ouch.  The break in the middle ate up more time than I had originally expected, but hey, life throws curve-balls sometimes.

I’m stoked about the classes that I’m taking this year!  One is Planting Churches and the other is Greek.  I’m excited about Planting Churches because hopefully that’s the direction that I would like to move in after college, and I’m excited about Greek because I would like to get my Masters and I need that language in order to do so.  I’m not too good at the language thing so hopefully doing this while I’m just part time will help me.

At the same time I need to find a job.  blah.  I don’t mind working.  In fact I consider myself a rather hard worker, however the thought of finding a job is akin (for me) to begging.  It’s like making a cold sale, I just don’t like the feeling.  So I have to think about what I want to do, find positions, revamp my resume, and go out.

So that’s where life is heading right now.