this blog and your questions

I would imagine that many of you are reading this for the first time.

I started this blog to air questions and provide honest dialogue. This blog will not be censored, unless people are vulgar. I invite you to ask any question you want. If you are looking for honesty this is your place. If you are looking to find further justification for everything you have always believed please go to another place. The point of this is not controversy but rather a medium for us to say what and ask each other honest questions. I am doing this to get an idea of what people really think. If you want to remain anonymous that is cool. At times I will ask questions. They may relate to what is going on in my life and they may just be questions I am asking out of curiosity. You may ask why don't you just do this face to face, well I am not a real social person. I used to feel bad about this, I don't anymore because I realized the guilt was from a false perception of what- and sometimes who- I should be.

So...post a question or comment and let's start talking.

What matters the mostest.

I know that is bad grammar, if you know me you are not too surprised. Yesterday a friend of mine from school came out and stayed the night with Jennifer and me. We were grilling some steaks and talking on the back porch. He had served as a youth minister for a congregation in San Diego for a time. We talked about all of the things we like and dislike about ministry in the churches of Christ. I was thinking about it later and realized that in spite of all the things that we could be doing better we are still saved people and in His patience we can work those things out. At the end of the day we need to ask ourselves if our enlightenment helps us realize this or if it polarizes us from the very people we should love the most. I say this because many times my disagreements come from a selfish interest and not a sincere love for others and God. What matters the mostest; we are saved by Christ.

Apathy

I think that the primary crutch of the church is apathy. I see it all the time and I am one of it's greatest allies at times. It seems that when people are fed sugar water gospel and have everything done for them it leads to an apathetic spirit that buckles when forced to do what the "preacher" is "supposed" to do. I believe this stems from the fact that our view of ministry comes more from the civic clubs and coffee shops in small towns and not from the Bible as we so proudly claim it does. We have long abandoned the sola scritura (Bible alone) idea of the church and ministry and have adopted a pluralistic view that easily fits into our lives. This has created an apathy toward devotion. I could be wrong but the greatest reformations that have ever taken place in the whole of Christianity revolved around trying to break this cycle and promote God-focused, Bible centered faith rather than the alternative; culturally adapted Christianity. This form of Christianity has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof.

End of day, Thursday 6-28-07

It is about 11, I can hear Jay Leno in the background, Jennifer is getting ready for bed and I am about about to chill and fall half asleep in the recliner and then go to bed. It was good day. I have realized the power of positive attitude lately, which is a difficul thing for me because I tend to look at the negative. Played in a scramble tonight, we won, we used my drives each time but that was the only real contribution I made to the game. I have enjoyed playing golf. Travis, a friend of mine from grad school, is coming up tomorrow to stay the night. It will be fun. I don't know how this whole blog thing is going to work but I am going to speak honestly about what is going on in our lives. I invite questions but if you know I wont side with you don't ask questions to incite fights, I wont give the answers I think you want I will be honest. I am going to go for now. God bless and have a good night.

Time to blog.

I thought that I would start this blog to let people see what is going on our lives. I pray that the communication generated will bring glory to God and encouragement to all of us.

The summer has started out to be a crazy one. At the church we are without a youth minister so Jennifer and I have put off some vacation plans to hopefully be more available for whatever comes up. Jennifer's sister Alicia is going to have a baby this summer and we are waiting eagerly for him to be born. We feel that the Lord has blessed us lately and we feel grateful for His patience with us as we have stumbled our way through our time here in Tulia. Some of our closest friends are moving this next week and we hate to see them go, but we understand and hope the best for them.

That is all for now, I am going to go ahead try to figure this blog thing out. Let me know what you think I could do to make this a better blog. Also I would encourage I would love to answer questions, but please only ask questions you want an answer to.