Clarifications...

I've had some great critiques and encouragement around this blog. The whole blogging thing is still a bit of an anomaly to me. I forget that I'm not journaling in a leather bound book that sits on an unnecessary table next to my bed. Yes folks, this is the world wide web!
I hope that nothing that I've written has been discouraging or confusing. I pray that the content previously posted has encouraged and provoked thought.
A few posts ago I wrote about "Paul and his boys." The slang reference to the apostles probably wasn't wise, but it wasn't meant to be irreverent. I also wanted to clarify that my questioning around the validity of Paul and the apostles work wasn't based on the truth they taught or the Gospel, but rather the methodology and systems they used to carry out the truth.
I'm constantly working through thoughts that I don't understand. Then I post them here for the world to see. I will be more careful with my randomnocity. Thank you for caring about me, thank you for sharing my life, even if it's only through the most publicly private portal this side of the paparazzi.

Love's Story

You've got to read this....

http://www.twloha.com/the_story.php

Buy the shirt if you cry.

Paul and his boys...

I have no desire to diminish the work of Paul and his boys, but what if what they did was never intended to be the end all be all? What if they did the best they could, being lead by the Holy Spirit, but never meant for their work and ministry to be systematically organized and categorized. What if the work of the Apostles was specific for a place and time? What if we've limited the gospel by trying so hard to reproduce thousands of years of men's best and worst attempts to create church? What if we've missed the forest for the shrubs?

Fear and Freedom

It's Sunday morning 11:15, don't worry I'm not skipping church, the church that we've been journeying with meets at night. For some Sunday night church is a crazy thought. For me church is becoming a crazy thought. I grew up going to church, I've never hated church, it has always been part of my life. I didn't always believe, but I've almost always gone. I thank God for my parents and there desire to be with the church. But I can't help but wonder, is church really best? It's good. God uses it amidst it's short comings. But is that reason to continue. Should we desire more? Absolute Purity? To compromise nothing? To follow Christ alone? To be lead by the Holy Spirit alone? Am I just the crazy over thinker guy?
My greatest fear is waking up one sunny morning to the sound of my wife and kids in the next room to realize that I've lived a fruitless, comfortable, mediocre, good life. That amidst some good stuff I've sacrificed greatness for ease.
Some may say it's youths vigor speaking, or idealistic hopes that life will quickly dash. Others might say that I have authority issues. Few will say follow the desires that your guide, the Holy Spirit, is counseling you with. Seek Christ and all He commanded you. Live well, love above all else, and never compromise. Those few are the people I love. The people I respect most. Not because they're telling me what I want to hear, or because they're affirming my desires. Both of which are nice, but because I recognize the Christ like care and trust in the Father in their encouragement.
A great friend and follower of Christ recently dropped this thought on the welcome mat of my mind. It simply expresses a thought that I haven't been able to verbalize.

The Gospel doesn't need a context built for it.
The Gospel came into a broken context and restored it.

My fear is that we've built a context for the Gospel to work best. As if the gospel needed a context, or we could make it work. By the man made context we have limited the work of the gospel. We have oppressed people to systems and programs. We haven't pointed people to the freedom and abundance of life that is the restoration of the gospel alone. We've attached requirements and duties.
I don't think that I can submit my family to such enslavement. We have been called to fear God alone, in order to be free from everything else that desires to bound us. The enemy seeks to devour us, and he will use the church to do so.