Thoughts About Church.....

This could possibly be a controversial post, just warning you. I hope it's not, but if it is.. oh well. Life's more fun that way. Ha. And, as a disclaimer, this post is not pointed at any specific organization or group of people. It's just what's been on my mind.

I've been thinking a lot about the local church lately, and for some reason it's just been heavy on my heart. For as long as I can remember, I've sat in churches and heard some off the wall stats about how people's main complaints about the church are that the people are too hypocritical, and that they don't feel welcomed by the church. And that is normally followed up by somebody from the pulpit saying that everyone is messed up, and everyone is welcome there, no matter where you come from. And up to this point, that's exactly the truth. The congregation is filled with people from every walk of life and every background imaginable, and each and every one of them received a warm welcome when they walked through the door. And it is from that point on that I think a lot of churches lose it.

A dear friend of mine posted something online the other day that really resonated with me. It simply said "You can come as you are, but you cant stay as you are." That's what the church is all about, right? Taking people from hurting, broken backgrounds and empowering them to become new people? Yes... (And here come the big "but")... But I believe the line between "You can be changed by God" and "You can change to act like us" is blurred far too often. I think we have a tendency to say "Yes, you are absolutely welcome with open arms.. We would love to have you as part of our family!", when in reality, it's more like..

"We don't care if you're a recently divorced, slightly overweight, middle-aged guy that's going through a dry spell in life and doesn't look or dress anything like us... You are more than welcome at our Sunday morning service with the other 2,000 people! We won't judge you.. At least not publicly. We'll probably just keep that among our tight-knit group. And of course you can join a small group! But just make sure it's not one of our prayer groups... That's where we really dig deep and have our special moments. Oh, you play guitar? That's awesome! We'd love to get you connected to some other people in the church who also play guitar but can't play on stage because they don't look quite enough like they are trying to be rock stars."

I know, I know, my facetious overstatements are airing on the aggressive side. But let's be honest here.. how many times does this happen? I know I've done it. Most of the time before I even speak to a person I've already put 10 labels on the dude, only based on what he looks like. And I don't care if you completely disagree or want to argue with me... This happens every single weekend at church, no matter how much we say we "welcome people from every background".

So I guess the point I'm trying to make with the extra-long-winded-blog-vent is this:

Yes, I do believe that if you are truly going to become the man or woman that God has called you to be, "You can come as you are, but you can't stay as you are." I feel like the first part (You can come as you are) has to do with being welcomed. And I think the second (But you can't stay as you are) has to do with fulfillment. I think that can so easily be transformed by the church so that the first part remains about welcoming, but the second becomes about acceptance. "We will welcome you as you are, but we will never accept you as you are".

And when this happens, it simply gives the people who complain about unwelcoming, hypocritical Christians a good reason to do so.

B

Before you get old and boring....

Ok, so... I've had a lot of solo driving time lately which means one thing.. Lots of time to think. Among this thinking time, I got to reminiscing about the last few years and how incredibly blessed I have been. And I realized something... I have been fortunate enough to do things that most people would never either do or even think about doing. So, without any more hesitation, here's 10 things I think every person should do before turning 25, in no particular order. (Why 25? I don't know. It just seems like things get boring and real world-ish after that.)

1) Go Skydiving.

It will be worth every penny and every ounce of fear that is squeezed out of you. I promise.

2) Take a (super) spontaneous road trip.

And by this, I mean like... Get in the car with a friend or two and start driving in one direction without any plan at all. Some of my best memories have come from one of these.

3) See your favorite band play outdoors in the pouring rain.

You need a little luck with this one... But if it happens, its INCREDIBLE.

4) Take someone to watch a meteor shower.

Find someone that has never been, find a dark road, and just do it.

5) Dress up like rock stars for a night.

If you look cool enough, and carry instruments... people (specifically pre-teens) will think you are the coolest band ever. (this is a wonderful confidence booster)

6) Make a music video.

If you have a computer with a camera on it, that's good enough. You'll be glad you have this later in life.

7) Attend a Hispanic wedding.

At least go to the reception. The salsa dancing gets pretty crazy.

8) Camp next to a waterfall.

This leads perfectly into my next point..

9) Swim out to an island in the middle of the night to camp.

This will be a memory that will last a lifetime. Especially if, instead of a boat, you use a blow-up queen size air mattress.

10) See Celine Dion in concert.

I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

B

Life is very puzzling...

You know that feeling when you start a puzzle? The pieces scatter to cover the table and it's almost overwhelming to think that each of those individual pieces fits into the bigger picture somehow. You pick up that first piece, take a deep breath, and try to figure out where to start. What's really odd is, if you pick up a piece and look at it, it seems so insignificant. It's just a tiny little piece of cardboard with some indistinguishable marking on it. I mean let's be honest... There's thousands of them there. When they are all mixed up like this you would NEVER be able to tell if one was missing. But when they all come together to make this beautiful and perfectly fitting creation... The only one that is missing is the only one that you will notice.

This exact thought absolutely, 100% TERRIFIES me to think about. Because I feel like in my life right now, there's a million pieces in front of me, and I see them forming every day. Everything from seemingly random encounters with someone I had never met before, to a seemingly sub-par change of summer plans, to a series of “coincidental” conversations with an old friend. It's like I can see that these things are happening for a reason and I feel that they will be vital in big picture... But at this point they kind of look like, well, random little pieces of cardboard.

What really kills me is to think about what pieces have already gotten knocked off the table. What important friendship did I sell short because of my own selfish reasons? Who did I leave out of my life because I didn't see them as beneficial? Who did I let get lost in the mix because, at the time, they didn't perfectly fit into my puzzle?

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is the fact that so many perfectly ordained and coordinated things happen to us every day, and we have an undeniable tendency to write them off as an insignificant coincidence. When, in reality, these insignificant coincidences could very well be key pieces of our own puzzle.

B

P.S. I apologize for the horrific pun in the title.

It's a Love / Hate relationship.

Well this is my first ever blog post. I have no idea what to write.

So, I will simply put in something I have been working on for a while.
Toward the end of last summer I started thinking about the meaning behind the words love and hate, and how often we use them. So, just as a little experiment, anytime I thought to myself "I love that" or "I hate this", I would try to remember to jot it down. I've done it on and off for the last 9 or 10 months and here's the list I've come up with so far.

Things I love:
1) When Tony sings "You Are My Sunshine" to me before I go to sleep.
2) Saturday morning breakfasts.
3) When Paul Johnson sings.
4) Driving on the interstate with the windows down.
5) Blueberry scones.
6) Occasions where I can dress up.
7) The fall.
8) People watching
9) Fresh Clementines.
10) Sitting next to/in a river.
11) Stupid Laffy Taffy jokes.
12) Driving down huge hills in neutral.
13) Catching up with old friends.
14) Meteor showers.
15) Sour apple gummi rings.
16) LOST
17) Walking in the pouring rain.
18) Driving places I have never been.
19) Taking photographs of people
20) When someone you haven't heard from in a while calls you up just to chat.
21) Swedish Fish.
22) Warm spring mornings.
23) The Fray.
24) Camping.
25) The smell of summer.
26) Waterfalls.
27) Mr. Echo.
28) Spontaneous road trips.
29) New Years Eve.
30) Having my dog wake me up in the morning.
31) Fido coffee dates with Paul.
32) Skype dates.
33) Jason's Deli.
34) Jack Freakin Wilson
35) Waking up to text messages.
36) The smell of fresh baked bread.
37) The smell of rain.
38) When it snows really hard.

Things I hate:

1) Being talked down to.
2) When people make up stuff to make it seem like they know what they are talking about.
3) Being under-appreciated.
4) Foot blisters.
5) Body odor.
6) Apathy.
7) People that think they are good enough to cover a Michael Jackson or Beatles song.
8) When people don't use blinkers.
9) Allergies.
10) People that form an opinion just so they have one.
11) Going to the movies in huge groups of people.
12) The hiccups.


I guess I'm a lover, not a hater?

Will blogging end up on one of these lists? Who knows.