Swap Blog

Don’t you just love the fact that it was freezing about two weeks ago and it will be almost 90F here today. This place is like living in the median of the weather highway with both sides blowing by you so fast that you aren’t sure what to expect next.

Based on the 7 day forecast though it looks like it will be warm here for a few day, so maybe the cold weather will behind us for a few months now. Looks like it it time to get the dogs coats shaved where they do not suffer from the heat all summer.

After a few days of hearing the charges go back and forth to me the bottom line is this - politics is a blood sport played long term only by those that want to win at it.

Parts of Tenet’s story / charges seem to hold water, others do not. I think many are running to support his views simply because they are against the war / the Bush administration. Tenet’s link to the Clinton administration bring some Clinton supporters to Tenet’s side automatically.

The same facts are true on the Rice side as well. Parts of her counter claims seem to be strong / others are weak, but some are running to support her just because she is within the Bush administration and because they agree with the goals of the Iraqi war. Some that oppose Clinton are running to support Rice imply because Tenet was the CIA chief during the Clinton White House.

This is one where both sides have similar issues but neither one seems to want to acknowledge that and simply want to argue over PR of the moment.

John from Scotwise has been out of the blogging biz for about a week now, due to a failed modem. He did a quick post last Thursday to tell his readers the reason for the blogging gap. Like all long time bloggers John is experiencing a bit of frustration when he is away from the keyboard for reasons beyond his control. Blogging breaks can be nice (and they are needed) but they can really frustrate you when you want to say something. Be praying that John survives and that he is back online soon. Check out his Frustration post here

Darryl from Dashhouse (post here) has a link too and block quote crossed posted at The Dying Church (post here) that bounces off a post at The Heresy that deals with the “The People Formerly Known as The Congregation” meme that is racing around the web and is on the minds of many within the the online Christian faith community. The above sentence may not make sense, but all the above are worth a read and some thought, weather you agree / concur with the bottom line ideas behind the meme or not as some of the posts above are pro the meme and others are more negative about the meme.

We, the body of Christ, have to understand that there are a lot of hurting people around the church (inside and outside) due to what happened to them at the hands of church leadership and church people in the past. In my mind though that fact does not give the hurt person a complete pass as to walking away from God’s church either though as when we are hurt in other areas of our life - jobs, relationships, etc - we work through them and move on - usually getting better jobs, improving our relations, etc. Regardless of who and what is to blame those pains and injuries do have to be dealt with. Ignoring them and shunning the injured does not speak well to how the modern “first world” church is performing. In my mind / in a perfect world dealing with such problems and issues should include both the questioning of institutional forms, the actions of leadership, and personal evaluation of our individual call from God and how it relates to the call of the local body we are currently at. No church is perfect, but no Christian is either.

The ignoring of church problems and personal issues are what leads this blog / web site to write posts like our one on church “customer service” yesterday as the church seems to be ignoring the real issues of the people that come to it - whether the person is “saved” or “lost”.

Personally I found a few satisfying ministries within the body of Christ only after I found a church that let me be the Christian God was calling me to be, instead of the Christian that the other churches, and most of the rest of the church, wanted me to be. Some of those satisfying ministries are directly related / through the church (teaching a weekly class, working in the media ministry, working with a few community focused outreach ministries (VBS, etc) annually), and others (this blog and web site, a sports outreach, writing) are independent of a specific church body. Bottom line for me personally and I do mean for me personally, I know that I am far more effective when I have a organized local body of Christ that build me up / encourages me, which then allows me to serve both within that body and independent of it to accomplish the things that God has for me. I simply do not believe that when it comes to serving God that it has to be, or should be, a completely in or completely out of a set local church body thing.

This morning I was thinking about all the things that are in my world EVERYDAY that I am not thankful for, but that I should be. Today I would publicly like to thank God for blessing me so much that I forget how blessed I am.

A Quick / Short List Of Things I Am Blessed With, but I forget that are in my life most days (that means it does not include the blessings that I am thankful for every day like my wife, my dogs, etc) -

Clean Water
Safe and Warm House
Electricity
A Work Telephone
A Car That Runs
A Crime Free Neighborhood
Health
A Working Stove and Refrigerator
Food in the cupboard and fridge

Just something to think about today when you are going through today and thinking that you are not blessed.

Kelly White should great courage and understanding when she took her two kids to the semicircle of memorials on the campus of Virginia Tech. This is where people have come to mourn with each other exactly like the fence line memorial in Oklahoma City. A difference in this though is that Kelly brought 32 tulips, and a spare one to lay on the stone for Seung-Hui Cho.
When asked why she did this to the stone that belongs to the one who took so many lives she responded…
“Forgiveness is part of being freed from anger. I try to teach my children that God loves everyone.”
Now we have to give credit where credit is due. There was another girl who took a giant leap on to a really little limb. And she was Senior Katelynn L. Johnson who added a 33 rd stone for Cho. Johnson said she told almost no one about the stone because she feared a backlash.
Without the stone in place no one would have thought about Cho unless to think what should have been done with him. Virginia Tech is just be awesome beyond belief with this. Many people are talking about like a family member who just never found the right way. They speak of his trouble and then of how they would have liked to help him to get though them.
They thing I keep thinking about though is the stone we land down. We were responsible for have a huge stone rolled of a guy’s tomb that I know personally. If that stone had never been set up then forgiveness would never been available. Most people who talk to me about this subject(Va.Tech) don’t like the next part of what I am about to say. I hope that before he killed himself, that Cho last thought were of God, and asking for forgivness. Most people I know are not happy with that statement but it is how I feel. I believe it is how God feels.
No sin Cho every committed is worse than any sin I have ever committed. Both have the exact same amount of forgiviness to them. The white lie of ” Honey answer the phone and tell her I am not here,” is a lie that is punishable by the same hell that a man who kills 33 people could be in. The only way to get out of that future is to ask to be forgiven. It will be given. The point is that while I am still yet angered by what Cho did I understand that there is a bigger picture, and in that bigger picture I am just has guilty and sinful as Cho could have every been. He is no worse than I am.

I was thinking about customer service a few days ago and something came to me. I have a low expectation of customer service most places I go now. I may be alone in this situation, but I doubt it.

When I talk about restaurants and stores below I do not mean all stores and restaurants. I do know a few places where I get great customer service, and I tend to go to them as much as I can. Sometimes I have no other options though, I have to go to places that I do not expect good service. When I go to these places it always seems difficult to find anyone to help me with my order, my questions, or with product selection, or anything else.

When I go to most fast food restaurants, it seems like they have time to do everything but cook / prepare my food. They have time to ask me twenty questions about tie in products / marketing or up sizing, or free offers or coupon books, but to make my food without mayonnaise is a inconvenience and requires a pint of blood and a signature from my mother. When I go to most department stores, and home improvement stores, and it is easier for me to find plans to completely redo, or rebuild, my bedroom then it is to find the specific thing I am looking for. “Yeah we got those. They are with the light bulbs, but I forget where those are. Go to Aisle 46 and find Herb, he should be able to tell you. Would you like to sign up for a credit card today sir, 10% discount on everything you buy today.” No I do not want a credit card today. I am trying to buy $1 worth of #6 pan head phillips screws to fix my light fixture that is currently hanging loose in my bedroom. That is all I need. I do not need a credit card, or a matching paint, or a free class about how to use a screwdriver, I need 4 screws. Those are all wonderful I am sure, and when I need them I will know where to go, but right now I need some help on the current situation in my life, not what is on weekly special.

Unfortunately I think we can become the same way in churches. People come to us and need specific help and we respond with the plan / class / book of the quarter. It is cookie cutter answers to all questions of faith and Christ.

Q. - My wife and I are having marriage problems, she has left me.
A - “Well ok, we have a class for recent divorcee’s that starts the first Monday of every month” or, “Well we offer counseling. (So far so good) What are you addicted too? Be honest, where we know which recovery class to put you in.”

Q - I am unsure about me faith. I am really questioning my relationship with Christ. What should I do?
A - Well James Wonderman or Joanne Superwoman has a new book about that. We have it in the library. It might be checked out, but we can put you on the list to get it when it comes back in.

Q. - I have been praying and I think the Lord is leading me to taking a leadership position where I can work with troubled teens.
A. - Well we do not have any troubled teens. How about you work with toddlers on Sunday morning because we some openings there.

Q. - How to I know if I am saved?
A. - Well Pastor Jerry says …..

Many churches, and Christians, have reached a point where they have stock answers regardless of the question. The latest best seller, or teaching series, or leadership guide, or pastor’s treatise has all the answers, regardless of the question. The person in need is not meet with help, but they are meet with a cure all answer that is not relevant to them.

I think that is why so many are hesitant to come to the church. They need specific help, and every time they have tried to get it at the house of the Lord they have been meet with pop programs, and pat answers. People really need to get help with what is in their lives, not what we want to help them with. They want to serve where God calls them, not where we want to place them. They want to labor with people that support and help them, not that view them as annoyances.

Now, I am not saying that God is not the cure for our problems. He is, or always has, the right answer. However, we must meet people where they are. Then we can guide them to God, or a deeper relationship, on their own path, not the path that we laid out last week for ourselves with our five best Christian friends.

Christ did not respond to those that came to him with cookie cutter answers. He meet them where they were. He did not heal the man with a shriveled hand the same way that he cured the man with leprosy. The woman caught in sin was not handled the same way as the woman Jesus meet at the well. Just because the people had similar issues did not mean they could be solved with the same answers.

Personally, I think we all can do better at trying to meet people where they are. I am concerned that the church as a whole is doing more to hinder visitors, seekers, and new Christians then to encourage them. We need to be sure that we are constantly watching both ourselves, and our church, but also the rest of the body where we do not become guilty of over promising and under delivering like most worldly organizations do when it comes to service. |

Christ came to serve, and He leads us by example not via words. Service does begin with me.
Have a good day serving others while you serve them in God’s name.

Monsters & Critics has a interesting story up that based on the evidence so far discovered by search warrant that the VA Tech kill Cho Seung-Hui did NOT have any violent video games. M & C also discusses the charges made by Dr Phil and Jack Thompson that Seung-Hui was a avid violent video game player as now being false. Monsters & Critics also discuss how Thompson sent his complaint / charge letters regarding blaming the software makers for the murders to the wrong companies and how many of his accusations and charges made on TV prove to be false to questionable at best when the true evidence is looked at. Full Story here