Monday night I played corn-hole at Mike's place during a community gathering for 3rd Place. Tuesday night my little sister, Tyler and I went to The Flower Factory and bought plastic yellow-and-blue flowers for my room so it would look a little more cheerful (I love flowers). Wednesday night I went down to the college campus, visiting Caleb: we watched Reno 911, some Jeff Foxworthy, hung out with Amos and Cooper in the coffee shop, and looked out at the city lights with Anna and Jobst. I told Caleb, "I miss this place, Man. It's like home to me. I feel like I'm in exile back in Springboro." Thursday night I relaxed at home after an easy day of work: we did actual labor for two hours, then sat around and talked for six (we are way ahead of schedule); we all even fit in an hour nap and made sixty bucks! Since I did not have to wake up at 5:00 am for work this morning, I stayed up late last night: Tyler and I went down to Cincy; he wanted to see my campus, and we hung out with my friend Nate (Cassie and Megan were going to hang out with us, but they were out-of-town: Cassie is at home in Pennsylvania and Megan is hitting the beach in Florida); we ate out at Applebee's and talked about GOD.

Nate is the very embodiment of the postmodern person. He is more postmodern than anyone else I know; he makes me look like a bleeding-heart fundamentalist. He ordered an Irish coffee, smoked a cigarette, and complained about racism in the Church. He is the youth minister at Vineyard West Side; his passion lies in the ghetto. We also talked about how we Christians exist to serve; I told him, "Sometimes I get a little tired of all these youth conferences where kids get together for a week, close themselves off from society, talk about GOD, then go home and continue living their lives as if nothing happened. We get so comfortable in our churchy society that we forget why we're here: to serve others." Nate is spearheading a conference called Revolution of Kindness for youth; it is a 5-day event where a bunch of kids and adults get together, pray, eat, talk about GOD, then go out and serve the community in kindness. Nate is quite the inspiration for me; like me, he's been burned by a lot of girls. We always encourage one another. A great guy.

Since the topic of evangelism has been floating around in the comments, I have been thinking about it a lot lately. Driving home last night, listening to Michael Buble, drinking pumpkin-spice coffee, and hearing Tyler snoring in the passenger seat, I had lots of time (forty minutes or so) to think about this. See, too often (I think) we see evangelism as trying to convert someone to a certain belief. We like to dodge around the word "conversion," afraid of it, but let's be honest: conversion is desired when it comes to evangelism. Have we failed if there is no conversion? No. Hopefully we've made a friend! Anyways, back to what I was thinking: when we think of conversion, it's usually to convert someone to the belief that Jesus is GOD's Son, he died and rose again, and we can experience salvation by his sacrifice. It's a conversion of a mindset; conversion happens when someone says, "Okay, I believe that." Well, as I was driving, I thought this over: "Evangelism isn't so much guiding someone to a new (or refreshed) belief, but it is about guiding someone to a new (a restored!) kind of life, a life of love and laughter and friendship and generosity." I believe the gospel brings about the kingdom of GOD for all people, and I believe the staples of the kingdom of GOD are new life in Christ and a new community in the Church. With this belief, I am beginning to see conversion as a conversion to a new way of life, founded on belief in GOD's Son. I hope that makes a decent amount of sense.

Oh, and some people were offended by the kangaroo sex picture. "Come on, Guys. Laugh a little. Stop being so afraid of nature."