Anxiety ran through me like a sword Sunday night, so I did not fall asleep until 4:30 a.m. (I crawled into bed around 9:30 p.m.!). Needless to say, I did not go to work Monday. Exhaustion overcame me. I woke up around 10:00, the sunlight arousing me from sleep, fixed some noodles for lunch, and went to Starbucks in Centerville to read and meditate on Jeremiah 31 while sipping cold Green Zen tea. I love Starbucks.
I have never been a big fan of Joel Olsteen, but that's just my own opinion. He seems a little... I don't know word I'm looking for... I guess he just looks a little too money-hungry? I don't know. Something just doesn't sit well in my stomach when I hear him talk. My aunt loves his show, so as I laid in bed Sunday morning, she turned on the t.v. and we watched the program together. Granted, Olsteen is a great speaker, and his message was good (on how our thoughts and words have an influence in our lives, bringing either victory or defeat), but it revolved more around goody-goody, feel-good psychology. It didn't really connect with anything biblical. Two things really got my blood running. Joel said, "Serve God, and you will taste health and wealth." God says, "Serve Me, and you will taste persecution and suffering." Joel said, "Think highly of yourself," but God says, "It is the broken and contrite spirit that I do not turn away." Is it just me, or is there some contradiction going on? Oh well, I won't act like I have it all right all the time.
Adam and I got together this afternoon at Starbucks (did I mention I love Starbucks?) and talked a lot about a lot of stuff. It's good to have someone knowledgeable in the missional-incarnational church (someone a lot more knowledgeable than me!) whom I can have conversations with and learn from. We talked about how the modern church is fast-becoming a failure, and how it is already a failure in such places as Australia and England. We talked about how the gospel is more about "this life" than "the next," and we also talked about how our faith is so mysterious that we will never have it figured out, and we have no say on who is "in" or "out" of what Adam called the "pail of orthodoxy" (i.e., who is or is not a Christian).
Some of my friends and relatives from out-of-town are coming over for a Bible study (I dislike that word, so why do I use it?). It is always interesting, because they are ultra-conservative and, to them, I am a bleeding-heart liberal; the "black sheep" of the family. I think they're trying to get me to abandon my liberal ways and embrace God. I love them to death, and I enjoy the conversations, because they're always so... exciting? They should be here in a few moments so I will go.
I will post my sermon up sometime, as well as a post "on holiness" that I am putting together. I might also throw some thoughts up regarding the heart of the early church, stemming from Acts 2.42-47.
I have never been a big fan of Joel Olsteen, but that's just my own opinion. He seems a little... I don't know word I'm looking for... I guess he just looks a little too money-hungry? I don't know. Something just doesn't sit well in my stomach when I hear him talk. My aunt loves his show, so as I laid in bed Sunday morning, she turned on the t.v. and we watched the program together. Granted, Olsteen is a great speaker, and his message was good (on how our thoughts and words have an influence in our lives, bringing either victory or defeat), but it revolved more around goody-goody, feel-good psychology. It didn't really connect with anything biblical. Two things really got my blood running. Joel said, "Serve God, and you will taste health and wealth." God says, "Serve Me, and you will taste persecution and suffering." Joel said, "Think highly of yourself," but God says, "It is the broken and contrite spirit that I do not turn away." Is it just me, or is there some contradiction going on? Oh well, I won't act like I have it all right all the time.
Adam and I got together this afternoon at Starbucks (did I mention I love Starbucks?) and talked a lot about a lot of stuff. It's good to have someone knowledgeable in the missional-incarnational church (someone a lot more knowledgeable than me!) whom I can have conversations with and learn from. We talked about how the modern church is fast-becoming a failure, and how it is already a failure in such places as Australia and England. We talked about how the gospel is more about "this life" than "the next," and we also talked about how our faith is so mysterious that we will never have it figured out, and we have no say on who is "in" or "out" of what Adam called the "pail of orthodoxy" (i.e., who is or is not a Christian).
Some of my friends and relatives from out-of-town are coming over for a Bible study (I dislike that word, so why do I use it?). It is always interesting, because they are ultra-conservative and, to them, I am a bleeding-heart liberal; the "black sheep" of the family. I think they're trying to get me to abandon my liberal ways and embrace God. I love them to death, and I enjoy the conversations, because they're always so... exciting? They should be here in a few moments so I will go.
I will post my sermon up sometime, as well as a post "on holiness" that I am putting together. I might also throw some thoughts up regarding the heart of the early church, stemming from Acts 2.42-47.
1 comment:
Hey Anthony,
It was good talking to you, man. Hope you have a good week. It's great to have others to share ideas, viewpoints and where we are growing with.
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