1. What topic is a 'hot button' for you, and would make you go on and on about it with great passion?
I think in general it would be pessimism found in people that walk in the Kingdom. I see it most prominent in organized religion. There are a heap of miserable people that go to church every Sunday. They are doing their best to try to get God to do something for them and that is their only focus. They can’t seem to see that it is not about them and their wants. It is only when they take their eyes off themselves and stare into the eyes of the Father that they will find pure joy.
2. Share some of your thoughts about the church ...
How much time do you have? If you are referring to the organized church, I have seen it all in the American forms. Over here we try as best as we can to run the church much like a business. For us it is and always will be about statistics. How much did we raise this month, how many people walked down the aisle to “just as I am”, “did you see how many cars were in the parking lot?” the list goes on. This is where the organized church will always fail. It will continue to change in order to get the most amount of people to attend. It is inevitable when you think of it logically. A well run business will change according to the customer’s wants. They want more jazzy worship – the worship pastor gets canned and they search for a new one. They want a different message for the pastor to preach – they get it. However, on the same breath, the house church has its faults as well. Beating down the organized church and feeling that they are somehow better is just plain wrong. I could get into all of this even deeper but the fundamental element that makes a church a living church is that they no longer care about anything else but passionately loving our Father and seeking His work. There is only one head of the church. Everyone else surrenders to His reign.
3. What do you love to do on your day off?
Play. Play very hard with my kids. The weekend is reserved for my beautiful wife and my three kids. I learn more about life by interacting with them at their (kids) level than if I read a whole library of philosophy on life. I see the Father more clearly through their eyes and my wife demonstrates His love to me and my kids beautifully. She is my rock. She has a passion for life that brings out the best in me, my kids, my friends and even strangers.
4. What do you love most about Jesus?
Good grief!!! What a question! To be honest, I haven’t really put much thought in determining one or two things about Him that I love most. I think the qualities that I have noticed over the years have changed along with me. As I experience new things in this life I am drawn to Him that much more. His love for Kids, His passion for his people, His anger for religion, His caring touch of the blind man’s eyes – all of these things play out within me at different times. As of late I think the complexity of His relationship with the Father and how that affects me that I have noticed and loved more. I’ve been a Christian for a very long time and I still don’t fully grasp the Trinity. Oddly though, I have come to realize that they (the God head) want us to be a part of them but only if we choose them. The love that is intertwined in God spills out in us and in turn it spills out of us into others. Life is a series of interconnecting relationships. It is our nature to be this way because we were created out of the closest community there ever will be. Jesus did what ever he saw the Father do. Now that is love to me.
5. Your favorite book in the bible is ... and why?
I’d have to say that it is the story of King David and that would cover many books. I see an openness about him that intrigues me. Perhaps it is that I studied his life when I was a boy. Or maybe it is some of the Psalms that he wrote where he is blatantly angry at the Father. Maybe it is just me but you have to be pretty close to Him in order to be that pissed off and write about it. He is a very complex character in the bible that I think gets taken for granted.
The other book that I am enjoying is Galatians and the other books that Paul wrote to the churches. I have taken the religious blinders off and now these books have come alive. If you get a chance check out the Message bible by Eugene Peterson because, for me, it put the text in a clean language that I can relate to.
posted by Tera @ 10:10 AM
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