I just partook in an unbelievable time of gluttony. Lisa and I absolutely love Chili's, and we don't get there much, so when we do we take advantage. WOW!

I'm making a list of things Christians do that just make me sick. The problem is that I do many of them myself, although unconsciously. The initial three are as follows:
1) Complaining when people talk against the Bible without reading it, then doing the same with such books as Harry Potter. If you want to bash it, go ahead, but read it first. I haven't, that's not the point, the point is don't do something that you trash others for.
2) You don't have to evangelize every second and every conversation of the day. I don't care which church you go to, and neither does the waitress or the dentist. Smile, leave them a nice tip, encourage them in some way, and if the time if write share what Jesus has done in your life, but don't be THAT PERSON!
3) I hate your holy huddles! Yes, the world may be a bad place, but it's what we have and the commands from the Lord focus more on "go" rather than "retreat."

On #3, I'm reading "The Shaping of Things to Come" among a few other books. This one is mostly review, but I like the theme the authors are using, saying that in a missional vs. attractional church, three things must happen. The first, the church must be incarnational, the second messianic vs. dualistic, and the third apostolic. I won't take time discussing one and three, but I really like two. Giving a little history lesson, the authors describe how the church has been affected by Greco-Roman culture, particurlarly the idea that there is a separation in the world between the "sacred" and "profane" or religious and nonreligious rather than it all being God's. I really like that and I can't think of one church that I have ever been in that hasn't used that distinction, and therefore called us into that community or holy huddle to get away from the world. The commands of Jesus, GO, the commands of the modern church, RETREAT.

Along with that, I watched "Girl, Interrupted" last night. I know, the movie is like ten years old or something but I always wanted to watch it and never did. I really enjoyed it, as much as you could enjoy that type of movie. One quote from Susanna (Winona Ryder) at the end as Lisa (Angelina Jolie) was chasing her really struck me, "I've wasted a year of my life, and maybe everyone out there is a liar. And maybe everyone in the whole world is stupid and ignorant. But I'd rather be in it. I'd rather be f...ing in it than down here with you."

Finally, I decided just this evening that I am going to stop reading whatever I am currently on and re-read at least two of Philip Yancey's books that I own. My next blog will focus on a story from "Rumors of Another World," and I hope to share some insights from the two that I choose periodically the next few days.