running is such a catalyst for thought. fill in on these thoughts later tonight:
1) life moving from black&white to grey. people with a voice, stance
This was the first thing that came to mind yesterday when running and is in reaction to reading i've done and this poem. In our increasing "post" world (post-modern, post-christian, post-evagelical, etc) people are viewing the world and the choices within as more and more gray rather than black & white. We're more apt to second guess and pose things in questions rather than declarations. While i'm all for humility and openness to thought, with people more and more moving into this gray area will the world a) look for people with sense of "direction", or those who stand for something, someone not afraid to make some declarations, or b) will people like that be "stoned".
2) sri lanka money.
I'm having some anxious thoughts about the money were raising for Sri Lanka and the trip in general. Maybe it's lack of faith, but we were planning on going in May but given the current fundraising it doesn't look like that will happen. Are we better simply giving the money we raised directly to people's church? Would that best suit their needs, it would be awesome and heart changing trip for us, but is that what its all about? If we say we're doing this help shouldn't we ask them whether or not they would rather have the money or us for a couple weeks?
3) t*shirts
I want to start making my own t*shirts with clever things on them. Buy some cheap blank t*shirts, some iron on letters and go to town.
2 comments:
some thoughts...
1. black&white to grey:
this is something i have wrestled with since being in california. there's something to be said for both sides, right? on the one hand it's good to be open and consider all the possibilities instead of interjecting "what is right into the conversation right away, without listening first." on the flip side, i remember being really surprised that a number of evangels. were switching to the catholic church, like my friend musician bill mallonee, who'd been pres. for 24 years. i think this might have something to do with catholicism remaining fixed in many ways- and in a turbulent world and society, people find comfort in stability (which in a sense could be found in the rights and wrongs that i think people intrinsically know- unless they're sociopaths). long answer, and i could keep going... but i think the key is to listen and evaluate the nature of the conversation in which the truth issue comes up and then figure out how much to disclose. but of course the listening and seeking to understand comes first- i think that's where we as christ followers could definitely improve.
2.sri lanka and money raising-
you said in yesterday's blog about finding your rhythm and changing your tactic if it's not in sync. so i would say, pray about alternative, out of the box avenues to raise the money, even in terms of seeing if your church would offset some of the cost from an m. budget, etc... i am in the process of planning a goodwill trip to indonesia and understand the stress of raising the funds. but the thing that my heart can take comfort in is that God holds all the pursestrings in the world.
oswald chambers says it this way: "if a man or woman is called of God, it doesn't matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end." so take heart in that.
thanks for the comment. listening is right on - all people are looking for most of the time is someone for someone to listen. living in the gray, the technicolor of life, with our compass set on Jesus. one of the major things w/ sri lanka is should we raise the money for plane tickets etc, or are we better off giving the $$$ directly to church there.
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