Small mindedness has lead to nearly every argument (not debate) that I've ever been a part of.

Sometimes the argument would end with either a silenced mouth or the patience to not shoot for a brain numbing retort. But thinking before we jump into a useless argument seems to be what most of humanity falls into. Even though it may the most inhumane thing that we can do.

Let's put it this way "you can teach a human to read and write, but you can't teach a duck to quack." The point being humans are capable of doing useful things that will consciously further their existence either sociologically, spiritually, or physically speaking. A Duck however cannot be taught to quack... because it was born with the ability. Sure you can train a duck to do something new (like swim backwards or eat jelly beans), but it will never expound upon what it's natural born ability on its own.

So why do we resort to the animal-like tendency of letting things just stay ignorant instead of learning enough to avoid or defuse arguments?

Some reasons may include:
- mental laziness
- emotional selfishness (a desire to satisfy one's self instead of a betterment of relationships)
- innocent ignorance to what being human really is.

Maybe that's why Christianity is so important. Because it presents to us a new way of humanity. Though it is often distressed under the influence of anger, bigotry, or severe misinterpretation of the scriptures, many have discovered the path of the cross is not as simple as morality and religion. But the path of the cross is learning, seeking, and falling into a rhythm of mercy, justice, and love.

So what does this have to do with humans arguing amongst each other? I don't know for sure, but perhaps the way that we argue is the easiest to put our brokenness as humans under the microscope to reveal what the real disease is.

grace and peace,
tom

Preaching for the Chief

My pastor is one of my personal heroes. He has taught me how to take a deep breath, relax, and let God sort out the details.

It's honestly some of the most interesting learning experiences of my short term.
In our conversations you have the loud, wide-eyed, ignorance of an immature/unexperienced Pastor who's just hoping that he's not going to destroy the church and an experienced leader who has enough seasoning in his ministry to realize that the church has made it 2000 years and isn't going anywhere.

In the past, meeting with a guy like Pastor Reay would have intimidated me because of my own insecurities because of his amazing experience, but when I'm with him I feel liberated with his experience. Like he expects me to give it my best, but knows that I'm going to screw up... a lot.
But it's ok.
He said something during our first official meeting as fellow staff. He told me, "Tom, stupidity is something I can forgive, but disloyalty is not an option."
Him saying this told me that us being a team meant something real and I knew I would follow him any where he might lead me.

This weekend however he is going away for the labor day weekend and he's entrusting me with bringing the word to the people.
Now this isn't the first time I've filled in, but the older/more experienced I get the bigger of a deal this feels to me. Especially, because every time he goes I feel God calling me towards a difficult topic... a feet I usually leave to the Chief. Let him cover the big stuff and let me talk about easy stuff like Evangelism and/or salvation.
But no, God makes me do freaking hard stuff.

This time I'm preaching and using an outline from Rob Bell called "The Flames of Heaven."
It's a message with a simple point "When the lights get turned on, what will be seen?"
It's a great mix of hiding your talents to dealing with your bigamy's to pornography. You know, nothing big.
CRAP!

Here's some of the scary stuff that I might cover.
1. the rapture isn't about leaving earth... guess I've lost the "left behind" crowd
2. God's not going to destroy the earth.. the Van Impe Armageddon club is gonna kill me
and many more that I'll never say for fear of pitch fork.

Now here's my issue. I'm not the Senior Pastor, so what do I have the right to say?
For now, I'm not really going to cover the first major issue I stated because I only sort of know where my Pastor's coming from on this topic, but not on the other issues.
I want to be loyal enough to my Pastor that I fill the pulpit with love and respect for him and I don't get too excited about sharing my thoughts on scripture.

The balance is knowing how far I'm aloud to go when preaching. I have to remember that I'm not the people's pastor (nor do I want to be yet... I like my role and I like my pastor in his).