The Moment

Ah, I have that moment, finally. That wonderful moment when I look around and know that there is so much still to be done today (clothes, dishes, cleaning the house, reading, praying, etc.) but I know that all will be well if it isn't done right this second. I have more of those moments than Mary Beth, but she is learning to have them more.

This moment comes after a busy two weeks. Last week we spent our time in Nashville at Impact with a couple of our senior high girls. It was a great week, and I left very impressed with the program. We were kind of a small fish in a big pond, but it served a good purpose for us. We got to see some old friends we haven't seen in awhile, and it was a nice and fairly relaxing week (though it will be more relaxing when Clark is old enough to go to his grandparents during these weeks).

We then made a quick trip to Cleveland to watch the Indians and Reds bomb homeruns off each other. There were eight by the night's end. I preached last Sunday. The name of my sermon was "What's Your Porn Convention?" Yeah, that raised a few eye brows. It was spurned (well actually stolen from) our Wednesday night speaker at Impact (Craig Gross). He and another guy have begun a ministry called XXX Church - yeah, that alone will catch some attention. And caught attention they have. They have been on all kinds of news programs and talk shows. These guys are for real. I had heard about them before the week, and was really suprised when I saw one was goig to speak. Their website is www.xxxchurch.com and will have a link from my blog as soon as I am done typing this. Don't visit it if you aren't serious about doing something about the problem of pornography in this country. Paul said that he would do whatever it takes "to win as many as possible" and that is exactly what these guys are doing in the realm of pornography. I have no doubt that thier ministry will just thrive and thrive (from God's perspective at least).

Sure they have their critics (and I'm sure some who read my blog may be among them) but they had me at hello. They are just what youth ministers need. A ministry that we can point our teens to and say, "Here is someone combatting all the crap you are seeing on the Internet. God is serious about the problem of pornogaphy in America and guys like these are a whole lot more affective in their approaches than jackasses like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the Focus on the Family freaks. This is a hardcore problem and it takes a hardcore approach. If these Baby boomers want to waste their time playing the lobbying and politcal game, fine, but I'm with these Millenials who are ready to do something about the problem.

These guys guys get what it means to be Jesus. I haven't read it yet, but just from listening to him talk, I can strongly recommend Craig Gross' book, The Gutter: Where life is meant to be lived. Check it out. You can get it from amazon for ten bucks. Man, if I could just get ahold of that one. That's got me asking, what's my porn convention? What gutter has God called me to? Those are questions I've got to answer for myself, and I think they're questions you would do well to answer for yourself. Where is God calling you to? Aren't you fed up with the stodgy old discussions within Christentdom that remain irrelevant, out-of-date, and pointless. They are arguments, by Christians, for Christians, and everyone else looks in from the outside and says, "Who cares." I'm ready to go to them, see what matters to them, and show them how God has something to say to them too. Something that will bring them to a better place. When will we begin trusting in the Spirit of God and stop relying on the inadequate power of rationality and tradition. God is waiting to take us places beyond our wildest dreams. I'm ready to go. Is my church? I'm not sure about that. Are you? Is your church?