The moral thing to do?!?!?

Excerpt from the Hoosier Gazette;

"John Hostettler, the Congressman representing the 8th district of Indiana, has been convinced by local religious groups to introduce legislation in the House that would change the name of an Interstate 69 extension to a more moral sounding number.
There are plans to extend the interstate from Indianapolis through southwestern Indiana all the way through Texas into Mexico in the coming years. While most believe this highway will be good for the state's economy, religious conservatives believe "I-69" sounds too risqué and want to change the interstate's number.
Hostettler, a proponent of the interstate extension, agrees. 'Every time I have been out in the public with an "I-69" button on my lapel, teenagers point and snicker at it. I have had many ask me if they can have my button. I believe it is time to change the name of the highway. It is the moral thing to do.'"

OK, is it just me or are these guys taking this WAY too seriously!?!?!? It's just weird to me that they are trying to legislate the morality of the number 69. Are they going to outlaw it?

How will we ever get to 70?

That's NOT my job!!!!

This picture kills me.

It also convicts me. It makes me think of laziness and apathy in my own life.

How many times have I known the right thing to do and not done it? Sometimes it's big things, things that are obviously the way wrong thing to do. Sometimes it's tiny things that people wouldn't normally notice. I want to do the right thing. I always feel bad about it when I don't.

"I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead I do the very thing I hate."
Romans 7.15



Addendum to Wednesday morning post:

So, I’ve been thinking about this picture since I posted it this morning and seeing that flattened creature made me think of the story of the good Samaritan. You can read the story in the book of Luke 10.30 but I’ll summarize here; A Jewish man is traveling when he is robbed, beaten and left for dead along the side of the road. First a (Jewish) priest happens upon the scene, but hurries by without stopping. Then a (Jewish) temple assistant (maybe the equivalent of an associate pastor?) did the same. Then a third person comes down the street. This person was a Samaritan (despised Samaritan according to the NLT) who took pity on the traveler bandaged his wounds, gave him medicine, and put him up in a hotel so that he could recover. It's interesting that Jesus chose to tell a story of a Samaritan helping a Jew.
In the middle Eastern culture of Jesus’ time the Samaritans were THE social outcasts. The Jews were to the Samaritans as the Pope is to a Transvestite. OK, that may have been a slight exaggeration….but you get my point.
So that gets me to thinking about social outcasts in our society and how I treat them (if I even allow myself to get close to them). How do I act when I meet a Homosexual, or a drug addict, how about a stripper, or a homeless person?

I want to do the right thing. I want to be a good person.

I’m so proud of my son. My boys Obadiah and Malachi just got a boatload of toys for Christmas and we weren’t sure where we were going to find room for all of them. Obadiah asked me if he could give some of his extra toys to little kids that didn’t have anywhere to live. I almost cried.

When I think of the homeless I think of the dirty guy on the corner with the cardboard sign and the bottle of vodka sticking out of his pocket. When Obadiah thinks of the homeless he thinks of a family that isn’t able to give their children a gift for Christmas. I guess I could learn a thing or two from Obadiah.

Obadiah gave a bunch of his toys to Hope For The Homeless.
CLICK HERE to check out their site, then volunteer, or donate!!!

quote of the day

VENI VEDI VEGE


We came...
We saw...
We hung out...

I've been thinking a lot about truth, salvation, and how much of this stuff we will be able to comprehend in this life. Thomas had a post recently that talked about how he wanted nothing to do with the term "postmodern", or "emerging" it was one or the other. Anyway, one of the things he said that was interesting to me was that he said "I believe there is truth". If you've been reading about postmodernism you know that secular postmoderns believe that there is no absolute truth.
I agree with Thomas, I believe there is truth. However, I believe that Jack Nicholson had it right when he said, "You can't handle the truth!!!!!" I don't think our minds are capable of getting the full story and really comprehending all that truth is.
I'm reading a book called Songwriters on songwriting which is basically a bunch of interviews in a songwriters magazine that have been compiled over the years. I read a great quote from Pete Seeger, here it is:
"Cezanne painted a red barn by painting it ten shades of color: purple to yellow. And he got a red barn. Similarly, a poet will describe things many different ways, circling around it, to get at the truth. My father also had a nice simile. He said, 'The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. And you can't lay your hand on it. All you can do is circle around and point, and say, 'It's in there somewhere.'"

Hide the beer, the pastor's here!!!

When I was 15 years old I went to Portugal for a “short term missions trip” (it was really just a summer vacation for Christian kids). On this trip I met several fascinating people. I remember meeting the pastor of a small church and I remember how much he loved God, and how he showed God’s love to the people of his small village. We participated in several church events and usually went back to where we were staying. One night after church we went to dinner with the pastor and several of the elders of the church. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the pastor handed me a beer!!! I looked up and down the table and saw that all the elders of the church had a beer or a glass of wine, and the pastor’s son, the same age as me had a beer too!!! I was in shock, but I politely declined and let him know I would stick with the water. “Oh NO” he said. “No one drinks the water, it will make you sick.”
I was brought up thinking that if you drank beer, you immediately went to hell, no second chances, no way. Only sinners drank beer, certainly not a professing Christian, and DEFINITELY not a pastor. I didn’t know what to think. Was this man of God going straight to hell, or was the problem more of a cultural problem than a God problem? He wasn’t getting drunk, he just had a beer with dinner. He was under control of his body and his mind. I just couldn’t believe that this was OK.
I found out that in the Portuguese culture everyone drinks beer or wine with their meals. I also found out that all the women kiss you when they greet you, (I was SO STOKED) then I found out that the men kiss you too (bummer, not quite so stoked). Anyway, my point is that this was a totally different culture, not wrong, not bad, just different. So what do you do in this kind of situation? Me? I had my first beer (sorry mom).

'nuff said

cool quote

"When spiritual discipline becomes a ritualized event, it becomes devoid of true meaning. Formation has to be intentional, and we have to constantly have a consciousness about becoming Christ-like, but it's going to look different every day."

David Crowder in relevant leader magazine

culture shock!!!

i was on a "missions trip" to mexico when i was about 13 or 14 years old. i felt like i had a pretty good grasp of what it meant to be a christian. i was raised in a southern baptist, bible believing, church going home so i thought i knew what was up with the whole spirituality thing. on this trip i met a young lady who really challenged my concept of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. she was a catholic. the first one i had ever met in real life. i couldn't believe that a catholic could call herself a christian. but wait, it gets better...... she was spirit filled. now i was really confused. i had been told all my life that catholicism was basically a cult and here was this woman who loved God with all her heart, was very Christlike in many ways, and she lived a life full of the spirit of God. what was i supposed to think? i always thought catholics were wacky. i didn't understand the prayer beads or whatever they call them, i didn't understand why they prayed to Mary, i didn't get the whole church hierarchy with the pointy hats and all, and i thought their beliefs about the sacraments were pretty weird too. but there she was. she was so kind and gentle. she humbly took all the crap that us evangelicals threw at her in an attempt to get a good debate going. she never got defensive, she didn't strike back, she didn't try to make us feel dumb (like we were trying to do to her), she just quietly, humbly, lived a life of love. in my little corner of the world we only hung out with people that agreed with us, thought the exact same way as us. we only hung out with people that we disagreed with long enough to ridicule them, or pick an argument with them. it seems like the church in general is really good at finding reasons to disagree. wouldn't it be nice if we could major in the majors and focus on what we agree on? the church i go to has a pretty cool phrase in the purpose statement, it says, "in all things essential...unity, in all things non-essential...grace." I still don't get a lot of things that the catholic church does, but if we can get together and love on each other and worship together WHY NOT? why not focus on what we have in common, a desire to be followers of Christ? i've led musical worship for several charismatic catholic conventions. it's really cool stuff. if you are from a similar cultural background as me it will really freak you out to your evangelical core. i've seen monks in full robes, with the shaved spot on their head, and wearing sandals, speaking in tongues and laying their hands on people and praying for physical healing. talk about culture shock!!!! anyway, i wanted to share this one experience that kind if shaped me, and made me think about how we look at the world around us through the lens of the culture we immerse ourselves into. i look forward to your comments!