God, I hope you are not in heaven when we get there.

You might have had this experience...

Under the Christmas tree sat a present. I had no idea what was in it. I spent two weeks wondering what it was. I thought I knew what it was. But I had no idea. I had dreams of what it was. I imagined all sorts of thing. I could not wait to open it.

It was a box of socks.

Regardless of what was in that box, once I knew what it was I no longer thought about it. I no longer spent time thinking about it. I no longer had dreams or imagined about it. I just used the socks.

When I think of God it seems to me that God is like that box under the tree in some respects. I wonder about it. I think about it. I have no idea what it is. I dream about it. I imagine about it. I cannot wait to know what it is.

But the thing is as soon as I know what God is, the mystery is gone. The excitement is gone. The imagination is gone.

While I am sure God is not a box of socks, I hope that when we move to the next life God is not there. Because then I will have no reason to dream, imagine, or sit in wonder. I will have God but I will no longer have myself.

Rather, when we move into the next life, I hope for another box.

Come to Jesus meeting

When over the course of time did the phrase "come to Jesus" become synonymous with a difficult encounter with another?

As I understand the Gospel there were two types of people who literally came to Jesus: those who sough him out and were grateful and the Powers that be who were afraid of Jesus.

Maybe one of the reasons we Christians have lost our way in the culture is we have too many people afraid to encounter Jesus because of what we have said about him.

Perhaps if we really want people to join in the Christian way of life, we should begin with how we talk about Jesus. Perhaps we should begin to share with people not who Jesus is, but why you and I seek him out?

When we tell people about Jesus, right away it gives people the opportunity to say yes or no right away without actually encountering Jesus. When we tell people about Jesus they can reject or accept him not based upon Jesus but based upon if that person likes or dislikes the messenger.

Rather if we invited people to come and see Jesus, it would be much harder to discount him.

Perhaps this is why Jesus himself did not say much about himself but just invited people to come and follow him.

Maybe we Christians need to stop telling people who Jesus is and what he is about and invite people to see for themselves.

What would happen if we turned conversion over to Jesus and we just focused on evangelism and invite people to follow Jesus?

If only fishing were like this...

This video just made my day.

See more funny videos and Entertainment Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Humility?

Recently it was shared with me that Christian humility might be misunderstood. For instance, I recently heard a story about a person who experienced humility but the story shared was a story about personal humiliation.

I have not done a word study on the connection between humility and humiliation, I am sure that would be interesting. However, the fact of the matter is, while perhaps connected, humility is not the same as humiliation.

The last time I remember feeling humble is in worship a few months ago. Worship was going on and Reverend Nancy Allen moved down into the community and picked up a baby and read the scripture. The scripture was the story of Jesus calling the children to him. I do not know why I was floored, but I felt the overwhelming power of God move over me in a way that I was moved to tears. I actually had to leave the worship and sit in the back of the sanctuary to not be a distraction during the sermon. I became aware of the fact that there is so much to life that is beyond me, larger than me and yet encompass me. Yes, me.

When was the last time you felt humbled?

Thought and quote on "History "

"Most history is packets of prejudices pasted from generation to generation."

The source of this quote is unknown to me but I am curious to know what others think about this. While I agree history is written by the winners, could the winners be passing down prejudices (even unintentionally).