Some 'Christians' 'goal' in life is to persuade people to believe in Christ. That wasn't Jesus' aim and should not be ours. Our purpose should be to bring 'Shalom' (peace, restoration, wholeness) because of Christ to people. AND it is only through Christ that Shalom can come.

stillness

There are time in my life when 'life' seems to make the most sense. It seems that everything is clear, I think clearly, can make the wisest decisions and my purpose and meaning is crystal clear. Those moments are usually late at night before I go to sleep, during long car rides by myself and after times of worship. The one thing that all three of these have in common is stillness. I am consciously aware that I am in God's presence and I am still. I have discovered that there is something deep to stillness, something intimate. Be still and know that he is God. I have found that to be true. It is in those moments that I truly know, down to my core, and when you know that He is God, life makes sense. It is difficult to describe, but stillness will do a better description than I could ever do.

Simple Clay Pots

We are described as clay pots, simple, maybe even oddly shaped or cracked clay pots. And in those clay pots is placed the most valuable treasure in all the world. It isn't placed in a well guarded vault, or in some tightly locked chest and buried under a thousand feet of dirt. And on top of that, this treasure is also the power of God. . . . . . . . the power of God. . . . . .the Power of God! IN CLAY POTS! It seems ridiculous. Absurd. Ludicrous. But that is the way for others to experience this treasure.

My mind is blown once again.

Sacredness of the Kiss

Last night I sat down to study and on the Television were some Will Farrel SNL skits. In one skit him and Chris Kattan kiss, (a rather long and messy one). My random brain began to think about 'a kiss' and what it means. It seems that our culture is beginning to lose the sacredness of a kiss. While the skit was purely for laugh I realized that to a lot of westerners, a kiss is now just a kiss, almost like a brown paper bag is just a brown paper bag. When I lived in Central Asia, men and women that were friends greeted each other with a kiss. It is a sign of affection, and as awkward as it sounds, there was a specialness that the kiss brought. It showed trust and endearment. I feel that when we just give the kiss away, like our culture has saturated us with, it loses most meaning and might as well be a handshake. There will be meaning in my kiss.

All that to say, I like kissing and I'm probably not going to kiss you.......unless. . . .