sixfootnineandcounting

I was visited by Jesus today. His name was Bill. He looked a little different though; no robe, beard or long hair. He was unkempt with dirty hands. He smelled. He had a tattoo and his teeth were rotting. He just showed up without an appointment! Ugh! I am extra busy now that it's Christmas. I am busy doing the real ministry of answering phone calls, writing letters and emails. Oh, and blogging too! Now that's some real ministry! Actually, I was heading into the sanctuary to pray when He arrived. Really, I mean it. I am not making this up for dramatic effect. It was really inconvenient for Jesus to show up when I was about to pray. What was He thinking? The more I think about it, the more upset I get that Jesus would interrupt my ministry like that. Damn it! It wasn't on my google calendar for today to waste an hour and half helping Jesus with gas and food. I kept looking at my watch. After that, I only had six hours to get 8 hours of real ministry done. I mean I had some fi...

Chances are, if you're like me, you sell yourself short. The truth is, though, we all have a great purpose because we have a great God. How great? Well, our God made Canis Majoris. This is the largest star ever discovered. Apparently, I've never measured, but you could fit 7 quadrillion earths inside this star. To give you an idea of how big that is you could only fit 1 million earths inside our sun. I haven't tried this, but I heard you could do it from a good source. It's kind of a science and math thing. Anyway, the same God who made Canis Majoris, the sun, Mt. Everest and a beautiful lily flower also made you and me. I am pretty sure He did it all for a reason. As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ showed us and told us that reason. The reason is to move mountains. It's to love God and neighbor. Like Abraham, it is to be a blessing. According to Jesus Himself, the reason is to do even greater things than He did. Don't believe me? He said, "I tell...

Jesus did say, "go", didn't He? If I remember correctly, that was the word. He didn't say "Wait for them to come!" I'm pretty sure about that. He didn't say, "Do the best you can, wait, and then complain about the empty seats!" I know he didn't say that. Ahhhh! Yes! I have it right here in front of me. It is all coming back to me now. Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations..." Yep, that's what Jesus said. He simply said, "go". The word "go" here really does mean "go". The Holy Spirit chose this word with the traveler in mind. It is a word with intent behind it and also a destination. There is not one shred of "the wait and see" approach woven into this word. You can dig, but you'll never find wait in this word for "go". The kind of action in mind is urgent action. The word is used ...

I'm reading a book by Reggie McNeal right now and I love it! It is a scathing indictment of how we "do church" today. I don't love that we are indicted, but I do love that someone is pointing out that "doing" church and "being" the church have become two very different things. For example, in his book "The Present Future ", McNeal writes, "The death of the church culture will not be the death of the church. The church Jesus founded is good; it is right. The church established by Jesus will survive until he returns. The imminent demise under discussion is the collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be called "church." This church culture has become confused with biblical Christianity, both inside the church and out. In reality, the church culture in North America is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where r...