Drywall, Drywall, Drywall

This weekend we tore out most of the drywall on the main level of our house. There was nothing wrong with the drywall (other than that it had been painted purple), but behind the drywall is a whole big mess of ungrounded wiring that is old enough to not be real safe anymore. The other problem is what is not there, namely, insulation. Apparently, back when this house was built (1947) heat was free. You just turned it on and it came and warmed you up. So, the thinking must have been, "we can just skip insulation, it's a lot of extra work and money for nothing and it doesn't change how the house looks." Well, heat is not so free anymore, and Lander is cold for 6-8 months, so we have a problem that needs fixing.

Now, the question is, what about when we do this in our Christian life? All too often we work hard to appear all finished when things just aren't right or ok. Especially in front of other Christians. If you are a Christian, you need to be bold enough to be honest about your life. Because anything less is unfair to those around you and to yourself.

Here's to a summer of refinishing those things that stay hidden behind walls.

The Present Future

I've just started reading a book called "The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church" by Reggie McNeal. He challenges a lot of assumptions we have about how church should work. In each chapter he discusses a wrong question we ask about church and then gives a tough question that we need to be asking. In chapter 2 the wrong question is: How do we grow this church? (How do we get them to come to us?) The tough question is: How do we transform our community? (How do we hit the streets with the gospel?) As I thought about the hard question and my community, I came to the realization that there are less than 1000 jr. and sr. high students in my entire town. And I probably know 50-75 of them. I need to get out of my office and find ways to get to know the community. How can I serve them and take Jesus to them instead of spending all my time trying to create a program that they may or may not come to. Here is a quote from McNeal:

Jesus' strategy was to go where people were already hanging out. This is why he went to weddings, parties, and religious feast day celebrations. Jesus loved being around people who were having fun! In fact, the Pharisees accused him of being a party animal.

Are we taking church to people? Where do people hang out in your community? Think, pray, then go!

Anticipate the Symphony

I love reading C.S. Lewis. I love reading his work because it makes me think. I never understand him with just a casual read-through, it always requires me to put energy and effort into it. We need more Lewis' causing us to think about who we are in relation to God and this world. Here is a quote by Lewis from Reflections on the Psalms:

Meanwhile, of course, we are merely tuning our instruments. The tuning up of the orchestra can be itself delightful, but only to those who can, in some measure, however little, anticipate the symphony."

Blogging

Well, it's probably about time I put up an actual post on this blog. I'll start by saying that as much as I love technology and little gadgets, I am, for whatever reason, scared of blogs, myspace, facebook and other similar social websites. Thus, I have never had a blog or any such thing, until now. We'll see how it goes. I may need a support group to get through it!