A Train Wreck and Good People!

So I have now finished Velvet Elvis (Rob Bell) I never read a book that fast (5 days) but I gotta say, very good, and very challenging. One of the questions I have to ask myself after reading it is, are we as a Church way off the deep end? Are we running off the tracks of what God desired for us to be doing? After reading this book it seems to me that we as the Church have come a long way from what the early Christians were thinking about... and certainly a long way from what the Hebrews had in mind. We have always claimed that Jesus is the guide and that He is the head of the church... but what if we (like the Israelites did so often) have strayed from what God wants? Who will lead it back? Am I a Pharisee afraid to change? lose the power and prestige? Perhaps our Christian faith is too easy? These are just a few of the questions I have after reading this book... but don't let it scare you! Read it, that way you can help me learn.

For all my questions about where the church is heading, I have great confidence in the people around me. And so I want to share a story that I was remembering last night.

Last night Niki and I pulled out all my Peru Pictures and continued to put them into the scrapbook. As Niki did the cutting, pasting, arranging... well ok I use the term we loosely… she did everything... well anyway while she did that I was reading over my journal that I kept at that time. And I was reminded how blessed I am to have such good friends. These are my two good buddies from my trip to Peru Betty and Dennis (see pic on right... and if you can't tell which is which.... sigh) Anyway! Two things came to mind.

First, I have more pictures of Dennis than... well then my wife (which is a little disturbing... oh and ladies I will be selling a picture of him without his shirt on ebay in the coming weeks :D) But really, this is just a sign of how tight we became. He is an incredible man of God who I HIGHLY respect for his wisdom, and more than that, his ability to practically live out a life of faith and integrity.

And the other thing that struck me was how much time Betty and I spent together... long walks around a strange city, telling each other our relationship woes (or her telling me hers, and me bragging about my new girlfriend), and the one night when I walked her to a internet cafe to do some emailing, and then when she was done, she let me use her time (we had to pay for it) so that I could chat with Niki on MSN for a few minutes. Now this might not strike most of you as a significant thing, but to me it totally summarizes how I want to be living my life... More like Jesus!!! And, more like Betty! She would give money to EVERY person we saw, and was the hands and feet of Jesus in more ways than I can say! And that is truly amazing for those of us that remember Betty from first year...

So what is all this about? Well right now I have some questions, but I know that Jesus is moving in the lives of people and He is changing them. AND I know that with people in this world like Dennis and Betty living out Jesus, we can't go that far off what Jesus wants.