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Conviction

I feel pressure to have God figured out.

That doesn't even take into consideration the gray areas of life and the things the Bible addresses, but just enough to make us draw lines in the sand.

After the Connecticut shootings I simultaneously wanted radical gun control reforms and to buy a gun. What is that about?

I see T.V. personas speaking with conviction on whatever it is they are speaking about and I can honestly say I find myself meandering over to the active green jealousy side of the contentedness spectrum opposite my cool blue norm. The way people talk with conviction about their revolutionary non-stick cookware is alluring. Lebron James sparks all kinds of convictions. Not to mention the smiling, cavernous room filling conviction someone like Joel Osteen has for how good enough I am. There are those who speak with the same level of conviction in similarly cavernous rooms quoting the same verses but instead of seeing their teeth through a perfectly practiced smile, they bare them at you like an animal before prey. Speaking with convicting conviction on every gray area life has to offer seems simultaneously freeing and binding. How come the loudest people seem to see the gray areas as black and white? Do they yell because they have answers, or do they have to have answers because everyone they know is used to them yelling and yelling questions seems desperate.

If there were no mystery in our world and nothing but absolutes how would faith not become a competition? If we knew every detail of right and wrong would we not all the more reduce faith to a competitive check list of who got the most right, top tens lists of spiritual haves, and comparing ourselves to the bottom half of the godly totem pole. Mystery keeps us humble. Because God is beyond and there are issues that splinter our world's best and brightest into different camps we are forced to give God what he wants anyway. We give him our heart and faith.

I don't really want my kids to know all I do for them. Sometimes I just want to be Oz behind a curtain making things work out well for them. They shouldn't have to thank me for feeding and loving them every day. (although every now and then wouldn't be terrible) I want them to love and be loved and I want them to have faith that I will protect and provide for them. Beyond that, I want them to enjoy their youthful ignorance. Maybe God looks at us the same way.

Mexico day 1... In the books. #kemly #donthate (at Playa del Carmen)

#kemly #donthate

Why you should do good stuff

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13.35

It stands to reason then that if you aren't a loving person you have no idea who Jesus was and what he stood for then or now.

We have a disconnect in our practice of faith. There are people who have a tendency to talk about their faith. There are people who have a tendency to do good stuff in their community and for the people who they come in contact with. One is of little value without the other.

I like talking about my faith. It is a huge part of my life and it is a part of my life that when approached respectfully to others tends to cultivate conversation with real depth to it. The problem is that there have been people talking about their faith in unloving ways for thousands of years. That is why, as the phrase goes, faith is one of two topics you should NEVER discuss.

I like doing good stuff for people around me. Yes, it makes me feel good, but I believe we are all called to it. Social justice has become a buzz word type phrase. The only thing better than being a person who does good things is being known as a person who does good things. Doing good was never meant to be an end to itself.

Here is the problem... Talking about faith without a life of love is noise. Living a loving life for the sake of doing good stuff is wasting a platform you've created with your life. I understand that doing good with your life is better than living a selfish life, so to say something like it is a "waste" seems harsh, but Isaiah seems to agree (...good deeds are as filthy rags...) with me.

This leads me to my question...

Does the gospel (the good news) affect your words and your life? The good news is the finished work of Jesus. We can not add to it because it is complete. We can not take away from it because it is impervious. You know what we can do? We can discredit it by talking but not doing, or we can remove its power by recreating it as merely a call to action.

How are your words? How are your deeds? Are they in balance to each other?

#the gospel #social justice #evangelism

Deliver us from "us"

Weaponized ideas have no winners.

It is easy to enfranchise someone for the short run with "us vs. them" sentiments. When a leader creates an "us vs. them" it is because he doesn't have the connective vision to move people using the things they are for, so he settles on moving them based on what they are against. People who are only against things are for nothing. So, they accomplish nothing.

When a blue stater says "us", or a red stater says "them" all they are doing is furthering the divide.

Christians are notorious "them"ers. We make "them"s out of anybody and everybody. We make "them's" out of gay people. We make "them"s out of Muslims. We make "them"s out of Atheists. We even make "them"s out of other Christians. Catholics "them" protestants and protestants return the favor.

It isn't malicious it is fearful. It isn't really because "them"ers are for nothing, but it is because what they do love and hold dearly to something that is being challenged. The question however is "does creating 'us vs. them' situations accomplish what you are trying to accomplish?" I would say it does not.

We as people who try to follow the Bible are called to love everyone. When we create monsters and then position ourselves in opposition to those monsters we convince the already convinced just how right we are. What has it done to the "monsters". Have we loved them? Are they not part of everyone?

If you are right in the wrong ways you are wrong.

We teach people to love those that are similar to them self. We teach people to oppose people who are different.

Jesus loved prostitutes. Jesus loved Samaritans. Jesus loved everyone.

I hear some of you already... "But we ARE RIGHT and they ARE in the WRONG", and maybe you are right, but I ask you, who did Jesus have fire in His eyes towards in His dealings with?

He dealt fiercely with "them"ers.

I've known people who felt completely ostracized by the church and assumed that was from God as well. I have known people who can't connect with God even though they try deeply, because the people who claim Him the loudest want nothing to do the them. We have failed time and again.

May we learn to love.

#love #us vs them

The stages of Creativity

Creativity evolves.

It enjoys a process similar to the end results it is the catalyst for. People are born with /nurtured into a certain amount of creativity, but that creativity needs a level of skill for its pallet. A creative graphic designer isn't inherently a creative passer in soccer. During the journey from beginner to innovator, skill and creativity grow simultaneously. I know a lot of people with skill in areas but not creativity. Malcolm Gladwell's (for my money) best work, "Outliers" tries to explain success. He outlines the 10,000 hour rule far better than I could "reproduce" here, but part of the instincts you gain in all those hours is the freedom for creativity.

These are the stages that I have gone through personally and have to keep myself from getting stagnant in, or returning to during my journey towards creativity.

STEP 1: Reproduction- I am not a good graphic designer. It is probably number 11 on my list of responsibilities if that list is 13 items long. When I have to design something, step one inevitably includes the words "goggle image". My son was given a drum set a few months ago. When it gets used as anything but a shiny clothes hanger it is used simultaneously with the radio. My son will listen to a song and try to reproduce its drum beat. This was instinctive. It is where creativity starts.Chuck Klosterman in "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa puffs" in his chapter about tribute bands concisely and accurate says "being consciously derivative is not easy", and he is right, which is why it is the perfect starting point for creativity.

Step 2: Modification- This is why as hard as American Idol tries to break past itself, it will always get the soccer moms and the tweens, and not a ton beyond that (although that is obviously based on ratings, a whole lot) because it is at its best the modification level of creativity. Everyone is Janis, or Aretha, or somebody to Randy. He goes on about the amazing "artist" not just performer that so and so is. The rest of us though see it and are largely not moved by what we see. maybe they are incredible performers, but what are they really doing? Shortening, riffing, and ripping songs done better by the original artist. They are only modifying someone's creativity and calling it their own. This is going to be the end of my beloved medium called preaching. If only more preachers were Asian, then they could completely rip off Francis Chan's messages including his stories of Asian heritage. For now though, they will have to settle on modification. Don't get me wrong, I have done it. I have heard an unbelievable sermon and been moved to use varying degrees of it, but this is NOT creativity. Efficiency? Yes. Creativity? No.

Step 3: Creation- I have a friend who is a graphic designer and when I was talking about these stages of creativity in someone's area of expertise, he was telling me I just outlined graphic design school. It starts with education of history and theory in your field, and in this stage you reproduce other people's work. You then shift to modification, where you are using people's work as you launching pad, as opposed to a blank canvas as a launching pad. You end up, ideally being able to create with originality and from a place of inspiration. This stage is squeezing jello. When you have it and hold it tightly you don't have it at all. I have found myself slipping back into modification, and honestly even when I am not outright modifying, my background still influences and my internal parameters for where I can go, and what can be done is set by my forefathers.

By way of benediction:

We'll begin With a spin Traveling in The world of my creation What we'll see Will defy Explanation

#creativity #creative #pure imagination

Taken with instagram

"I Don't Like God"

That is a direct quote from my five year old son. We weren't talking about God. We weren't talking at all. We were watching the world blur by through our windows in the car. We were each in our own worlds not saying anything. The thing is, he wasn't even really talking to me. He was more just talking to himself. It was as if there was a realization that he was verbally confirming to himself. He had just arrived at a conclusion and he was saying it audibly as if he need to try it on for size. I guess he just wanted to see how it felt rattling around in his little ears.

I was pretty sure he said what I thought he said so I asked him to repeat himself. He knew there was a bit more explanation needed so he told me what he said and he explained why he felt that way.

Son: I don't like God because he didn't give me powers.

Me: Like super powers, like Superman, or The Hulk?

Son: Yeah, like"Aang", from "Avatar:The Last Airbender". He has powers, and I really want powers and I don't have any. I want powers more than I want anything else.

My son's theological process makes sense. I assume it goes as follows: God makes us as we are/ God made him/ God made him without powers.

I suppose on some level this is cute. I was struck not by how "cute" this was, or anything like that, but by how common this theological process is. I hear this same theological process all the time. Every time something happens that someone doesn't like they generally follow this theological process. I didn't like _______ when it happened/didn't happen. The Bible says God is in control. I question/ doubt/ don't like God because he allowed/didn't allow _______ to happen. Are these situations really that much different? Would they be that much different from God's perspective. My son doesn't realize that people don't have powers (unless of course there is a wide-spread governmental cover-up, which there could be), but we don't realize the things we can't see. If you were the all knowing, all seeing, all powerful God is there really that much difference between someone complaining about not being to see why they don't have super powers and someone complaining about not being a able to see why He would allow them to be unemployed, or have a death in the family, or whatever.

These situations don't change God. They only change us.

If you really, truly believe in God (which is a HUGE first step) when things like this come up you have limited options. He is either:

1. Creator, but not that involved

2. A mean child burning ants with a magnifying glass

3. A being that knows more than us, and faith is needed to proceed

I am not saying that doubt isn't healthy. I believe doubt is very healthy for anyone who strives to find and follow God, because without doubt what we have is blind faith.

What I am trying to say is that faith is hard. Faith is hard for every person on the planet, and it is hard at every age. Faith is a learned skill. The people who are honest about their doubts, and still pursue faith... those are the people with super powers... those people are my super hero.

Lubs, Dubs, Selahs and Harper

Jillian Michael's smirk was in perfect symmetry with her midriff. It wasn't so much the drop ceiling that stung on departure as it was the ceiling above it. When the world's rotation slowed to a crawl between the time the nurse first pressed the cold, jello covered ping pong paddle against my wife's lower belly and the first beat to lub-dub its way through the speakers, I'm pretty sure my body ricocheted out of the room and into the stratasphere. At least that is how it felt. The night before, someone told us a story about someone they knew that had no beat when they attended this exact Dr.'s appointment in their paternal journey.

The first Lub was followed startlingly closely by a dub. The nurse wasn't phased by how quickly the lubs and dubs were coming. Tears. Relief. Harper!

That moment will forever be ingrained into whichever lobe holds those kinds of things. The sketch above is the mental image I couldn't shake from my head if I stuck it in a paint mixer. A couple Dr.'s appointments later and we are still lubbing and dubbing nicely.

There was a moment there where it was as if God was playing some sort of celestial game of peekabo and He showed his face more clearly than normal. It was the exact moment when Harper's strong little heart beat first vibrated though my hammer, anvil and stirrup.

In the Bible that is called a "Selah". A selah is basically a musical instruction, mostly in Psalms, for the reader to "stop and listen". I believe we all have Selahs periodically. Some are joyous and some are catastrophic. They are all selahs nonetheless. A Selah is life's greatest apologetic. I can't possibly prove that God is. Why should I try? If someone wants to ignore their selahs what would my words possibly do. It is far easier to live life like Statler and Waldorf then it is to believe what you feel.

May your selah slap you in the face on your way out of the earth's atmosphere.

#jillian michaels #selah

God-Eye View

Lets assume God is up.

If you looked down at a large group of people, how would that change how you see them? Would that make them more or less visually recognizable? I would imagine only the most unusually shaped people would stick out. Those whose body type is seussically odd would be the most obviously noticeable.

We only know our experience. Reincarnation obviously aside, (may I not come back as a gym bag) we have no other life experience to compare and contrast our life to. This is partially why self assigned guilt is so powerful. We see our imperfections with the clarity of a fish looking up at dog through muddy water, but even still we understand our shortcomings far clearer than we do the other 7 billion or so people's shortcomings who we share the planet with.

Imagine for a second you saw everyone's shortcomings clearer than even they did. Imagine also how underwhelming and run of the mill yours would be. This in not to minimize how God-awful you are. At living rightly you suck. Unfortunately we all do.

I Peter 2:21 calls us to follow in Christ's footsteps however, which means compare our life not to other's lives but to the life Jesus lived. Which is where the balancing act comes in. We have to balance an understanding that it is in our nature to do wrong, we and shedding that nature like a man handcuffed to a treadmill locked on "sprint" sheds el-bees. We will never walk like a "Christian" (little Christs) but we must put one foot in front of the other regardless.

Too often I have seen young men weighed down with the weight of their guilt brought on by unbridled hormones to the point where they become disheartened about faith in general.

God sees all. God sees my wrong, but counts it as right because Christ was right. Our wrong however, is in exact ratio to our closeness with God, which is why our struggles call us to action.

Good luck on your balancing act fellow walkers of the tightrope over rationalization, guilt and a losing of the fight for right. Ours is a precarious and slow jaunt. The other platform our rope is attached to is the platform inscribed with "well done, faithful few".

#grace #righteousness

Introducing Jeremiah and Jude

For he who is not against us is for us.

Mark 9:40

Are we on the same team as these two? If you were ask these guys their motives for making and wearing these jackets, their motives would probably be pretty similar to the motives behind why a lot of churches do what they do. If you were to ask them about their God they serve it would probably sound pretty similar to the way people who present themselves very differently would describe their God.

Am I on the same team as these guys?

I sure hope not, because they embarrass me. I want these guys in their jackets to drop me off around the corner from my school so no one sees me with them.

They probably feel as if their stance is the only reasonable one to take. They live lives marked by commitment, devotion, and dedication to what they believe.

I asked Jeremiah the older one if I could take his picture for this website, and he gladly posed. Jude hopped up and hopped over to take his stand next to Jeremiah. Jude had one leg, but he was given an opportunity to share his jacket so he wanted to do that. The fact he stood up and hopped over made me feel bad because I didn't know then what I thought about them, and therefore what I would be saying about their beliefs when I wrote about them. Jude's girlfriend was beaming with pride. Her shirt, which read "virginity rocks", worked perfectly with her denim skirt as it's hem traced the floorboards as she walked.

The breakfast restaurant I met them at shortly thereafter sat them up a steep flight of stairs. The stairs were laborious for Jude and his crutches. Though friendly, I found myself disliking the hostess.

I try to serve God with my life, but is the God on their jacket the same one that receives my prayers? I don't honestly know.

The only thing I know is that they miss the point. They have reduced God to an executioner dangling danger in front of our faces. Jude's jacket says "Fear God". That bit makes a lot of sense positioned between threats.

I've never met someone who met Jesus in any real way through these sorts of tactics. I have met people who paint broad strokes about Christians that end up including me based on interactions with people like Jeremiah and Jude.

Do we serve the same God? No. They limit God to an angry shell of who He is. They defile His name and drive people away from Him. They present a partial view as the whole. I take it very seriously when I make claims about God. God promises His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, so it is inherent that when I say anything beyond what He says about himself I am off course. Conversations about God that include a one-way street of a few lines of propaganda cannot possible communicate anything true about Him. These gentlemen reduce God to slogans, and for that we are not on the same team, and in so doing they are not for me. They are against me.

Pastoring and Gabriel the very un-lazy, lazy river guide

The experience started unexpectedly. A coconut seemingly fell from out of nowhere into the river in front of us as we stood on the banks of the river. We were standing next to one of the eight rivers, that gives Ocho Rios, Jamaica its name. As we follow the flight pattern of the coconut in reverse we trace upwards until we see an early teen boy probably 80 feet in the air holding one-handed onto one of the tallest palm trees you will ever see. He was retrieving coconuts and tossing them down to the boys who would fish them out of the river before they float away to oblivion. Those were the boys whose job description I would want. He boy of elevated courage and well elevation would hold onto the tree with his legs and one of his arms and then whack at the connected coconuts with his fist until he dislodged one allowing gravity to kick in and do the rest. He dislodged four or five and then did a scooting maneuver quickly down the tree by holding onto it with his thighs and leaning against it as if it were a pole he was leaning against as casually as if he were leaning on a kitchen counter discussing a futbol game. Im pretty sure if I ever did successfully perform that same scooting maneuver I would get tree burn (somewhere between rub burn and road rash, but far worse than Indian rug burn on the spectrum) where the sun don't shine, so I won't be attempting it any time soon.

We were standing on the banks of one of the eight rivers waiting for our tube ride to start. I pictured a lazy river experience but it was anything but, for our guide at least. His name was Gabriel and he was a hard worker. A few more minutes and we were off the banks and in the tubes. Gabriel job was simple; His job was keep our tubes where they were supposed to be, and keep them away from where they weren't. He was good at his job. When he wasn't manhandling out tubes with us in them he was singing. Every so often he would jump out of his tube, stand in the way of the wrong fork in the river and anyone whose trajectory wasn't going to naturally go the right way down the river he would stand in the way and do his best to prevent them from going that way. The only time someone went where they shouldn't it wasn't his fault. A middle aged woman was gliding down the river backwards with her eyes closed and caught a branch in the back of the head. He actually lightly scolded her, which was awesome.

I've been thinking a lot about my role as pastor and the chasm between what people often want from us and what they need from us. Not all, but a lot of people want a pastor who is charming, funny, creative, sincere, a leader and a manager, big picture but will never forget to return an email. People want sermons that are creative and fresh, but built on a scripture that in theory has never changed. People in general want to be told what they already believe. Now, I'm not saying that you can't challenge beliefs, but if you challenge beliefs to often or beliefs that have been held too long people will leave, because that isn't what they want. I actually read a published article that said a certain controversial former pastor should just focus on what everyone already believes "including him", that way people would listen to(translation: like) him again. Is that what he/I is/am called to do, teach people what they already believe and know and have believed and known for years... SIGN ME UP FOR THAT!

I don't know anything but I view my job as a pastor as similar to Gabriel's job. He fights against the current and helps people who could be helping themselves more navigate their way down the river. To do this he has to quite literally put his feet down. If he stays in the tube he can't do much, he will be carried with the current just like the people he is serving.

The current I fight is a bit more complex. It is a combination of people's very nature and the culture we find ourselves in. If you combine culture and our nature a person can very easily just pick their feet up and they will most definitely not stay stationary. They will progress miles down the river.

I, at times have to warn of on-coming danger

I, at times, although rarely, have to scold the careless

I, all the time am surprised by the river itself

I, at times have to help those I have already warned out of the danger I told them was coming.

I am Gabriel. I will be your tube guide today. God made me so and I'm glad he did because I love my job.

#ocho rios #pastoring #lazy rivers #crazypalm tree climbing Jamaican youth

No photoshop or doctoring involved in this photo, just irony. Brought to you by "news stand" store in terminal D at the Miami airport.

Think. Think short. Think long.

"Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing." Andy Stanley How many areas of life does this phrase apply to? Your family is perfectly led to produce the dynamics you are currently experiencing. You body is perfectly worked out for the shape you are currently experiencing. You relationship with God is perfectly fed for the results you are currently experiencing. The Panera by my house just recently started posting the calories or every item on the menu next to the item. I haven't bought any baked goods since. No more "Sure! A cookie does sound good with my meal." That little cookie's consequences are obvious. If your choice's consequences were that obvious would you make different choices? The truth is our choice's short-term consequences are rarely much more convoluted than that little cookie's. When I play basketball too often, I know before I leave the house my son will feel a disconnection from me until I invest intentionally into that relationship. When I feel entitled to raise my voice at my wife, I know before I do it that it will canyon the distance between her and I. Then what I am talking about can't be short-term consequences. In the basketball situation, if I choose poorly often enough I'll never be able to get that relationship back to where it could have been. People's health choices have obvious short-term consequences, but they never choose to go to the gym to avoid getting a knee replaced in 30 years. I'm a better arguer than my wife is. Even when I am wrong I can sometimes "win" the argument, but when one party always wins there is an emotional toll to be paid by the loser. If you push the fast forward button 20 years and we would never truly discuss anything ever. At some point she would have given up trying. The short-term consequences were obvious, a frustrated wife. The long-term consequences would have been far more insidious, a permanently severed relationship. I think of Samuel's sons in the Bible and the heartbreak that was avoidable. David's whole life changed after the Bathsheba incident. Do you think the price his children were going to have pay flashed across his mind when he saw her in the tub, because I don't. Choices have consequences both short-term and long. Even if you don' t factor them in their fees must be paid. Think short but for your own sake and the sake of the people around you, think long.

We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires growth of the spiritual disciplines to see God in every detail.

Oswald Chambers

My Utmost for His Highest

November 14th

#my utmost for his highest #everything is spiritual

L.A.R.P., frolf, and Kemly's long lost people

Kristin, Kemly and I were going frisbee golfing, or more nerdily monikered frolf. Frolf is definitely not a sport. It is somewhere between miniature golf and spending half an hour riding around Walmart on the back of a cart like it was a skate board in the spectrum of taxing physical activities. This particular frolf course we were going to is the puniest course I have seen, but Kemly is only five and contrary to popular belief, merely human.

To give some context to our day before going frolfing Kemly had been playing a lot of Zelda recently and his overtures as Link were not limited merely to wii play. He had been wearing a shield and carrying a sword for a few weeks at this point. Kemly always wins sword fights with his action figures. Come to think of it he always wins sword fights with his mommy too. Before we loaded up into the car to go frisbee golfing we made Kemly take off his shield and leave his sword behind.We did this because I have no idea how we would explain a sword accident on a frolf course to a E.R. nurse, so we decided to eliminate that possibility before it became a probability.

When we got to the course there were people none of us could quite understand laying seige to the course. They looked one part Gamestop clerk, one part... knight of the roundtable. Have fun picturing that mental image...you're welcome. All three of us unpuzzeled this little quandry simultaneously as they began sword fighting each other in synchronized waves. From what I can tell they divy up teams in classical gym class dodge ball style, with the worst swordsmen (or in this case swordslady... I'm 85% sure it was a swordslady, maybe 75% sure) getting picked last. From the look on the face of that sword wielding individual, I think getting picked last was an inevitability for her/him. There were two teams. One was named heroes, and the other goblins. Boths sides looked pretty goblinny to me, but what do I know.

When Kemly figured out what was happening he looked up at me with a deep sense of betrayal in his eyes. His look said it all. "These are my people!!! How could you?!?! You made me take my sword and shield off just before getting in the car! Finally, I have found my people!"

If you have never seen L.A.R.P. (Live action role play) in person, I would highly suggest it. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll pity their parents. A runner friend of mine who runs by this field regularly says he sees them all year long every Saturday even on Christmas. Snowing? L.A.R.P. Christmas? L.A.R.P. Anniversary? O.K. I got a little carried away there, there are no anniversaries to be celebrated by this group. Other than maybe the six month anniversary of getting the high score on centipede at the closest arcade.

I really want to one day go buy a pool noodle and join them. (their swords were pool noodles with pvc pipe inside) I am willing to wager if I showed up with a L.A.R.P. approved weapon they would let me get my L.A.R.P. on. If one of "those people" showed up at one of my social environments, I wonder if they would be greeted so warmly. There is something about the marginalized that makes them open. People that are socially attractive for one reason or another are accustomed to people wanting to interact with them. The marginalized are by definition not. The sword wielding goblins found community. Good for them. They found people who wanted to invest into their lives. Good for them. Would I have invested in them had my paths crossed with theirs? Knowing myself, probably not.

Thank you L.A.R.P. enthusiasts. You taught me about community, you reminded me about the nature of hospitality, and challenged me to look past people's proverbial swords and armor.

#L.A.R.P.#frisbee golf #frolf #community #hospitality

Jesus knows EXACTLY what you do when no one is looking!!!

I have heard that phrase uttered threateningly time and again from preachers fearing and steering their "sheep" (in the classical sense referring to people who attend a specific church, and in the mindless not thinking for them self sort of way... side-note: shouldn't we find a new term?) into outward obedience and guilt. "If I could show a video of EVERYTHING you have done over the last three days on this big screen here (it would be a long and boring movie) would you be embarrassed by what we all see?!?!" Well of course we would. My butt has itched in the last three days. Do you know how big my itchy butt would be on that screen? Ten feet wide at least. No one wins when we all watch that movie. I can think of three different examples of preachers saying this exact same thing. These guys didn't have the Internet, so how did they pass this drivel around back then? Messenger pigeons?

I completely agree with what they are saying, and I find it reassuring. I however would say it completely differently. Jesus loves relentlessly. Jesus' love will always outlasts my stupidity. Paul wrote "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." "While we were sinners" means in the muck, in the stupidity, in the selfishness, while I am doing whatever it is that preacher is trying to make me feel guilty for, Jesus loves relentlessly. While that preacher is doing exactly what he suspects me of doing, Jesus loves him relentlessly. While you are doing whatever it is you wouldn't want in that movie, Jesus loves you reltentlessly.

When I say Jesus knows EXACTLY what you do when no one is looking!!! I mean for it to reassure you. He knows. He has no intention of you staying as you are, but he loves anyway. His drive towards you is larger than your poor choices. Congratulations.

#winning

#unimaginative preachers #relentless love #romans 5:8

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