Love Beyond Reason

I had a thought the other day. What if we actually understood love? I mean not in the flaky artificial, fabricated sense that we are surrounded with; but REAL Love?
You know the kind. It makes you question your inner most thoughts and your own desires, it effects you so much that you want to change the person who you are. The love that is a choice, not an emotion.
What would happen if we understood that Love? Do you think that it would change our world? Do you think it would change our family?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

I think that the reason that I ask this question is because it has occurred to me that we have no clue what Love actually looks like. I mean, we have some vague recollection, but nothing definite. We are caught up in an emotional understanding of this word love, and it annoys me. Because if we really Loved, then we would act different.
Most of all, the part that annoys me is that we already have this infinite example of Love, but we refuse to acknowledge it. We consider it passe. In fact, it's so passe that the minute that this example is mentioned, you become tied to it and stereotyped.
You know... Christ. Jesus.
If you think about it, he is Love. But we don't want to acknowledge that there might be something to it. Nor do we want to be stereotyped. So is that the problem? is the problem that we are so afraid of being associated with Jesus that refuse to Love?
What would our world look like if we Loved?

I Think Therefore I am

So I have been encountering a problem that is becoming familiar by frequency.
For the duration of my life I have been told that I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it. Another way of saying this is that I was told that I could be anything I wanted to be, a doctor... a lawer... etc. Similarly People have affirmed this by telling me that I am smart and enforced the concept that I am not stupid.

While I am not against this positive affirmation, I sometimes question it. We should encourage people to strive for something greater than they are. But to what extent?

In my more recent history a friend has been engraining it in me that I am allowed to ask for help, that I don't need to fight through my experiences by myself. However, I am finding that time and time again when I come to a place of needing assistance, there is none for me.

For example: I am in college and as a college student I write papers. There are occasions where I become overwhelmed by the task of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and explaining data. The problem is not that I don't understand, but merely I am unable to "connect the dots". The response I get when I do poorly on an exam, is 'what's wrong your smarter than this' or with papers an average mark is deemed inappropriate and unacceptable for my situation. But what frustrates this situation the most, is that when I am stuck and needing direction I get a pad answer "Just do it" "Just Get it done".
It is these answers that I am finding increasingly frustrating, it leaves me with many questions.
Just because people deem me smart, does that mean that I actually am?
Who defines whether a person is or isn't intelligent?
Just because I am 'smart' does that mean that I don't require help?

Or is it just me, am I simply in capable of communicating my deficiancies to the point that I can actually find dialogue that leads to clarity? I'm not looking for a easy way out when I ask for help, it's not because I don't want to do the work; it's because I am in need of a learning construct that allows me to come to a place of preparation.

I think that it was best said, "there is a fine line between Genius and Insanity" So maybe my mind is simply getting the best of me.

Controversy here we come!

So, not sure that you've seen this yet or not. But this is one of Six new ads that the United Church of Canada has produced in order to 'fill the pew' (posted on www.wondercafe.ca). And I'm not completely sure what I think of this approach. I mean it's a bold approach, it's controversial, it makes you think... But is it right?
One of the first thoughts that popped into my head was the Question: "Why didn't we think of this?". But then again maybe we've already tried this. Everyone in canada has seen the alpha signs with 5 people of different ages and backgrounds smiling. Which brings me to the second question, and it's something that I've had my head for a while now.
When we evangelize are we adapting this approach, simply attempting to fill the pew? Are we trying to amalgamate people into the 'christian community' before we even approach thier relationship with God? Yeah these ads create controversy a great construct for Dialogue, but is this really a good approach?

The Process of Personal Evaluation

So here's the deal... I am constantly evaluating myself, I find that it enables me to grow. I examine where I am, where I am going. Sometimes it's simply a matter of looking at what's been going on in my life and asking where is this leading.
Lately it seems like I am asking the same questions over and over.
I have been looking at doing an internship this summer in toronto. I've been corresponding back and forth with e-mail, and I haven't heard back from my last note. In fact some of their responses have been wieghing on my initial excitement towards this oppourtunity. As a result I've found myself evaluating my own motives. Am I pursuing the right thing? Is this the place where I am supposed to be?
Part of my evaluation process is developing contingency plans, they are my fall back.
As a result I have been making plans in the back of my mind in case this internship doesn't work out.
The problem is that I have been asking myself if I really should be bothering with internships or even heading into pastoral ministry. I look at my actions in the past and I come to the conclusion that I am better suited in the supportive role.
It frustrates me because I do not have the answer, I don't even know what direction I'm headed. I'm following blindly.

The Great Divide

The Great Divide

So it was about a year and a half ago that I asked myself the question: “Why do we have church splits, and not church mergers?” If we as the body of Christ are called to unity why is there so much separation?
This question was reinforced this weekend.
I took the opportunity this to go to a different church. The church is a fairly recent church plant, within the last ten years, and meets in a school. It’s a Christian school and recently added a second gym and more classrooms onto their building. As I pulled into the driveway I noticed that there were two signs for a church on either side of the entrance. One was for the church that I was planning to attend, and the second sign was for a separate church meeting in the new gymnasium. It caught me off guard; Two churches, same building, different denominations.
I was a bit early so I continued past to get a coffee and on the way to Starbucks I proceeded to pass another church just a block down.
Later on in the day I mentioned to a friend my observation, I stated my frustration over this separation. She made the point that we pray that God would move in our community so that there would be a church on every corner, and we forget that there already is a church on every corner.
I am not against the institution of a denomination, but sometimes I wonder what exactly the point is? I look around and it seems like we have missed the boat, we are so compartmentalized that we forget what it means to work together as the body of Christ. We are more like the hand that says, “I don’t need the eye” and separates itself from the eye. God has called us to unity for a reason!
We are living in a divided world; we are divided by our differences, our culture, land, time and space. Most of all we are separated by our sin! How can we minister in this world that is surrounded by separation if we too are separated? The call of Christ and the Gospel message is against the grain, it is completely opposite to the world. Yet the Church has been penetrated by the culture of our world.
Why are we separated when the gospel is a message of acceptance and unity?

Rationale

If you happen to stumble across this Blog, Heres the Deal:

We view our lives and experiences through a limited view, a dirty lens. Every thing that we think and believe is tainted by this filter. There is more to life than we realize, and sometimes we need to unthink what we believe in order to see through a clean lens.

That is what this is about. Seeing the world through a clean lens. Sometimes it happens overnight. Sometimes it is a journey.

Unthink what you believe.