To Be Hungry...

The purpose of this post isn't to show that I'm a "Super Christian" because I'm not in any way. Nor am I trying to show off what I do. I just want to be able to share the way God has been blessing me through one on one times with him. With that being said...

This morning I had an amazing quiet time. I think I've finally found the groove that connects me to God in my quiet time. Someone once said "If you're bored during your quiet time, God probably is too." That made sense to me, and I decided there had to be some changes in our quiet time together.

There was a time when I was against having a quiet time with God, and I know some of you will gasp and wonder what I'm talking about but let me explain. I had a professor in Bible college that related our relationship with God to hunger. When we get hungry, we eat. When we hunger for God, we should eat. To me, that made sense. And then I learned about how each person connects to God in a different way. Some connect through singing. Some through prayer. Nature. Fasting. Silence. Solitude. Giving. I started to put things together that you don't necessarily have to have a quiet time every day where you read your Bible, but maybe taking one of those elements and doing it when you felt "hungry".

The problem is, our stomachs are naturally designed to tell us when we're hungry. We haven't really trained ourselves to listen to when our souls are hungry. I found that I was actually starving my soul AND I wasn't giving it a normal diet of different foods.

Scripture HAS to be part of our connecting with God otherwise we're having one way conversations. We do all the talking and we refuse to allow God to talk to us. Scripture is the way God connects to us on a one on one basis and shows us what we need to do and what we need our attitude to be. Thankfully, I figured this out a couple of years ago and it's been my life line to God in ministry. Now I'm going to just give a model of how I connect to God, feel free to end your reading now if you don't really care so much, I understand ;)

Here is how I connect:

1. First thing I do when I get into my office is open my Bible and either a) read where I feel God guiding me to read. b) Continuing on with a book. I read through the Gospels last year and now I'm reading through some Psalms.
2. I sometimes have a book that I'm reading and I'll read a chapter. Currently I'm reading this book and it's been amazing!
   
3. I have a journal that I keep regular entries in. I have a hard time praying out loud/in my head. My mind goes every where. So when I am able to sit down and write out my prayers, not only do I have a record that I can go back to and see how God answered my prayer, but I can focus on what I'm praying about. Gives me a little more concentration.
4. Sometimes I'll go up to our local forestry and take a lunch, a book, my bible and my journal and hike up to the tallest point in the county. I just have a quiet time and read and pray and it's just a wonderful time to spend with God. I call it a day of refreshment.

Spending personal time with God is essential in any believers daily life. He refreshes us. He corrects us. He encourages us. He disciplines us. He loves us through his words. Take time to be in his word.

GOP full of "Fake Christians"

Can't say I disagree with him, Charles Barkley, former pro-basketball player made a bold statement on CNN the other night. See what you think here.

Prepare to have a faith crisis

Yesterday, while going through some of my random searching of the web, I came across this blog about a particular painting that sparked a controversy in the Portland area.

The controversy has now spilled over into 'blogland' and I submit it to you for your evaluation and personal reflection.

Supply Side Jesus

This morning I woke up and had a friend send me a link to a comic from beliefnet.com. To be completely honest, I was put off when I saw the article was written by Al Franken, a political liberal. The only time I liked Franken was when he played that guy on SNL with the light blue sweater. But that aside, I found that as I read this comic, the more I found myself allying along side with what he was trying to get across.

Take a moment and read the comic here.

Regardless of Franken's political stance or religious belief, his satire proves an extremely valuable point. What do you think?

Geez..be more creative!

For the love of God (literally) be more creative! Can't we come up with something different than "Hey! This thing might be anti-God...BOYCOTT IT!!" Isn't there some sort of constructive method of entering into conversation about topics that might go against the flow of what we believe?

Take for instance the upcoming movie The Golden Compass. If you haven't heard, there is a large movement of Christians that are supporting a boycott of the film. Why? Because in the final installment of the series, the children 'kill God'. Seriously. Now, what should our action be?

Does getting on the trumpet calling for a boycott sound like a smart maneuver? Did it work when the Southern Baptist Convention boycotted Disney and their affiliates? Not at all. In fact, that boycott didn't do anything but make Christians look stupid and cost the jobs of people who desperately needed them. I was working there when they fired thousands of people to recoup that money.

I think about when Jesus called his children to be the light of the world. Are we really being a light when we get more up in arms over a series of books than when a 15 year old girl is imprisoned with 20 men and raped repeatedly over several weeks?

Let's be more creative in our approach to things we don't approve of. To the world, we look like a bunch of lunatics crying about a children's movie. I once again point out that there wasn't a break out of witchcraft in our elementary schools because of the Harry Potter series. If you don't support the movie, that's fine, don't see it. But making a huge fuss about it only further destroys our voice in this world because we look like a big child throwing a temper tantrum.

Perhaps instead of being so scared that children are going to flock to atheism, we enter into a conversation with our children after seeing the movie/reading the book and talk to them about it. Giving kids what I call a "crap filter" is absolutely imperative in this world that we live in. If they aren't able to distinguish between what is good and evil and what the hidden agenda is, they are in for a difficult life. We have to teach discernment.

But please, let's be more creative than the old fashioned boycott.

The Golden Compass

By some sheer miracle if you haven't received an email forward about the upcoming children's movie The Golden Compass...then...you're lucky. But chances are, you've heard it and know whats going on. But just in case, it's the movie that is coming out his Christmas season strangely similar to that of the Chronicles of Narnia. Except, at the end, the children kill god.

There is a strong movement in the Christian community to have this movie banned and they're making a large fuss about the whole thing. I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm not too worried about it. Why? Well..."we" threw a big fit about Harry Potter because "we" were afraid that kids would start practicing witchcraft...and that didn't happen.

Neither did a massive revival occur at the release of the Passion of the Christ.

We get all worked up over nothing. For further reading I defer to the always wise SWNID.

Ex-Religion Journalist has a good point

This morning I came across this article on a religion journalist who was walking out on his faith. The reason? He was sick of all the scandalous things that went on within the faith community.

But that's not the reason I found this article interesting.

"Bates, who says he still regards himself as a Catholic, said he was turned off by the intolerance he saw towards gays and the self-righteousness of Christians who “pick and choose the sins that are acceptable and condemn those – always committed by other, lesser people – that are not.”"

Bates is certainly right! We do pick and choose sins. We will fight pain and nail to get things like abortion banned, but we do nothing with vagrant disregard of our environment. We need to branch out a little.