Talking VS Implementation

Smart Christian blog had the following post that is a sad reality of how far we have gotten away from "Seeking and saving the lost." (Luke 19:10).

THE SAD STORY OF WORLD MISSIONS TODAY

More than 70% of Christian effort and ministry is directed at people who already profess to be Christians, while less than 5% of our total missionary activity is focused on those who have never once had a chance to hear about the good news of the Gospel. (Source: Center for the Study of Global Christianity).

CSGC is the best source on getting accurate data on global Christianity.

“At present, some 95% of all Christian debate and discussion on these matters deals only with mission in the midst of the present Christian world. Another 4% concerns mission in the evangelized non-Christian world. Less than 1% of all thinking, discussion and action concerns mission among the unevangelized. The church’s viewpoint is almost incurably self-centered. In our opinion, the greatest enemy of world evangelization is Christian rhetoric–the continual rhetorizing, playing the orator, discussing, arguing, the endless talking and preaching about evangelizing the world without any of the crucial implementation. The rest of the world would be relieved and grateful if all Christians would once and for all replace good intentions, rhetoric and broken promises with solid achievements.”

Splinters

“You are here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain but you feel it. You felt it your entire life. There is something wrong with the world but you don’t know what it is...but its there like a splinter in your mind.”
Morpheus to Neo in the Matrix


I have spent the last several months on a journey of sorts that has me asking some deep questions...questions in which I don't always have answers or answers in which I don't always like.

Fairly soon I may start blogging some of what I am discovering about myself and this world in which God has allowed us to serve Him in. Nothing profound, and probably not of much interest to anyone but myself, and yet I think it is important to be able to verbalize that which is felt...that splinter in my mind.

For me the questions have been many:

Who am I? What gift(s) has God given me that I must use? In the midst of multiple areas of interest, what is/are the things that I am the most passionate about? If I could only do one thing in my life, what would I do?

What kind of person and leader am I? Why do I seem to be obsessively curious about so many things? Why do I struggle with boundaries in my life and with saying "no" to the things which are good but not great?

What ways am I to disciple myself and my family? How do I value each member of the family, while seeing the unique gifts and abilities that they have, and help them grow in the Lord and together as a family? What things must I say "no" or "yes" to, so that I can provide for my family both financially, spiritually, and relationally?

What kind of church does God want me to be a part of? Why kind of work was I created to do in this kingdom work?

These are just a few of the questions that I have been working through the last few months. Some have been done privately and alone, while others have been done with Amy and friends, as well as with trusted counselors and confidants.

I don't have all of the answers, though many have begun to appear and firm up. These splinters are beginning to take shape, though that shape is as of yet still not clear.

I will write more later about some of the steps that we are taking to find answers, but thanks be to God that He allows us to not only know Him, but to know His will, and to make Him known.

I Have Not Blogged In 5 Months

I have not blogged in 5 months and I don't intend to start today, but I will be back fairly soon. Why haven't I blogged? I will have to try and answer that when I return.

Until then...have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Hit The Mark

Have you noticed how hard it is to hit the exact amount when pumping gas anymore? Seriously, I used to be able to put exactly $20 of gas in the vehicle. Today...$20.02 or worse.

That little dial is spinning awful fast and I am going to have to sharpen my ninja gas pumping skills.

As a sidenote by Harley motorcycle got 55 mpg this last weekend. Sweet.

Free (after $10,000) Water

A few weeks ago I got up early in the morning while we were having a rain storm. As I stood in the kitchen drinking some coffee, I watched the rain just pouring down from the roof of our house as well as my man cave (storage shed). I was thinking about how much clean water was coming down that I would turn around to pay for at a later date.

With 2 growing boys we are using more and more water. Add to that our small inflatable pool, tomato, bean, cabbage plants, and flowers that we require water, and we are paying a fairly large monthly amount.

The above chart shows one mans solution that he got from a German company. When he built his new house it was going to cost him more than $10k for a well, and nearly that much to hook up his house to the water grid. For the same amount he installed a 1700 gallon rain water collection and filtering system. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I wonder what else God gives us for free that we end up not using and instead pay for a substitute later on. Love, community, others?

I've Got Gas

Wired has an article today talking about how high prices for gas, etc. are changing what people do. Jack Nerad (executive market analyst for KBB) states "It's no secret a weak economy has consumers spending less these days, and the survey of people in the market for a new car shows us some of the things people are doing to cope with stratospheric gas prices. They aren't buying as many DVDs. They're skipping ballgames. And going out to dinner? Who can afford it? "What was once a frequent occurrence such as the morning trip to Starbucks or taking the family to a ballgame just isn't as financially feasible when $4-per-gallon gas must also share a a place in the budget."

What about you, what (if anything) are you doing to cut corners? For our house we have replaced almost all of the regular light bulbs with CFLs (which cost just pennies per hour to use), I try to ride my motorcycle more (big sacrifice I know), and we have a standing family policy that we try to make somthing, or buy it used (Craigslist, Ebay, etc.) before buying new.

The exception to this was the vehicle that we just purchased. When I hit the deer a few weeks ago it totaled out the Buick (no more 60 year old vehicle for me). So we looked around and decided on a Dodge Grand Caravan. We were able to negotiate the price to an 07 level for a new 08 (car companies are hurting and open to negotiate right now). The kicker for us though was that the Dodge comes with a lifetime warranty on the engine and transmission. Yes that is right, for as long as we own the van they will fix (with no fees or costs to me) anything that goes wrong with the power and drivetrain. With a family of 5 we will put a lot of miles and years on this vehicle and the warranty was an awesome advantage.

So how about you...any changes due to the economy?

Missionaries To Little Green Men?

In an article in Wired magazine found here the author talks about what would happen to religion if we found intelligent life in other parts of the universe.

The article states...

"Little green men might shock the secular public. But the Catholic Church would welcome them as brothers.

That's what Vatican chief astronomer and papal science adviser Gabriel Funes explained in a recent article in L'Osservatore Romano, the newsletter of the Vatican Observatory (translated here). His conclusion might surprise nonbelievers. After all, isn't this the same church that imprisoned Galileo for saying that the Earth revolves around the sun? Doesn't the Bible say that God created man -- not little green men -- in his image?

Indeed, many observers assert that aliens would be bad for believers. Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research, once wrote that finding intelligent other-worldly life "will be inconsistent with the existence of God or at least organized religions." But such predictions tend to come from outside Christianity. From within, theologians have debated the implications of alien contact for centuries. And if one already believes in angels, no great leap of faith is required to accept the possibility of other extraterrestrial intelligences.

Since God created the universe, theologians say, he would have created aliens, too. And far from being weakened by contact, Christianity would adapt. Its doctrines would be interpreted anew, the aliens greeted with open -- and not necessarily Bible-bearing -- arms.

"The main question is, 'Would religion survive this contact?'" said NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, author of The Biological Universe. "Religion hasn't gone away after Copernican theory, after Darwin. They've found ways to adapt, and they'll find a way if this happens, too," Dick says."

Anyone want to join me in being a space missionary?