Wanna be like Jesus?

Want to be an imitator of Christ? (1 Col 11:1) try this...

"Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstractions and propositions, long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself; short on condemning the irreligious, long on confronting the religious."
-Author and Pastor
Brian McLaren

Changing lives

So I know that it has been crazy long since I have last blogged, and I also know that it's 3 in the morning...which often seems like the best time to blog...so here we go:

I just got finished watching the movie, The Butterfly Effect, and I'm left with an instruction: help raise people in a way that will benefit their growth. I'm not going to spoil the movie, but at the end I got a picture of how dramatically different someone's life can be, determined by the influence surrounding their upbringing. And if this is true, why do we, the messengers of light, ie. the church, mess up and not change our mistakes. Why do we let our mistakes that break people, continue to linger and continue to keep people broken. If we truly are people who have the very spirit of God dwelling within us - why don't we heal people - even if they are wounded from our own mistakes. And as I sit here writing this, conviction hits my heart; I think of situations where I had a chance to bring a piece of healing to someone, and I didn't because it inconvenienced me, or I simply didn't know what to do.....what a great excuse - I'm sure Jesus is encouraging my inaction. Is it time for us (those who have decided to follow Jesus), for James Hauptman, to act and impact people's lives so that their lives can be dramatically changed - from darkness and into the light....
will you join me?

meaning

do you ever find yourself in one of the surreal moments when you see the value, the beauty of life? When for a moment you can see the things that truly matter. And then the realization hits home as to how much of life happens with little meaning, how much energy, time, and passion gets squandered away on things that simply don't matter. I know for me, this happens by default. Unless I see it; I don't realize it. Unless I am passionate enough after seeing it; nothing get accomplished. Tonight I am challenged while I read through some blogs of people that I have not seen in a while, and that I miss. I am challenged by their perspective of meaning - it is something I need to learn how to take advantage of. I am reminded of an popular saying of my youth...
capie diem.......................................................

g'night

"Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." 2 Tim 2:3-4