Gleanings

"I bet if Jesus ever met me, he wouldn't like me." There a lot of people whose lack of interest in God is due not to their own personal dislike of Him, but of their belief that God Himself sincerely does not like them- in fact, He might even hate them.  For some this delusion leads to anger.  However, for others, their belief that God simply does not like them, or love them, leads not to anger, but to profound sadness, loneliness, and isolation.  Lack of interest in Christianity, church, and spiritual things springs from a sincere but misguided belief that God simply does not like them.  And where does this belief come from?  Among many things, I think it can spring up primarily when a person feels that no one else likes them either. After all, why should I expect to receive love from the Creator, if I cannot receive it from His creation?   I think Zacchaeus (Luke 19) fell into this self-feeding cycle of isolation and anger: as a wealthy, short...

So much for my first attempt at blogging regularly.  To all you youth ministers out there, a word to the wise: don't start your blog in May, because you will not get to your next post until at least August. We have had another incredible summer with our youth ministry students, and I am thankful for all of the experiences we had and memories made, but most importantly I am thankful for the growth and change I have seen in these young lives.  As always, I went into the summer enthused about getting out of the daily routine of "off-season" ministry (which is heavy on office study and somewhat lighter on time with students), and I am ending the summer just as enthused about returning to the off-season.  Frankly I'm enthused about just having time to sleep again. But I'm also excited about jumping back into the world of blogging and sharing those things "gleaned" from life, ministry, faith, & family.  Today's post comes from an email convers...