Tell It Like It Is.

"Back in January of 1996, the Rev. Joe Wright, senior pastor of the 2,500-member Central Christian Church in Wichita, was invited to offer the opening prayer at a session of the Kansas House of Representatives (not the Kansas Senate, as claimed in the text), and the prayer he offered was this one (which differs somewhat from the version cited in the text above):"

Heavenly Father, we come before you to ask your forgiveness. We seek your direction and your guidance. We know your word says, "Woe to those who call evil good." But that's what we've done.

We've lost our spiritual equilibrium.

We have inverted our values.

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your word in the name of moral pluralism.

We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We've exploited the poor and called it a lottery.

We've neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn.

In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, oh, God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by you to govern this great state.

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of your will. And, as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Pride

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

Numbers 12:3

I love this verse. Moses wrote the pentateuch, but imagine the temptation of pride he had when God told him to write this down.

.. fellowship?

There.. are a lot of things I could have chosen to talk about in this blog. After some thought, I eventually decided to open up the topic of.. school fellowships. I don’t know how many of you have school fellowships, I don’t know how many of you are in school fellowships, I don’t know how your school fellowships are doing.. but I want to share a little about mine..

Things.. have been everything but easy.. My school fellowship is vastly different from AGAPE.. from the number of people there, to the types of people there.. to the programs we have .. things.. are different. As with pretty much everything in life, there have been good moments, and bad moments, positive aspects.. and not so positive aspects..

It’s.. difficult to live out your faith at school.. For me, my fellowship at school has really been about helping me to live out my faith.. it’s been about seeing the different perspectives of different people who go to different churches .. but worship the same God.

But.. to tell you the truth.. things are anything but fine and dandy..

It’s tough..

There are differences of opinion.. there’s segregation (even in such a small fellowship).. there’s confusion.. misunderstandings.. there are a lot of issues that are preventing the fellowship from really being a close knit community…

From year to year.. it.. doesn’t seem like anything has changed.. each year we say that we’ll do better next year.. but.. it’s hard to see much progress..

.. sometimes I wonder.. why do people even show up? .. is it because they feel that they’re obligated to? .. is it because they’re genuinely seeking community?.. is it because they want to be with their friends?.. I really don’t know..

I’ve.. written this blog.. in hope to hear about your school fellowships.. to hear how things are going.. to hear about what’s working.. to hear about what’s not working.. to hear your struggles, your successes, or even failures with this thing known as “school fellowships”.

Looking forward to hear your responses,

Gabriel

deliberate people and nehemiah 9

i wrote this yesterday around 10:00pm, so sorry if it doesn't make complete sense...
through all of high school i've seen change around me and within me; i've seen how much i've changed since grade 9, but i keep wondering whether i've actually grown.
it seems that things in my life go through phases and in circles, including my spiritual life.

"O Lord! my heart is sick, sick of this everlasting change;
And life runs tediously quick through its unresting race and varied range:
Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee,
And wakes no echo in Thy mute Eternity."

i really related to this quote when i read it today (honestly, i was looking for ideas for this blog) and basically it reminded me that my relationship with God is always changing and whenever i stop looking for God because i think i am close enough to Him, i end up falling so far from Him. and i know this message of falling away from God is really overused and overexposed, but throughout the Old Testament we are given so many examples of when the Israelites went astray. of course we don't usually read through the Old Testament since it is mostly long and dull (see Nehemiah 7), but even in Nehemiah i found something applicable to me and hopefully it'll be for you guys too. in chapter 9 the Israelites confess their sins. verse 29 says, " You warned them to return to you law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands...But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God."
in this verse i see myself so clearly, as arrogant and disobedient, but after such a depressing revelation, it is so nice to hear, for the hundredth time maybe, God did not abandon the Israelites and will not abandon us. still everyday when i swing my feet onto the floor, i have to remind myself that i need God and i encourage every one of you to try and do the same. sometimes i think it is so hard to put down your pride and often i really just don't want to listen to God, but something around somehow finds its way to me and gently presses me to return to God*. and i hope this rambling blog will do something similar for you guys.
*most recently the dp audiocasts have made me realize how far i've grown away from God in just these past weeks and have also brought me back to God. even just sharing this has also brought me closer to Him. so if you guys want, go to www.deliberatepeople.com and download and listen to the audiocasts. i hope they help, cuz i really liked them--they even have cool background music :).