Rebellion

I went, very reluctantly, to a Catch the Vision meeting last week. I admit, not terribly excited about the vision, which to me sounds like a building campaign even if they claim it is not. We could buy several houses on Walnut for that. Sigh. I wasn't excited to be there. But I went because someone, somewhere along the way labeled me a "leader" and they really wanted all the leaders to attend one of these puppies.

I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to put on a nametag. I didn't want to sing. I didn't want to hear about the building plans. And it showed. Heck, I sort of cursed in front of Wayne and didn't really give a hoot. I went because I felt I had to. Marisol said it was my rebellious nature when I refused to put on a nametag. (I. Hate. Nametags. Always have.) Granted, she did say that it took one to know one. But...

I was thinking about my rebellious nature today. This whole fasting thing too, getting on my nerves, and I'm not fasting yet. Don't know if I will even. I wonder if it's because I'm surrounded by people working on the giving campaign that I feel smothered by it. People working on the publications and the devotional and the videos. Everyone asking "What are you going to fast from? Have you been to a Vision meeting? How did you decide how much to give?"

Enough already.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll fast from church during the next 40 days.

rules of rhetoric

I think this is a good place to begin experimenting with cyber growth. A good testing ground, perhaps, to see if these ideas for "expansion" can really float.

Here are my ideas on "rules for engagement:"

It is almost always my deepest desire to "get to the root of things"--and by this I mean "find the source" of whatever it is we are discussing or dealing with. For example, if Eric was confessing how he was having trouble this week because he had found himself telling "petty lies" and was asking for insight, I would want to get past the following rhetoric: "You shouldn't lie because 'your robbing people of the truth,' or 'the Bible says,' or 'every time you tell a lie you're driving another nail into Jesus' hands.'" It's not that these bits of insight are "so far from the truth," it's more that this type of talk circles around the issue rather than capturing it by the heart: "Eric, you're telling lies because you're lazy, and it's easier to tell a lie than explain the truth." or "Eric, you are telling lies because of something inside of yourself that is fallen--you want people to think better of yourself, or you want to see things your way so badly that you are ignoring the truth and embracing a lie, etc..."

Okay, I know these are cheezy examples, but the point is that by having a very open forum, we may get to the root of things rather than remaining thinly superficial. To get to the "heart" of the matter by helping Eric see why these lies keep appearing is insightful and productive--it helps Eric deal with his problem, while simultaneously providing insight for others as to the nature of our fallenness among other things...

Here is the flip side of openness: If a discussion turns passionate there is one thing that we must all learn to do: never state an opinion so strongly that you force people who disagree with you to "cross you" or "break relationship" with you in order to do it. In other words, never put your whole self-worth into your opinions, so that if someone disagrees with you they are essentially disagreeing with your value as a person in doing so.

I learned this lesson the hard way...

just so someone has said it--

Josh

The Beginning

Well, gang, I tried to use the fancy new iWeb option for blogging. iWeb is great in many respects, and likely superior to eBlogger, but, alas, there is no group blogging nor a 'reply' option, which would amount to me having an e-pulpit and begging you all to be my audience. Of course, such a soapbox was not my intent, so until I figure out a way to use macintosh's superior system while still being able to fulfill our purpose(s), this is the spot to be. Bookmark it! Contribute! Enjoy!

As soon as I get the chance, I will post a Rules of Engagement blog that we can work on together to give some framework for our discussions here that will allow new contributors to understand how to engage.

Thanks, Josh, for providing the motivation to begin this. I pray it is a useful tool for SomethingMore.