The smallest of deeds

This past Saturday I celebrated fifty years on planet earth.  My wife contacted friends from a wide array of my life stations and asked them to write letters which she could put into a book.  Many of them were funny and some even harassed me.  Can you believe that?  But all of them touched me deeply.  They reminded me that the most important thing we do today is simply try to live for Jesus and help others do the same.  This book of letters choked me up and brought tears of joy to my eyes.  Leah worked hard to make sure I knew that God had utilized my life to encourage others.  I am indebted to my wife and my friends for reminding me of my purpose and keeping me focused on what matters.

In our world, we are told that you must make a big splash to leave a legacy.  We see how celebrities get so much publicity and we think we need to be famous to make a difference.  We see sports stars making commercials and having a huge platform from which to witness and we buy into the lie that says only those who are "Successful" in the worlds' eyes have anything to say.  Even if the church, we have built a cult of success and the big deal.  Every church conference I have ever attended has had a keynote speaker who is  is a Christian celebrity or a pastor who started a church with a few people and now the church has thousands in attendance.  I have never been to a conference where the speaker was the pastor of a small congregation who had served the congregation faithfully for years, even though there wasn't large numeric growth.  I would love to listen to a pastor as the keynote speaker who got up to share his insights into being faithful when everything inside him told him he was a failure.  It would be much more beneficial to hear a pastor who had seen growth in the disciples rather than growth in the size of the congregation.

This weekend reminded me that the smallest word of encouragement can make a huge impact in one person's life.  It reminded me that my faithfulness is being observed by others.  It reminded me that reaching out to others and showing that I not only love them, but also like them, can be a life-changing experience.  It reminded me that the wake behind our boat of faithfulness will always be wider than we can see if we keep our focus on what is ahead of us rather than spending our lives in the past.

So I hope today you will make a choice to speak a kind word to someone.  I pray that you will call up a brother or sister in Christ out of the blue and just tell them how much you appreciate their faithfulness.  I pray you will take the time to listen to someone who is struggling and point them to Jesus.  Just make an effort to have an impact on one life.  The end result will be riches beyond this world which will give you strength to go on.

If I were planning to be buried (I plan on being cremated - But that's for another blog), I would want the following verse written on my tombstone.  Philemon 1:7  "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints."  My this Sip from the Well refresh you so that you can refresh others.  You will never know until you get to Heaven the impact your smallest deed has made.

It's Just a Number

On Saturday I will turn fifty years of age.  That's right, I am now legally an antique!  Some of you reading this blog are thinking, "Fifty is so incredibly old" and some of you reading it are thinking, "Fifty is so young".  Both of my brothers and many of my high school classmates have already sailed into this half century of existence ahead of me.  I'm still a long way away from catching Methuselah who lived to the ripe old age of 969.  If I compare myself to him, I am just starting out.  However, I'm fairly certain I won't come close to catching Methuselah, nor do I really want to.

My take on turning fifty:  I think it's pretty cool.  Fifty is a great, round number.  It says, "You have experience" but you're not really that old.  It's just a number.  I've been told you're as old as you feel, but I don't really buy that.  There are days (Usually Tuesday mornings after playing a couple hours of hoops on Monday night) that I feel closer in age to Methuselah than to my own age.  There are also days when I feel like I have the strength and stamina of a twenty year old.  So how old I feel varies from day to day.  But at the end of the day, fifty is just a number.  I enjoy trying to keep this fifty year old body in decent shape so that I can still play hoops with twenty year olds.  I also enjoy trying to keep up with my young sons.  So don't try to harass me about turning 50 because I'm looking forward to it.  I embrace becoming an antique.  Hey, AARP has already sent me my membership application.  It's funny because I can become a dues-paying member but cannot reap any benefits until I turn 55.  So crack on me if you want, but I'll just laugh with you.

However, turning 50 has put ministry in a clearer perspective.  I realize I just don't have that many years left in ministry or even on this earth.  It moves me away from playing the "Church" game and want to see people come to Christ and become His devoted followers.  I just don't have time any more for those in the church who complain about the church or are focused only on themselves.  There are way too many lost souls for the church to spend her time trying to placate complainers or whiners.  I want to see live changed and eternity influenced rather than leading a bunch of meetings.

At Hillcrest Baptist Church, we have some wonderful role models in the area of aging.  We have seniors who may be retired from their vocation but are serving the Lord with all of their heart.  Man, that's how I want to roll into the "sunset years", serving the Lord and continuing to have an impact.  Forget playing golf every day or heading off to bingo.  I want to have new challenges in my life and I want to continue to influence future generations to follow the Lord.  I want to have a Caleb mentality.  You should really read Joshua 14:6-15 to see what God-led retirement looks like.  Caleb kept going and realized God had kept him alive to fulfill his purpose.  When he was one of the oldest in the land, he was still going strong.  That's what I want to have in my life.

So as I roll into 50, I know it won't be long until 55 comes and then 60.  I've been told the years begin to speed up as you get older, but I won't know until it happens.  As these years keep rolling, I hope you will still see my passion, love, energy and fire for Jesus.  I pray that you will have that same kind of fire in you.  What are you doing to make sure you can serve the Lord faithfully as you age?  How are you preparing your body?  How are you preparing your mind?  How are you preparing your emotions?  How are you preparing your soul?  May this Sip from the Well encourage you to more actively pursue a life of meaning and purpose so you can leave a Caleb Legacy!  Because whatever age you are today, remember, it's just a number!

A deep pain in my heart

I have been on Facebook for a couple of years and have enjoyed the benefits of this incredible social medium.  I have been in touch with high school classmates whom I had not seen nor heard from since we graduated in 1979.  I have had contact with former "youth" from my days in King, North Carolina and Louisville.  I have heard from former students at Hawaii Baptist Academy and close friends I made while living in Hawaii.  I have reconnected with friends from Kamuela on the Big Island and have even gotten to know quite a few children of my friends.  There is an added richness to my life as I am somewhat able to be involved in their lives and draw closer to them...even though it is from a distance.  I have always been and will always be a people person, so having these connections is a source of strength and pleasure for me.

The drawback of this social medium is to see how public people are about their vices.  There are those who at one time were close to Christ and have now wandered away, even mocking the faith they once held so dearly.  Those of you who have invested spiritually in the lives of others know the pain that comes from seeing someone drift.  A few are ambivalent about this drifting, while others are antagonistic about the faith they once claimed to follow.  Some have slowly drifted away from the truth, while others have taken a decisive reversal of that which they once held to so closely.  As I read their status or their info, my heart is broken for their condition.  Sometimes I wonder what I could have done or not done that would have helped them continue on this wonderful journey with Christ.  Sometimes, I realize that they were only playing a part to please me or parents or teachers.  Sometimes I wonder if they have experienced some pain in this journey of life which was too much to handle and they now blame God.  Either way, seeing the hidden struggle burdens me and often I'm not sure how to approach this.  It should probably not be this way, but I blame myself.  I know, we each make the choices of the roads we will take.  However, there is a part of me that thinks I should know the right thing to say each time to someone or I should have the vision to see the approaching storms in another person's  life.  Of course, this is foolishness and not productive.  It draws me to look back with regret and focus on the past rather than living in the moment and reaching out to those in my life at this moment.  But most of us who have tried to disciple someone understand these free-flowing thoughts I am having.

A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon which has helped me find peace and be able to keep going on Facebook without having regrets, doubts or frustration.  In Acts 20:32, Paul talks to the Ephesians church and says to them:  "Now I commit you to God and to the word of His face, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified."  There comes a time when we must commit the wanderer to God's grace and allow God to move in his/her life as only God can.  I always come back to the parable of the Loving Father Jesus told in Luke 15.  The Father had to wait until the prodigal son came to his senses and came home.  But when the prodigal came home, the Father was waiting and watching for him.  He ran out to his son and "redeemed" his son and celebrated.  There are some we must commit to the Lord and wait on them to come to their senses.  But when they come home, we should celebrate.  Until that time, we passionately pray for them and attempt to love them with the same love the Father lavished on us.

So today, if you are thinking about giving up on someone because they don't seem to care anymore, may this Sip refresh your soul to continue loving them.  Maybe you have a rebellious teen in your home.  Maybe your spouse just has more important things to do than worship the Lord.  Or maybe you have a close friend who has walked away for his faith.  Be refreshed and commit them to God's grace.

Maybe, today you are that prodigal.  You have wandered away from the Lord and into your own place.  Please know that the Loving Father waits patiently on you to turn back to Him and come home.  Be assured, there are many who are praying for you and looking forward to the day your faith comes alive again.  I may even be one of those.  May this Sip give you the strength you need to take those first steps home.  Daddy is waiting!

Where Is It Easier to Live for Christ?

Two weeks ago, I asked the question:  Where is it easier to live for Christ?  In a place that reinforces the value of the Church of in a place which mocks those values?  Is it easier to live in Mayberry or Sodom?  Eventually the answer becomes a Joshua 24:15 answer for each one of us.  We can't really dictate how others will live, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.  

Here are my random thoughts on this topic:  It may be more difficult to live in a pagan culture, but there is more of an impact in this culture from those who truly live for Christ.  A little light will shine much brighter in darkness than in a place which already has light in it.  The choices we make as followers of Christ will be so contrary to the flow of a pagan culture that people will take notice.  Some may try to snuff out the light, which is often the case in pagan cultures.  Others may want to embrace the light of Christ.  But all will be confronted with the message of the cross because of a faithful few.  The early church was persecuted because they no longer embraced ethnic divisions or gender divisions or followed immoral practices.  An airplane is able to fly because resistance lifts it into the air.  Resistance will always allow the Church a greater opportunity to witness.  The Church has always grown stronger (Maybe not larger) during times of persecution in a pagan culture.  The Church in China is much stronger spiritually than the Church in America, even though a much higher percentage of Americans go to church than do Chinese.  What is the difference:  persecution.

The danger in trying to live for Christ in a pagan world is that paganism begins to infiltrate the Church and individual followers.  The Church at Corinth had begun to allow the immorality of the culture to be accepted in the Church.  Read I Corinthians and you will see Paul chastising the Church for living just like the rest of the world.  Before we judge Corinth too harshly, think about how many Christians are living together and not married.  Think about how we have begun to utilize the methods of the world in the Church.  Think about the pagan practices that go on in our own homes.

So my take is this:  Living for Jesus in a pagan culture is easier, but more testing.  I have always been on who enjoyed going against the flow.  If everyone else was doing it, then I probably wanted to try something new.  My favorite number is 13 because so many people are superstitious about that number.  I have no tattoos and no body piercings because I want to go against the flow.  In college I enjoyed being on the debate team because I enjoyed having to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to present a constructive argument.  So for the past twenty-five years, I have lived in cultures that did not reinforce the values of the church, but I have enjoyed the challenge of living in those cultures.  There are times when I do grow weary of going against the flow, but when I see lives radically changed because of Jesus, I am energized.

Living in a culture which reinforces the values of the church makes it easier to follow the "rules" since so many others are also doing it.  The norm is that which supports my faith in Christ.  We can have conversations all the time with people about church and God since most people are not antagonistic towards those topics.  There is more peace in the community with less crime and more connectedness with neighbors.  People are often more friendly and willing to help a stranger in need.  This is not a utopia, but it is a living out of the values Jesus taught and lived.  Yet, underneath, there can be hypocrisy and secret sin.  We feel more shame in our sin, so we keep our sin hidden.  We can fall victim to legalism like the churches in Galatia.  They had become a very legalistic church which emphasized following the Law instead of living in grace.  The danger for me living a Mayberry-like existence would be the temptation to get frustrated with those who should be living for Jesus but aren't.  I am much more patient with those who have never come to Christ than those who have come to Christ and yet take His gift of grace lightly.  If this attitude isn't checked, it becomes spiritual pride which is incredibly destructive and blinding.

Eventually this is a personal choice:  Which one is more challenging for me?  Perhaps a better question is:  Where has God planted me?  Once we answer that question, the focus changes from our environment to our availability to change lives.  Ultimately, it is not WHERE we are that matters, but WHOSE we are that matters.  A genuine Faith will radiate to the lost, regardless of the culture in which that Faith is planted.  May this Sip refresh you to fulfill your purpose in Christ where He has planted you.

Oops, We're Still Here

I have to admit that I was distracted on Saturday May 21st at 6:00 in the evening to look for the return of Jesus.  I did finally check the clock at 6:30 and realized that either the rapture hadn't happened or I was left behind.  Since my wife and son were still here also, I began to suspect that Camping had been wrong in his prediction.  I even called my brother to check on him and see if he were still here, which he was.  My Mom called to check and see if I were still here, which I was.  Looks like another fool has tried to know more than God and failed miserably.  When will we ever learn?

Well, here are some lessons from the hype of this last prediction (And hopefully the last Camping will ever make).  I hope these lessons will strengthen us in the future:

Lesson #1 - Trust in Jesus, not in a man

It's easy to look at followers of Harold Camping or Jim Jones as fools and easily led astray.  However, there are many in the church today who attend their church because of a person other than Jesus - They come because of the personality of the pastor or go to Sunday School because of the teacher.  We can easily find ourselves following a personality rather than the person of Jesus.  Jesus is our role model, hero, Savior and all-in-all.  Whenever we take our eyes off Jesus, trouble always comes.  Examine your own followship to see if you are coming to church because of a person other than Jesus.  If that person were to leave the church or fall, what would happen to your faith?  Please, look up to Jesus and model your life after Him, but don't fall into the cult of personality.

Lesson #2 - Camping is a false prophet, liar and thief

Those may seem like strong words, but that is how we are to judge our leaders.  James tell us that not many of us should presume to be teachers because teachers will be judged more strictly.  Paul admonishes us to have high standards in judging our leaders.  Camping made a prophecy and in God's eyes, Camping gets only one shot at this.  If his prophecy doesn't come true he is a false prophet and should never be listened to again.  I find it interesting that in the hours after his prophecy failed, reporters went to his home for a comment, but no one would answer the door.  I guess they are busily crafting and wording their response to this failure.  Beware of someone who won't even step up and own up to his mistakes, but hides behind closed doors.  Shame on anyone who listens to his radio station, sends a penny to this "ministry" or ever listens to Camping again.  As the great theologian Gomer Pyle once said:  "Fool me once, your fault.  Fool me twice, my fault".

Lesson #3 - The focus of our lives as Christians should not be on judgment but on Jesus

The followers of Camping gave us a lot to follow his teaching and now they are left empty.  Their entire focus was on the coming judgment, seeking to scare people into Heaven.  Rarely does this work with any lasting results.  Oh, we can scare people into saying the sinner's prayer, but that doesn't mean the person has made a commitment to follow Jesus.  We may be doing more harm than good.  Following Jesus is not about fire insurance to miss Hell, although that's a great benefit.  Following Jesus is about allowing Jesus to transform our lives throughout our lifetime.  It is a moment-by-moment journey that at times can be painful, yet at other times exhilarating!  Let's let the world see the joy and peace which rules our lives because of the radical change Jesus has brought.

Lesson #4 - Utilize Every Opportunity to share Jesus

I have had wonderful opportunities to share Christ with friends and acquaintances because of the hype of this prediction.  The doors have opened in the locker room of 24 Fitness for me to talk calmly about Jesus and how we should prepare for His return.  God can even utilize the foolishness of one man to see others come to Christ.  Unfortunately, the by-product of Camping has been to give the skeptics more ammunition to keep Jesus at a distance.  For that, Camping and his followers will be held accountable.  However, we will be accountable for whether we have taken advantage of this wonderful opportunity to share Jesus with our friends, whether in person or Facebook or over the phone.  Did you witness about the true Jesus this past week?

Lesson #5 - Know your Bible

The most foolish people are those who chose to believe a teaching which goes contrary to the explicit words of Jesus.  They blindly gave money and many gave up their homes and jobs to proclaim a lie to the world.  They could have better utilized these sacrifices by studying the Bible and becoming involved in ministries which touch people's lives.  Don't be a victim to the cult of personality.  We need to be in God's Word every day!  That's why our church bulletin has daily quiet times listed so each day you can listen to God from His Word.  If we are knowing and applying God's Word, we will see the false prophets from a mile away.  Not only that, but we will be able to give a reasonable response when faced with unreasonable events and circumstances.  The purpose of your church is not to get you addicted to attending church, but to train you to be dependent on God, not on man.  Are you in God's Word daily?

There are tons more lessons we can take from such a prediction, but these will do for this blog.  I would be interested in hearing the lessons you have learned or we should learn from such a foolish prediction.  May this Sip refresh you to serve the Lord and share His love with a lost and dying world.

Should I prepare my Sunday School lesson for May 22nd?

"This web site serves as an introduction and portal to four faithful ministries which are teaching that WE CAN KNOW from the Bible alone that the date of the rapture of believers will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011. Please take your time and browse through the teachings of Harold Camping, President of Family Radio. Visit EBible Fellowship, Bible Ministries International, and The-Latter-Rain to read and listen to many faithful teachers give scriptural insight on the doctrines that God is teaching His people. Learn about the Biblical Timeline of History, the correct method of Bible interpretation, the End of the Church Age and God's command to believers that they must depart out of the churches. Study the proofs that God has so graciously given in His Word showing us that these dates are 100% accurate and beyond dispute. Above all, please READ THE BIBLE and prayerfully ask God to open your spiritual eyes to these truths. May it please Him to have mercy on each of our souls."

 The words above are not mine, but came from a web site which is supporting the view of Harold Camping that Jesus will come back and the rapture will take place on May 21st of this year.  Camping has spent a lot of time and money to let us all know that Judgment Day is coming.  He has even set the date for the rapture, which is a very impressive feat.  He has outdone Jesus because Jesus said He didn't know when it would happen.  Of course, he also "calculated" that the rapture would happen in mid-September of 1994.  Oops - That first prediction didn't work out very well, did it?  My guess is, this second prediction will fare about the same.  I'm sure there are already some Camping folks working on a press release for May 22nd that will talk about how he misread the data or, once again, miscalculated the date, but at least they got people to think about eternity, yadda, yadda, yadda.  That's one press release I can't wait to read.

I had another blog ready to post, but felt the need to address this topic when I had conversations with two separate men at the gym this week asking me what I thought about the coming judgment.  Here are some Goslen Facts about May 21st:

Fact #1 - Only the immature follower of Christ will get sucked into this talk.

Those who are mature in their faith know that no one knows the day or time of Jesus' return.  They know He will come like a thief in the night.  They also know that He promised there would be signs which could be seen in preparation for His return, but these signs would not point to a specific date.  They also have seen other false prophets, like Hal Lindsey, claim a specific date of Christ's return, only to see that day come and go.  Those who care nothing about Christ just laugh at such foolishness.  They find it humorous when someone thinks he knows more than God and are excited about seeing that person proved wrong.  This adds fuel to their fire to not take Jesus seriously and becomes another reason for them to mock Jesus and His Church.  The ones who get sucked in are the ones who know just enough about the Bible to be dangerous.  They walk by touch, taste and smell rather than by faith.  They have a Bible, but wait for others to interpret it for them.  They rarely make time each day to spend in prayer and study of Scripture so they are easily duped.  They attend church, but are not involved in church.  Their faith is at about the same level as it was five years ago.  They are still wrestling with the same issues they have always wrestled with over the years.  These are the ones who can be sucked into such discussions and maybe even have fear over the future judgment of God.

Fact #2 - God enjoys giving us wisdom, but He'll never give the date of Jesus return to anyone

We must have a solid Biblical understanding of the "when" of Jesus' return.  The Bible tells us specifically that no one knows the day or the hour.  For man to presume a specific date is to allow man's foolishness to supercede God's wisdom in our lives.  Jesus gives us signs about the end times in Matthew 24, but this is simply to prepare us for His return.  It is a reminder that as the devoted followers of Jesus, we should always be about His business.  Don't let the owner of the house come home and find his servants goofing off.  In James 1:5, God promises to give us wisdom in any situation, however that wisdom does not include the date of Jesus' return.  If He gave us that date, it would be abused because of our sinful nature.  There would be those who are slackers until the day before, then try to get everything ready for His return.  There would be others who would like out every destructive passion until the day before and then try to get right with God.  There would be others who would misuse that date to make themselves look wiser and gain for themselves.  God, in His infinite wisdom, will never reveal this date to any person so don't waste time reading the different voices who advertise the answer.  So this bold claim of 100% accuracy claimed in the intro of my blog is not just audacious, but flat our, wrong.

Fact #3 - If Jesus does come back on May 21st, I'm covered

In 1971, I got my ticket for eternal life by receiving Jesus as my personal savior.  From that day forward, I have been covered with my rapture flight ticket.  Now, have I lived the way Christ wanted me to live every moment of ever day since then?  Not a chance.  I have needed His grace more since I came to Christ than before I came to Christ.  But that grace is the reason I have confidence in what will happen to me at the return of Jesus.  So I don't spend a whole lot of energy trying to figure out when Jesus will return.  It simply shouldn't affect how I am living because I should be living full on for Jesus every day.   So I'm not really worried nor investing much energy into this latest prediction and all the hoopla given to this prediction.

Fact #4 - God is God

God alone determines the time of Jesus' return.  Jesus' return can happen at any moment since Jesus ascended.  It could even happen when I type the period to this sentence. (Pause)  It didn't, but it could have.  Ever since Jesus ascended forty days after His resurrection, the Church has been awaiting His return.  The Apostles thought it would happen very soon after His ascension.  One of the problems of the early church was those Christians who didn't want to work or serve because they thought Jesus was coming back within a week, month or year.  So to think that Jesus cannot come back until THIS specific event happens is limiting an unlimited God and making His less than Sovereign.

Fact #5 - I would not want to be Harold Camping on May 22nd

If his prediction is wrong, he is a false prophet.  The Old Testament tells us to stone false prophets because they said they spoke on God's behalf but reality showed that they didn't.  I guess if we had taken that Old Testament admonition serious in 1994 Harold Camping would not have been around to make his latest prediction.  Why would anyone listen to him now when he was so wrong earlier?  If Jesus doesn't return on May 21st, what will Harold Camping and those following/supporting this prediction say?  If May 22nd comes around with no rapture, only a fool would listen to this man and anyone connected to this prediction.  Unfortunately, Fact #1 will still hold true on May 22nd because there are too many followers of Christ who are "spiritual weaklings" (A term I attribute to my wonderful Mom).  Apart from the way he will bring shame upon the church, Harold Camping will reap what he has sown by giving a false prediction.  I don't mean others will pick up rocks to stone him, but there will be spiritual consequences to this.  He will also be held accountable for how he has spent such huge amounts of money for Billboards, web advertising, TV ads, etc.  Money which could have been used to help the widows and orphans, which James says is the true expression of religion.

So by now you have figured out the answer to my question.  Yes, I have prepared my sermon and Sunday School lesson for May 22nd.  I have done that because these facts will never change, no matter how many predictions are made about the return of Jesus, the rapture or the end of the world.  So if  Jesus doesn't return and you are still around on May 22nd, we invite you to come to Hillcrest Baptist Church at 3400 Hillcrest Road, Richmond, California at 9:45 AM to study God's Word and worship the Lord together.  I'm fairly certain all of our Sunday School teachers will have prepared their lessons for that day.

The question for the day

For the past week, I have been visiting family and friends in Greensboro, North Carolina.  I have been amazed by the difference in the atmosphere between here and the East Bay area.  I don't mean the temperature or the humidity, but the mindset of the people.  In the past week, I have only seen two people wearing drawers hanging down to their knees and using one hand to hold their pants up.  there have only been three sightings of men wearing hoodies with the hood pulled up over the head and trying to cover their features.  I have only heard three vehicles driving by with a loud and obnoxious boom playing at an annoying level (And one of those was old school country).  While standing in line at the stores, other customers strike up conversations with me and we become friends in the short time it takes to check out.  Female clerks in stores call me "honey" or "darling" and the men clerks call me "sir".  I am greeted at the door of stores by clerks who ask if they can help me and actually help me.  If they can't find it, they get someone else to help.  I have been waved at by people I do not know who were passing me while I was out walking.  Most everyone I pass on the sidewalk will smile and speak some type of greeting.  People here don't seem nearly as angry nor preoccupied as those in the East Bay.  The pace of life is so much slower and there is no such thing as a quick conversations.  Waitresses treat me like I am a long lost family member and strike up conversations about life.  My six son plays outside by himself without me worrying about traffic or something else happening to him.  Now, don't get me wrong.  Greensboro is not a utopia because it has it share of government corruption, crime, violence and unsafe places.  I kow, those of you who live in Greensboro will tell me that my view is a little simplistic and there are major issues here.  I understand all of that, but this is my blog so just go with it for the moment,  However, I feel like I am in Mayberry.  I keep waiting to see Opie and Aunt Bea walking down the sidewalk.  I am so much more relaxed and not just because I am on vacation.  I feel a freedom to converse with people and don't feel as threatened or feel as much tension from people.  The atmosphere is one which makes it easier to enjoy life and others.

(These are some of my high school classmates, family and friends after dinner)

As I was jogging this morning, three of the cars that passed me had drivers who waved at me.  Now, I know these people don't know me, but they were just being friendly.  That NEVER happens when I run in the East Bay.  So I began to think about this question:  Is it easier to be a Christian in a place that reinforces the values of the church or in a place that has rejected those values and is following pagan values?  I think the biggest difference in Greensboro and the East Bay is this:  Only about 4% of the East Bay population will go to any church at least once a month, but in Greensboro about 40% of the residents will attend church at least once.  And even though I am math deficient, I know that this means ten times more people attend church in Greensboro.  So this has affected the values and morals on a tangible, measurable level.  I only ran for three miles, so I didn't have too much time to dwell on this question.  But I was struck by the differences in my first home (Greensboro) and my home now (The East Bay).  I was wondering what you would think about all of this.

However, that simply sets the stage for the question:  Is it easier to be a Christian in a place that reinforces the values of the church or in a place that has rejected those values?  The church in Greensboro seems to be more like the Galatians church:  They wrestle with legalism and hypocrisy while the church in the East Bay is more like the Corinthian church:  They wrestle with immorality and paganism spreading into the church and accepting the values around them which compromises God's standards.  Obviously, this is a broad generalization, so please don't get caught up in that comparison.  Stay focused on the question of the day.  Ask yourself, which can you face with the most success:  Hypocrisy/legalism or temptations to compromise.  I am planning to answer this question for myself in next week's blog, but I would enjoy getting your feedback this week.  So which would be easier for you?