Church Marquees

Has anyone ever noticed the variety of things people put on their church marquees? Sometimes they're catchy, sometimes they're funny, and sometimes just downright cruel. Sometimes I get angry at the things people put up, and tonight probably topped them all. I'll keep the name of the church anonymous, but their marquee said the following:

"Read the Bible. It will scare the hell out of you."

Let me ask this question. If you were an unbeliever, would that make you want to visit that church? Furthermore, would it make you want to become a Christian? What a TERRIBLE way to represent Jesus and the faith. I'm not saying that the reality of hell should be eliminated from the gospel, because the gospel is both beautiful and offensive, but is this not downright hateful? What does everyone think of this?

Dependency

I came to the realization this week that I'm not depending on God for very much. I wake up, eat breakfast, sometimes spend time with God, go do whatever it is I'm supposed to do that day, come in, watch TV, sometimes hang out with friends, go to bed. On Sundays I go to church and am a worship leader in the morning and a youth minister at night. Sometimes I hang out with the youth outside of church. I hate living like this. It's too easy, too simple. I'm not asking for a Job-like disaster or anything, but I'm so comfortable that it's almost like I don't know what to do with God. I'm so easily entertained by video games, TV, sports, and hanging out (none of these are wrong), that I feel like I'm just coasting through life without any reverance or awe of my Creator. It's a sucky place to be.

The hard thing is that I've come to this revelation before, decided to "cut" some things out (you know those things that are ok for you to do but you feel like you need to be away from for little while...like TV), and ended right back up at the same place I am now - complacent, neutral, and at the same time...very discontent.

When I went to Thailand for two months, it was the most difficult, uncomfortable time of my life, and yet I have never been more dependent and in awe of Jesus than during that time. Now I'm back in America, out of college, living in Moody, everything is easily accessible, and I'm extremely discontent and not in awe of my Creator. Anybody else have this issue? What does it look like to walk with God in "a land so plentiful"?

What Am I Supposed To Do With This?

Recently I've been pondering how I'm supposed to use my talents in music. I've been trained in it, I've got a college degree in it, it's what I'm good at, so now what? It's not that I'm not using it. I'm definitely using it. I play the piano and lead worship on Sunday mornings, and I teach piano lessons on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Occassionally, I'll manage to line up a gig where I play my own music and sell some cds.

On paper it may look decent, but I'm not satisfied. I'll admit that I feel lazy sometimes because I tend to be more excited about football or playing a round of golf than practicing music or lining up a gig. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I want to use this gift for the reason it was put in me. God is Sovereign, but does His sovereignty have something else in store for me? Is He Sovereign in the fact that I'm discontent, or am I discontent and not trusting in His sovereignty?

I suppose I just want to impact people through music and I just don't "see" it happening...

Need Fast Cash? Get Pink Posterboard

I have discovered a new way to earn fast cash...

This past Tuesday Stacy and I were supposed to go to the Counting Crows/Goo Goo Dolls concert, but upon her getting sick we decided to stay in. It was her birthday and I didn't want to leave her at home sick, but she insisted I try and go sell the tickets. So I got in my car and headed for the Verizon Wireless Music Center. I had two tickets in hand, each which cost me $29.50/pc. (+ all the sales taxes and stuff). I made a quick stop by Winn-Dixie to see if I could find some posterboard and a sharpie to help advertise my "business". I found a great sharpie and a piece of bright hot pink posterboard, and I also threw in some gum.

Upon arriving at the front gate of the music center, I wrote down my price for the tickets on the posterboard and stood between the Will Call and the Ticket Sales lines. There were a few other people trying to sell tickets as well. I got a lot of blank, drawn out stares, and a couple of people even pointed and laughed. They must've thought I was crazy. Think again! After about 10 minutes of nothing, the concert was beginning and the other ticket sellers were getting anxious--so anxious that they gave up on trying to sell their tickets and starting handing them to me to sell. Seeing that the sun was going down and the gates were closing, I came down on my prices just a bit. Wouldn't you know that I showed up with 2 tickets to sell, ended up with 8, and made $100 in profit.

Oh, and the other ticket sellers? They came away with nothing! Everyone was coming up to me, and I wasn't even yelling, "Hey! Anybody need tickets?" like the rest of them. I just stood there silently with my pink posterboard and watched as one after the other handed me their money for tickets I didn't even buy. I think I should start a new business...buying tickets for a concert that I don't want to go to, get a piece of pink posterboard, show up, and sell my tickets and everyone elses. After all, they obviously didn't know to get the pink posterboard.