Going Back

So I've been pretty quiet for a few a while. Not much is going on in my life. Still have no job, don't really have any ministry prospects, and really want to be out on my own again. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me and that I have a ton of potential that is just being wasted. I want something to do, I want somewhere to minister where I can be used to do something, and contribute to something worth doing.

Don't know why that all came out, guess I just needed to vent some of that. Anyway, tomorrow begins a journey that I have been waiting for for almost four years, I finally get to go back to Israel. Bags are packed and I'm just waiting for my wife to get home before we head down to Mt. Vernon. This will be our first vacation since our honeymoon, and a much needed escape from life for both of us.

As I've lived the past year I've done a lot of thinking and examining, particularly in regards to the Church. I've noticed some issues, and at times it makes me really angry. I initially started this post a few weeks ago as I was doing some work for the class I'm taking in combination with this trip. At first it was pretty harsh and negative, and typing it out helped me not post all of the thoughts I had and instead to begin to look at the Bible and what it said about the Church.

Today the Church would rather be comfortable than consecrated, traditional than transformed, secure than serving, and right than righteous. We've made church too much about US and not anywhere near about God. My biggest issue with the Church is the same as Gandhi’s. "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christian's, they are so unlike your Christ." In my twenty-six years of life, and the decade or so that I've really been aware of it, that's what I've seen to be true of the Church.

Part of me wonders how it happened. How did something that Jesus Himself prepared and the Holy Spirit began get so far from what God intended it to be? It's because we've lost sight of who Jesus really is, what He really said, and we've denied the power of the Holy Spirit to help us live as He did. Because of that His Church looks very little, if anything, like He originally intended it to. And so with that I think I'm going to take a slightly different approach to this. Let's look at what the Bible says about the Church.

During this trip, as I'm growing closer to my wife, meeting God in new ways, and walking in the footsteps of Christ, my goal is to do just that, look at what the Bible says about the Church. Once I get back I'll be sharing my findings in one way or another, possibly here, it might be the next sermon series I do if that chance ever comes. But for now I will simply ask for your prayers.

Pray for safety as we travel to and throughout the land of Israel. Pray for good weather. Pray for real encounters with God, and the wisdom to hear what He is saying. And pray for guidance as I seek His intention and design of the Church.

"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you