WHAT ARE YOU SMOKIN'?

"So my question for leaders -- and for Christians everywhere -- is, are you smoking what you're selling?" Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

I threw this quote out to some friends of mine recently. I was trying to prompt a discussion. I was met with complete silence. Is this quote irreverent? Am I irreverent? Am I just plain crazy? Oh well...this isn't quite the point I wanna make here...

As of late, I've been wrestling with God, wresting with what it means to follow Christ. Much of this wrestling has to do with scripture and how it is used to guide our lives. A legalistic approach doesn't work for me and yet, I'm not about to toss stuff out. Rick is digging into some of these same concepts...check out his blog New Life Emerging...I'd place a link here but I can't figure out how to. (sorry, Rick) However, a link is provided on the front of my blog.

Okay, so I'm wrestling, I'm tackling...and you know what? God isn't gonna break. God is the father who invites us to tug on him, to trust that when we pull his beard, he will smile. And I am gonna tug on God my whole life. And he's gonna tug back. He's gonna let me get into the driver's seat but He already knows my feet can't reach the pedals.

Tonight, I wanna thank those of you out there who are wrestling with God right along with me...I want to thank those who are tugging...I have been enjoying your blogs and your journeys immensely.

Rob Bell continues...(and I'm diggin' what he's saying...drug culture reference aside...)

"I cannot lead people somewhere I am not trying to go myself. I don't have to have arrived. I don't have to be perfect, but I do need to be on the path. And that's why for so many the church experience has been so shallow -- so many leaders have never descended into the depths of their own souls. They haven't done the hard, difficult, gut-wrenching work of shining the bright lights on all of the years of baggage and destructive messages."

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And wise Paul reminds us...

"As the scriptures say,

No one is good--
not even one.
No one has real understanding;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away from God;
all have gone wrong.
No one does good,
not even one.
Their talk is foul, like the stench from an
open grave.
Their speech is filled with lies.
The poison of a deadly snake drips from
their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and
bitterness.
They are quick to commit murder.
Wherever they go, destruction and
misery follow them.
They do not know what true peace is.
They have no fear of God to restrain them.

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God. For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it." Romans 3:9-20 (NLT)

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I'm thankful for the journey...thankful tonight that God renewed my life that I might be privileged to ask these deeper questions...to face my Father-God as a child, as a woman.