Note: I wrote this 11 years ago, but I still feel the same way. There is no such thing as biblical Lone Ranger Christianity. None of us were meant to figure out this life alone. We need each other, which is why God designed the Church.

Now on to what I wrote back in the day:

I think one of the reasons that community is so important is that it enlarges our view of God. I like to think that each of us carry puzzle pieces of what God is like. Each has a few pieces that reveal a limited aspect of God. When you get to know me, you add more pieces to your puzzle and your view of God gets bigger and clearer. When I get to know you, the same happens for me.

The more people whose lives we invest in, the more pieces and the bigger our view of God becomes and the more the pieces fall into place and connect into more coherent forms.

I truly believe that we grow as believers and our knowledge of God increases only in the context of community, where we share with each other and serve one another in love. There’s no way I can figuire out God on my own, apart from other believers.

There it is. That’s my thought for the day. Hope it helps.

Tomorrow is Thursday, also known as Friday Eve. It’s one of my favorite days. I get to meet with my friend and go hiking at Radnor Lake State Park. Hopefully, it won’t be rainy or super humid, but I’ll be bringing along a pair of shorts to change into just in case.

I also have 3 more days until I get my second dose of COVID vaccine. Again, I’m not telling you what to do one way or the other. I’m doing what’s best for me based on what I know and understand. Plus, I’m all for not having to wear a mask anymore.

I also plan to sleep late and hang out with my cat Peanut. She’s the most chill feline that I’ve ever known, and just being around her instantly puts me in a good mood and calms me.

I also intend on getting a haircut. Actually, I plan on getting ALL my hairs cut [insert rim shot]. It’s that time. I understand that the white boy fro look is not in this season. Also, I don’t want all the extra hair to cause me to sweat more than I already do.

Thankfully, it will be an extended weekend. I hope that I remember that Monday is not National Grill Out Day. It’s all about honoring those in the military who have made the greatest sacrifice for our freedoms. May we never forget that freedom is never free. There’s always a cost.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I don’t feel old most of the time. In my mind, I feel like I’m still in my 20s. That is, until I try to hang out with actual 20somethings, then I don’t feel like I’m in my 20s anymore. I feel old. I feel like I need to go home and pick out a favorite spatula and be done with it.

I also feel like adulting is highly overrated. It really does mean going to bed when you don’t want to and getting up when you don’t want to. It means wondering why certain body parts hurt and getting super excited over bargain prices on toothpaste.

But then I see where a guy I went to school with and who was my age passed away from a heart attack recently. He won’t get to grow old. So many friends and relatives that I’ve known didn’t get the chance to get old. They died young. Much too young.

So instead of seeing aging as a burden, I choose to see it as a blessing. I get to grow old. I get to wake up every morning and experience the beauty of life for another day. I get to fool myself that I can still hang out with the youngsters when 10 pm is looking like the new midnight for me.

I get to live for as long as God allows, and I know that as long as I’m living, I have a purpose and a reason for being alive. So do you. May we never stop striving to become all that God made us to be and never stop being amazed at our lives.

Questions to ponder:

How many times today have you thanked God for something you already have instead of asking for something else?

What would you have left if God took away everything for which you failed to give thanks or took for granted?

Why is it so much easier to focus on what we lack rather than what we possess and have already received from God?

There are people around the world who would give anything to have one of your bad days. There are people who are praying for those things you and I routinely take for granted. There are people who would treasure what you and I throw away as trash every day.

This is not one of those posts designed to bash your lifestyle or make you feel guilty. It’s simply to help us reorient our outlook and realize that we do have so much more than so many and we have been blessed far more than we deserve. There’s always something to be thankful for, and if you or I can’t find it, the fault lies with us.

It never hurts to send up a simple “Thank you” to God every so often. That’s all I’m saying.

Just yes. I’m ready for the regular Baptist communion elements. I’m ready to go forward with other people and receive the elements and hear the words “The Body of Christ broken for you” and “The Blood of Christ shed for you.”

Believe it or not, I’m actually counting down the days until I get my second vaccine dose this coming Saturday. For those of you who are as bad at math as I am, that makes 6 more days.

I’m ready.

I’m all for life returning to a sense of normalcy. I’m ready to be done with wearing a mask and having to stay 6 feet away from everybody else. This isn’t me discounting the reality of the pandemic; this is me wanting it to finally end and go away.

As I’ve been told, there may or may not be a few side effects. I say bring them on if that means me helping out with the whole return to normal. I can live with not feeling good for a day or two.

I won’t tell you that you have to get the vaccine. That’s between you and God. You have to do your research and make an informed decision not based on hearsay or undocumented internet ramblings but on facts and science.

But six days from now, I’m getting mine. That’s all.

“God does not have problems. Only plans,” said Corrie ten Boom. A clerical error saved her from being executed along with all the other women her age at the concentration camp and allowed her to be released and share her story. You never know what good can come from a simple mistake.

So maybe the next time something in your life goes wrong, think how God could turn it for good. Think of it not so much as a problem or an obstacle but as an opportunity for God to show up.

“You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.” (Luke 6:20-21).

Blessings don’t always look like blessings. They don’t always come gift-wrapped with pretty bows. Sometimes blessings can be painful. But in the end, blessings are what lead to joy and peace in the end.

So the question is this — how willing are you to wait?

Waiting is almost a dirty word in this culture of instant and immediate gratification. We’re told we should never ever have to wait for anything.

But God’s timetable is not the same as ours. His ideas of what we need and when we need it are often different from ours.

Sometimes God makes us wait because what we want isn’t ready. Sometimes it’s because we’re not ready to receive it. Sometimes the discipline of waiting is good for us. So we wait.

Is what you’re waiting for worth waiting for?

In a completely unrelated note, I finished watching all four versions of A Star is Born. I can say with some certainty that I liked them all, but my favorite of all these is the 1954 Judy Garland version.

Back to the topic: I don’t want to spend my life in a comparison war with everyone else. I don’t want to constantly always be striving to be better than the next guy. If there’s a competition, I want it to be with myself. I want to be better than I was yesterday.

I want to be a little more disciplined, a little more patient, a little more loving, a little more Christlike.

Ultimately, it’s Jesus in me who is making me better. He has promised to finish the work He started in me so long ago and to bring it to completion. That’s my hope. As I strive to walk closer to Jesus, these attributes that I long for and strive for will grow in me.

Some days, I don’t see a lot of difference. Some days, I don’t see any. But all I need to do is to look back 10 or 20 years ago and remember some of the old fears and behaviors to remember how far I’ve come. I suspect you could probably do the same if you look back far enough compared to who you are now.

Don’t try to be better than everybody else. Just try to be better than you were yesterday.

I found out recently that a Christian artist that I greatly admire and respect has come out as an exvangelical. Basically, as I understand it, an exvangelical is someone who essentially rejects the evangelical Christian teachings and seeks to deconstruct his or her faith in the same way that Thomas Jefferson tore passages out of his Bible that mentioned the miraculous or dealt with matters he didn’t agree with.

This artist says that he now believes in a Universal Christ. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds a bit vague. I don’t presume to know his mind, but I can say for myself that I don’t find much hope in a generic sort of spirituality that removes the miraculous. I know that my final hope isn’t in a mystical Christ figure but in a real flesh and blood Jesus who lived and died and rose again.

What is my response to exvangelicals? I think it’s to love them in the same way Jesus loved Judas Iscariot, knowing he would fall away and eventually betray Him. He loved those He knew would reject His message. He loved those who would know He was Messiah and still not choose to follow Him.

I confess that the modern evangelical Church hasn’t done much to help its cause. We too often confuse right-wing politics and conservatism with the gospel. While issues like pro-life and the sanctity of marriage are important, we sometimes turn them into requirements for salvation along with faith in Jesus. We haven’t been very compassionate toward each other or toward our enemies. We haven’t loved sacrificially the way Jesus loved (and loves) us.

I can also pray for exvangelicals. I still don’t pretend to know how prayer works in regard to man’s free will and God’s ultimate plan, but I know that it does. Therefore, I keep praying. Who knows but God could turn someone’s heart back to Him or rekindle the dying embers of faith into a flame once more?

I can do everything in my power to make my own salvation sure. I can never take for granted that I prayed a prayer once as a child or know so many Bible verses or have the occasional feelings of euphoria during worship. The evidence of my salvation shows in how I live and think and act and speak in the present tense.

I know that I could be one of those exvangelicals. It’s only the grace of God that sustains me. It’s only God upholding me that keeps me believing and trusting from one day to the next. My security isn’t based on the size of my faith in God but in the size of the God of my faith.

For those of us who are honest, we still have to confess along with the father of the possessed boy in Mark 9:24, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Thank You, God that You believe in us even when we struggle to believe in You — or ourselves. Amen.