letters on a screen

Well, I'm off. Today I leave on my trip to Europe, in which I'll be visiting Prague, Bratislava, and London. Please keep me in your prayers. Hopefully I'll be able to update this while I'm overseas.

I just got finished watching this clip of Jim Wallis on the Daily Show, talking to Jon Stewart about his new book, God's Politics. I'm about half-way through it and I've really been enjoying it so far.

Life for me feels really busy right now as I'm running around trying to do all kinds of last minute things before leaving for Europe next week. Things keep popping up that I hadn't thought of until now. It's all good though.

It's staggering how we as Christians have so much trouble being like Jesus. It's amazing how we have so many different ideas of what he would do in situations. And it's ridiculous the way we handle ourselves sometimes.

Case in point: The evangelical Christian mindset of "getting everyone saved". When it comes to helping people, too many times we as evangelical Christians are more focused on their souls than their immediate needs. Now granted, this does make sense to a certain extent. Obviously, someone knowing Jesus is, in the long run, much more important than where they are getting their next meal. But, to this person that doesn't know how they are going to feed themselves or their family, this next meal is the most important thing in their lives at this moment. Even Jesus himself didn't go around avoiding people's immediate needs in favor of their eternal destination. Think about the 5000 he fed with the fish and loaves, the water to wine at the wedding, and all of the numerous healings he performed. He did it because he loved people, and love is something we could all use more of.

2 examples of this that come to mind lately: First, when I was at the OneThing Conference in Kansas City over the break, Shane and Shane were performing. During their worship time, they prayed for God to bless the people involved with the tsunami (it had just happened a few days before). But instead of praying for them to be providing for with aid, they prayed that those people would get saved. Second, as I was reading the New York Times this morning, I came upon a very interesting article. It's about how Christian groups are pouring into tsunami ravaged countries acting as aid groups, but also focusing on conversions. (The article actually focused on a group from Antioch Community Church in Waco) The most telling effect of all this comes from the last 2 paragraphs in the story:

"W. L. P. Wilson, 38, a disabled fisherman with a sixth-grade education, said he allowed the Americans to pray three times for the healing of his paralyzed lower leg because he was desperate to provide for his wife and three children again. Mr. Wilson, a Buddhist, said that he believed that the Americans were trying to convert him to Christianity but that he was in 'a helpless situation now' and needed aid.
'They told me to always think about God and about Jesus and you will be healed,' he said. 'Whenever I ask for help they always mention God, but they do not give any money for treatment.'"

Now, I don't want to just criticize, because I've been just as guilty of these type of things before. But we as Christians have to begin to understand God's love for us, so that we can see how much he loves others. It's only until we see others with the eyes of God, and not as potential converts that I think real conversions will take place. Let's back up our words with our actions and really show people how loved they really are.

So I guess it's time to do an update. I think blogging must be link anything else. It's easy when you do it a lot, but if you take a break from it, well.... good luck.

I'm going to do my best to be reflective on the past year, so here it goes:

Best Movies:

• Shaun of the Dead (by far the best movie out this year, seriously)
• Garden State (just a good story, with a great soundtrack)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (...what a cool name for a movie)
• Control Room (WAY better than Fahrenheit 9/11 as far as unbiased journalism goes)
• Super Size Me (proves that other people besides Michael Moore can make humorous documentarys)

Biggest Dissapointments:

• Napoleon Dynamite (I know everyone loves this, but I thought it was completely stupid... the humor throughout the entire movie was very, very predictable)
• The Village (it's definitely no Sixth Sense, or Unbreakable, or heck, even Signs)
• Fat Albert (so bad I don't need to say anything else)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (now, I like Michael Moore, I really do, but he took himself too serious on this... the best thing about his other films is the way he uses humor to make a point)

Best Books:

• Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller (<-- he does it again!)
• Understanding God's Will by Kyle Lake (talk about taking the pressure off)
• Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke (everyone should read this book... has the war in Iraq really made us safer?)
• The Vision and the Vow by Pete Greig (24/7 Prayer seriously is changing the world)

Music will come later, I have to go the bathroom and want to go ahead and post this.

--Jay