The MEME of Four

Apparently I have been tagged (by my big sister no doubt). I refuse to cooperate with this waste of time MEME!

Ah, what the heck! :)

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:
1. Busboy
2. Waiter/Bartender
3. General Manger
4. Pastor

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:
1. Any Godfather movie
2. Schinlder’s List
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Four Places I Have Lived:
1. Costa Mesa, California
2. Morgan City, Louisiana
3. Raleigh, North Carolina
4. San Diego, California

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. CSI
2. Law and Order SVU
3. Football
4. Anything on History Channel

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
1. Bahamas
2. Charleston, South Carolina
3. Washington DC
4. Daytona Beach, Florida

Four Web Sites I Visit Daily:
1. Fox News
2. Worship Leader
3. MSNBC
4. Langa.com

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Steak (rare)
2. Any Mexican Food
3. Hot Dogs
4. Oranges

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. At the beach
2. At the beach
3. At the beach
4. At the beach

Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:
None, I'm going to the beach!

XXX Church

I am a firm believer in this: Religion is man's attempt to get to God. Christ is God's attempt to get to man.

That being said, I need to look at the life and ministry of Christ in detail. If I am to be "Christ-like", then I need to model Him. I have found that most, if not all, organized religions fail in this attempt. If the religion is honest, it will continue to monitor itself and reevaluate itself to make sure it is on the correct path.


Here's a question: Can that path change?
Here's the answer: No!
Another question: Can the way you communicate this path change?
Answer: Yes.


What may have been good for one is not necessarily good for the other.

We have added so many different things to our church services that they must be biblical. Take for instance the "altar call." Is that Biblical? Not that I can find. Paul in writing to the Romans does mention:

Rom 10:9-10 NiV

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

But there is no direct correlation between this and an "altar call." I think we use the "altar call" to call out those who have made the decision, so that they can publicly state that they have been saved. This works in our Western world ok. But in talking with a former missionary to Thailand, he said that this was not a good thing in their world. Because of the nature of the culture there, a people pleasing culture, people would respond to the "altar call" to save the face or reputation of the minister or the person that brought them. They really didn't want to become a Christian. This would then cause bitterness in this person's heart and they could become angry at the church and harbor resentment making it almost impossible for them to come into a right relationship with God. Have you ever seen this in our culture, someone becoming so mad at the church for hurting them that they became almost unreachable. I've seen it in my family! I digress...

So we have these preconceived notions of how church is supposed to be. Some can't go to church unless it is on Sunday. Some can't go to church if they don't wear their best suit or dress. The list goes on. (If you really want to get knit picky, we are the Church! We don't go to church, we go to a fellowship and corporately worship God.) Some of it is good, I personally think some of it is wrong as well. Again, it is our attempt and each one of us works out his own salvation with fear and trembling.

I receive this email from time to time from an organization here in mid-city San Diego that is geared toward the churches. One thing that this person does is send out emails about the happenings in the church world and things that affect our neighborhoods. One of his weekly emails is about the "Sheeps and Goats" article in the local independent magazine called "The Reader." In this column, the author reviews churches and rates them. The diversity is interesting.

In the article on December 22, 2005 he interviewed XXX Church. This ministry is trying to reach the porn industry; those involved and those entrenched in its hold. It is a great ministry and I have had the opportunity to meet with them at various conferences. In this particular email, the mid-city person would not publish this article because he said I would be offended and instead we should pray for ministers addicted to porn. Well I read the article anyway. I was appalled that this "minister" (the mid-city one) could make a judgment about what another ministry is doing. If Christ hadn't ministered to the prostitute, the tax collector the sinner, where would we be. Are to minister only to those who meet our criteria? Or better yet, are we to minister only in one way?

I fired off an email to him explaining my objection to his censorship. I was truly amazed when he wrote me back and realized that he was wrong. He stated: "I'm sorry for being so restricted in my thinking. I've been an evangelical too long but thanks to men like you I am learning think outside the box. I receive your rebuke and will be more diligent in "not editing" or "censoring" the news."

Have we been restrictive in our thinking?

Have we been restrictive in the way God wants to minister to His people?

Better yet, have I?

Dear God forgive me!

By the Sheet or By the Roll

As a father, I realize there are a lot of things that I need to teach my children. I think the first thing we (as parents) teach them is how or how not to behave. We try to teach them manners... how to get what they want/need without screaming bloody murder. We teach them how to act in different social settings. We can teach them how to ride a bike, cast a line, even how to tell a joke with all the subtleties of timing and pauses. Yesterday, I found something else to teach them.

While shopping at Costco, we needed to buy some toilet paper. I always look for a good deal, but to be honest, I like the soft stuff. Now Costco's brand, Kirkland, isn't all that bad. I can't remember the price but it was a good deal. Right next to the Kirkland brand was the Charmin brand. If you've seen the commercials, it's the one with the bears.

If you have never noticed, most prices include information like how much per ounce, per pound, etc. The Charmin price told me it was .18 per ??? (I couldn't quite see what the per was, I assumed it was per sheet). The Kirkland price tag had .40 per ??? (again couldn't quite see it). I was a bit perplexed. I naturally thought that the Charmin was the better deal even though it cost more. As I was putting the Charmin in the cart, I decided to take a closer look at the packaging. The Charmin package had 30 rolls (it said it was equivalent to 75!) and the Kirkland had 30 rolls. The Charmin package stated that each roll had 250 sheets yet the Kirkland boasted a whopping 450! Being the price minded shopper, I was befuddled. I didn't quite get the math. How could the Kirkland be less expensive and was listed at .22 per ??? more? I then decided to take a closer look at the price tags. The Charmin tag stated that the per was "per sheet" and the Kirkland tag stated that it was "per roll."

Does this make sense to anyone? Why would Costco list one brand differently than the other brand? It's the same item type! If you do the math, you'll find that the Charmin is .45 per roll. In my humble opinion it boils down to this. They are trying to get you to buy the more expensive one. I may be a bit cynical on this, but I just don't get it. So now I need to teach my kids to watch out for Costco! HAHAHA!

By the way, did you know you can buy a casket or urn from Costco online?