http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIXyBf2ELsA

An impromptu skit done at matt's apartment. After a few minutes of idle sitting, this happened.

"Culture is simply a worldview made evident. It is basic beliefs worked out into habits of life. It is theology translated into sociology. Culture is a very practical expression of the common faith of a community or a people or a nation. Culture is, as Henry Van Til famously quipped, “religion externalized.”"- Dr. George Grant

Where is the church and where are we?

We are more connected than we would like to think. We like to think our actions are our own and that we are isolated in their consequences. C.S. Lewis pointed out that God is outside of time. If there isn't time, then everything is. If everything is, then we are all connected in a literal sense. In another sense, we all carry a piece of those we are close to. If we ruin ourselves, we ruin that piece of the person we love. Funny, our lives are not our own in two senses. Our lives are gifts from God and we are bound, unless we wish to parts of those we love, to the people we love.

" The gospel is like a lake that is shallow enough a child can wade, but deep enough an elephant can swim."

From crib to grave, my blood was tainted
While my coffin lie, i wonder at what price
carried by enslaved who hope for sainthood yet
i pray a cleansing flood for them to not be like me.
that is my final advice.

Here's an interesting tidbit. One of main reasons for, that is mostly unheard of, the American revolution was for the widows and fatherless. Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams both called for the over throw of the British because they were a burden for the poor, for the widowed, and for the fatherless. Notice today when we talk about having a smaller government or even when you hear about people wanting to overthrow the government, they do not appeal to a call for justice or charity, rather to our greed.

I have always been a fan of the free market, rather than government pumping money into a failing business. Some of the strange things that happen are how the government gives over $300 million dollars to the tobacco farming industry, due to dropping sales and also spends over half a billion on ad campaigns to stop smoking. That’s off topic. I have noticed that people tend to think that life is at its best, right now, whenever something is stable, that is the best it can ever be, leave it at that. When something fails, we have to come up with something better to make it succeed or come up with something completely new. The trouble with trying to maintain life as it is, is this: it limits what you can do. If this is the best we can be, then we have no desire to obtain anything greater, we have no desire to learn. Notice how a person who succeeds is usually described as passionate? That person isn’t doing something solely for the purpose of doing something. Not because a person has a passion for accounting, but rather there is something deeper that drives him. What he is doing flows from who he is. That is why he learns more, that is why he does his job constantly improves and does his job better than he did before. It’s not what we do, but who we are.

Culture is religion externalized. The cultural failure that we are, this isn’t the other persons fault, it is our own. It is the churches fault. It is our fault. It is my fault. The luke warmness that we have, that isn’t convincing, probably since we can barely convince ourself that the gospel is real. Sincerity shines through. Our half hearted motives shines through even more, since not only do they not see sincerity, but they also see how little we care. It is not what you’re doing, but who you are.

i remembered some pslams and proverbs, i don't have references off the top of my head, where it talks about how God makes a persons path if one will follow him. i realized that it actually applies to every area of life. last week i would not have believed that my church would have started making steps to start an outreach ministry from my involvement in another ministry, but it did. I didn't plan for any of this, it fell into my lap. On the actually thought of this post, if a person knows who he is to be, or what he wants to be, what you do flows straight from that. Ultimately, whatever i do runs from who i am. every career i've thought about working in always had the same end goal. A place where the gospel is needed and a means to work with people showing them the gospel enacted. The gospel is bound in the essence of who i am. what i'm doing is flowing from that.

1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame [a] ?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods [b] ?
Selah

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4

Funny how beautiful surrender can be.