boundries

ever get friends requests on your myspace? i get some, about 50 or so a month. i accept some, and i reject many others. if, for what ever reason you have, you desire to be a friend on my myspace, keep in mind some very simple guidelines i use to determine who is and is not a friend - here goes:

1. you need to be someone i would send a birthday wish to. now, that may not seem like a big deal, but the reality for me is that i like sending out little messages every now and then - and i like sending birthday wishes. i will actually read your site, not all and not always, but i will and i may comment on what you wrote. so, if you are the kind of person who does not mind a little comment every now and then from me, cool - friendship can be formed :)

2. your pics need not be "booty shots" - now, i am not a prude, and i like the human body as much as the next guy - but please know i am a pastor - no mater what i do to make a living to plant a church, i am a pastor - and shots of your "butt in thong" to show off your tats really does not make me jump for joy - in fact, i hit the "ignore" key faster then you can think of -

3. pictures of your kids "flipping off" the camera with some cute little caption like, "he has a mind of his own" or "she is that kind of kid" - i am not impressed - not in the least - sure, i look like a rebel, and i may even write like a rebel but the reality of it all is that kids need to learn what it means to live in love and grace, and flipping off the camera is not love and grace. i do not flipp people off.

4. pets are cute, but if all your pictures are of your pet cats, i wonder if you have a life. i am not the kind of person who demands you have pictures of yourself, but to have no pictures of you interacting with other humans just gets me to think that you live like "cat people" and never get out of your home.

5. ask, just ask to be a friend and i will be happy to add you - well, depending on the other areas. i do not care where you are from, what your name is, how old you are, or your gender - i like to get to know people. if you live close by and want to get a cup of coffee, just message and ask - i would be happy to meet with anyone and just have conversation.

myspace is a great place, and it can be a wonderful tool to expand our friendships and our definition of what a friend is - but it can be a place where people hurt one another - so, be careful. develop friends, but mostly develop your walk with Christ.

torn bibles

recently, i have the pleasure to attend a "black church" - a church in the historical african american tradition - and i was amazed. i was not amazed by the music, which was great - nor was i amazed at the preaching, which was fantastic - what amazed me was that in each pew they had pew bibles - now, that may not seem like a big deal - after all, many churches supply pew bibles - i have been in luthern church, methodist churches and even baptist churches that had pew bible - the big difference, that i saw, was the pew bible in the african american church were worn, torn and dog-eared; they were used.

i am not suggesting that the pew bibles in other churches are not used, but i have never seen them used like that - i have been in "white churches" where the pew bible looks as new as the day it was purchased. i have been in churches where i pick up a bible and the spin "snaps" as i open it - and the gold edging is still stuck together.

i was impressed with how used those bibles were - and they were used - written in, pages marked, dog-eared and folded - it was exciting to see that in a church - this got me thinking, i need to get out more and visit more churches :)

in fact, i would challenge each and every reader to visit a church of a different tradition this sunday - your pastor should understand :)

the fallen

i am not impressed with political leaders or religious leaders who take a "hard line" stance for any topic - because they always fall from grace. it is the "speck and beem" thing Jesus told us about. spitzer is just the latest in a long line of "leaders" who have stood hard on what they saw as a moral issue, only to fall to that same moral issue. when i was a kid my grandfather taught me that, "those who scream the loudest against something, are usually what they are against." i have seen this many times, and more so over the past few years -

leaders who shout "anti-homosexual rhetoric" are caught with gay prostitutes, paying for some pretty kinky stuff. leaders who stand on a "anti-drug" campaign, only to find themselves in rehab working on "personal demons." leaders who shout for a "moral center" are found to be so far to the left, or right, that they lose all creditability. this seems to be the way of the world, shout against and fall into the sin you stand against. but when they do fall, they aways ask for the grace they refused to show others - i am reminded the the swaggart/bakker thing, where swaggart rode bakker about his "sexual immorality" only to stand before his own congregation a short time later asking for forgiveness and grace - yet he offered bakker none.

the hard part for me is not what they are against, or that they have fallen, but that they lived a lie for so long that it is hard to see value in anything they have ever shared - i mean, if they lied that big about who they were sleeping with [and paying big bucks for it] then how can i trust anything they promised? if they lied to the people closest to them, their family, how can i, a stranger, trust anything they have to say? i have lost all confidence in our political leaders, our religious leaders and anyone who claims a "moral right" for any reason - because they all have fallen way short -

now, we can "caulk this up" to them being "human" and they are, but actions must match words. if those we seek to be leaders are not sharing with us a reality we can see and express - who is there to trust to lead? leaders keep complaining that people are not supporting them, well it could be we are just waiting to see who falls next.

just some thoughts i have been having today as i read the spitzer stories - and how they relate to all the flash backs that seem to be going through my mind of past "leaders" great and small.