Welcome to the 80's...

I got a call from my friendly neighborhood SBC rep today. Bad news. Our new house (1. 5 miles away) is out of their DSL coverage area. Even though it's only 1.5 miles away. As of next week, we'll be back to 'high speed' dial up...whatever that is. Yes, it's only $9.95/mo. but it will take me a month to post anything...hmmm...$10 per post per month. Arrgghhh!

Oh, well. It'll be like it was in the beginning when Al Gore invented this little thing called 'the internet'.. (sarcasm duly noted).

Oh well. Think of it as 'going retro'. Maybe I'll grow a mullet while I'm at it.

Business in the front. Party in the back, my friends.

Box Everything

Tonight we are packing all our worldly possessions. (BTW, we have WAY too much stuff). Tomorrow we begin the process of moving 1.5 miles to our new home. We might as well be moving to Afghanistan--we still have to pack everything.

But we still have too much stuff. I'm reminded of the great theologian Tyler Durden who said, "Advertisers have [our society] chasing cars, working jobs we hate, buying stuff we don't need."

I, on the other hand, LOVE my 'job'. But we still have more stuff than we really need. I have clothes I never wear, movies I never watch, CDs I never listen to, tools I keep 'just in case'. Some of our stuff has only one purpose: to sit around, look pretty, and collect dust.

How much of that do I really need?

While I really enjoy some of my stuff, it seems there's always more stuff I'd like to get my paws on. Truth is, none of it will last. It's polishing the brass on the Titanic--it's all going down. It will all burn, rust, decay, wear out, chip, break and lose its glimmer.

'Don't store up treasures on earth where moth and rust decay, or where theives break in and steal. But store up heavenly treasures...'

You, my friends, are my treasure. We are a spiritual family, bought with Blood. The other stuff is just....stuff.

Guess I'd better get back to packing...See you in a couple of days.

Drop Everything

Out of the mouth of Maeghan Bell, came great words of wisdom at The Dive Sunday night.

We're talking about characteristics of a disciple. Things like honesty. Faithfulness. Stuff like that.

Maeghan pokes her hand up. She says, "There's a song we sing in Big Church that goes, 'Take up your cross and follow me...'. " We all nod in agreement.

"But we can't do it. We need to add something to the song to make it right."

"Whaddaya mean?", I asked.

Maeghan explained, "I mean, it should say 'Drop everything'. Then, 'take up your cross and follow...'. We've got so much stuff in our hands as it is, we can't pick up our cross."

Dude. I'm done.

Let this post serve as an official announcement: Someday soon, with Maeghan's permission, I will steal her comments and make them my own.

We'd ALL be better off if we'd just DROP EVERYTHING. Just drop it. Unless it's your cross...put it down. It's not yours.

If your faith doesn't produce Christ in you, then your faith is worthless. If what you have produces good works, a polite attitude, a decent paycheck, ...but not Jesus....keep it to yourself. I don't need it.

Better yet, drop it. Leave it on the side of the road. Take it out back and put a bullet in its head if you must. But if it doesn't produce Christ in you, let it go. You can't follow if you haven't taken up your cross.

And you can't take up your cross if your hands are full of other things (yes, even good things).

Drop everything.