Community

Are people truly as busy as they say they are?
Are they busy or are they lazy? Do people desire to spend time with others?
Do they desire it and do it or do they just talk about it but then never do anything about it?
Is someone busy when they want to sit home and watch 1 - 2 shows every night on television?

I know that I desire to get to know people, to spend time with people and truly get to know them - not superficially. I want to know their thoguhts, dreams, hopes, fears. Do others feel the same or am I alone? Because lately, it feels as though I am alone. People say this but then do the opposite - by sitting home watching television instead of meeting together and talking and spending time - good quality time together. This is just a rambling because my thoughts have just started swirling over this. Over the past 3 months we have asked about 10 different people to come over for dinner.....and not one has been able to make it. They are all "too busy".

Of course, now my thoughts go to it must be me. They must not want to spend time with me. I may be annoying or embarrassing or something. Do I need too much social interaction with others? I don't know.....maybe.

After these experiences, the thought of going into ministry scares me. My desire is to get to know others and to build into their lives and for them to build into my life - so that together our relationships help us to know and love Jesus more. Can this happen? How can one care for people who are "too busy".

I think - I work 20 hours a week from home, have three kids under 5 (homeschooling one of them), do all the housework, shopping, cleaning, and do a lot for my husband who is "too busy" because of his schoolwork......I don't feel too busy to meet with people for dinner. Shouldn't I be too busy also? Am I not doing enough?

For some reason God has put this huge desire in my heart to be with people.....to talk, to learn about them. It has to be there for a reason. I will not let this discouragment discourage me. I will keep plugging away trying to find someone who is not "too busy". There has to be someone out there who is not too busy! :-) Isn't there?

Relativism

As you can see the last I posted was 5 month ago. Although I must say a lot of thoughts have been going on, just haven't had the time to post. It it very hard to be open and honest. I actually think it is harder on the internet: not knowing who will read or look at this. It is easier face to face when I know who I am sharing with.

I am finding it difficult to write to no audience. I know no one reads this so you think it would be easy to just say whatever I am feeling. Does thsimean I really only takl about and say things because of the audience that is listening. I guess this should be good practice then to just say my true feelings and not what I think people want to hear.

So here it goes: since God is real, and God wants people to know and love Him, why is it that the majority will not and turn from Him? I understand God's sovreignty and our free will, but why is it so drastic? I was listening to Ravi Zacahrius (no idea of the spelling), the Christian apologist, and he was talking about the Academia and how they have gone to such irrational thought to be full of thought. Why does it have to be the opposite extreme? It is either love God or hate God. Is there no middle ground? Even Christian universities, yes even seminaries, have so much of the world influencing them. It is amazing. I look at the culture and we see such a high idea of relativism. Everyone is right, there is no wrong. Even respected conservative Christian institutions have bought into this. My question is can we buy into this at all? Doesn't even a little bit of letting this sink into our beliefs cause us to start down a very slippery slope? I can allow someone else to express their opinion and even nod and smile when it is the exact opposite of mine, but I do not need to respond by saying that is good for you, but this is what is good for me...... WHAT DOES THE WORD OF GOD SAY? Isn't this the key question? How can men go to seminary to become professors and not study the Word of God? What is the point? They are learning instead what kind of worship to have in church, what the 21st culture thinks. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY? Isn't this important at all? Where do you draw the line of allowing the culutre to influence us? It does influence us because we are in it and from it, but shouldn't our goal be to flee from it and respond through the Word of God? Then you get into the idea of being backwards or out of touch with the real world and staying relevant. Don't we believe that God's word is relevant always and timeless?

We go to a very conservative church - they sing only hymns with organ music. People would describe it as very old fashioned and out of touch with the younger generation. 90% of the congregation is over 60 years old with only a few under 35. But you know what happened a few weeks ago? A young, unmarried couple with two kids came to the services and are now Christians and were convicted and got married that next weekend. I would have said it would never happen. Because of the make-up of the church. I am learning something through all of this. God WORKS no matter what if the Word of God is being preached. It is amazing. The culture rules that I was buying into are wrong. I see that the world was beginning to guide my thougths instead of God's Word. It creeps in so quickly and so quietly. It has us in it's grip before we know it........