I just got word this week that one of my freshmen transferred to another school and will not be returning for the spring semester. It was kind of tough to take. He's definitely a solid guy and adds quite a bit to the floor. It would have been good to know he was still gonna be around the floor after I left. However, God's got different plans for him in mind. I hope that everything works out for the best. He's a tennis studd and is transferring to a school where he's gonna be given the opportunity to excel at that much more than he would have at Taylor. But I can't help but question myself to some degree when something like this happens. I mean, what could I have done differently to make his experience here that much better, and therefore, that much harder to leave? Did I create an environment that was beneficial to him? Did I spend enough time with him? Did I say what I needed to say and did I avoid saying the things I didn't need to say? Did I go out of my way enough to serve him? All questions that I hope can be answered 'yes', but who knows.... It's God's plan, not mine.
President Bush's inauguration was this week. It's reminded me of some of the dialogue that took place around here during the election. Let me just take a moment to encourage you to be open-minded in all you say, think, and do. Understand that this world is seldom a 'black and white' world. There is much grey. This sentiment runs even deeper when we talk about Christianity and spirituality. It's been my observation that many of us are content to think that much of our understanding about our Christian theology is cut and dried simply because we heard someone else say it was, or because that's what everyone else is saying that it is. Unless you consider yourself a theological or someone who's knowledge and interpretation of scripture is verifiably without any room for error, then maybe I would suggest to you that you might do well to step away from that frame of thinking a bit. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not about to go relativistic on Biblical interpretations. However, I'm simply encouraging you to think through those thoughts and ideals you hold onto so tightly again. And don't simply walk through the same 4 step sermon on whatever topic you can think of that you've heard 20 times before. Stop. Think openly. Process. Read. Study. Figure out how things applied to the context then and then how that applies to the context we are in now. And always consider the fact that you (in almost every case you will find yourself in) are not an expert. Even if you are an expert, you're still human, which means you're still prone to be imperfect, which means that HEY! YOU'RE GONNA BE WRONG SOMETIMES! Let's all agree to get over ourselves enough to at least admit that we dont know everything, in fact, we dont really know much of anything at all. Really, what we have are a bunch of other people's opinions that have been pitched well enough to us that we've decided to make those opinions ours. Sometimes the pitch is done well enough to give us the opportunity to really understand why we'll take it as our own, but again, most of the time, we are too apathetic or arrogant to think for ourselves on very many matters. Be careful when attempting to combine politics with spirituality. The two generally have nothing to do with each other. I find it absurd that we have been content, as American Christians to do just that, though. Does God advocate democracy? How about capitalism? Does God approve of Republicans or Democrats? How about Monarchs, Oligarchs, or Despots? Communism? Socialism? Feudalism? Funny, I dont recall God advocating any form of government as explicitly His chosen form. So, quit trying to contort God and the Bible into saying something they dont. I'll get off the soapbox by quoting Brennan Manning.
If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don't find demons in those with whom we disagree. We don’t cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: either creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both-and, fully aware that God's truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition. The open mind realizes that reality, truth, and Jesus Christ are incredibly open-ended. -Brennan Manning
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