Back to Basics...

Christmas Day has past, and the Sunday routines have died down. I ended the day by watching "Bruce Almighty," a very thought provoking movie discuised as a typical Jim Carrey comedy. I went to sleep shortly after it ended, and I awoke about five hours later, thinking about the question, "What does it mean to truly serve God?"

I'm a Pentecostal by revelation and choice. I have dialogued recently with a devout Roman Catholic, but just couldn't get myself to view Church history, culture, and function the way that he does. If I could believe that the Christian movement started out the way he believes, I would be the first to go grab a rosary and get to doing it. I would walk away from my Pentecostal churchin' Gospel music lovin' lifestyle, and learn Latin.

I just can't picture Paul in a cassock, or Peter with scarlet or purple. I find it difficult to see 1st century Jews who believed that the messiah had come as incipient Roman Catholics. Perhaps it's a cultural thingfor me, or perhaps I can't fit what I read in the Book of Acts with what I read later on in the writings of the Latin church leaders.

The important thing is, I want to serve God, and I want to do it well. I don't feel this way because of fear, but because I am so grateful for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, and, through the Holy Spirit, is doing in me and will continue to do with me until the Day. I want to serve God because salvation is such a glorious gift, and I want to have a walk worthy of Him who called me. My problem is, with so many people saying that theirs is the way, how am I to know-I mean, really know, how to please God.

I welcome any ideas that anyone else has out there, regardless of your theological persuasion. I'd just like to hear/read what you think about this.

Is this a Cain moment?

Well, we are coming into the third of the big holidays of the last quarter. Hallowe'en was interesting this year, since Delwyn 2 has figured out that Hallowe'en is a synonym for "free candy!!!" Thanksgiving was the setting for some major drama in the family(which I'm not yet sure how to share), but D2 did not quite understand why McDonalds should be closed before the sun went down just because momma cooked a bunch of food.

Now Christmas approaches. Everyone in the house knows that presents come with the day, from the youngest Delwyn to the oldest one. Since it also happens to be me and Theresa's 9th anniversary, we were hoping to head somewhere for a nice dinner. If I would have known the impact, I definitely would have picked a different day for a wedding.

I know that Christmas is supposed to be all about Jesus, so I'm trying to put the day in a broader perspective. Perhaps the fact that this year December 25 is on a Sunday will help. We recently closed our Bible Cafe, after spending a month fighting with the neighboring businesses and complaining about lack of support from the property manager. To be honest, Theresa and I are kind of bummed out about that, but she is more bummed because she feeels like God had rejected her desire to serve Him through the ministry.

Have any of you ever felt like that, I mean, like your offering was rejected and you weren't quite sure why? As I type this, I find myself thinking about Cain and his reaction to God's response to his offering as compared to his brother, Abel. Not that I'm looking to take anyone out, but I wonder, what was it that drew Cain down the path that lead to his moment of notoriety? Was it possibly frusttration over having his best be rejected? The text doesn't go into that isssue, but right about now, I think that I can kind of relate to Cain, after all, I gave my best at the Cafe, but now we're closed, and we're wondering "what comes now?"