I wrote this before the storm...

Hopefully you can get something from it.

A while back I was sitting with a friend outside a large church. We were in front of the fountain, taking in the Texas heat and talking about God. Somehow the conversation turned to how some Christians talk bad about other Christians. We brainstormed many reasons for this: ignorance, jealousy, fear, false feelings of superiority ("Our brand of Christianity is the brand, all others have it wrong,) and many many others.

The impetus of our conversation was a protestor outside of the church. He was protesting the church we were at because of their worship and service style. He felt, with great passion and vigor, that this church was nothing short of heretical (although he later admitted he had never attended a service at the church but had seen it on TV a few times, but that's another story.)

In front of us, carved into the fountain was the verse from John 4 where Jesus is at Jacob's Well speaking with a Samaritan woman. Many things can be gleaned from this story, but Jesus makes a statement that can radically transform the way we think about church and Christ himself. He says, "Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst--not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."

Pardon the pun, but let that soak in. Go ahead, read it again, drink it in.

Here is, to the best of my recollection, what I said to my friend" Think about the ways we drink water. We drink it out of bottles (flavored, caffeinated, sparkling, and purified), hoses, water fountains and rivers. Out of faucets, while we swim, while we shower. Do you remember being a kid and standing out in the rain, face turned up to the sky, mouth as wide open as it could be, drinking in the water from heaven. (I used to love doing this, that is, until my older cousin told me about acid rain and that my throat was going to melt from it.)

The point is, we receive our liquid refreshment in many different forms. Why then do we feel we have the right to criticize our fellow our fellow Christian brothers and sisters (yeah, brothers and sisters) about the way they drink in the Savior?

Think of the many ways we can drink in the fountain of the Christ: Meditation, prayer, scripture reading, feeding the poor, singing, writing, painting praise, bathing in a mountain stream, ushering a wayward turtle off of a busy highway, admiring a sunset, playing a rock guitar, playing a solemn organ, making love with your spouse, hymns, choruses, King James and the Message, the list goes on and on.

Who am I to put Christ in a box and say that we can only worship him with hymns in a suit and tie? Or singing modern worship in board shorts and sandals? What right do I have to criticize someone's worship service or church style?

We all drink from the fountain of Christ in our own, special, unique way because God created us as special, unique beings. What we need is respect and reverence when it comes to drinking Christ, not rules and legalistic regulations.

Battered, bruised, and broken down

Still have no clue if my house is ok, many of my friends' houses are ok from Hurricane Rita. Don't give up hope.

These guys are awesome

Thanks to the Prairie View Christian Church Thanks to the Prairie View Christian Church, Indiana, their Home School families, and all in that community for their generosity to the people of south Louisiana. Six people in two vehicles drove straight through to the Moss Bluff Community Hurricane Relief Center to deliver food, supplies, and other needs to this outpost for the evacuees.
Even more, they brought a house with them, a pop up camper. A special thanks to Marvin, Laurel, Alex, Leah, Paul and Nancy for making this long haul. May your church families and your whole community be blessed in the manner in which you have given, may you be blessed in a measure that is ‘shaken together, pressed down and, running over’ as God promises in His word”. THANK YOU, and may God bless you ever so richly that you can give to every good work.

Check out www.mbdr.org for more announcments and current needs.
I hope to soon get all my thoughts on this whole Hurricane thing on the web soon.