I would rather be the person offering up my shower, I think, even though I might not be that pleased with the mess left in the bathroom afterwards.

It is kind of crappy to be dependent on other people and really have no choice about it. And to have to pack your entire life every time you drive down the street because you want to make sure you can charge your cell phone or brush your teeth at a moment’s notice. And then drive back to your house because you THOUGHT you had packed your entire life but actually, you forgot.

I think I’m in the process of learning that sometimes God allows us to go through inconvenience and it doesn’t even allow us to feel noble about it. But then, Jesus was dependent on people a lot of the time, too. That’s a pretty humiliating scenario, really–to be the God of the universe, reduced to mother’s milk . . .

(That last little touching bit of comparison doesn’t actually mean that I have gotten to the point of being OKAY with still not having power and writing this comment from soneone else’s living room . . . )

(Uh, Jon – heartafire was talking to ME! Sheesh, you’d think this was your blog or something – hee hee.)

Anyhoo, I would ditto what Jon said. I also want to say that I was a bit disappointed to click on your profile to see that you don’t have a blog of your own, because I always enjoy your comments as well and I would totally read “Deep Thoughts by Heartsafire.”

I read that comment and I was like, Yeeessss! That’s it exactly.

WV: lanatu
plural for lantana.
There are lanatu all over the mountain.

Truly everything we have to give, or do, or be, that is of any value is only provided through Christ, so it’s a joke to think we can “behave” a certain way to be pleasing to him. He knows our hearts, our motivations, our reasons, so it’s like trying to fake him out to pretend that we’d really rather fellowship with the men’s group than go to the SEC game— (and ROLL TIDE, ANYWAY).

I think the beauty of your post, Jon, is in the relationship-building you did with Christ, in letting him show you his truth. It wasn’t in the service to the old lady or even to your men’s group, in my opinion, although those may have been nice by-products.

One theme that sort of drives me crazy when Christians are telling stories like this, is always the promise or the idea that “we are getting better”—i.e. “last time my heart was wrong, but next time I’m going to remember this thing I’ve learned.” Sorry. No you won’t. The “take-away” from an experience like yours, Jon, is probably that you won’t schedule a rake-a-thon during the middle of the SEC championship. It’s amazing 3 men were willing to commit.

I’m not criticizing, truly. It’s just that, as we grow in Christ, I think we truly see that gulf get WIDER, not less, between his utter perfection and our utter depravity. Instead of inducing despair, it leads to immense freedom and gratitude. I think it is misleading to baby Christians and definitely to non-Christians to act like we get “better.” We don’t, and WON’T, this side of paradise.

And Nick, I suspect that you would still go to the Sudoku championship the next time, as well. And maybe that guy wouldn’t run in the 5-K again, or maybe he would. The most wrong thing about it all is to act like we would do the right thing “if only.” No, we wouldn’t. We are sinners. Redeemed, yes. But still it misleads people to act like Christians don’t sin. Every single day we sin. Every single day we need to repent and be forgiven.

…and don’t forget the beer.