Darrin Patrick from the 2008 DWELL Conference

This video is one of the better articulations I have heard in some time about how and why we are to live life with non-christians. One thought-provoking quote, "Our problem with evangelism is not that we don't have enough information, it is that we do not know ourselves." Wow. 30 minutes well spent. If you don't think you have the time, just skip one Seinfeld re-run this week. Seriously.

A Culture Needs Its Poets

Funny The Way It Is ~ Dave Matthews Band

Lying in the park on a beautiful day
Sunshine in the grass and the children play
Sirens pass and fire engine red
Someone’s house is burning down
On a day like this
And evening comes and were hanging out
On the front step and a car goes
By with the windows rolled down
And that war song is playing
Why can’t we be friends?
Someone is screaming and crying
In the apartment upstairs

Chorus
Funny the way it is
If you think about it
Somebody’s going hungry
And someone else is eating out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
Somebody’s heart is broken
And it becomes your favorite song

Funny the way it is
If you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school
Another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier’s last breath
His baby is being born

Standing on a bridge
Watch the water passing under me
It must have been much harder
When there was no bridge just water
Now the world is small
Compared to how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters
And rivers and stars

Watch the sky
A jet plane so far out of my reach
Is there someone up there
Looking down on me?
A boy chase a bird
So close but every time
He never catch her
But he can’t stop trying

Even those who live in darkness may stumble across the bright light of revelation from time to time. A culture’s poets often serve as a window into the collective heart and soul of a particular people. At our time and place in history, many of our culture’s poets would likely be our songwriters or possibly even filmmakers.

Paul in his famous speech in Acts 17 quotes from a hymn to Zeus composed by the Cretan poet Epimenides (also used in Titus 1:12) as well as using a portion of Phainomena, a poem by Stoic poet Aratus. Paul uses these true statements made by pagan poets to build bridges with a people who would not have understood Old Testament quotations or even Judaic cultural practices. In other words, he was not using “churchy” language (or even Scripture for that matter) to reach people who had no frame of reference to understand what he was saying.

A contemporary example might be quoting Chuck Colson or James Dobson as an authority source when discussing a particular issue with a non-believer. They are then left wondering, “Why would I care what some old white dude says?” It carries no weight with them whatsoever.

Granted, Scripture is our highest authority and we would in no way hold up non-believing sources that contradict truth from the Holy Word of God. We would absolutely affirm with Hebrews 4:12-13 that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword and that in its light, all are naked and exposed before the eyes of God. It is not that we believe Scripture lacks power to relate to non-believers. Rather we believe that God reveals himself in multiple ways, and where God reveals himself outside of his “specific revelation” of Scripture, the truth then shared will not be in contradiction to what is revealed in the Word of God. Truth, then, is truth and should be employed as such.

Listen to the words written in the song above. What is being revealed, what is the “poet” drawing our attention to? Is it not the irony in how we walk through life so consumed with ourselves that we fail to see the needs of those around us? Think of how he lays in the park, enjoying the sunshine while at that very moment someone in his own neighborhood is loosing all they have. Or, on a more personal note to the poet, he writes a song about his own heart being broken, and we, his audience, have the audacity to glibly refer to it as “our favorite song”.

There is brokenness here. There is pain and suffering. There is also a potential bridge with non-believers. While you may be hard pressed to find anyone under the age of 30 walking the streets of Southside (or today’s college campus for that matter) familiar with Scripture, you would have just as difficult a time finding anyone who is unfamiliar with the Dave Matthews Band. While they might be hesitant to interact with direct Scriptural quotes, they are very concerned with issues of social justice, brokenness and societal inequality (which is also in part why this particular generation turned out in droves for President Obama in last November’s election).

So what is our calling as believers? Admittedly it is a multifaceted calling. But at least a portion of that calling must be in paying attention to the voices that the culture around us is listening to. This assumes then that we are well-versed enough with these sources to be able to call on them (under the authority of Scripture) and make use of them. This also assumes that we are mature enough in our faith and in our understanding of Scripture to be able to discern truth from lies. Where untruth and evil are espoused, we must shine the light of truth and expose darkness for what it is. BUT, where truth shines, let us draw attention to that as well.

(Disclaimer: The author, in his use of this particular Dave Matthews song, makes no promises and or guarantees as to the quality or usefulness of any other Dave Matthews song. The author is also hereby not responsible for any heads exploding due to attempts trying to weed through much of what the genres of music and film have on offer. Cultural interactions must be undertaken at one’s own risk and under the watchful care of Holy Spirit. If the perceived risk seems too great, please remain in your walled compound until you hear the final trumpet blast signifying it is then safe to come out.) ~ and just in case it wasn’t clear, that last disclaimer was a joke….kinda’.

Further Thoughts On Believer's Stewardship of Creation

Greg Johnson, Associate Pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, MO has some intriguing thoughts on Christian’s stewardship of God’s creation in light of the Cultural Mandate in Genesis 1:28. The following is gleaned from his 2002 IVP release entitled “the WORLD according to God”

“….remember that we were placed in the Garden with the directions to work it and take care of it (Gen 2:15). Our leadership of nature is a stewardship. We look after God’s creation for him. The creatures are God’s creatures (Ps 104:24), his works, in which he delights (Ps 104:31).

And the dominion God gives is not self-regulated. We exercise it under God’s law of love for him and neighbor. The command to love God includes within it the call to love what he loves – including his creation. Even the Mosaic legislation God gave Israel included protections for animals to prevent the extinction of the species (Deut 22:6-7).

Similarly God protected oxen from being muzzled while treading out grain (Deut 25:4). If we are going to use an ox to do our work, then we can’t hinder the animal from eating while it works. While our dominion over animals – at least since the flood – includes the freedom to eat them (Gen 9:3), God forbids cruelty to them. Human sin is the real problem behind the ecological crisis of our day – particularly greed, the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10).

Creation itself pleads with us to consider the noble calling God gave it. The animals, trees, even the atmosphere have the same final calling humanity does: to display the character of God. (Granted, humanity is unique among all creation and the way in which we do this is different, but the ultimate calling is in fact the same, that being to glorify God) “The heavens declare the glory of God; / the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1). If nature does that, then to damage nature is a pretty serious crime – a sin that God will judge: “The time has come. . . for destroying those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11:18). The Scriptures call all creatures to praise Gods holy name (Ps 145:21), and God called the animals to increase and fill the earth as well (Gen 1:22). If each of the millions of species on earth has a calling from God to fulfill, then every species we exterminate diminishes the display of God’s glory. Environmental concern is a theological priority.

God calls us to establish human civilization for his glory, not for our own. He also calls us to serve the rest of his creation by enabling it to glorify him as well. We cannot do one at the expense of the other.”

"Wednesday is Earth Day"

I was in Target the other day. Nothing odd there. I am in Target probably more often than I need to be. After picking up what I needed (or didn’t need depending on your perspective) I went up front to check out. At the cash register my items were then placed into a red canvas bag instead of the typical white plastic one with the big red bulls-eye that I am accustomed to. “Save a bag, plant a tree”, said the lady behind the register. “Wednesday is Earth Day”.

Wednesday is Earth Day. Hmm. My first thought was one of hippies and tree huggers and global warming movies by famous ex vice presidents. I actually chuckled to myself a bit. But my next thought was a little more unnerving. Here was the question that came to my mind. Is the great commission true? No, not that one. I’m talking about the FIRST great commission, before Mathew 28. I am talking about the commission given to mankind in the Garden way back in the beginning. Is Genesis 1:28 true?

You see we are a people who, based on the Holy Bible as our ultimate authority, espouse a particular world view. We believe that God is sovereign over all areas of life and that we, as creatures unique in His kingdom, are bearers of His very image. We are then as bearers of this image, commanded to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over it and all of the creatures therein. We have been given a particular responsibility, that being to “subdue” and to “have dominion”.

The new ESV Study Bible in discussing this particular passage puts it this way. “Here the idea is that the man and the woman are to make the earth’s resources beneficial for themselves, which implies that they would investigate and develop the earth’s resources to make them useful for human beings generally.” The notes continue, “These commands are not, however, a mandate to exploit the earth and its creatures to satisfy human greed, for the fact that Adam and Eve were ‘in the image of God’ implies God’s expectation that human beings will use the earth wisely and govern it with the same sense of responsibility and care that God has toward the whole of his creation.”

With the same sense of responsibility and care that God has toward the whole of his creation……ouch.

I wasn’t chuckling anymore. I was actually leaning more towards repenting. Repenting for my minimalistic picture of what “subdue and have dominion” actually mean. Repenting over my lack of care for something that God cares deeply for. Repenting for my lack of engagement in the preservation and stewardship of his creation. Repenting ultimately for my complete abdication of responsibility for God’s creation and its resources to people who do not share in our biblically based world view….and then making fun of them for how they carry out, in their own fallen and marred way, the responsibility that I have so flippantly ignored.

So by all means, as image bearers of the Creator of the earth and all of its resources, go forth, subdue and express dominion “with the same sense of responsibility and care that God has toward the whole of his creation” and in the words of my new friend the Target lady...

“Save a bag, plant a tree. Wednesday is Earth Day.”

Those Who Are Different

In thinking further about last weeks post from Darren Patrick on intentionally pursuing relationships with people different from us, it reminded me that this is one reason why I like the Jones Valley Urban Farm so much. They are NOT like me in many ways. Many of the participants would consider themselves to be "green". A few even think that Al Gore is a rather sane individual. We would see eye to eye on relatively few things. But then again, that is exactly where we are called to be as believers, daily standing eye to eye with people we don't naturally see eye to eye with. And not merely to change them, but to seek ways to love them.

So what will it be like to hang out and seek to listen to and understand people who do not believe that Rush Limbaugh is the Second Coming along with his disciples Hannity and Glenn Beck? Will it be uncomfortable? Was it uncomfortable for the Creator of the universe to subject himself to the fragility of a human infants body? Metaphysical discussions of the incarnation aside, we are called to live lives interacting with people outside of our natural comfort bubble. And the goal is not simply just to "win conversions".

We are called simply to love God and to love people. Step one is to admit we do BOTH of those things incredibly poorly. I think here at Oak Mountain, by God's grace, we have made astounding progress in understanding that we do not love God well. We understand that we do not love God well because we cannot love God well in our own strength. We are broken and rebellious (and dead and blind, etc). This then leads us to rely fully upon His pursuit of us, by grace, in order to walk daily with Him. I truly believe God is doing a work among us in that area. Praise God.

Now, for the whole loving people part. Again, let's admit that we do this incredibly poorly. We are a selfish and narcissistic people who at times care more about the contents of our portfolio than we do about the contents of our neighbors pantry (or their heart). We must understand that we do not love people well because we cannot love people well in our own strength. We are broken and rebellious (and selfish and narcissistic, etc). This then should lead us to rely fully upon His ability, by grace, to change our hearts in relation to the people around us. We must ask God to give us His heart for the people around us. This is the only way that we will begin to love outsiders with anything remotely resembling the love of Christ.

What will this look like? I must say I don't fully understand the ultimate reality of what this would look like, at least in part because we will not completely get there until Christ bodily returns and puts right all things that are so visibly wrong, including the way we relate with the non-believers God has graciously placed in our path. (Okay, I understand that there won't actually be non-believers when Christ comes back, but you get what I am trying to say.)

I don't know what sort of odd and uncomfortable situations God will call us into, but I will admit that I am really looking forward to the day when Oak Mountain is known as "that grace church" not just for how we relate to God ourselves, but because of how we pursue "outsiders" in love.

Thoughts on missional implications of living out the gospel

From Darren Patrick: lead pastor for The Journey in Saint Louis, MO

Living the gospel, ie – being on mission, can take many forms: explaining the gospel to a friend or stranger, carrying out acts of compassion, or by being faithful to sacrificially love those in your church. The challenge is for all of us to stay in "mission-mode" and not to default to "maintenance-mode."

When it comes to being missional, it is easy for Christians and local churches to be content in our bible studies, worship services and small groups and to forget the world. We do not drift toward mission, we drift away from it.

It is not easy to be missional, it is hard work, it takes intentionality. It is much less stressful to hang out with people who look the same, smell the same and believe the same things we do. It is uncomfortable and challenging to intentionally spend time with people who hold differing world-views.

But we must push through this discomfort because we are the church. We are the church, the called-out ones. We are the church, the sent-out ones. We are the church, on mission for the sake of the world.

Restoration Academy Outreach to Farifield

Restoration Academy is a private Christian School located in Fairfield, AL which seeks to minister to students and the city of Fairfield through four cultural distinctives.

1) Culture of Incarnation – currently almost half of their staff live within a 2 mile radius of the school. When I was visiting a few weeks ago, they stated their realization that these kids were coming from such a spiritually, economically and socially deprived system that 7 hours of discipleship in a classroom every day was simply not enough.

2) Culture of Discipline – With where their students are coming from, understanding that each action taken will produce a specific consequence, whether that be in studying well for a test or choosing ones friends poorly, is a valuable life skill.

3) Culture of Self-Efficacy – They “meet the children at the point of their academic need, expecting excellence but also meeting that with realism so that the students can overcome frustration.”

4) Culture of Compassion – They “provide opportunities for students to participate in the restoration of their community and world through mission outreach opportunities”.

One such outreach opportunity is coming up on Saturday, April 25^th. The following is an announcement from an email newsletter. Are you looking for an opportunity to plug into mission right here in our own city? Are you looking for an opportunity to pour yourself out for a day for a city that is a 20 minute drive and a whole world away from where most of us live? Here it is. And better yet, take your kids ages 6 and up along with you.

Focus on Fairfield

Join Restoration Academy students and staff as we take to the streets! Scheduled for April 25^th from 7:30 am until 11 am. We will focus on a variety of projects requiring both skilled and unskilled labor that help our community and those who live here. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce your children to urban ministry (ages 6 and up) and to get to know others (including our students) who love Restoration Academy and the community where we live. This is also a great opportunity for groups to get involved. Email Molly Stone at mollydstone@bellsouth.net if you, your family or a group you’re involved with wants more information. Or you can always reach Jason Tucker at jtucker@ompc.org.

Joe's Place

Several years ago a PCA pastor in Maplewood, MO stumbled across something he had no idea existed…. homeless school age children in his own middle class suburban neighborhood. In an amazing alliance between the church, the public school system and local businesses, a home was purchased, remodeled and fully staffed with trained house parents in order to make at least a small step towards combating the senselessness of this phenomenon. The following is from the website for Joe’s Place.

Joe's Place is an innovative idea born from a dramatic need in one community. Each year close to a dozen high school students in Maplewood / Richmond Heights, MO find themselves virtually without a home due to serious family difficulties. These students sleep and eat wherever friends will let them settle for a while.

As the Maplewood / Richmond Heights School District struggles to find a safe haven for these youngsters, we find again and again that teens between the ages of 16 and 18 have few support nets in our social welfare system.

Joe's Place offers a small group of teenage boys what every kid should be able to expect from life: a warm place to sleep, regular meals, and someone to provide guidance and affection.

Reductionism of the Cross

By Rick McKinley– pastor in Portland, OR
From the book un Christian by Davud Kinniman and Gabe Lyons

In trying to communicate the gospel to the masses, the message was eventually reduced to a partial story: humans are sinful and need Jesus in order to go to heaven. This made Christianity lose some of its life because the full description of God’s activity – such as his creation, his plans for restoration, his sovereignty – was left out. It was ultimate reduction, “renounce your sins and place your hope in Jesus.” This phrase is not wrong per se. But it is insufficient, particularly as our culture becomes more and more pluralistic. As a result of this mindset, one can easily accept Jesus and Buddha and a form of Wicca and have not the slightest problem with the significant contradictions. By reducing the gospel to a what’s-in-it-for-me message, people feel Jesus exists for their benefit.

The greatest problem with this model of communication is that God does not have to honor it. Just because someone prayed a prayer does not mean they put their faith in Jesus, were regenerated by the Spirit of God, and became a new creation in Christ. It may be a helpful tool for some, but it could be a point of departure and confusion for others.

Sometimes we believe the greatest Christian virtue is leading someone else to Christ. Scripture teaches followers of Christ that they should love their neighbors and make disciples along the way. Making disciples is a long process. Don’t get me wrong, I believe it is important that people make decisions to follow Jesus – I just believe it needs to happen in a context of love and not be reduced to feed the consumer’s mindset of finding spiritual comfort. The gospels portray a grand, multifaceted picture of Jesus. I think we should really interact with this portrait in sharing Christ with others. Read through the gospels with them and let them encounter the person rather than the formula. I just think that asking someone to commit to a major way of life like following Christ deserves much more respect than simple spiritual formulas.

The sad thing is that when we go out and love people in Portland without an agenda of getting a “return” for our time – this is considered revolutionary. I think this should be the norm, and we have so much to learn in doing it better. If we share the gospel and people reject Jesus, do we quit loving them?

Further thoughts on JaJuan and Mondays post

JaJuan's story, sadly, is all too common. 12% of an entire city school system....homeless. Amazing. Sad. Maddening. Almost as sad as some of the comments that followed the article on the Birmingham News' website.

If you clicked on the link in the post and read the rest of the article from the B'ham News, you may have noticed a comment towards the end of the article making reference to JaJuan's favorite artist and song. Now I need to go ahead and put a disclaimer of some sort here.

Some may find the rest of this post disturbing. If you are easily offended or if you would prefer to continue living in a bubble, please stop reading now.

My goal here is not to seek shock value simply for shock values sake. My goal is certainly not to offend. My goal is simply to show who this young 8 year old's role models are in our absence.

In the article, JaJuan references his favorite song as being "Lollipop" by the rapper Lil' Wayne. I thought about pasting the lyrics here, but then thought better of it. If you would like to find them you can do so on your own with a couple of quick clicks on Google. Again, I will post a warning. The lyrics go far beyond being sexually suggestive. If you do read through these lyrics however, remember that they are being referenced by an 8 year old as his favorite song. Read them. Weep for the brokenness. Repent for the church's lack of engagement.

Anthony Bradley, a professor at Covenant Theological Seminary and a research fellow at the Acton Institute, published an article in which he discusses Lil' Wayne in particular.

E. Dewey Smith is a Baptist pastor in Decatur, Georgia who has some thoughts on this subject from the pulpit as well. (Another disclaimer: Pastor Smith is rather frank here in his description of a particular song by the rapper Soulja' Boy.)

In the absence of men and women who are so impacted by the gospel of grace that they give up comfort and convenience in order to pursue purposeful relationships with those who have no other gospel influencers in their lives, Lil' Wayne will continue to raise young disciples like JaJuan. And lest we shrug this off as merely an "urban" problem let us not forget that the number one market for this particular brand of rap and hip-hop is SUBURBAN WHITE KIDS.

Surely the empty tomb calls us to more than mass introspection culminating in a warm group hug.

(From Sunday's Birmingham News)

JaJuan Tanniehill has no desire to skip school. At 8 years old, he'd rather skip going home. The Norwood Elementary School first-grader has no home to go home to. Just a shelter teeming with rough boys and bad smells. And anger. There is always anger. "It's fun at school," JaJuan said. "But at the shelter, it's not too good. I've got to go to bed at 8:30. I don't like the kids. They be trying to fight you, and if you hit'em back, their mamas say something." JaJuan, his mother and brother share a small room with another family. "It's terrible," he said. "I wish I had my own room."

JaJuan is one of more than 3,100 homeless children who attend Birmingham city schools. That number represents 12 percent of the system's enrollment. And the number is growing.

You can read the rest of JaJuan's story HERE

What does the gospel call us to do? Granted, this is a secondary question. First and foremost we should ask, "Who does the gospel call us to be in relation to Jesus?" It is in light of the answer to this question, that the gospel of Jesus Christ dying on a cross for sinners like me (and you) to pay the price that we could not pay for our sin, calls us to be men and women who bask in the glory of our calling to be children of the King. It is then in the blinding light of this truth, the truth that an all-powerful and completely just God calls us to be dearly loved children, not because of what we have done to deserve his pleasure, but in spite of what we have done to earn His wrath. It is in the clarity of this light that we are then called forth in love and submission to His will, both to live lives that are reflective of our position as sons and daughters AND from that position of security to then pursue others with the same wreckless abandon.

So now, what does the gospel call us to do? If it calls us to do nothing, then we must ask ourselves, are we following the same gospel that the apostle's were following in Acts 4 where it states in verses 33 and 34 that "great GRACE was upon them all" so much so that that there "was not a needy person among them"? Are we following the same gospel that caused even Roman politicians and officials to recognize that this growing band of followers of "The Way" cared for each other and even those outside of their faith communities in a radical way? Are we following the same gospel that James, the very brother of Jesus speaks of when he writes James 1:19-27, or in chapter 2 where he make his famous statement of faith without works being dead?

Even thinking through the season we are in right now, this week. What does Christ's crucifixion and resurrection mean for us and for JaJuan? Surely the empty tomb calls us to more than mass introspection culminating in a warm group hug. People of God, we were homeless, we were orphans for whom the Creator of the universe sacrificed his very own Son!

Because of the love that we have been shown, what would a watching world say to people who opened up their own homes to homeless families? What would a watching world say about people who cared enough for the homeless and fatherless to provide for real and tangible needs like gardens of fresh vegetables to those individuals and families? (Both real life examples from local and national news media of things that NON-CHRISTIANS are doing right now.)

There are opportunities to plug in right now. Household of Faith is a local PCA church reaching into Barret Elementary School downtown to touch kids just like JaJuan through tutoring and building relationships. Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Birmingham is another widely known and respected group placing children in need in a long term relationship with an older and wiser individual for shepherding and guidance. RESTORATION ACADEMY is a private Christian school located in Fairfield living out real, incarnational ministry. In the past several years much of the faculty have sold their homes in Homewood, Vestavia, Pelham and Hoover and actually moved to Fairfield because they recognized 7 hours of discipleship in a given school day simply was not enough.

There are real and practical ways to plug in. When we have answered the question of who the gospel calls us to be, we must ask what the gospel calls us to do. If you are interested in engaging in the missio dei, the mission of God at Oak Mountain Church, call Jason Tucker at 205-981-4364 or contact him at jtucker@ompc.org.

Clustering Into Isolationism?

I am currently reading a book by a guy named Bill Bishop entitled “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart”. The basic premise that he is putting forth is that for the past 30 to 40 years, America has been slowly migrating into more and more isolated enclaves of like-mindedness. Simply put, we choose to live, work and shop around those people we are most comfortable with, i.e. people just like us. This therefore robs us of the ability to empathize with those of differing perspectives on social and political issues, thereby causing deeper polarization in society at large.

From what I have read so far, it is a little bit too heavily weighted in the political analysis side of things. (I guess I was hoping for more of a pure sociological study.) I am still making up my mind whether or not I buy into what he is selling about the culture at large. I don’t know if I am smart enough or observant enough to offer a viable alternative. One thing I have been struck with though is how I have recognized what he is talking about in the church.

Now Bishop takes this so far as to insinuate that likeminded denominations of believers is potentially a bad thing. Admittedly there are devastating effects of how denominations fracture the larger body of Christ. But I don’t think I would end up at the same place he does, basically because I am coming from a different starting point. Likeminded believers gathering together in worship with those from a similar theological perspective or world view is a perfectly valid expression of choice.

However, where I do believe his insights offer a valid critique is when it comes to our thinking and interactions with those outside of the faith. His comment on page 39 of his book is revealing. “We now live in a giant feedback loop, hearing our own thoughts about what’s right and wrong bounced back to us by the television shows we watch, the newspapers and books we read, the blogs we visit online, the sermons we hear, and the neighborhoods we live in.”

We do not identify with those individuals outside of our faith communities because we do not interact with people outside of those communities. Several years ago my wife’s aunt asked a question that kind of hurt. She asked, “Do you guys have any friends at all who are not in your church?” Exactly.

When it comes to loving non-Christians, we are handicapped by our own isolationism. We have become (sorry, this might sting a little) inbred. Please do not hear me standing on a soap box bashing Christ’s bride. I am looking squarely in the mirror as I humbly put forth this critique.

So what do we do? I would suggest that we simply follow the path laid out by none other than Christ himself. Pursue the faithless, being authentically strategic with whom we spend our time. If my in-law’s question fits, then make purposeful shifts. Actually befriend non-believers, people can tell the difference between when they are being loved well and when they are being treated like a project. In the knowledge of the love and grace with which we have been pursued by a Father's wreckless love, let us then pursue with wreckless abandon those whom that same Father is placing in our path. Show people love as we have been shown love.

Also, we must enter into these relationships with the expectation that non-believers are going to live and act like, well, non-believers. It is not at all loving to impose our own standards on those who have not yet been brought into light. That is probably a whole blog entry by itself.

So one final question, who are you inviting to dinner at your house Saturday night? Feed them, and love them, well.