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radical.

as i’ve mentioned before our church is reading the book radical. it’s been amazing. the crazy part is, that it takes someone to make a BOLD statement like “radical” for some of us to look at what scripture really says. this isn’t a new idea. it’s what jesus did. crazy how in your face jesus was, and how often we walk around on egg shells when it comes to religion. this morning while at panera reading/journaling a man came up to me and said “how nice to see a young lady say her blessing before she enjoys a meal” i smiled to myself because a) being called a young lady always makes me smile b) i didn’t know anyone was even in panera when i was giving my muffin its so called blessing c) i was glad to know i was breaking his crazy college student ideal [[yes, not in college…but honestly- people still think i’m in high school so the fact that he’s giving me college is fab!]] he asked me what church i attended and what i was reading. after about 0.5 seconds of my conversation on church he told me his church/denomination/recent conversion to a new denomination and the politics associated with his old faith that brought him to his new church. it was a heavy convo for 6:45 in the morning. It was funny because while he was telling me this i was truly listening with no agenda. so when he stopped talking it took me a second to respond. on sunday nights we have campaigners for lincoln younglife [[a bible study for the high schoolers who are ready to grow deeper in their faith]] last night we talked about noise. we watched an awesome video by rob bell on the noise that is constantly surrounding us, and what it would [or hopefully does] look like for us to be still and silent. We talked with our high school friends about active listening, and listening as jesus would have. we also shared what noise we fill our own lives with, and what we are trying to avoid by filling that silence. needless to say, this morning i was truly being an excellent active listener [i like to think i am usually pretty good at this] but so much that my brain had yet to formulate an appropriate response to my new friend. then i just started thinking about how i am turned off by political christians. not that you can’t have an affiliation and love jesus. but i think love jesus, love people is how the church should look. now understand i enjoy politics, and a little challenging controversy, but oh goodness this guy was on a roll! so after i fumbled my way through a response, i ended with a “have a wonderful day” and he was off. i then closed my bible, radical, my journal and sat in silence. Luckily at 7:30 in the morning at panera you can get a bit of silence. Customers are grabbing their coffee and going, so it was easy for me to steal a few moments of silence. and it was beautiful.

i love mondays. they have always been my most productive days and now i have club on mondays = awesome. so adding in a few minutes of silence really added to an already amazing day. the afternoon has since arrived and in a few short hours i’ll be packing into a living room with 50 of my closet high school friends. some people think that giving up my time [[which really isn’t mine]] to hang out with high schoolers is pretty radical. i think that its just a step, and i am so thankful that i’ve been chosen to be a part of it. so at 7:59 tonight be thinking of us younglifers and praying that our high school friends catch a glimpse of how radical our god can be!!!