I'm writing in blue today b/c that's how this cold weather makes me feel! I can't believe it! Summer sunshine and 100 degree heat--where have you gone? I miss you lots!

So today was our Faculty/Staff Retreat...I finally officially feel like Staff at LCC, which is quite weird. It was somewhat boring, but there were some good points. Keith Ray (Pres.) mentioned something that gave me chills after we sang in worship this afternoon--His dream is that the community of Lincoln will "hear our songs of praise" and wonder what all the ruckus is about out here on the edge of town! Just thinking about it in that way gave me chills. I wondered what it would be like if our worship could be heard throughout the town...as if the walls and buildings around us didn't exist, and no loudspeaker was needed to amplify our voices. No, this doesn't just mean our voices in singing, but our lives in worship. It would be so awesome if the campus this year lived so loudly that the communities around us were just infected with the love of Christ. I want that for my own life and for Christians everywhere. I hope that our lives AND our words speak loudly to the world.

I've also been thinking about what Chris talked about at Fuel last Sunday night. He was recalling a sermon he heard from Erwin McManus last year. I don't remember everything that he talked about, but what has echoed most in my mind is this: Christians are here for more of a reason than to be just good, moral people. In fact, our lives are defined by our FAITH rather than by moral standards. Too often people assume they're a "good Christian" just because they don't drink, smoke, look at pornography, cuss, gamble, have sex before marriage, etc. Unfortunately both believers and non-believers sometimes judge one's faith on the basis of those kinds of things. While those issues are still issues and are addressed from a Biblical perspective, that's not what Christianity is all about. We're not here to simply follow a set of rules and "do not" lists. We're here because we have faith in something bigger, someONE bigger who has freed us to live for something that lasts beyond this earth and this life. It's about following Christ, who was not a good citizen, but rather he was dangerous! We should be dangerously making ourselves uncomfortable for Him...what does it hurt, really, to open our mouths and tell someone about Christ? Maybe our egos, but those aren't eternal.

So, if you're reading this and you're a Christian, I hope this maybe challenges you to step it up a little. If you're not a Christian, I hope that you see a different side of Christianity than the moral standards that a lot of people assume to define "Christian." It's so much more than that. It's often our fault that we're defined that way, so I apologize.

Well, I'm not trying to preach a sermon through my blog...these things have just been running through my mind this week and I thought I'd share or at least attempt to organize my thoughts more.