dangerous

the theology of cardiology

The photo above is an image of a vein. Veins are designed to carry blood toward the heart. Blood is designed to go to the heart, from where it is pumped out again to take life to the rest of the body. Notice that in this picture, though, that blood flow is restricted by two dark clots. The amount of blood reaching the heart - and the rest of the body - is less than ideal.

Consider that the Church is the heart of the kingdom of God. Blood cells are individuals brought to the church through the vein of God's choosing. There, at the heart, they are given a purpose, a mission to carry life into the rest of the world - a body dead without those little Christians coursing through the arteries of its limbs, generating new cells to be carried back into the heart to begin the cycle afresh.

What happens when we allow darkness to enter the Church?

1 John 1.5-7
 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John cuts straight to the core, and without apology, John asserts that darkness has NO place in the Church. When we walk in darkness, we become clots in the veins of God's kingdom. Many of those cells that would otherwise be pumped into the heart, repurposed, and sent back into the world to bring more into the kingdom will never enter a heart clotted with darkness.

Today's Church is in desperate need of a cardiac catheterization. We must flush out the darkness (or bypass stubborn clots) to allow God to bring a fresh flow of life into the chambers of our churches and out into the far appendages of the world.
-mo

wait... what?

is this a medical center for people or pets? either way, something doesn't seem quite right.

maybe

Maybe... it's the one word i wrote down during last week's sermon. the subject was the return of Christ. i feel like we don't talk about this subject nearly as much as we did when i was a kid. on the other hand, our culture seems to be consumed with questions and fantasies about the end of the world. a ton of new books, tv shows, movies, etc. are set in a post-apocalyptic world. and, of course, everyone wants to know whether or not the world will survive the end of the Mayan calendar.

the Bible teaches that not even Jesus knows when Jesus will return. so, when i have been asked what i think about the mayan calendar thing, my answer has usually been something indicating that i don't put any stock in those types of predictions and that i don't believe anyone knows when the end will come.

those things are true, but perhaps a more appropriate answer to the question of whether the world will end before this year is maybe. it's the same answer but with emphasis on the importance of our readiness. what if the mayans were right? are we ready?
-mo

Dreams... Dreams... Dreams...

I was at the old Sandersville Pizza Hut with a random group of people. My sister Joy got mad at me and poked me in the eyelid with a CapriSun straw while spraying water into my eye. She continued to poke and spray for a long time, and I just sat there and let it happen. When she finally stopped, I went to the restroom to assess the damage to my eye. The entire eye was bloody and popping out of my head. I tried to pop it back in, but it fell out. I put it in my mouth and went outside to get help. When I walked outside, I was no longer at Pizza Hut. Now I was in the back yard of the last location of my mom's store PCE. I pulled the eye out of my mouth to check on it, and the iris fell off of it like a contact. Now I had to be careful to keep the iris and the eyeball both safe. The iris went back in my mouth, and the ball stayed in my hand. Charlie Chastain (older gentleman at my church now in Atlanta) drove up and, wanting to help, offered me his ear. He pulled off his right ear, which came off with the whole right side of his face, and he gave it to me. So, now I stand by the road with an iris in my mouth, an eyeball in my right hand, and an ear plus half a face in my left hand. Somehow, I am still able to answer the phone when mama calls to tell me that Sandra Franklin (my parents' nextdoor neighbor, who works in customer service at Thiele Kaolin Company) said that if my eyeball were punctured, I would have to come into her office to have it fixed. So, I got in Mr. Charlie's car to go to Mrs. Sandra's office to get my eye fixed.
The End.


WHAT THE HECK KIND OF DREAM IS THAT????

say ahhhh

full circle

3 years and 2 homes later, dori and I are now back in his first home at defoors glen. and molly is with us this time! other than the terrible commute to church, we are loving it.

whose idea was this?

I just wanted some Reese's pieces. :(

my first 5k

This happened yesterday! Amanda and I ran with some of our students from aefbcYOUTH.

Captain D's, please!

because Granny said so. :)

JV football, anyone?

Go Inman Eagles! Go Seth Wolfe!