Face To Face

My wife and I are mere weeks away from meeting our newborn son, Alexander Joseph.

All of the preparations are being made and finalized in anticipation of his arrival... well, the best laid plans of mice, men and Meg, anyway.

We're under no illusions, people. I'm sure that there will be plenty of surprises and shocking moments along the way, but we're doing our best to get ready for Lex.

Regardless, I just can't wait to meet our little man, see his little face (even that big Amsden-head), smell his skin, & hear his voice. (crying and all)

I remember when my first niece, Lydia, was born. My sister, Dawn, and her husband, Tim, would sit for hours upon hours and just study her beautiful little face. I fondly recall how Tim would just hold her close and press his lips against her tiny cheek, breathing her in and feeling her breathe. The world and all it's problems would fade from view as Tim was locked in this moment with his child. Face to Face.

I'm really looking forward to those moments with Lex. Amidst the crying, sleeplessness, dirty diapers, fevers, and everything that the "newborn" experience will hurl my way (yes, literally, "hurl"), I am looking forward to holding my son close, feeling him breathe, kissing his cheek, and communing with him. Face to Face.

I think this is what our Heavenly Father truly wants for us, his children. Amidst the chaos and tumult of our daily lives, He is holding us. When we think He is so far away from our hurts, our pains, our cries, He is right there, breathing on our skin. He longs for that communion, that closeness, where we can breathe Him in as He breathes on us. Our Father loves us, holds us, longs for closeness to us, and all we have to do is meet Him there. Face to Face.

I pray that you would fully experience the close, loving breath of your Heavenly Father!

PART 2 - Root Problem Or Fruit Problem?

(So, it's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I've been busy with another creative project that has had my full attention... but now, we're back, folks!)
ALL RIGHT! Let's get back into it!

There were some great comments on the last post (Is It A Root Problem Or A Fruit Problem?), and I think some of the thoughts expressed by others warrant another entry on this subject.

Let's explore the idea that, when looking at our cultural Root and Fruit Problems, we might just be dealing with an issue of "BOTH/AND", not necessarily, "EITHER/OR".

I'm not saying that we must be EITHER/OR when it comes to EITHER Personal Evangelism OR Social Reform. The focus of the Body of Christ should definitely be BOTH personal evangelism AND social reform, but what I'm saying is that we should prioritize our BOTH as well as our AND.

My point is that one naturally follows the other.

One of the commentors (Karen, love your thoughts!) from the last entry pointed out that "[she has] recently received some very thorough Biblical teaching on the Reformer’s Creed that leads [her] to believe we must do both at the same time. [my emphasis added]." (by the by, Karen, I've read that book too... it's quite good! And, the author is one of my personal favorites. HaHa!... I fully recommend it to anyone who wants to read THE REFORMER'S CREED.)

However, we're not talking about Personal Evangelism as merely getting people to have a "salvation experience." Certainly, Personal Evangelism is more than walkin' that aisle and sayin' that prayer... that would be naive and short-sighted to think that ye ole sinner's prayer (ie: just get their ticket punched) is a sufficient form of Personal Evangelism.

The Personal Evangelism promoted through the New Testament involves relationship, ministry, service to each other, discipleship, and training. It is being intimately involved in the lives of others, pointing them toward a Christ-centered, Spirit-driven relationship with the Father! It involves transforming lives so that one can be truly FREE, in the Biblical sense of the word, not in the American sense of democratic LIBERTY.

So back to the BOTH/AND.
Like I said above: one naturally follows the other.

True Personal Evangelism and discipleship will change a culture from the Bottom - Up. It starts at the lowest point of the culture, the individual. Personal Evangelism transforms individual lives, one by one, person to person. And when the individual people of a culture are transformed, then it naturally follows that the culture will be transformed. That's my point.

To restate what I said in the last post, "we are focused on the wrong thing if we think that the laws on the books will change people's hearts. Rather, we should focus on changing people's hearts first. Then, we will see the laws reflect the morality of the people."

And, the growth of Christianity through Personal Evangelism cannot be stopped, no matter what the natural governing authorities do to quell it.

Case in point: even as an outlawed minority, Christianity grew exponentially under the repressive hand of the Roman Empire, and not because Christians were a special interest lobby group in the Roman Senate. No! As Tertullian said, "the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." The Church exploded in growth when it was persecuted - not when it was the State's officially-recognized, TopDown religious authority.

As a matter of fact, wasn't it around the time that Christianity became institutionalized by Constantine and when the "Church" became the leading political force that Europe entered a period commonly called, The Dark Ages... ??? (Sure, it can be argued that there had to be a period of deconstruction to wipe away the last vestiges of Roman dominance, but it is compelling to think that TopDown-politically-driven-Christianity was the major ruling force during that era.)

But I digress... my point is that, as Christians, our MAIN focus should be on reaching out to and discipling individual people rather than becoming a dominant political force. After all, what difference does our democractic system make to the souls of those who enter into Eternity separated from God?

Obviously, this topic is epic in scope, and I can barely touch on all the various sides of the argument in one blog entry, and I've already gone long enough on this one. So, perhaps we will have to continue on this topic some more later.

As always, I welcome any thoughts, comments, questions, suggestions, recommendations, etc. I even welcome you to say, "Dallas, you're crazy! What would your parents say?"
Much love to you all!