Hey girly butt! I hope you run over a nail!

I think we've complicated things. Like the woman who packs 4 bags for a 5 day trip, we've added too much and made this too heavy to carry. She packs open-toed shoes, heels, walking shoes, flip-flops, running shoes and several colors to match a variety of outfits. She loads in a few outfits for warm days, cool days and cold days. There are casual clothes, lounging clothes, business casual and dressy outfits. It's all good stuff but it just doesn't fit in the car. She can't carry it. You can't carry it. Bellmen, cab drivers and baggage handlers give a groan when they see it coming. It's just not necessary.

I think we've made the message of Christ too heavy to handle. We've taken it from simple to complex. It just doesn't look to me like what Jesus intended when he said, "Come to me if you're tired and weighed down and I will give you rest. Be about what I am about; I'm not going to go all crazy on you. I'm not about weighing you down." (Mt. 11:28-30)

Maybe I'm simple-minded but when I read John 3:16-17, I see that God loved, God gave and we believe and it's a done deal. I see that Jesus didn't come because he's ticked off and wants to point out how screwed up we are. He didn't come to condemn but to rescue and give hope. (Listen to Andy Stanley: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/npm/~3/8DV1ypJml1E/part5.mp3 )

Can faith in Christ really be that simple? Yeah, it can.

But we keep adding things to the salvation bag. It works like this, "Saved people don't ________. Saved people do ____________." I bet you can fill in the blanks. There are a ton of things we add while claiming that we really do believe that you can't earn salvation.

Saved people don't drink, they don't cuss, they don't look at porn on their computers, they don't laugh at dirty jokes, they don't fight with their spouses, they don't listen to pop music. Saved people are regular attenders at church, they give 10 percent of their income, vote republican ...

The atmosphere we create demands that people hide their struggles or risk looking like they are not "saved." I've spent the last 25 years working with teenagers in local churches. I think their biggest frustration is that their individual families at church are nothing like the families they are outside. They just don't get it. They hate the act. They know life is messy.

"I was so tired of reading religious books and hearing religious speakers tell me how perfect they were, and I would end up hearing a sermon or reading a book or going to some religious meeting, and at the end of the meeting I felt worse than when I got there because they had it all together." Mike Yaconelli on his book Messy Sprituality.

Me too, Mike. Me too.

I was riding my bike about a week ago trying to drop more pounds off this 270 pound mass. I was feeling good about myself. Hey, when I started riding in May I could barely handle riding a mile. Now I'm up to 60-70 miles a week. I was pumping up a hill wearing my bright crossing guard style yellow vest and my sporty helmet thinking, "Okay, I got this." I felt pretty pumped and hopeful. Then I heard, "Coming on your left!" Like I was not moving, this tights-wearing guy with his fancy clip-in shoes, bright Corona biking shirt, sleek helmet with little mirror thingy attached to the side went flying by me."

I think if there had been a pub at the top of that hill I might have pulled in, tossed my helmet in the trash and ordered a Corona and the largest order of breaded hot wings or cheese fries they had on the menu. This guy with his little girly butt flying by me made me forget my progress and hope and trade it in for total discouragment.

Is that what we do to people in church? By adding so many conditions to the rescue Jesus brought, have we made the good news just too heavy and too complicated to handle? Do we lighten the load and encourage or do we present a false reality of perfection that discourages? By pretended that no one struggles do we miss the opportunity to help each other overcome the hills we face?

God loved. God gave. When we believe we receive. That's it. That's all. It's good news.

Some days I want to be a mail carrier

I rarely know what my day will look like when I roll out of bed. Some days I think being an accountant, a tolltaker, an umpire, mail carrier or bagger would be better. But then again, I bet they get bored with routine.

I had four notable interactions Wednesday:

Interaction #1:
I spoke with Jim by phone. He started off telling me that he had just prayed to Satan and that I had a chance to make it so he wouldn't do it again. All I needed to do was pay a bill for him and that would prove to him that God was real. If I didn't, he was heading back to chat it up some more with the Prince of Darkness and make a deal with him. Jim was clearly desperate. He had run out of options and was willing to "sell his soul" for a couple hundred dollars. I wasn't really sure what to do for Jim. I told him that from what I know about Satan is that he would be glad to make a deal. And what I know of God is that He's not into making deals; He's into giving gifts. Jim had to run so our conversation got cut short. It was a strange call.

Interaction #2:
"How do you get someone to see that what she perceives as her strengths are really her largest weaknesses?" The topic was leadership. Her boss had been treating her with no respect and simply using her as an employee. I had no answers.

Interaction #3:
"The pastor's daughter got pregnant and had an abortion. He's being told to resign and leave quietly because of it." Woah! What? I felt myself getting angry at yet another church that was about to spit out their pastor and his family because they didn't measure up. The young pastor on the phone was looking to me, a mentor, for guidance. Initially he was angry that the church was not being told why. He was leaning toward the judgmental side saying, "How can he just get away with this and go to another church without them knowing about him?" My heart broke for this pastor and ached for his daughter who undoubtedly was bearing the weight of her dad getting fired in addition to the scars she already wore. "Is anyone talking about Jesus in this mess?" My question set my young friend on his heels. "Is anyone talking about forgiveness and loving this family; this girl?" No, they were too busy swinging their selfrighteous swords. Why is it, in the Christian faith, we tend to shoot our wounded?

Interation #4:
I spent about an hour online talking to a man I had had as a student about 20 years ago. It was nice to reconnect. After talking about sports, weather, jobs and all the regular topics I dropped the bomb. "What do you think about church? Do you go anymore?" He had brought up the topic by talking about my current ministry and reminiscing about the youth program he was in. I stared at the screen. Nothing. I worked to soften the blow by telling him about my coursework and my study of why people give up on church and asked for his opinion. His story was familiar. He had no interest in a religious code and was tired of not being accepted in churches unless he "played the game." I thanked him, apologized for the games and reminded him that Jesus was more interested in a relationship with him than he was of taking attendance at religious services. I hope we will talk again soon.

I listened to Perry Noble by podcast yesterday as I rode my bike. His challenge to pray, "Lord, make us dangerous," struck a chord with me. When I am more passionate about Jesus than I am about church systems, I begin to discover what it means to be the church of Jesus Christ.