My Part of the Conversation

I turned in some ideas for a new youth facility our church will build with our new building. I put the basic YM dreams of video projectors, couches, tables, game tables, etc. I’d really like to be able to set up a “coffee shop” kind of atmostphere for at least part of it. It’s strange, but you think of things you want all the time, and when it comes time to put it on paper, you can’t remember it. That’s what happens to me.

What kinds of things does your Church have for youth? What ideas have you seen for youth facilities and liked? What would you do if you could?

Last week I had a working fridge and working car.

Today, I have a working fridge and working car.

It wasn’t like that in between.

So, basically, I caught up to last week. Don’t you hate it when that happens? When you work and work and work just to get back to where you were?

Well, at least our fridge is an upgrade.

Warning: This post contains little spiritual insight and is quite gross.

I was reading Ezekiel this morning. I found something that literally made me laugh out loud. Check this out:

Ezekiel 4:12-15-

12 Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” 13 The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

14 Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”

15 “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

I can just imagine Ezekiel’s response: “Whew, that was close! For a second there I thought I was going to have to do something gross!”

Anyway, that’s a section of Scripture I never learned about in Sunday school. Which begs me to consider how much about God’s Word I actually know. Where does cooking over poo-poo fit into my theology? Does that teach me something about God that typical churches might gloss over from time-to-time? How much more stuff could there be that I won’t get? If I can regularly find stuff like that, how dare I act like I’ve got all the answers? How can anyone else dare to expect me to? How do I know if I’m asking a rhetorical question?

Anyway, food for thought.

At this link, you can find a Nightline segment about hurricane relief in Baton Rouge.

They mention the shelter at Bethany Church, but there is footage from the shelter our church has been running. Two of the people in the video are ministers at our church, David Finch and Roger Butner. One clip has David talking to one of our evacuees about identification. Another clip shows a birthday party at our shelter. Roger is the one saying the prayer at the end.

Anyway, it’s cool to make national news (you know, as opposed to taking out a Luby’s or something).

Blaine