The Inner Ring

hey party people. Sorry for the delay between posts, its crunch time in the semester, and Robin and I got addicted to the American Office somewhere in there. So anyway, sorry.

Just to confirm, we are on for a week from Saturday. May 3, Bethany and Erin's, be there! We are having tacos, I think. And we are going to have a great time. David and Desiree we would love it if you guys could make it too. Bethany, I need to get directions, so we will be in contact.

One of the things I have been mulling over is something that C.S. Lewis writes about, called the "inner ring." He writes at one point, and this is a paraphrase, that the craving for the inner ring is something that can make a man who is not yet very bad do very bad things. Basically, the idea of the inner ring is that you are an insider. Think about it for a minute. There are all sorts of ways that people try to make themselves an "insider." It can take the form of what clothes you wear (think about "goths" that insist they are against conformity, but strangely all look alike) or it can take the form of the way people vote (only republicans get to heaven) or what foods you like (ewww, mushrooms?). There are all sorts of ways we try to put ourselves in the inner ring. Donald Miller describes this in "Searching for God knows What" when he talks about the lifeboat. What people do you want in the lifeboat with you? Who would you save?

This will be a problem at our church. We all went to Howard Payne. We all have known each other for a few years. We have spent significant time in Texas. There are things we will tend to talk about that sometimes outsiders will not get. I think part of our goal is to explode the idea of the "inner ring." To begin to truly live and allow "outsiders" to become "insiders" at our church. To help people to see that they have a place. It will take us being deliberate and taking time, and being uncomfortable. For instance, there is a new guy at our current church. He is really strange. He loves all kinds of martial arts. And he stares a bit. But where should he be accepted, where should he be cared about? Church. Now I am not advocating Robin hang out with him, but I do think that I should try to get to know him at church and things like that.

A good biblical example is the mixture of the disciples. How do you think they responded when Jesus called Levi, or Matthew the tax collector? Here was someone who was a traitor, someone who took their money and spent it how he wished, and now Jesus was calling him too?!! Something to think about. The Proverb that I would like us to meditate on this week is Proverbs 10.19 "When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech." We are looking forward to seeing everyone, post your prayer requests, and pray for us, we are getting a new car tomorrow or Saturday, I will no longer have that cursed gas guzzling truck!