This has been rattling in my mind for quite a while and it all kind of poured out of me during Catalyst in my journal. This is an idea. A catalyst. Some primal desire for change, but nothing we do should be outside the scope of community. So, my friends, readers, critics… I need your help. I want input and ideas. Let’s make this some sort of collaborative conversation. I’m looking for change. I’m looking for something more. I’m not even sure why I’m writing this, but I’d like to hear from you about this manifesto.

A Manifesto of Revolt and Activism in a Journey

Out of the Cluttered Woods of Faith

This is a clearing, a walk in spiritual anticipation for a tribe of earth shakers, lovers and heretics.

1. First and foremost, we are followers of Christ, lovers of God and chasers of the Spirit.
2. We the people are discontent with the way churches are today.
3. We want to do the work of Jesus and join in the healing of a broken world.
4. We are fueled by compassion, driven by love, and broken by God’s unfathomable grace.
5. We will not complain or bicker or dissent about the current state of the broken church, but we will incite change through our actions, meditations, prayers, and love.
6. We will pray and seek the Lord in the world around us.
7. We will break the mold of religious traditions and the American dream because we are sojourners, aliens, nomads following in the steps of a wandering Aramean.
8. We are social and religious heretics who are only accountable to the sovereign creator of the universe.
9. We are lovers of change, hope and compassion and will shake the status quo by how we step outside the herd and barbeque the sacred cow.
10. We will work out our faith in transparent community of broken followers stumbling after Christ.

A facelift is in progress.

Welcome to the new theRamblings.org website.

If you have my site bookmarked, you will need to change it (sorry) . All of the posts have been transfered. The blog continues with no interruption.

Same service. Same sarcasm. New look. More changes to come. Thanks for being here.

“Instead of teaching kids to allow Christ to live through them, we invite them to mimic Him. They rely on their own power, interpret their own behaviors as God-honoring and feel a sense of spiritual pride when they hit the mark.”

                                                                                              -Steve Gerali

Wow. Um. Yeah. Uh. Well.

What an amazingly succinct summary of our culture of youth ministry. NO WAIT! Not simply youth ministry… the CHURCH!

That statement sure hit my marrow. I’ve always been told that Christ is our standard, but that standard isn’t something we can comprehend, interpret or quantify. It’s only by living in and through Him do we begin to understand who He is (and that there is so much we don’t know).

As I walk more with Him, I begin to realize - it’s less of being like Him and more of me submitting myself to Him. That is the process of becoming more Christ-like. 

I’ll leave you with the words of Aaron Shust, who summarizes this thought much more eloquently that I could ever do. 

“You are my strength. You are my God. You are my King. You make me laugh. You make me dance. You make me sing. All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before your feet. All of my time, all that is mine, I submit to your design. Because you are the one, the only one, who would give it all away for me.”