Friday, October 31, 2008
I've been away
Life has been treating me in a fair fashion over the last few weeks. So much so that I have been away from my blog for several weeks. Between the music ministry and the preaching ministry, I have been absolutely inundated and just void of free time. Thank God for the opportunity to remain busy! I've even been so busy that I haven't been able to watch my pitiful Dallas Cowboys move from the best in the league and Superbowl favorite to mediocre and on the verge of missing the playoffs. Just my luck, the 'Boys regained a little bit of strentgh by beating my Tampa Bay Bucs. That is so terrible that both of my teams had to play each other. I guess I was destined to win and lose on the same occasion. Nevertheless, I look forward to contributing to our blogging universe with my perspective of the faith. I've been away, but I am back now!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Becoming an ice tray church
In my first book entitled, “Church the way that God intended”, I have a chapter that brings us to the attention of how we should be as a church by focusing on something as simple as an ice tray. Here is an excerpt from “Becoming an ice tray church”:
The dynamics of church as we know it is often so convoluted that we have simply over analyzed worship and the basic part that we play in it. While it is true that we are one body with many parts, the fact of the matter is that we are one body. God never intended for us to develop some splinter cell attitude where we are operating with an ‘us against everybody else attitude’. That is why God wants us to become an ice tray church. When you fill an ice tray with water, each individual compartment is its own entity. It starts out by itself and will become just one lonely ice cube. It, however, does not have to be this way because the ice tray is designed so that each compartment can share with another. As one gets filled with water to the point of overflow, water does not simply stop flowing, but it flows right over to the next compartment until the whole tray is filled. Does this mean that the water has to stop flowing? No! It can continue to flow as long as the person who is filling the tray chooses. It should also be noted that the more ice that is available, the better job it can do collectively rather than independently.
After the tray is completely full, it is then given its next assignment which is to freeze. While the tray is freezing, it is imperative that it is not taken out too early because it will damage the developing ice. The ice must be developed properly because it is such a travesty to look for whole ice only to discover that the ice is partially developed and is not adequate for its intended use. This can also be stated of underdeveloped Christians; Nothing is worse than trying to search and find people who you feel are chasing God only to realize that they aren’t completely what they should be. Does this mean that we are not going to make mistakes? No, but when people look at us they should see ice and not Jello. We should be shaped in the image of our tray, but we should be solid and not wobbly, shaky, or flimsy.
The dynamics of church as we know it is often so convoluted that we have simply over analyzed worship and the basic part that we play in it. While it is true that we are one body with many parts, the fact of the matter is that we are one body. God never intended for us to develop some splinter cell attitude where we are operating with an ‘us against everybody else attitude’. That is why God wants us to become an ice tray church. When you fill an ice tray with water, each individual compartment is its own entity. It starts out by itself and will become just one lonely ice cube. It, however, does not have to be this way because the ice tray is designed so that each compartment can share with another. As one gets filled with water to the point of overflow, water does not simply stop flowing, but it flows right over to the next compartment until the whole tray is filled. Does this mean that the water has to stop flowing? No! It can continue to flow as long as the person who is filling the tray chooses. It should also be noted that the more ice that is available, the better job it can do collectively rather than independently.
After the tray is completely full, it is then given its next assignment which is to freeze. While the tray is freezing, it is imperative that it is not taken out too early because it will damage the developing ice. The ice must be developed properly because it is such a travesty to look for whole ice only to discover that the ice is partially developed and is not adequate for its intended use. This can also be stated of underdeveloped Christians; Nothing is worse than trying to search and find people who you feel are chasing God only to realize that they aren’t completely what they should be. Does this mean that we are not going to make mistakes? No, but when people look at us they should see ice and not Jello. We should be shaped in the image of our tray, but we should be solid and not wobbly, shaky, or flimsy.
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