(not asking you to agree with everything...just read and see what touches you and may touch someone else):
A former Pentecostal sat at my bar, last night. With each sip, his boldness grew and his willingness to share his pain increased. This man had wounds. Festering wounds that needed to heal. The infection was killing his soul. He pointed to the drink and said, " that's my new religion!" I smiled..... wiped the counter and said,
" Not a bad choice! Tequila is way kinder to you than the doctrine you...
" Not a bad choice! Tequila is way kinder to you than the doctrine you...
sat under!"
He looked surprised! He had wanted an argument from the "preacher." He said, " It's Wednesday night! Do you think I'm better off in here than at my Wednesday night church service?!?" I smiled and said,
" ABSODAMLUTELY!!! HERE.... you get hot wings....
THERE.... you get cold shoulders!
HERE.....you get real fellowship with people like YOU.
THERE..... you'd have polite, meaningless blurb-talk in Christianese.
Here.... You can be yourself!
THERE ..... you woulda had to pretend you're somebody you're not!
HERE.... You're gonna spend $25.00!
THERE.... They'd have collected more!
HERE.... You're having a one on one conversation with a REAL Pastor with 30 years experience preaching, studying, counseling and LIVING....
THERE..... you would have seen a preacher from 60 feet away standing on an elevated platform talking down to you.
HERE.... I will love and accept you and tell you the REAL GOOD NEWS that you have a FATHER in Heaven that KNOWS you and LOVES you and, would NEVER LET ANYTHING separate you from His LOVE!
There..... You would have heard about an angry God who is WATCHING you with an ALL-SEEING -EYE..... just waiting for you to blow it! A God who KNEW the future and, still allowed babies to be born that would, because of their failure to say a sinner's prayer, would be TORTURED FOREVER in a TORTURE-CHAMBER that HE MADE!!!!
He dabbed his eyes with his soggy Bev-nap.... slid his hand over to mine and squeezed it....
Mouthed "thank-you" and smiled.
WE are ministers of RECONCILIATION.... and,
THAT'S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!!
He looked surprised! He had wanted an argument from the "preacher." He said, " It's Wednesday night! Do you think I'm better off in here than at my Wednesday night church service?!?" I smiled and said,
" ABSODAMLUTELY!!! HERE.... you get hot wings....
THERE.... you get cold shoulders!
HERE.....you get real fellowship with people like YOU.
THERE..... you'd have polite, meaningless blurb-talk in Christianese.
Here.... You can be yourself!
THERE ..... you woulda had to pretend you're somebody you're not!
HERE.... You're gonna spend $25.00!
THERE.... They'd have collected more!
HERE.... You're having a one on one conversation with a REAL Pastor with 30 years experience preaching, studying, counseling and LIVING....
THERE..... you would have seen a preacher from 60 feet away standing on an elevated platform talking down to you.
HERE.... I will love and accept you and tell you the REAL GOOD NEWS that you have a FATHER in Heaven that KNOWS you and LOVES you and, would NEVER LET ANYTHING separate you from His LOVE!
There..... You would have heard about an angry God who is WATCHING you with an ALL-SEEING -EYE..... just waiting for you to blow it! A God who KNEW the future and, still allowed babies to be born that would, because of their failure to say a sinner's prayer, would be TORTURED FOREVER in a TORTURE-CHAMBER that HE MADE!!!!
He dabbed his eyes with his soggy Bev-nap.... slid his hand over to mine and squeezed it....
Mouthed "thank-you" and smiled.
WE are ministers of RECONCILIATION.... and,
THAT'S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!!
