Friday, October 9, 2009

Music, Beer, Cigs, Sex - Recipe for God to Change My Life...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post .... sometimes life gets in the way, ya feel me???

~~Disclaimer~~
The following story may be found extremely offensive to Pharisees, Legalists, and/or the standard Church Isolationist ~~ how ya'll like my new term?? fancy words huh :) ... so if any of these terms apply, you might want to discontinue any and all further reading of said blog ... I'll give you a few seconds to click off this page

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Ok, if you are still here, let me say first and foremost .... God tends to speak to me in the strangest ways at the most random of times, and His words always seem to come out of nowhere .... the following story is "one" of these times.

October 23, 2008 will forever be a date that I look back on and say, "God changed my life that night", and I do not use the words lightly, so please do not read those words in passing (I really need to people to understand the heaviness of that statement). God did indeed CHANGE my life that night.

This night started out like any other Thursday night in the fall, I sat at home watching the football game on ESPN. For any Auburn fans out there, you might recognize this date due to the fact that West Virginia spanked ya'lls little hiney that night ~~that's besides the point~~. This particular night I watched the game by myself, I actually remember very distinctly watching the game on the couch in my pajama pants and t-shirt, for some reason, every little detail of this night is burned into my memory ... even now as I look back, I feel a heaviness, a Holy respect and fear, because an Almighty God opened my eyes, I'll never be the same.... I digress ...

As the game was coming to a close, a couple of friends came by the house ...

~~let me take this moment for a side note: I've grown up around music and musicians, in the church and some that play in clubs .. I'm blessed to have sooo many crazy talented friends~~

So, these buddies come by the house... they ask in passing (cuz I've been asked a thousand times to go, with always responding, no... afraid of someone seeing "the Christian bookstore guy" going into a bar, oh the horror), "hey man, Andy is playing down at Omalley's tonight, you want to go hear them play, he'd love to see you". Now, at this point, I don't feel God's Spirit, things didn't slow down in a Matrix (the movie) kind of way.... for some reason, I simply said... "sure, I'll go". In astonishment, my friend said, "well, you better put on a hat"... disguise myself I suppose, hehe.

We get there, getting out of the car I can hear the music from inside the building, glad to be there, glad to see my friends play music, glad for them to know that I love them and support them. I walk in and head toward a table near the stage, Andy looks down and sees me ... he gets this look on his face, a look of astonishment and surprise, immediately followed by a huge smile ... I'll never forget the look!

At this point, business as usual, I'm just a dude listening to a band in a club ~~really talented band none the less~~ .... Then it happens ... God showed up ... Seriously, it's like He walked up to the table and sat down beside me and whispered in my ear. I suddenly became grieved in my spirit, nearly to the point of tears. I didn't hear the music any longer, I didn't hear the conversations around me .... All I could see was the people ....

Now, if you are jumping to the conclusion that I was grieved because of the typical "sin" stuff happening in that bar... you couldn't be more wrong. Was it the alcohol ... was it people getting smashed ... was it the dude at the bar trying to get the cute blondie to go home with him... was it any of those things that caused my grief .... No! Those things were simply by-products, at this moment I wasn't seeing any of that stuff.

Now, some reading this might be saying, "Well Jim, then what were you seeing ... all that other stuff would have made me sick ... disgusting!" ... sorry to disappoint, but God was showing me something else entirely!!

As I looked around, God showed me this ..... These people, people just like you and me, were searching for something. Searching for, in my opinion, three things: community, love, acceptance. Just so happens that they are finding it in a bar... My spirit was so incredibly grieved, these folks were searching and I, "mr. christian bookstore guy", had done NOTHING to reach out to these people.... the "church community" in Jasper/Walker county had done NOTHING to reach these hurting, searching people. Even now as I write these words, that same grief is over taking me.

I'm so tired of the church (i.e. myself), using the "inviting people to church" excuse .... we expect people to clean themselves up, come out of the bars, come to church, get Jesus. Does that sound backwards to anyone else other than me. I so long for a day when we take ownership of the Great Commission, the day we GO and take the gospel instead of, COME to church with us. The sad state of affairs is that most of the people at Omalley's that night came from our churches, our youth groups. Why could we as a believing body not provide a community of love and understanding for them. In my experience, people don't turn away from Jesus, they turn away from us.... Jesus never did anything but love and sacrifice for them. Sadly, our words and actions somehow don't match up, we've (especially me in the past) have spent all our time pointing at THEIR sins, pointing at THEIR faults and failures.

I pray we all take a moment and evaluate our thoughts, actions, motives .... maybe pray that God forgive us for not reaching out in love to the lost.

October 23, 2008 changed me forever, God changed my life in a bar. I think about that night everyday, I pray, "God please forgive me of my failure to go and seek out the lost" ... I long for a day when people come to church smelling like beer, cigarettes .... I long for a day when we finally say, "hey man, I know you struggle, I know you hurt, but I'm going to love you.... regardless"

I truly pray that my words don't come across to harsh, know my heart.... I have so much more i could share on that night, let me know if you'd ever like to talk to me about my experiences ...

I love you guys so much, I love the church, I long for us to become what Christ commissioned us to be ...

Just my thoughts ...