Revival Blog

I found this on Dave Fergeson’s blog. I don’t know dave and have no idea how he got in my feedreader but here is a story titled A Victim Treats His Mugger Right. The best way to enjoy this story is to go to NPR and click on “listen now” so you can hear Julio Diaz for yourself. Or you can just read it below:

This is Julio Diaz, a 31-year-old social worker who ended his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go,’” Diaz says. As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.” The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, “like what’s going on here?” Diaz says. “He asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Diaz replied: “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me … hey, you’re more than welcome. “You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help,” Diaz says. Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth. “The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says. “The kid was like, ‘You know everybody here. Do you own this place?’” “No, I just eat here a lot,” Diaz says he told the teen. “He says, ‘But you’re even nice to the dishwasher.’” Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?” “Yea, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said. Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. “He just had almost a sad face,” Diaz says. The teen couldn’t answer Diaz — or he didn’t want to. When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, “Look, I guess you’re going to have to pay for this bill ’cause you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.” The teen “didn’t even think about it” and returned the wallet, Diaz says. “I gave him $20 … I figure maybe it’ll help him. I don’t know.” Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen’s knife — “and he gave it to me.” Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.” “I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”

I know that since I am an evangelical Christian I should have been hoping that Diaz was a member of the NRA and had a handgun to shoot the young man but I like the end of the story the way it is.  It almost sounds like old school Christianity.  You know . . . the kind that Jesus talked about?

Popularity: 15% [?]

Tomorrow night is our first preview service at The Mission.  If I weren’t so exhausted I would be excited.

I had a final meeting with my staff last night.  We were supposed to meet for a half hour and pray for an hour but it wound up going the other way around.  Apparently the Holy Ghost was not offended because He spoke to us through a prophetic utterance.  In short, He reminded us that practicing setting up and having a public service was secondary to practicing the presence in a public service.

There is something comforting about knowing that God is going to be attending your meeting.  For me, it causes me to be less results oriented.  I know that if I yield to Him, and keep my focus on Him, He will minister to His people.  And in the end, that is my goal.  That people would encounter this increadable God of love that I have met.   He uses me to minister, but He does it so much better than I.

So last night we fellowshipped, laughed, dreamed, and planned.  Tomorrow we put our faith into action.  Today we write corny blog posts. lol

Seriously, for the two or three people who read this blog, stop what you are doing and lift up a prayer for these couple of things:

1. Things would go smoothly with our location
2. sound would mix fine
3. people would worship
4. presence of God in the service
5. the preaching would go well
6. annoited ministry time

Popularity: 14% [?]

Every year I take my kids to the beach on this day, the day before Spring Break. My daughter will stay home from Pre-K and I will pick my son up early. We will don our swim gear, and we will have a fun afternoon at the beach.

No this is not part of some Spring festival we hold at The Mission. This is my way of letting my kids do something fun while their schoolmates celebrate pagan holidays.

There is no more sacred event for the Christian than the resurrection (period). The idea that I would celebrate the conquering of death, by practicing rituals created to pay homage to the fertility gods is not an option for my family. I don’t consider myself a radical. Every year we get a Christmas tree but we have nothing to do with haloween. Bunnies and eggs are somewhere in the middle for me. I try to go along every year but every year I am unable to do it.

The school assured me that the bunnies were “spring bunnies” and the eggs celebrate resurrection but doing the same thing the world is doing but calling it a different name is just plain stupid. If you are gonna have eggs and bunnies just call it easter and at least be honest to yourself.

I have proposed an alternative to these holidays for years but these churches do not listen. We can call it: Come Out From Among Them.

Popularity: 24% [?]