Thursday 11 February 2010

Passion for ---

This is my son Jeff Snowboarding. Would you believe this is a picture of him at his first attempt at snowboarding?? Well its not!! No Jeff has been snowboarding for several years and loves it. He has competed in some snowboarding events and has even been ranked nationally. He has a good board, does his best when he practices as much as he can. He even developed his own brand of wax to try and improve his speed. He wants to be at his best - so he works at it. He has books, magazines and even DVD's about snowboarding.

I profess to be a Christian and I say I have a "passion for my lord". I wonder if I really, really do? Lets see - what determines if I have that passion? I guess it requires my time - that is if I can squeeze in a little of that. Oh, probably should read something about it- I guess maybe my Bible?
Maybe go to church? Naw, I can serve Christ with a passion without that - right? I mean, I need to be out in "the mission field"!! Maybe I could go once in awhile to worship for maybe an hour or so.

Well gotta go now - not much going on tonite, guess I will watch a little TV. Don't want to miss my favorite shows!!

18 comments:

Peter Olson said...

WhaHoo for Jeff!
I know that you are just teasing. You are passionate for the Lord. Thank you for that encouragement. I will go read my Bible right now too.
;-)

Life Adapted said...

You are a funny man - your passion is very evident in all you say and do. That was a nice way to challenge your readers. But. . .if you were going to watch TV, what would you watch?? Just wondering??

Parsley said...

You can be passionate for the Lord and still watch your fun TV. LOL

As I grow in the Lord, I am understanding what it means to be constantly in prayer. He and His will are on my mind always.

Devoted said...

Oh, Papa is being sarcastic tonight. I like that! Good correlation between Jeff's snowboarding ambition and the lack thereof of some people who want to claim Christianity.

Indian Lake Papa said...

Peter - at this moment I am really heart sick! I just got home from observing how the homeless from the woods are taken care of during inclement weather - they sleep in the sanctuary of the Salvation Army church. They get a Hot meal, sleeping bag and a volunteer stays with them. Passion? More than ever tonight - not sure what to do.

Indian Lake Papa said...

LA - not much. In order of priority; Fox News, weather channel, hunting shows, fishing, old westerns, a few movies - I DO NOT watch any series - most of those are garbage for me as a Christian. My opinion! :)

Indian Lake Papa said...

Parsley - I am not anti-TV. I have a nice Sony Bravia HDTV with cable. But it is very addicting and time consuming - most of the commercials are embarassing to me as a Christian. Some of that stuff in no way is acceptable to the Holy Spirit who is in our lives!

Indian Lake Papa said...

Devoted - tonight, less than an hour ago, I met Ashley. She is homeless. She was eating "supper" in a Salvation Army church sanctuary. She is trying to get relocated here in the county. Her personal property is in temporary storage while she tries to find a place to live. Oh, did I mention she is six years old?? Passion?? Lord help me!!

CrossView said...

How often do you need to attend church to be a good enough Christian? A lot of churches have services twice on Sundays and once on Wednesdays but some only have services once on Sundays and some only meet up once a week or even once a month. If your church offers less services is it a lesser church of lesser Christians? What if you feel led to worship and there's no services offered at that time? And is a church a designated building?

Indian Lake Papa said...

You don't focus on frequency Michele - you learn that "the primary active of the church is to worship". If you are there and not worshiping - you are missing it. I am confident when K is standing up front and is singing, Amazing Grace that she and you are worshiping. It is a heart thing - a relationship issue - A church building provides a lot of purposes (see my comment to Devoted) but we must never forget what its "Primary Activity"
is.

By the way you could use the building to get in out of the snow and inclement weather as well.

CrossView said...

So you can be in the "church building" and not worship. Can you worship someplace other than the "church building"?

Indian Lake Papa said...

"Can you worship someplace other than the church building?" I have a lot of trouble with that question Michele - lots of trouble. I have heard people say that they can worship God just by walking through and admiring His creation. Bull crap!! Admiring the beauty of God's Creation is nice, but that is not worship. I LOVE His creation, love to be out in it - especially On horseback!! Worship to me is a special time where God and I are together for a very special encounter - church should be designed to do that. If you and I met each other at the church door this Sunday I would want you and I to focus on worship. If I hugged you, grabbed your arms and looked you in the face and with a beaming smile said, "What about those Saints?!" - I need to refocus - we get to easily distracted from worship in church, let alone outside the church. I love this discussion!!

CrossView said...

"Worship to me is a special time where God and I are together for a very special encounter..."

I absolutely agree with that! And I agree that admiring God's creation is not worship, though appreciating God and what He does and who He is, is a part of worship. Some of my closest encounters with Jesus have been in my car, for instance, when it's just the two of us. Tears of pain and joy and a sense of peace from knowing He's right there. Or in my "prayer closet" - which is my bedroom, on my knees, talking and listening to Him. And since I'm part of the body of Christ, and the church is the body, then wherever I am worshipping Him IS church. Worship isn't a "when" or a "where" but a "Who". ;o)

Indian Lake Papa said...

HI Michele! Worship, from this discussion, is two issues.

1) It is the primary activity of the church.

2) Too many "Christians" don't worship.

Hopefully we can worship with God whenever and wherever HE beckons. It is a heart relationship more than a location. I do it more often in a car alone - than maybe even in a church building. But when that church service starts - it is a very special time for me - someday I hope it is with K up front singing and you, mama Plus your family and I there. Someday.

Unknown said...

Happy Valentines Day Papa!!! Love you SO much.... Big hugs!

Indian Lake Papa said...

Happy Valentines Day to you too Deb!!
GOd BLESS!

Ed said...

When you are out in the "mission field" maybe you could use your son's snowboard to get around. Although now that you and Mama are snowbirds I guess you aren't around snow any more. :)

As long as your thoughts are focused on Christ it may not make much difference where you are, or what you're doing. I do have to wonder what Jesus would think if you were watching American "Idol". :)

Indian Lake Papa said...

Ed, you bring up a good point. TV. I am amazed at what programs "Christians" watch. I have seen some clips of American Idol - but very very few. TV viewing is way to time consuming to me. I watch news and listen to conservative talk shows when I can. :)