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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Real Christianity

It’s been about a week and a half since my last post ☹. Sorry, I’ve been crazy busy lately. Kind of having a soapbox moment but before I get there I want to give yal a quick update on the life and times of Danny Hill.

I spent most of this past week preparing a Bible Talk for the Adult Bible Fellowship the church I go to here in Houston. It went pretty well.I’ve posted a link with the notes from it here. Hosea 11 is a beast. God really beat me up about it early in the week and I definitely had an embarrassing moment or two (insurance for humility…?) but overall God really used that time and to both touch me as well as the others that around me.

This past weekend the Goose to my Maverick (wait for it…) was packing up to leave Houston. He’s getting married and we got a chance to kick it before I left to go home for a bit. It’ll be weird to live in Houston sans one of the “realist” Christians I’ve met. Last night, in the epitome of emo moments, I read Paul’s farewell to the church in Ephesus and it really struck a chord with me. On one hand I’m geeked about him getting married and about God using this time to prepare him for missions, but on the other hand Houston and Philly are far as heck away and knowing that another good friend will be far away kind of sucks. Makes me yearn for Heaven.

At any rate, we went to Hunstville State Park (I’ll post a video later this week) and it was a blast. It looked more like Virginia than Texas (i.e. it was beautiful) and we spent about 4-5 hours hiking and talking about everything from theology to experiences in God. Halfway through the walk, we stopped and did some serious 1-on-1 time with the Creator of All and marveled at his creation. It was good to get away from the business of city life and really reflect on God, my sinfulness, and the grace that has been showered upon me. I also got a chance to see an armadillo.

Okay. SOAPBOX Moment: I’m extremely disappointed in the isolation that takes place in saints. Many times we’re so busy trying to perpetuate the image of “a good Christian” that we don’t share our struggles and our battles with each other. I understand that we don’t need to pity each other in our struggles with sin, but the Bible clearly states: “Confess your sins to one another”. We aren’t mercenaries or assassins; we’re a body, an army of saints. We fight together. How can I pray for you if you don’t tell me what you’re struggling with? How can I admonish you, rebuke you, correct you, or guide you in love if you hide your failures and shortcomings (didn’t Adam and Eve try to do this…)? I encourage Christians to treat each other as friends and family members and fight sin together. I need you/my fellow saints to call me out on my sin, encourage me in righteousness, yell at me to "man up", remind me of the blessings of Christ... etc. We were saved to community and created to need each other.

2 comments:

Yun Seok said...

I love you bro.

Move to Philly!

Pat said...

Our worldly culture, so promotes individualism and self-reliance and there are so few models for openness. Not an excuse just an observation.
Miss you muchly.