sunflowery's Diaryland Diary

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How the Church Should Be

I was listening to Ian Punnett yesterday morning and he had Tony Campollo on as a guest. Now I really like Tony Campollo. Always have. He has always been a very controversial figure in Christian circles. But I figure, it can't be all bad if his actions and speech provoke us to consider our speech and actions, compare them to the speech and actions of Jesus in the Bible. Tony told a story that stuck with me all day long. Here it is: He was speaking at a church. Before he was called up to speak, a woman in the church stood up and said one of their missionaries needed $5000 to finish a hospital in Venezuala. The woman asked Tony to come up and pray God would provide the $5000 the missionary needed. Before he said a word, he took out his wallet and took all the cash he had on hand and put in on the alter. Then he said before he prayed, he wanted everyone in the church to do the same. When no one moved, he said he refused to pray a blasphemous (sp?) prayer. Finally, people began to come forward and put all their money on the alter. After everyone came foward, they had collected $11,000. Tony said it was blasphemous to ask God to provide what He had already provided through the people at that meeting. And how many of those people were giving up ALL they owned? How many of those people were considered destitute after they gave all they had on them? Most likely none. Maybe they went without their coffee drinks for a day or a week. Or they gave up going out for dinner that night. Or at most, maybe they postponed their vacation for a year. But for the most part, taking all they had from their wallet that one night probably didn't change their financial standing at all. And yet, what an amazing impact it made on that church, that missionary and the hospital in Venezuala. You see people, THAT is the church. If the church behaved that radically every day we would not be the laughingstock we are today. We would be real, authentic and caring and that's my hope and prayer for the church today.

Did you perchance happen to see the UPN show the other night called Amish in the City? It's an odd show. It takes 5 Amish adults who happen to be going through their period of decision if they want to continue in the Amish church or not and place them in a house in LA with 6 city kids. It's really very interesting. Before they met, the city kids thought they were going to be the only people staying in that house. One of the city kids is gay and was saying how important it is for people to accept who he is as a person, whole and complete. THEN they introduce the Amish people and you would think the world ended. The city kids weren't going to open the door at first and proceeded to spend the rest of the show making fun of them. But the reaction of the gay guy made me sad. He said something to the effect of, "These people need a makeover before I'LL be seen with them." and "There is no way I will hang out with Amish!" So, while it's really important to him to be wholley accepted for who he is, he is not willing to extend the same to others. The rest of the show was kind of cute, though, as the Amish kids showed the city kids that they were vastly similar in most ways. The city kids were cute as they showed the Amish kids the beach, sushi and other things city kids take for granted. Very interesting show indeed.

Finally, there is THIS. There are no words.

***************************************

A Year Ago Today: July 30, 2003: Training and a Thought Provoking Question

Oh man! This new gal is really good. I hope she sticks.

Today I�ve been training and it�s been going so quickly. She�s catching on though I think she�s overwhelmed. And who wouldn�t be? I�m tossing things at her left and right and she�s nodding her head and following along, but it�s so much. It changes every day. I hope it works out OK for her. She did pick up on how to enter the business into the computer though, so that�s good. Yay!

My life seems to be on hold for just a few days until I get to the new job. I can�t seem to think or focus on anything else right now. I get home and totally just dial down.

Last night Bob and I went into the whirlpool for about an hour and that was lovely. So warm and bubbly. A very nice way to decompress. We were supposed to get big storms which would have been fun to watch, but we got nothing!

I went to bed early again and woke up at 5:30am! I didn�t get up until 6:30 though. Bob was up too so we snuggled for an hour. That was nice. He�s the best snuggler. Sometimes he just so revels in being close and non-sexual touching. He doesn�t remember ever really being touched in love before, so now he just eats it up and can�t believe how good it feels. I am glad he is able to experience it at all. Poor guy. I�m glad I get to be the one to touch him with love now.

Today is training...tomorrow is training and Friday...more training. Bob wants to go North for the weekend. But I would like to just stay home and rest before my new job starts on Monday. We�ll see what happens. I get my last check with the current workplace on Friday and who knows when I�ll get paid at the new place? I think we should just hold on to that last check until we know for sure when the next payday is. That way we can budget and make sure ends will meet.

So...things are winding down here at soon to be former employers. It�s nice. Bob asked me last night, "What if they offered you $15.00/hour to stay, would you?" I said no. Some things aren�t about money. Some things are about respect and quality of life. That�s what this is about. I�ve done what I can do here and I�m done.

Thanks for reading.

6:53 a.m. - Friday, Jul. 30, 2004
8 comments

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

previous - next

latest entry

about me

archives

notes

DiaryLand

contact

random entry

other diaries:

Marn
Weetabix
smartypants
mommylap
legalbeagle
rdhdprincess
forty-plus
dragging-ink