Mizzou #1

That's right, sports fans! The Mizzou Tigers are #1 in the BCS! Unbelievable! I never thought I'd see the day when Mizzou would be the top football team in the country. I'm totally psyched about a potential trip to the national championship game. How awesome would that be. Here are some pictures of our star players.

Chase Daniels

Martin Rucker

Save you it will not

So, I was in the bathroom last week and came across this ad:

Now, besides the fact that one can't even use the bathroom anymore without being bombarded with advertisements that try to convince you to buy stuff, I found this ad to be particularly ridiculous. I'd just like to go on record as saying MONEY WILL NOT SAVE YOU!!! What a farce. What idolatry. Maybe I should sneak in there and replace it with an add that says:

Save your money, you Fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? (Luke 12:20).

Do I put money into an IRA every month? Yes
Do I spend money each month on a car payment and a house payment? Yes
Do I accumulate stuff on a regular basis? Yes
Do I trust in all of these things to bring me "security" and salvation? Absolutely not

Money: Save you it will not.

Irresistable Revolution

I'm currently reading The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. It's definitely rocking my world and making me ask a lot of questions I don't always encounter here in Williamson County. Here's a paragraph I came across this morning that made me nod vigorously and say YES. This is found in the midst of a discussion about Jesus' conversation with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-30, and Luke 18:18-30 where Jesus basically tells the rich man that he must sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor in order to "inherit the kingdom." Claiborne is skeptical of the way many preachers clean this text up or contextualize it to simply mean "Don't worship money," even thought that's not what Jesus said. In response to our desire to stay rich and not make anyone uncomfortable with whatever level of wealth they've attained, Claiborne says this:

In our culture of "seeker sensitivity" and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow. I think this is why the disciples react as they do. They protest in awe, "Who then can be saved?" ("Why must you make it so hard? We need some rich folks here, Jesus, we're trying to build a movement.") And yet Jesus lets him walk away.

I have often wondered if a radical obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ is really all that "seeker sensitive." It's awesome to hear someone else articulate that wondering.