Ah, another day, another blog to write. You should know that somedays it is far easier to compose something than other days. This is one of those days where it seems to be on the more difficult side. My usual practice is to just start writing to see what comes out. That fact may frighten you a bit. It probably should be a tad unnerving. I know that it makes me wonder for sure. My hope for the blog is still that every so often you can find something that makes you think. Thinking is very underrated in our world. It is one of God's best gifts to us yet far too many stop thinking too soon. We tend to just go with our feelings at any given moment and that can be disastrous. I just want the blog to help you think sometimes in ways that are different. That should be fairly easy seeing that I'm a different breed.

Last night turned out to be a chicken free zone. We ate lasagna at the baptist meeting. The church is very old in terms of when it began. The floor of the fellowship area still has the markings on the floor from when it was a basketball court. To me this is just very cool. But I'm a history guy so that kind of stuff appeals to me. Anyway, we lived through the meeting as well as the lasagna. Next month the meeting is here in Tatum so it was good to do some recon work to scope out the menu. I did hear a really good sermon last night so that was good. It wasn't fancy but just a well thought out message. We don't get many of those anymore.

Most of my day is revolving around reading to get my mind in gear for next Sunday. Reading also includes thinking for me. Asking questions in my brain is a good way to get a handle on what may need to be said. One of my best theology teachers was a divorced, liberal, Catholic history professor. Her view was that if we can not think about or discuss what we believe then perhaps it is not worth believing. She was ahead of her time. That is exactly the way our world looks at faith today. It is also a good explanation for why some see life in general differently than we do. Faith today has to be informed as well as inspired. We need to be able to answer the questions of why, what, who and the like. The day of the simplistic answer has passed us by.

Our students today are way smarter than I ever was. They know more at their age than we did. Not all of this is good but it can be. They think deeply about the big issues of our world. We do not need to shrink from the basics of the faith but we need to know how to communicate to them. Those outside of church also think deep about life. One of the things that I really enjoy is just sitting with people like that who do not know what I do for a living. It seems being a "preacher" can be a real obstacle to normal, human conversation. But when I use my limited skills in conversation while keeping my identity secret it seems people are always willing to talk. You can learn alot just by listening. Asking questions is a huge help to draw out the dialogue also. People usually do not turn off at the topic of faith but you have to be willing to think with them on where they are.

Could it be Jesus was onto something when he dialogued with sinners? Read through the gospels and you see a Savior interested enough in people to talk with them as well as think with them. Yes, he did at times speak pointedly with sinners about their life. We cannot deny that. But, he also models for us how genuine conversation includes thinking, listening and caring. Do not hear this blog as some type of bragging on my skills. God knows there is so much more for me to learn. Just think about it while taking inventory of how you relate to others. Think about it in terms of your relationships with those outside of the church. Think and hope that tomorrow the posting comes easier than today. At least I think I can...I think I can...

Bro. Trey