Strangers and aliens

This has been my big harping point all summer, so I'll say it once on here and hopefully you won't have to hear it again. I came across this idea after hearing Shane Claiborne speak at the Youth Specialties conference in Toronto last year. I loved what he said so much that I instantly bought his book (YS offers some AMAZING deals when you buy the books at the conference). Oddly enough it rattled around in my brain for a little while but nothing really came of it, until I stumbled across the verse on which Shane seems to have based his thoughts. 1 Peter 2:11-12 says this: "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." Shane said that we should all be living a little peculiar. But then I realized, I'm really not, in fact I'm trying to fit in way more than I should. As a Christian, maybe I should stand out somewhat, I should be the guy that doesn't know the references to movies and TV shows that I shouldn't be watching. I should be the guy for whom sexual innuendo and double entendres go over my head. Unfortunately, to this point I'm not. But I'm starting to work on it. I will admit I still am tempted to see a lot of the movies that I know I shouldn't (although I don't - not because of righteousness, mostly cause I'm too cheap to pay to see them!), I still stop when I flip past Family Guy for longer than I probably should, but I'm getting better at it.

Don't worry, I'm not saying that you should agree with me (although the more I read Scripture, the more I'm convinced that you probably should), but this is how I'm going to try to start living. It's good for my spiritual development, it's important for my wife to know that she's the only girl that I'm checking out, and it's important for my kids to see me living consistently in front of them.

Maybe it's not perfectly thought out, but it's a start. Jesus help me be the man you want me to be.

Christians and Coffee

The more I think about it the more I believe that as a Christian, I have a responsibility to drink my coffee fair trade. Last year I was introduced to a company who sells only fairly traded, organic coffee. Pistol and Burnes is that company and the owner explained to another youth leader and me how fair trade works and why it's important, and the more I think about it, the more I realize how important it is, especially as a Christian. Our youth ministry sells the coffee as a fundraiser (and I'm not plugging it just to sell more... (although if you want some shoot me a message...)) and I'm really glad that we do, not only because it generates us a little cash flow in the youth ministry, but because it's introducing more people to the concept of fair trade. I realize it's only a drop in the bucket, but I still think it's an important drop... and it tastes really good too...