unoffended

Do you ever doubt God? I mean like really, to the core question if you're totally off-base with this whole Jesus thing? Or when the crap hits the fan do you ever think..."Either God is up to something...or the world is spinning out of control, and I'm a total nut-job...and frankly, I'm leaning toward the latter." Growing up in the 'church' I guess I had a mindset that it was wrong to EVER question God...I mean, it was just something that was really bad, and I felt like if I did, then I probably wasn't really 'saved'. I mean, I did question, many times in fact, and occasionally, still do. (OK, since we're being real - it's more than occasionally). Do you know that if you are or have ever been a question-er, whether openly or deep down inside, you are in good company? Matthew 11 gives us a glimpse of John the Baptist's mindset after he was thrown into prison (before he was, ya know... beheaded...). It says he sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask "Are you really the Messiah...or should we keep looking for someone else?" Talk about seriously questioning what you know deep down to be true! If even John questioned Jesus, basically saying "Look, are you the real deal? 'Cause this is NOT going down the way I had pictured..." I somehow figure I'm OK to question too. I'm sure John probably hadn't factored in this turn of events in his ministry itinerary. I know there are sooooo many times that I think about my life and what we are doing (church planting) and think "God, this isn't really what I signed up for...are you sure we aren't done this yet?" I'm a 'results' person, and it's hard for me to go through the 'dark periods' where it seems like God isn't really speaking, and I don't see much happening. I, like John say "Are you really for real about this?" And, honestly, it feels good to know that I'm not alone in my questioning - for Pete's sake, John SAW, talked with, was related to Jesus!! And he was still caught off-guard by what seemed like the less than perfect play of events.

But the last part of Jesus answer is what's been rolling around in my head this week... "God blesses those who are not offended by me." Hmmmm... not offended... still chewing on this... and will be talking about it tomorrow night at Celebration.

More to come...