This Crazy Calling

I have been telling myself and others that I would start blogging for almost 6 months now. I keep telling people that I'll jump on a blog site and myspace "this next week." Well, I am officially taking the plunge into the blogging world...and man is it impressive to see that I am only several years behind the times. Hopefully, the plan is to sign up for a myspace as well tonight or tommorrow...I am really an over-achiever and on the cutting edge of technology, I know.
Well, back to my title for this post "This Crazy Calling." For those of you who don't know, I am a youth pastor. I am 28 years old and have been doing this with my life for the last 10 years and to be quite honest, there is nothing on the face of this earth that I would rather do. I may not be the typical, church minister. Most of the time when people find out what I do for a living they qucikly say (with a very puzzled look), "Really...you don't look like a minister." And many who know me well would agree that I don't act like the typical "minister" either. And both of those comments are probably the highest compliments I could ever receive in my opinion. You see, I believe that a lot of what the church does and what it stands for in today's culture is counter to what Jesus would do and stand for. I believe that many church-goers and people who call themselves Christians are far more concerned with religion and rules instead of relationship and intimacy with a loving and gracious God. That's why it doesn't bother me to be different from the norm...And that is why I love what I do. I love God and I love people, especially students. My calling and my job allow me to put those two loves and passions together and do it in a way that challenges the status quo and the norm. It is far more important for me to BE THE CHURCH, than to go to church. I feel that Jesus has called those who have been changed by Him to a lifestyle, not a weekly meeting. In my opinion, Christ challenges us to live love, not just talk and sing about it. I think that Jesus is far more concerned with problems like hunger, AIDS, poverty, and racism than he is with how we dress when we show up to worship together. I believe that Jesus is far more concerned with our hearts rather than the style, length, or color of our hair. And I believe that, unfortunately, many people who claim to be followers of Jesus are concerned about things that matter not to Him.
That is why I love what I do. Every day, I get to try to show, teach, and demonstrate to students that their is a loving God who is far more concerned about a relationship with them than the religious rules they follow. Every day I get the chance to help people see that their is a God that is crazy-in-love with them regardless of where they are in life. Some days I think I do ok and then others I know I blow it and do more harm for the kingdom of God than good...But I know that at the end of the day Jesus' love for me is not based on what I do or don't do. To me, it's crazy but I would rather do nothing else.