It has been a month....

It has been a month since I last blogged. Where did the word blog come from? Anyways. Training school has been good and I imagine that it is serving it's purpose in each one of our lives in it's unique personal way. I call it an it because it kind of takes on a life of it's own. Larry does a brilliant job of directing conversation, articulating his ideas, and often times asking questions that, at least for me, leaves me francticly wracking my brain for the answer. I often say to myself," Dude get it together, you are a christian and you are supposed to know this stuff." Most of the stuff I do know, or I at least get the idea of the flow of conversation, but articulating a well thought out answer is not my forte and especially not in a short amount of time. One thing I have absorbed from our short time together is that it is acceptable to not know the answer 100% of the time and that everything is not as concrete as I thought it had to be. The phrase black and white comes up quite a bit in class. I like to look at a guy like Mark Driscol as a black and white kind of guy and a guy like Rob Bell who recognises the black and white, respects it, but is not afraid to hang out in the realm of "grey." The grey areas are almost taboo. I won't get into specifics, but we talk about the grey area quite a bit in class and it is refreshing and freeing. It is not easy to wrestle with your theology and ask why, what, how, ect...about scripture and doctrine. It can actually be pretty uncomfortable, but the mental stimulation is a thrill for me. I have ideas about scripture, doctrine, and of who God is. I have been told some things, taught some things, and read some things, but I have rarely picked up the shovel and dug into why I believe what I do and if I do believe this about that, then is it safe to dig a little bit deeper? Meaning to me, is there more to this than the depth I have gotten and what people have taught me, or does God continue to reveal more the farther we are willing to dig? When I read Systematic Theology or listen to Driscoll I get this feeling in my spirit like I have to agree with this dude or I am out of the circle of God and the body of Christ. Or that God has been put into this massive book and here is what you are to believe, believe this and you will be safe, we got it figured out. When I listen to or read a book by Rob Bell I am inspired to know God, serve God, love on the lost, serve the poor, and I feel like my imagination is stoked into searching the Father. Rob doesn't spend much time bashing with doctrine and convincing people they have to know this or they are doomed. I could write forever on this. I like both of them. They both serve their purpose in their community, love God and people, and are great for my walk with Christ. I will end with this: I hate it when Rob is called a heretic or that others won't listen to him because Mark said he wouldn't let him preach at his church unless he saw some real repentance in his beliefs. Come on dude, you are behind the pulpit consistantly putting others down and making jokes about other pastors on a public platform.....