Tthe other side of the coin....

or.. the Christian on steroids!! The story of Bill Curry speaks to the need to keep up with the shifting standards, to shape ourselves for advantage by any means necessary not because one is lazy, or one is taking an easy way out, but because so much is at stake. For pro football players, it is millions of dollars gained in a career that is very short. For the Church and the Christian, there is the desire to be a part of something successful, something that is "making a difference". But there is a part of us that is drawn to the americanized ideal of success, and as the last chapter pointed out, we as individuals are the evaluators of such! Pump up not the jams but the church! Big, brawny and powered by everything we are looking for! A church on steroids! The is a danger, a warning however; the church on steroids pumps up the mind and warms the heart without bringing the pain of the world to our doorstep. The church on steroids sings and dances and raises its arms and when the time for mourning comes it is ignored or dismissed in the guise of "they are in a better place". The church on steroids pretends to be strong and deep, when all one will garner at the end of the journey is faith cells out of control, tissue stripped and malnourished and a mind that is dead and empty. Warnings don't seem to come to those people; they are so very busy doing "the Lord's work", living a pumped up sense of self which implies that needs are being met and the soul is safe. Jesus definitely has other ideas about that ideal. Our faith is not meant to "build us up".... our faith is meant to bring us down. Down to the place where our lives reach out into the muck and mire of the day. Where lives are being lost, where drugs and hunger are daily bread and bodies are sold to meet the immediate demands of the day. The truly strong can handle that ache, the strong can look into the eyes of death and brokenness and know what to do to heal it.The ones who have run the drills and are working out their faith in the context of the community known as the kingdom are never defeated. For Christ is not just "with' them, but within them. Great quote; "ministry as warning must be grounded in weakness and death". (p.100) Jesus says take up your cross and follow him; that is a warning if I have ever heard one. The ones who are looking for the steroid faith will simply move on to the new fix; and then wonder why holiness eludes them.