My New Car

I got a new car. I wanted to buy an economical family car, something with a 4 cylinder engine, something that would save us a bit of money on fuel and last for a while without too many repairs.

I started searching on kijiji. I looked at many compact cars, searching for fairly low km's, in decent shape, for about 3,000 dollars. I looked at KIA and Hyundai, Neons and Accords. Then my car appeared. A 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier. Only 135,000 km's, and a body that had no scrapes or rust. I called the guy and negotiated a price of 2,800, knowing I would get a bit of work done. It was one of those deals when I was a little bit afraid that it might be too good to be true. It was about 1,500 dollars below appraised value, so it was possible that something more major was wrong with it.

Nervously, I drove it for a few weeks, trying to identify the various issues that would need repair. As I drove it, I also began to really enjoy it. It was turning out to be a really fun car to drive. Oh, did I mention it was a Z24 Sport edition with a 5 speed manual transmission? It was fast, sporty, and fun.

I was still a bit nervous, sort of like the boy who takes two cookies instead of one, stuffs one completely in his mouth, then takes a bite of the second cookie, hoping that Mom won't notice his mouth is too full for just one bite. I knew I was supposed to be getting a car to help the family a bit, but now I guiltily found out I had taken it in a direction I didn't really have a right to go. Something was bound to go wrong, something was bound to be really wrong with the car.

So I drove it, and noted the problems. Nothing more serious that I had thought at first, but bringing it to the garage was still a cause for internal fear and trembling. (One must keep up a confident front for one's spouse after all.)

Then, oh day to mark on the calendar, I picked up the car from the garage, and the conversation went something like this.

Mecahnic: Well, the car's running great. By the way, did you know what kind of engine you have in it?

Me: A 2.4l double overhead cam, right?

Mechanic: Well that's all it says on the outside, BUT, in '98 some of these cars got a racing engine.

Me: Really?

Mecahnic: Yeah. I checked the compression and you've got 200psi right across all four cylinders. You should run premium fuel in it to avoid damage, and it will give more power and economy.

End of the important part of the discussion.

So yeah, I'm pumped and excited. I've driven the car another week now, and it really flies. (I also bought new tires so I'm driving carefully to avoid using them up. A true conundrum.)

This weekend I hope to get my sub working so I can roll into the parking lot and school and pump out some heavy beat.

Did I also forget to mention I just turned 48?

How We Know Each Other

I teach at a Christian High School. There are a number of things I would like to write about, and a number of reasons that this could be difficult. I will need to keep anonymity in anything I write. I will need to expect that if I write about something good, you will expect it is about yourself unless there is evidence to say otherwise, and I will need to expect that if I write about something bad, you will expect that it is not about you unless there is evidence to say otherwise.



One of the most difficult things about teaching at a Christian school is the fact that not everyone is Christian. While I understand that high school years are a time of natural searching and (sometimes) natural rebellion, there are times when the submission to these struggles makes it possible for us to know each other, for good or for bad. It's the level that these struggles get to that leads me to suggest that some of the the students are not Christian.



And here is problem number one. I have just become judgmental. I have made judgments about people based on what I see in them. I see the way they deal with authority, I see the way they spend the weekend, (either from what they talk about or from their facebook pages), I see the way they ignore God in worship and/or prayer, I see the music they listen to. In other words, I see them as they represent themselves to be. They, by their actions, deny that Christ is a major player in their lives.



Okay, so do I. Yes at times, yes even often, yes, I am not perfect. What God teaches though, is that those who choose to sin, who deliberately decide and plan to do something against His will for His children, they are children of darkness. The sins of a person asking forgiveness for what they are already planning to do again tomorrow or the next day, are not forgiven. This is a truth. For some it is a sad truth, for some it is truth they deny, but it is a truth none the less.



It is not my truth. Many times I speak to students about their lifestyle, and they say it is none of my business. They say that I am wrong to judge them. But it is not my truth that I try to base my discussion with them on. It is God's truth. God calls us to be holy as He is holy, (1Peter 1:16). He calls us to be imitators of Him, and goes on with the strict truth in Eph 5, that there must be even a hint of immorality, impurity, obscenity, or course joking. Greedy and impure people have no place in the kingdom of God. OUCH. Yep that hurts because it's harsh, and for some the only choice is to ignore this as truth or ignore God. OUCH.

How do we know each other? If other know we are Christians by our love, surely we know that we are Christians by our love. Our love for each other and for others. 1 John mentions several times that we show who we are and show that we belong to God because we love Him and obey His commandments.

So this is how we know each other. We can see in our lifestyles whether or not we are Christian. We can and should judge ourselves according to God's standards. And when the reputation of the body of Christ is being hurt, we also need to make some judgements about others and call them to task. In fact Paul teaches in 1Cor 5:12 that it is those outside of the church that we not the judge, and that we are supposed to judge those inside. Paul teaches us to warn each other publicly, to have nothing to do with the one who remains in sin, to expel the immoral or drunkard and to have nothing to do with him. Paul warns that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. A little sin will spread through out the body of Christ, and the end the body shows a disease and Jesus is seen as impure. His reputation is hurt.

Does His body have a group of drinkers? The body will learn that this is okay, and the world will see it and mock. Does a body have a group of gossips tearing each other down? The body will devour itself more and more and the world will say it serves us right. Does a body have a shady business man? Then the body will be trying to cover something that shouldn't need to be protected, and the world will see gawk at the parts of the body that are showing.

Christians need to see this as truth. Christian parents need to judge their children's actions and accept that their high school children will be held responsible for their actions. But some parents will simply not acknowledge that there is an issue. Based on what they see, or what they accept from their children, they do not get the whole truth, or they play it down as wild oats that need to be sown, and the time as just a normal part of adolescence. Either way, they let their children and their church and school community down. Discipline is part of the church, sometimes really tough discipline, and there is no age given for a time of a "normal" display of anti-Christ attitudes. Once the person is responsible to make their own choices about how to spend a night out, (based on the parents not stopping them from doing if it is wrong), they are responsible to answer to God's call to purity. They are responsible as representatives of Christ as long as they bear His name, and they represent the Christian communities they are a part of. They must be taught to respect that, and live according to that.

We all need to respond to the call to be obedient followers and imitators of God. If we don't, we need to held to the account of the truth of God's word. Otherwise Jesus looks like a foolish figure with a distorted and twisted body. We need to get into some serious body building, and sometimes that means losing some unneeded flesh. OUCH.

A New Church

Last night I saw a program describing the decline in church attendance in Canada. In the 50's, 70% of Canadians attended a church service at least once a week. Today, that number is only 17%. At the same time, many Canadians still say that they are interested or involved in spirituality. So why are they not going into the buildings? There were a number of reasons given, but most centered around the consumerist and individualistic mindsets of Christians coupled with the churches attempts to appeal to them. Ironically to some, it is the lack of solid doctrinal adherence that has people wandering out of church buildings and into personal spiritually. If there is nothing worth standing up for, there is no reason to stand.
Another element of the show was a look at Gateway Centre, a "church" in Missisauga, Ont. It was shown as a community centre complete with gymnasium, dance studio, offices, and classrooms. The goal of Gateway was to provide people with what would be a positive influence in their community. It was succesful in attracting people who needed a place to gather and feel safe, a place to belong to something that fed their needs for relationship.
I do not know what their doctrinal statement is, or how they adhere to it, but based on the reality of our cultural mindset and the model of Gateway Centre, I think there should be a "new" way to do church. And I say "new" because it would be new to us, but it really goes back to the way of the early Church.
First, a church should be for the benefit of the community it is in. Today, while most church buildings are in a community, the members come from other communities, sometimes even other towns. This church is like a drop in centre, a place where we get together on one day of the week in one place, and share a couple of hours of worship and together time, but we live someplace else and rarely see much of each other the rest of the week. The community of the church does not get very strong in this way. As for the effect of the church on the community the building is in, it is pretty much zero. We drop in, we pull out, and our paths never cross in a meaningful way.
The church needs to refocus and minister to the people who do not know Jesus. We need to get back into offering help to those who need it, in any way they need it. We can offer a safe place for their kids to play, a safe and affordable daycare, a place to have a coffee and do some scrapbooking or crafting, a place to play games and sports, a place to offer help to single parents and newlyweds, a place to offer courses to help parents raise their kids, or get through a divorce, or heal their marriage.
Yes, that's a long list of things we can offer to our communities, and it is not in the least a complete list. And it certainly isn't a list that can be filled by the typically dozen or so people who normally get involved in helping out in a church. This leads to the second change we need to see.
We all need to be far less individualistic and self-centered. We are so busy with ourselves that we have no time for others. When we get a free evening or two, we use those for ourselves, considering it well deserved downtime. But I don't know if that's what we are supposed to be doing. We need to meet people where they are, not where we are. The church and the members in it need to refocus on activities that offer opportunities for relationships which allow the sharing of the gospel of Christ.
So, todays church should be built around a community centre, should even be the community centre, so that all the people of the community may be touched by the joy and truth of Jesus.
Jesus changed the world by teaching in the fields, feeding the hungry, ministering to the sick. He did not have a building. Maybe we need to see that as a message as well. Maybe we need to stop seeing church as a community of christians in a building and start seeing church as group of believers engaged in a community.