chance to run

chance to run tomorrow, a mile at Catoosa. last year, i ran a 5:06 personal record...i hope i run fast as well. i noticed that in yesterday's post, my definition for vulnerable is pretty much humble...yes. that was one of my goals for the longest times, but i haven't really thought about it that much lately. perhaps i should...

something i wrote after reading the first chapter of Sex God, the new book from Rob Bell. though the title might sound...odd, it is actually a very good book and shines light on the idea that sexuality is understanding that you have been disconnected and trying to get back into connection and understanding with others and what is going on. he talks about how sexuality goes hand in hand with spirituality. it is a recommended read.

We tend to focus on how we are different from others – like how someone is good looking and someone else is not, or how someone is rich and another is poor, or all of these other attributes. But what we rarely do is focus on how similar we are to others – we tend to think of some people as more fortunate or less fortunate or maybe even more or less human. And what is wrong with that is that we need to see people as who they are - everyone is human. And just by being human, we have some kind of part of God that is left inside of us, left in our identities. By those standards, no one is any less fortunate, any less beautiful, any less human than anyone else. Everyone deserves to be loved, everyone deserves to be respected and treated equally.

And when we don’t – when we begin to think of people in terms of what they have or what they do instead of who they really are, when we consider how we might take advantage of someone else – we are offending God. Not only do we refuse to recognize or acknowledge God in others, but we stop for at least a second, protecting the sanctity of God in us. All at the same time, we are hurting God in that we are living in defiance of His authority, denying Him what is truthfully His.

Rob Bell talked about how God rules over heaven, but He has let earth be under the control of man, as in man can hand over the reign of earth to whoever or whatever authority he desires. So we can let God rule over earth, or let God bring heaven to earth, or we can give control over to whatever is not of God, essentially bringing hell to earth. Rob Bell made the connection that whenever we look at someone, choosing to think of them as somehow less human than you, then we are choosing to bring hell to earth. And this is wrong because what we need – is God.