By April Terry (http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

I am going to be teaching about a topic and software package that I am still learning myself.  I’m a little unnerved about it, to be honest, but I was thinking that at least I have been studying up on it and feel that I am a little ready.  It’s the hardest thing to try to teach others things that we are still learning about and that brings me to the topic of faith.  Does anyone really know God?  

I think that my whole life has been highlighted by many many attempts to get to know God and know what I believe about Him.  In trying to discover God, I have formed some opinions.  Still, they are just that–ideas, opinions, faith.  So, why do some Christians just seem so sure that their interpretations are the right ones?

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By April Terry (http://faithwarming.blogspot.com)

Several years ago, a friend of mine gave me a Jesus pencil topper.  She guessed that I would find it humorous and she was right about that.  In our senior ministry, we try to bring the seniors a gift every Christmas and Easter.  Admittedly, we have gotten some silly gifts, such as the stuffed frogs that said, “Leap of Faith” or the Lambs wearing a T-shirt that said, “Lamb of God.”  My personal favorite were the plush flowers that had notes attached that said, “Flowers are smiles from God.”   These days, it isn’t unusual to find T-shirts, jewelry, and just about anything with the Jesus label on it.  I was particularly struck a few years ago when I found out that there was even a Jesus amusement park.  Merchandising Jesus has never been more popular.

I don’t mind all that, really, but if I have to be honest, I know that it kind of smacks of the whole clubhouse mentality.  After all, you aren’t going to find an atheist wearing a “Jesus Saves” T-shirt, unless it’s the one with a piggy bank on the front.  The truth is, I would never expect anyone to be saved because of a stuffed frog or a T-shirt.  It’s more of a way to send a message in a tangible way, I suppose.  In our senior ministry, the seniors love it.  They ask for extra to give to their grandchildren.  We give them extras.   It doesn’t replace a good message, good music, or a warm hug, by any means.

Even though I am one of the top consumers of these types of goods, I still flinch a little when I think about commercializing Jesus in that way.  I think He would, too.  Still, we can’t really ignore the fact that Americans are incredibly consumer-oriented.  We sit around and think about the next big item that we are going to buy.  It is as ingrained in our culture as expecting the lights to come on when we flip a switch.  I sometimes wish that we could step outside of our own consumer-oriented culture so that we could find out what exactly it is like to place our value in people rather than objects.

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By April Terry (personal blog http://faithwarming.blogspot.com )

My husband and I needed some repairs done on our pool this week and found someone using the yellow pages.  Unfortunately, after one visit that put our pool in a worse state, we were put in a bad position because we had already paid a couple hundred bucks for something that wasn’t completed and wasn’t done right in the first place.  After several attempts to get the gentleman out to fix the problem with no response, we finally starting looking into the history of the business and found that the business license listed in his ad was a bogus number as well.  So, as a final resort, my husband left a message for him that he would be contacting the D.A. regarding the situation. 

A couple of days later, we got a series of desperate phone calls from what sounded like a very inebriated pool guy that finally culminated in our cutting off all contact with him.  However, before it got to that point, the gentleman told my husband that he wasn’t being very “Christian.”  That left me thinking about what the expectations are of Christians in these types of real world situations.  I wondered if the guy really expected that a Christian was supposed to withdraw quietly when they were being ripped off. 

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