from the bs club circle of emails

Christians spend tons of money and thinking on how they can get the heathen kids from the local high school into the doors so that they can "be reached". I think that's great. I think that 99.9 percent of high school kids do not have a clue on the topics of who they are or what it is they actually think/believe about the world in which they live. I think this rings true for 99.9 percent of Church kids as well.

Kids that grow up in church do not learn how to make their faith a real and true interaction with God the Father anymore than a heathen does. The fact is that parents seem to believe that if their kids are sitting in a room, hearing a bunch of foreign sounds bouncing off the walls and into their heads, that somehow this is going to translate into honest and goodness, God-fearin' Christian men and women. Bullsh**.

The truth is that it takes so much more than that. And these 1000s of kids that are flowing out of church halls are not anymore prepared than the next guy. They have mostly been told that they need to stay away from "liberals" and that its best not to question the government. Don't rock the boat, don't ask questions. Do as your told. I love some parents I know, but this is literally the thesis of their parenthood. They have great kids, sure. They're close to perfect. But they have been trained not to think.

This is a problem. And worse than that (maybe) is that most kids are going to begin questioning their shaky faith the moment that a small snip of education seeps into their brains. Or maybe they will just forget about it when they have the boyfriend or girlfriend that they can sink their insecurities into, or drink away the questions. Or maybe, throw up after every meal. Whatever makes you forget the questions. The problem is not that they forgot their faith. It is that they never had one to begin with. Is that harsh? Maybe.

But we have to get away from our parents. We have to get away from our home towns. We have to get out of our element. We need that situation (hello ccf!) where we can wrestle with this idea of a living God who is irrationally in love with us. Some God out there that calls us his sons and his daughters. This is a big deal. How many of the kids in our ministries have gotten away from the Christian Culture and really got down to dealing with the beast that lives in their chests? Gotten down to dealing with the problem of pain and grief and what is this thing called hope? Few of us.

How often do I? My father's business is not the Americanized Christian T-shirt Theology. My father's business is a mystery, but a mystery I am called to chase without abandon, nevertheless.

When we get down to our father's business, we begin (just a glimmer) to find out what he is all about. And at the heart of this, I believe, is the simple and profound idea that the guy we thought was our father was not our real dad after all. That we are princes, princess, and that whole cliche, which just so happens to be true.

One of the many blessing I have in my life, is that for all my mother's failings, she didn't force a God on me. She let me be, and because I was a lonely kid, I found comfort in church; and because I was on my own, I was able to ask the questions. And at times I thought I had it figured out. And then I would learn more. I would get closer. I can still remember certain times, conversations, moments-where I got it! Or, I got something. A little piece of my father's mind. It was great, and those moments shaped me. And now, the more I know the less I know. And part of that process is accepting the mystery of my father's heart. Am I perfect? Well, I would be the first to say "no", and not one of you reading this would argue. My mom wasn't awesome, but this is one spot where we she was great. I should tell her that.