Shaking my head

Continuing the theme of Christians who are making my job 10 times harder...

While driving through a town that I pass through many times, I took notice of a certain church's sign. A couple month ago, this church purchased one of those light up signs that can display a bunch of messages. Unfortunately, this place has chosen to put up some of the most spiteful, hurtful, almost hateful messages I have ever seen a church place in public.

A few weeks ago, the message board was doing nothing but listing all of the different types of sinners who would not be able to enter Heaven. Today, "Hell is a lonely place... You will have no friends in Hell." I actually thought about stopping and watching the sign for a while just to see what else they could come up with.

Although it is biblically true that Hell is a real place and people really do go there, the preocuppation that the sign writer has with it is most likely driving more people away from Christ than bringing to Him.

In college, we had Mad Max. Honestly, that's what we all called him because he would never stop shouting long enough to tell his real name. This was one of those guys who would come to the center of the university, stand up on a small wall around the fountain, and spend two hours sending everyone that passed by him to Hell. I personaly was condemned nine times during the second semester of my junior year.

It saddens me to this day to think of not only how much joy that man was missing, but how many people he led away from Christ.

Of course, the last thing I want to do is point fingers, because, I wonder how many times I've done that myself. How many times have I kept someone from seeing the fullness of God's love because I was too busy, or in a bad mood? Hypocrisy is too dangerous of a topic to deal with without looking at myself in the process.

Ouch

Wow. I'm only two chapters into When Bad Christians Happen to Good People by Dave Burchett, and already my backside is beginning to hurt. I can tell that this is going to be one challenging, wonderful, face smacking read.

Recently, I heard of a church who had a guest come in that was less than desirable. Apparantly, one of the "leaders" greeted this person with a request to "dress better or not return." :(

I won't mention the church because I can't completely verify that this happened, but I have seen more than my share of this in my 21 years in the faith. It saddens me when I see the hospital of sinners I proclaim become a nursing home for tired saints who don't want to heal people any longer.

So, I'm going to pick this back up tomorrow and let the author challeng me even more. In the mean time, Dr. Daron is off to read up on some Biblical anatomy.

I'm a Dot Com

Well, I went and did it today. I've been mulling over buying a domain for a while now. Today I decided that since I'm going to be looking for a church to serve in, I wanted an easy way for people to access my resume, this blog, my writings on the Psalms, and other things about me. So...

www.daronbilyeu.com will now take you to my website. This blog is now known as www.daronbilyeu.com/blog I'm going to have my other information put up on the website as soon as possible.

Tract This

I can't stand tracts. Let me just put that one out there right now. You know those little things that are filled with messages of God's love that we're told will bring the masses to Christ if we just give them out and walk away? Now, I guess I should say that they can and sometimes do work. If that happens, wonderful!

But for the most part, all I've ever seen in my 27 years has been people who use tracts to substitute building a relationship with someone who does not know Christ. Seven years ago, I was a college sophomore out with some friends at a Steak 'N Shake. As the waitress cleaned up the table next to us, there it was, a gospel tract and a note.

"This is worth more than any tip we can give you."

She started laughing. One of the more outgoing members of the group asked what was going on. Her reply...

"I'm already a Christian, and I make $2.30 an hour. I could have used the tip."

I guess that's why I'm so against using tracts like that. Two simple questions could have figured that information out. So we pooled our money together and left enough of a tip to cover our table and theirs when we left. It's ok, because I actually liked Ramen noodles back then :)

There is no substitute for actually getting to know someone and knowing their situation. If we're going to show this wonderful love that I claim, we have got to demonstrate it in everyday life! Then maybe people will see that Christ is not a religion, but a way of life leading to everlasting life!

Coffee Shop Office

What is it about the coffeehouse that makes me be able to write? I've been working for a week on a sermon that I'm going to give next Sunday. (Being a youth pastor, I get the luxury of a month notice of giving a sermon to the main church.) Well, today, I'm in my office trying to write, when the power goes out. I'm sure it was just because a squirrel sneezed 50 miles away. For whatever reason, it lasted too long for the battery backup to keep going.

So I packed up and drove the 30 miles to the nearest coffee shop for some recharging mocha, and a nice quiet spot upstairs. In the process of an hour and half, I had written the sermon, my youth message for Wednesday, and a newsletter article for the church. Then the mocha kicked in. :)

It's odd, but I think I'm more productive away from my office than in it.