"No follower of Mine shall ever walk in darkness (John 8:12) These words of our Lord counsel all to walk in His footsteps. If you want to se clearly and avoid blindness of heart, it is His virtues you must imitate. Make it your aim to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ"
-from The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A Kempis

There's nothing like spending Sunday afternoon in a state of Chapter's Bookstore style bliss. Went with an old friend, and just sat around reading for a couple of hours. I read the first few chapters of Douglas Coupland's book Life After God, then found this beautiful quote in the last chapter:

"Now -- here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God - that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me to be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond able to love."

Thanks to Steve McEvoy for posting the quote on his website, http://artsweb.uwaterloo.ca/~srmcevoy/index.html. I found this quote to be beautiful and profound and touching, because really, Jesus is the fulfillment of our human need. I believe that this is at least in part what Jesus meant when He claimed to be the Bread of Life, and the Living Water. He is our Source and our goal; or striving and our peace; He is our holy contrition and our sacred joy. He was given for us on the cross, fulfilling all of God's promises to both the ancients and to us. Now, it is up to us to walk in the grace of Christ. I will stop writing before I get to sentimental. May you walk through the week in the grace and fellowship of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit.

The more and more I think about my faith, the more and more I realize how much it is based on relationship, not ritual. As I read through Jesus' teachings, I really do begin to see what matters to God: my heart, and my attitude towards Him. It is really tragic that we make meaningless rituals out of what should be the heart's first love: Jesus. It is my prayer that as I live, I may not continue in the path of being a Sunday morning disciple, but may worship God with my life. This is what important. Lord, let the scales of hypocrisy fall from my eyes that I may see your grace.

Here's a really cool quote from Francis Schaeffer. I think I found it on www.labri.org:

"Art is a reflection of God's creativity, an evidence that we are made in the image of God."

On a more lighthearted note, here's something funny that I found at http://www.ourgreenroom.com/my-blog/2005/11/30/concerned-caller.html. My buddy sent me the link. Listen to this first, then listen to this. Pretty funny stuff