Acts 9:1-2

Being passionate about something doesn't mean your right. A lot of times, especially in Christian circles, if someone speaks passionately or emotionally about something, the we feel we must support them and to not do so would be not Christ-like or sinful. I don't think that's true. You still have to evaluate the actual content of what someone is saying even if they're crying when they say it, or they speak emotively on the subject.
About a year ago someone suggested a new ministry for our church. I didn't feel like it was the right move for our church because of our cultural context. But the person presenting the idea spoke to the staff emotionally and passionately. They got choked up at a particularly sensitive and personal part. At the end of the presentation, there was no discussion whatsoever as to whether or not we should pursue this ministry. There was no discussion at all about researching it to find out more about it. The ministry was officially part of our church from that moment on. Since then, the ministry has kind of floundered along, not doing much, wasting energy and effort, and with few others who share this person's passion.
Just because you cry, you're not right. Just because you yell, you're not right. JM

Jealousy As Inspiration

The more I think about it, the more that I think that jealousy isn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it's just an emotion we all feel. The key is what you do with it. I think God wants to use jealousy within us to push us to excel. If we're jealous of someone else's success, then we need to work harder to achieve it. If we're jealous of someone else's marriage, then we need to work harder on our own. Jealousy can be extremely powerful, use it wisely. JM

We Can't

So for lunch today me and a friend went to Five Guys to get some burgers and fries. My friend orders first and pays. Then I placed my order and paid. After I placed my order my friend tells the cashier that he'd like to change the toppings on his burger. He basically just wanted the other toppings off of it and to put bacon and bbq sauce on it. The immediate response was "We can't". My friend talked to the guy for a minute and got them to add the BBQ, but only after much resistance. Pretty lame.
I was talking to my friend afterwards about it and I commented that it's not even really the cashier's fault. He knows the rules. He knows how the system works. He knows what he's supposed to do, and that's it. Nobody told him that really the goal is to make the customer happy so that they have a good experience. He just knows that once an order is placed, it can't be changed. Imagine how different it would be, though, if management gave them the rules and the system, but then told them that above all else, do what it takes to make the customer happy. If they want to change their order, let them do it. If they don't like what they got, get them something else. Don't go talk to a manager about it, just do it. If you give people a good experience, they'll remember it.
It kind of goes back to what I learned at the Granger communications workshop as far as people will remember 100% of what they feel. The more you can tie emotion into anything, the better people will remember what you've done. JM

Dialogue

I love the dialogue that blogging provides. Here is an interesting discussion about Acquire The Fire's "Battle Cry" event that is being held in San Francisco and the attention that it is creating. Fascinating. For the record, I'm not a big ATF fan. Nor am I necessarily a fan of the "youth rally". I strongly feel that the way to see life change is not to emotionally fill them up and embolden them. I think this can create embarassment once students get older or can create a perpetual "divine anger" sort of mentality. I certainly believe that emotion is a powerful tool in creating passionate disciples of Jesus, but I feel it must be heavily balanced with logic and compassion. JM

Movement

August 8, 2003 is one of the most significant days in my life. That's the day that I surrendered my life to full-time vocational ministry. The week preceding that was one of the most interesting weeks I've ever had. My wife and I had returned from a trip to Gatlinburg that we took with a student ministry team from our church. I didn't lead the trip, or really do anything on it, so it is kind of incidental to the story.
When we returned on Sunday I kind of slipped into a funk. It was weird. I never really felt fully awake. The more I thought about it, it seemed as if my peace had left me. Kind of what C.S. Lewis referred to as "the dark night of the soul." I began to think and pray about what it could mean for me. After talking to somebody about it, and then discussing it with my wife, we felt that I needed to go into full-time ministry.
It was an immediate, emotional moment for me. Instantly I felt renewed. I felt a sense of purpose and envigoration.
The problem is, right now I'm there again. I talked with a student tonight about some stuff that he is dealing with. It was great. I loved it. But, immediately afterward, I felt empty. I felt the same way that I did back in August of 2003.
What's awesome about this is that I feel like God will give me direction out of this. And I know that I'll end up happier than I ever could imagine. But being here is lonely. It's sad. I feel like I'm floating in space, unable to control my direction, my speed and helpless to communicate to anyone about my situation.
Reminds me of Brave Saint Saturn's song "Daylight". JM

Emotion

My wife and I had a discussion tonight about how frustrating it is for her when I try to solve every problem that we encounter with logic. It's my nature. It's who I am as a person to find the root cause of things, find the solution, and discipline myself to that solution. But it's not that way for my wife, and probably most women. They love emotion. They want to argue and fight and vent. It's in their nature. They are passionate people. I could learn a lot from my wife's passion.
I'm more disciplined, but what is the point of discipline without passion. That's just religion. That's not what I want to be about. I want to have passionate discipline. Man, how amazing would that be. Imagine what God could accomplish through passionate disciples. JM