Last night after watching the Olympics for way too long (How bout those 'mer-cans!). I stumbled across a show featuring Frank Pastore and stayed up even later! Before last night I had not heard of Frank Pastore and the line drive hit that knocked him out of baseball. I had never heard of his conversion and subsequent ministry. I have to say his story was very inspirational to me because it inadvertently addresses so many of the growing pains we in established 60 and 70- year old churchs feel. (I guess I could have used the post-modern term here but I am not all to sure it really fits.)
Here are some loose quotes as I remember them, that got me thinking.

"...People are not really rejecting Christ, they are rejecting religion and this culture of Christianity that to them does not seem real. When they really see Christ for who he is with out all the religious baggage, they may recognize His authenticity and readily accept him...."

"If someone is truly seeking what is real in life, they will find their way to Christ because HE IS REAL There is no way to deny him once you seek truth and reality."

"The guys who I played ball with who tried to "bring me to Jesus" could not do the one thing that 1Peter 3:15 says all of us need to do...Be prepared to answer for the reason of our hope. Hours after accepting Christ I got with them
and said..'guys I needed to hear your testimony and the reason for you faith'... Just hours after I accepted the idea and the belief in God and Christ I was teaching others what had led me to God. We need to listen to people who are led out of darkness more."

He said many things that grabbed my attention. The biggest ah-ha part for me was the simple statement that went something like "all who really seek truth and what is real WILL find Christ because HE IS REAL. HE IS TRUTH."

We do so many things to dress Jesus up and fit him into this and that circumstance. Quite frankly, WE get in HIS way of reaching people. He doesn't need us to bring people to him. He needs us to get out of the way. WOW. To think the culture of Christianity and church may be the biggest deterrent and obstacle to Christ, next to the evil one, of course.

I am not saying that Christians are bad. I am saying we need to remember who is servant to who. We need to remember who is the real thing and who is supposed to be the copy. We need to live trying to be real and true to who we are called to be not true to the image of what we think we should be. Well actually, No this is not right. Replace all those "we"s with an I! I need to do this, not everyone else.

I hear crying in the next room so I have to go now. I will spell check and edit later but I really feel I need to share what God put on my heart through Frank Pastore last night. Have a great day and pray for me to be able to stop seeking my desires and seek what is true and real... JESUS CHRIST.