I always knew people would act like those around them, but I never knew the full power of that. This little video shows how easy people change their normal behavior in order to fit in with the behavior of those around them. Its quite funny:

If I’m lax in updating my blog, it’s probably because I’m following this flowchart a little too well

Procrastination Flowchart.

Over the next few days I have the exquisite opportunity to attend the International Christian Retail Show put on by CBA. For those who don’t know what it is, and I assume that a vast number of readers here at Drive Through Rain do not, this is the end all be all for anything you can find in any Christian bookstore, anywhere. So whether its Bible commentaries or TestaMints, Left Behind video games or Veggietales, you can find it all here. Everyone is peddling their crafti-work, and (supposedly) all in the name of Jesus.

Upon arrival to the World Congress Center, I see out on the vast landscape of Christian retail, and the floorspace alone is at least 4 football fields. Lets just say, its vast. So the company I work for has a booth, and I head that direction. I’m pretty dead set on finding them, so I am not taking in any initial impressions. Although I wasn’t browsing to start, it was hard to miss this on my way in:

Giant Larry Boy

Well, I got to my company’s table and proceeded to wander my way through the giant maze of Christian sub-culture fuel. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to start. The first half of my walk was through Christian book-publishers. I mean, there were probably a lot of books with questionable content or books that in no way further the Kingdom, but all in all, there seems to be some excellent resources out there.

My next experience was with the Christian junk sellers (i.e. everything besides books). My first real exposure to this was in college. I was never a man of faith until then, and had never really seen people sell much spiritual stuff other than the candles at the supermarket, usually in the Spanish foods section. When I was at Washington University, it was the year the Pope came to America and he came to St. Louis. We went to go see him, and you could find any Pope related item, from Pope-on-a-rope for all your baptismal cleaning needs and Pope-sicles, to satisfy your sacrament sweet tooth. Lets just say, this place topped them all. Some items I can understand people wanting and having a need for, but some things, I just don’t get. There was a booth for sunglasses…. seriously… Jesus sunglasses. What made them Christian? Don’t really know. Seems like people are ok with using Jesus as a marketing tool to sell stuff. Same with folks who put the Jesus fish on their business trucks. Is it truly biblical to never interact with non-Christians and only do any kind of business with supposed Christian-based companies? Does that guarantee you will never get ripped off? Unlikely. There was also a contraption to help you memorize scripture by projecting words on your windshield while driving. So, next time you see someone with a Jesus-fish on their car driving badly, don’t get mad… they may just be memorizing Scripture.

I will post for you three interesting finds for the day.

1. Christian Board Games. One company apparently makes Christian versions of all the board games out there. As if Scatagories really causes me to be tempted by the devil. They have everything from Apples to Apples the Bible Version to this:
   
   
   Guess you gotta make sure not to say words on your card, like “atonement, sacrifice, perserverance of the saints.”
2. Bronze Jesus. This lifesized bronzed Jesus warrior statue confronted me amidst my casual stroll. I was thinking of buying it and putting it by my front door to remind me what a merciful Savior I have.
   
3. The Jesus Statues. I have once before posted on ridiculous Jesus figurines, but these will take the cake. See Jesus in commonplace situations, like riding a bull, driving a harley, or falling off a cliff, to help remind you the price that was paid for your sins. Get yours today from WeAreFishermen.com
   

What is your biggest weakness? What is the one thing in your life that you may define is making you weak? Some may be thinking “I’m too shy,” or “I just don’t take enough initiative,” or “I’m too emotional.” May I suggest that that biggest weakness is probably not your true biggest weakness? This is a blog, so it’s my chance to say ‘here’s what i think!’. I think our biggest strengths can be our biggest weaknesses. The weakness I am talking about is spiritual weakness. It is a lack of spiritual maturity and fortitude. Its keeping the Kingdom of God at arms length from us. That is the biggest weakness we can have in our lives.

So how is our biggest strengths, which are usually God-given in the first place, our biggest weakness? Our biggest strengths often give us a sense of self-sufficiency as well as control. I consider myself a fairly well rounded individual. There’s a number of things that I can do fairly well (a jack of all trades, though likely a master of none). My ability to do all these things successfully, like teach a class or explain theology or play guitar, can keep me from actually experiencing the full breadth of how God wants to use those attributes. Because I can do something successfully, like lead a group in worship, I sometimes don’t let God be the one who is really leading. I don’t let God perform his miracle work through my hands, feet, mouth, etc. I can still, through grace, rest on the assurance that His word does not return back void, and acts of service like this are never truly in vain, but they are not up to the potential that He desires.

This also leads to a sense of control. Realizing that I can do it on my own, it is not easy to relinquish that ability and allow God to have his way. This is BIG TIME in so many areas of our lives. The pastor this morning said, “Perhaps its not our gross immorality but our gross self-sufficiency that causes us to keep the Kingdom of God at a distance from our lives.” I think this can be so true for so many people. We become self sufficient and as long as life is not too bad, we’re ok having control of things and not allowing God completely in. This just leads to so many complacent, reactive Christians instead of people living a sold-out, proactive life for God. Look at Paul. He had all the reason in the world to rely on his ability. But what does he say?

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - Phil 3.4-9

Paul, a memorizer of the Hebrew scriptures, an excellent orator and theologian, a true Hebrew amongst Hebrews, counted all those abilities as loss, so that Christ may fully dwell and he may place all his reliance on Christ’s sufficiency through faith. Wow… if any concept is counter cultural right now its this. With so much ME cultures of things like blogs (yes… like this one), myspace, youtube, etc, everyone wants to have a ‘me’ voice and show off how they are unique in some way. But faith is never the promotion of me, is admitting how not worthy your Me is and promoting the saving grace of Him. So maybe, just maybe, we can learn to die to ourselves, admit our spiritual weakness, our total need for God, since anything we can muster on our own is simply filthy rags to Him, and finally we can really learn to know what it means to truly live.

Your answers to crossword puzzles could tell a lot about you. Take today’s situation on the plane:

Crossword clue: These have supporting roles
Current letters known: B_A_

Juliann’s Answer (Architecture Major) - BEAM
My Answer (Standard Male) - BRAS

p.s. Bras was the correct answer