Desperate Joy

  Jesus was in the business of breaking down barriers and connecting with people that everyone else had cast aside. In John 4 we find Jesus travelling from Judea to Galilee. This journey would take him through Samaria. Samaria was where people of mixed descent lived. They were not the pure-blooded Jews that lived in the other areas of Israel. Many Jews despised these Samaritans and would take a longer journey around Samaria in order to avoid coming into contact with them.   Jesus made it a point to pass through Samaria. Along the way he took a break at a well around noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water and Jesus asked her to give him a drink. She was surprised at this because Jews typically have nothing to do with Samaritans, but Jesus was there for the specific reason of talking with her. He preached to her of living water, the forgiveness and healing that he was offering. She took him up on his offer and well of water springing up unto eternal life up erupted in he...

  The other day I was talking with a good friend about investing in the stock market and he mentioned that he doesn't invest in "bad" businesses like oil companies, and he feels guilty when he has to fill up his car with gas. It seems like these sentiments and values are becoming increasingly common and I find them a bit bizarre, if not disturbing, especially considering them from a Christian perspective.  I think there are bad men and bad companies in the world, to be sure, but just because a company is involved in oil hardly makes them bad. And I certainly don't think that anyone should feel guilty about filling up their tank with gas.   There are things that as individuals and a society we should be feeling guilty about, but they have nothing to do with gasoline or the environment. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against renewable, "green" energy and preserving our natural resources and keeping our rivers, forests and oceans clean and healthy. ...

  Recovery takes work. This is an uncomfortable reality for us to accept. Once we hit rock bottom and decide that we need to change, we often think that the process should be simple and easy. We made the decision to get sober, the rest should take care of itself, right? That would be nice, but while becoming an addict is the easiest thing in the world, getting sober is one of the most difficult. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. Just as the addiction was a central part of our lives, to become sober, recovery must become a major part of our lives. Recovery is not just something we do for a short while and then we are done, we don't just finish the Twelve Steps and call it quits. It becomes a lifestyle, a part of our daily routine. It is less like getting a cast for a broken leg and more like taking regular doses of insulin because we are type I diabetics. This regular practice of recovery will look different for every addict, but usually involves attending wee...