Welcome to the Weirdness

First of all, let me apologize to Bill Hybels, the author of the book Just Walk Across the Room. The phrase "weird God" actually comes from that book. Hybels uses it to describe stories we Christians tell about unexplained phenomena, angelic visits, etc. You know, the kind of stuff we love to tell with knowing glances and that give you goosebumps. If you ever happen to read this blog, Mr. Hybels, please don't charge me royalties, because I'm broke.

Anyway, welcome to the House of Insanity. At least, that's how it feels trying to walk the Christian walk, doesn't it? You think you have everything nicely planned out, you think you know everything, and then Boom! something happens to shake you up. Remember the old commercial with the slogan, "Life's messy, clean it up"? Well, this blog is for all those who think that being a Christian is also messy at times, and who want to grapple with issues without hearing platitudes.

And speaking of messy, the Bible is pretty messy, isn't it? Oh, we wish it weren't. We try and sweep the nasty bits under the rug so we don't have to deal with them. If you were raised in the church like me, then you were probably taught to think of the Bible as a series of stories. Nice, neat stories all with a great moral lesson. The people in the Bible were just cut-outs to move around the felt board (please tell me I'm not the only person who remembers those). Then you grow up and find out the people weren't cut-outs, they were flesh and blood, with all the faults of other human beings. And you encountered stories they never taught you about in Sunday School. It's so much easier, though, to think of the Bible as a simple book. Simple stories, simple lessons. That way we can make life so much easier. Think of it as the Bible in Three Easy Lessons: Trust God, Pray Hard, and Don't Ask Questions.

The truth is, though, that the Bible is messy. Very messy. And God can't be packaged into a series of easy lessons. So we're going to confront the Bible as it is, not as we'd like it to be, and try to deal with it on its own terms. It won't be an easy journey, but the greatest accomplishments always come with the most work, don't they? Just like climbing Mt. Everest. Only slogging through this spiritual journey will give you a feeling unlike anything you'll ever get climbing a mountain.