More Than Fine…

My Illusion of Security

// March 10th, 2010 // 9326 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/my-illusion-of-security/My+Illusion+of+Security2010-03-10+13%3A23%3A00chrissulli // Faith, Life

The last few days have provoked a lot of thought and thankfully a little writing (finally!). One of the most striking acknowledgements has been that of my own mortality. Not through any tragedies or close calls but just through the stories and testimonies of others. Somehow having avoided almost all tragedy or drama in life, the possibility of anything going wrong or of my human frailty seem foreign. But in a talk by Os Guinness today, it struck me that our security is an illusion that can be pulled out from under us at any moment. So while my soul is secure in Christ, my Earthly security is a house of cards and my faith comes with no promises of a long and peaceful life. Rather than causing fear or concern, I feet encouraged. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) I have a keen awareness today that we don’t have any idea how much time we have left and we need to live every moment to the fullest. What the fullest means and what stewardship requires is a ponderance for another today. Don’t wait for tomorrow for tomorrow may never come.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Theology

// October 19th, 2009 // 88812 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/peanut-butter-and-jelly-theology/Peanut+Butter+and+Jelly+Theology2009-10-20+00%3A45%3A23chrissulli // Faith, Life

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day. I won’t go in to it more since I’m just now writing today’s blog post at 8pm, but lets just say the wild goose was having fun with me. Among other things yesterday, I was reading Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution which deals a lot with poverty, authentically following Christ and living a life that seems completely irrational to the world like the early Church did (just read it if that didn’t make any sense). Anyway, after a passionate, soul moving day and that kind of reading, I ended up in an awkward position. I sat down to eat a snack before watching North Point online, and as I took the first bite, I cringed. Gross, raspberry jelly. I was faced with a dilemma. Do I eat it or throw it away?

Yep, that is my peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the garbage can missing one bite. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t eat it. I made myself another with strawberry jelly, yum. So what does that mean? I guess I could feel really lame about this, and maybe I should. Did I miss the point of everything I was reading? Would Jesus have sucked it up and eating that pb&j? Or maybe he would have changed the raspberry to his flavor of choice (he could do that you know). I could get defensive and ask who really would have benefited from my quiet suffering if I had eaten it. What would it have really accomplished? It isn’t like I had anybody to give it to. And maybe therein is what I should really be learning. If there is a story in the bible about Jesus eating alone, I missed it. He is pretty much always surrounded by people when he isn’t alone with His Father.

I don’t think the lesson is to not waste food. I don’t think what I need is to learn to share my food. I’m constantly giving food away here. But more often than not I’m eating alone and then giving that food away. There is nothing bad about that just like there is nothing bad about giving money to charity, donating used clothes, etc. but I feel like we are all missing something. We are missing the community we were designed for. We are missing out on being the Church. The hungry get fed. The naked get clothed. We feel good about helping out. Everybody is happy right? But we missed the personal interaction. There is an organization or 6 acting as the proxy between you and the person you are helping. We are missing the opportunity to break bread with people and by doing so break down walls between the haves and the have nots that don’t exist in Christ or in the capital c Church. We are missing out on just doing life with these people. We are missing out on being the Church.

I don’t know if this post makes any sense. It certainly isn’t at all what I intended it to be, but I feel this is a nice continuation of the randomness that this blog has been becoming. Hopefully that means it is a God thing because I’m not usually this weird (am I?). I don’t know what else to say other than I long for the day “helping the poor” is just sharing with your brother and sister. It is just natural. These are your friends, your family. I didn’t really even realize it until I started writing this but that is how I have grown to feel about our players. One might argue that I’ve become to desensitized to the poverty around me, but I’m not sure that is it. I think this has just become life and they have become my brothers.

I wish I had a great question to leave you with or a brilliant point to make in conclusion, but maybe I can make a challenge. Take a homeless person to lunch. Mentor a kid. Find a single mom to help out. But don’t do it as charity. Make them your family. I’m not even sure exactly what that means but I have this strange feeling it could change the world.

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The Man in the Back

// October 16th, 2009 // 8565 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/the-man-in-the-back/The+Man+in+the+Back2009-10-16+12%3A14%3A40chrissulli // Faith, Life

I think this is a great follow up to Tuesday’s post. It is nice to balance so many negative experiences with one of hope. Today’s post is a guest post by Annette Taylor. You can follow her @… (oh wait, Annette doesn’t twitter) or read her blog at www. (Annette doesn’t have a blog either). Alright then, you can find out what is on Annette’s mind exclusively here on More Than Fine… or you could ask her.

The Man in the Back by Annette Taylor

I tend to sit in the same area every Sunday at church. I like the back left section. I don’t know how it started, but that’s where I sit almost every Sunday. I noticed a man has been sitting in the back row near me for at least the past month or so, if not longer. Honestly, I first noticed him while we greeted each other at the beginning of a service about a month ago because he looked like he might be homeless. I don’t actually know if he is, but I gathered this from his appearance. I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but that really was my first thought. Once I saw him coming back week after week, I thought how amazing it was that he felt comfortable enough to come back and become a regular at our church. Our church always makes the “come as you are” claim and this was a real example of that acceptance. A few Sundays ago, something else about this man caught my attention. When the collection plate was passed around, he dropped in what I am assuming was all of the change he had. It blew me away. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. A friend sitting next to me mentioned it after the service. When someone gives all they have on them, not just 10% or their regular weekly offering, it amazes me and inspires me. She felt the same way. Last week, I noticed the same man by the front door when I was walking in to church. I said hello and then it hit me; he was standing by the door because he is now part of the group of men and women who greet people at our church. I was excited by this because it really showed that our church practices what we preach. We don’t want people to wait until we can afford “nice” clothes or look a certain way to come to church. We want people to be there just as they are because that’s how God wants us to be there. It’s not about our clothes, how much money we give, or anything else that matters in the end. What matters is that we are there to worship and I hope that I can live up to the example the man in the back of church sets every week.

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Come As You Are

// October 12th, 2009 // 84723 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/come-as-you-are/Come+As+You+Are2009-10-12+12%3A00%3A00chrissulli // Faith

One of our players told me he couldn’t go to church with me because his shoes aren’t nice enough. He said when he has enough money to buy church shoes he will go with me. It breaks my heart that that Christians have led him to believe that what God has given him isn’t good enough to go to their church and worship his maker.

Jesus didn’t say come and follow me when you are ready. He didn’t say come and follow me when you can afford it. He didn’t say come and follow me when you meet our minimum dress code standards or when you have nice enough shoes. Whatever shoes Sufry has are the ones God has provided him with and thus good enough to serve and worship God in.

It makes me sad that rather than encouraging him or helping him, someone burdened him. If his shoes bother you so much, buy him some shoes you find acceptable or get over it.

Most of us don’t wear nice things to church to impress God or be respectful anyway. We wear nice things to church to impress people but that is just my personal rant.

I don’t think this just applies to clothing. What other customs do we have that keep people out of church? What can we do about them?

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Who have you left behind?

// September 30th, 2009 // 8406 Comments »http://www.chrissulli.com/who-have-you-left-behind/Who+have+you+left+behind%3F2009-09-30+13%3A00%3A00chrissulli // Faith, Life

Just listened to the last sermon in the Go Fish series by Andy Stanley at North Point. The series blew me away and to be honest I found it by “accident”. I love it when God uses the most random things to speak to us. I only listened to this series because I subscribed to the wrong podcast. I failed in my attempt to subscribe to the weekly North Point podcast and instead subscribed to some sort of best of Andy Stanley weekly podcast. But this mistake was God-given and occurred right on time. It allowed me to encourage someone close to me who was going through a tough time and needed to hear exactly what Andy was talking about. I love sharing those little moments on here so I don’t forget them and I have a record of how God’s faithfulness and answered prayers.

Anyway, the last sermon got me. Here was the question, “Who have you left behind?” When you became a Christian, you changed. You started spending your time differently, made new friends. You got so caught up in everything new and exciting that was going on in your life that you never looked back, and you probably actively avoided some of those old friends and old places you used to spend your time (and for good reason). But remember that someone reached out to you in that same situation. By God’s grace you were changed but it is so tempting to look at people and say I changed but so and so never could. If Paul changed, anybody can.

I know this is true of me. As I’ve continued to grow and put my past life in the rearview mirror, I’ve not only distanced myself from the places I used to go and the things I used to do but from the people I was friends with. That makes me a little sad, not nostalgic for my past life but stung by the fact that God has uniquely positioned me in the lives of certain people and rather than sharing the joy and passion I’ve found, I’ve distanced myself. I know even from a distance that how I have changed has effected some of these people but at the same time, I’ve missed opportunities. I need to be more intentional.

Who have you left behind? In whose life has God uniquely positioned you to share life with that person? What are you waiting for?

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