This won’t surprise you, but I’ve learned surprisingly little since then. Mainly some fine tuning of the base theorem, but other than that, the essentials are right there. Mostly what needed to change was the climbing a steep path metaphor. “Here’s my other analogy for living as a Christian: you’re traveling up a steep rocky path from which it is very easy to stumble, but God is always there to lend a helping hand. All you have to do is reach for it.” The problem with this metaphor is that it makes God external to you, when in fact he is internal. So, if I were to rewrite it, it would say “it is very easy to stumble, but God is always there to lend a helping…heart. Because he’s inside of you and can fill you with divine strength.” Yeah, that’s what I thought…it just doesn’t work. So let’s just … Continue reading →

Hidden in a valley in Cleveland National Forest is the Lazy W Ranch Camp. Owned and operated by the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, they rent out for different Methodist events. The only ones I am familiar with are the Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High Camps. I think I went to an elementary camp in 6th grade, but I don’t remember my past (who would want to?) except for that I attended Senior High Camp in 2000, 2002 and this year (2003 for those of you who are bad with numbers). These events were fun because you got to get away from it for a week (which is a policy I only used last year and this year, the other times I brought up electronic devices of all sorts) and get back to nature and to God. The thing I’m leading up to is this theory … Continue reading →