The New Normal

TheNewNormal

Normal... in every other aspect of life normal means just what we would think it would mean. Its the way everyone expects things to be, the average, The “norm”.  Webster Defines it as:

nor·mal   /ˈnôrməl /

          Adjective: Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.                                                                    

But with Christianity its different. Normal is going to church at least two or three times a month and maybe sharing your faith once in a lifetime. But thats about it. that doesn't sound like what is "expected" of us from God. theres a term for that, and that term is nominal. webster defines nominal as:

nom·i·nal  /ˈnäminəl/

          adjective: (of a role or status) Existing in name only

  "Existing in name only"... don't you feel like that more accurately describes what we think of when we think of a normal Christian? the average Christian. The American Christian. The way Christians are thought of by the world. We talk our faith, but do we really live it? are we truly devoted to Christ. Normal should be completely and utterly in love with God. Normal should pursue God with everything we have. Normal should be willing to give up anything just to spend time with him and know him more. I mean after all, he did kinda create everything in existence. Take dust and create the thing he loves the very most of all known as us. but he didn't stop there. like we are prone to do, we screw up. and we've screwed up. The fruit just looked to tasty apparently. I personally would have gone for something like a chocolate cream filled donut or something, but never the less, we screwed up, and he proved he loved us so much that he took his only son who he loved more than anything and he sent him down here to live with us. But he did more than that, he sent him down here to die for us. to die the most painful death anyone could think of all for the one and only purpose of not losing us. we don't even want him around in our normal life outside of church most of the time but he wants us so bad that he was willing to do anything to have us. and since God can't be in the presence of sin, he had to make a way for us (who are full of the stuff) to be with him, and thats what Jesus was for, he bridged the gap between us and God. so with all that said. lets consider the term normal... right now the term "normal Christian" doesn't really hold up to much. its not necessarily a positive thing for people. We shouldn’t just be nominal Christians and we shouldn't feel the need for use of the words like extreme or radical. We should just be normal. Not the normal that the world sees, but a new normal, the type of normal God wants us to be. Lets start a new normal for the world. Are you willing?

Coffee and Christ

CoffeeAndChrist

ok, so tonight me and a bunch of friends decided to go catch a movie, but being a giant college, half the college decided to go see a movie also, so the movie was sold out. kinda bummed, my group decided to go to a local coffee shop and hangout. we got to the coffee shop and i saw this guy sitting by himself smoking a cigarette minding his own business. when all of a sudden i feel this urge inside of me saying "hey, go talk to him" i was reluctant at first, but decided this time for one of the first times in a few yrs i was actually gonna talk to him instead of telling God no. so i look at my friend christian and said to him, "hey, ya wanna go talk to him?" and his response is "dude! u read my mind!" so we get our drinks and walk over and ask if we can sit down and we just start off a casual conversation with him. now heres the part i forgot to mention. he was not a normal looking guy. his hair was jet black down to his chest with eye liner on, spike bracelets and ginormous steel toe boots. not the most inviting look you could say. but we talked to him for about a half an hr and shared Christ with him. he was pretty turned off to the whole christianity thing, but hey, our job is to plant the seed, God gets to make it grow. now heres where it got crazy! we are walking away, just chatting to ourself when we meet this couple and they ask us if they could use christians phone to call a ride. he let them and they couldn't get ahold of anyone, so I'm like, "well how far do u live?" they weren't far so i told em we could give them a ride. so for the next 15 minutes i got the chance to share Christ with the girl while Christian got the opportunity to share Christ with the guy while sitting in the back of my truck driving to their apartment. the girl was pregnant and scared about the health of the baby, and they both needed a job. even tho it wasn't anything big, you could tell that it meant the world to them just getting a ride back to their apartment. the girl was a christian and i feel like God used me to encourage her to just cling to God and never give up. and the guy was really open to everything christian had to say. the main reason i am telling this story and posting this here is because we didn't go out with the intention of sharing Christ or going a half hr out of our way to drop some people off at their apartment. but we were open. we were willing to take what God gave to us and use it. and if we as christians will just be open to the crazy stuff God wants to do, then we will be amazed by what he puts in front of us. i hope this encourages anyone reading this to get out there and show Christ, love on people, care for them, and just be open to whatever God has to do in your life.