Interesting weekend so far. Friday night we got to host Jason, Brooke, and Paige for dinner and some hang out time. I've known Jason for a little under a year at this point, but it sure feels like longer - in a really good way. Kinda weird side note here, but I was just thinking the other day that it would be cool to find out how I could be of direct service to helping the Iraqui people put their lives back together after the war. Then Jason starts talking about doing that kind of thing on Friday night - sounds like something new may be brewing.

Anyway, then last night we had dinner with some friends we've had for ten years or more. It was fun to hang out for a little while and laugh a bit, but the coversation felt forced to me in some ways. It brings up some weird feelings in me. Sort of like realizing that I've been born again . . . again. Not in the "I lost my salvation" sense, and definitely not in the "Fuhrayunnnnnd, you must be born agayunnnnn" sense. But when I had my most recent spiritual breakthrough and began seeing all the crap I had bought into within the modern church, it's kind of like having had a conversion experience, where all of a sudden I'm having a harder time relating to the friends I've had in the past, because we have different values and different language and different goals now.

In a way it's cool to embrace "new" friendships and settle into a way of doing life that I've embraced and feel energized by. But in another way it's a little scary, because I find myself feeling like I want to just leave some of those old friendships behind. So I have to ask myself if I'm not just creating a newer version of a Christian huddle/ghetto for myself? And if I'm going in a church planting direction, will I be unintentionally leading others to do the same? I hope not. In this new emerging church thing, it's going to be important for me/us to reach out not only to those who don't know Jesus at all, but also those who have been introduced to Jesus via a system that has clouded the issue for them. In both cases, there's a need for conversion. I for one hope to be converted to Jesus daily for the rest of my life - daily crucifixion of my selfishness, pride, envy, etc. and conversion to the one who gave all he had in order to find me and serve me - go read Philippians 2.