is passion a good thing? it tends to get me in trouble...

so i read one of my favorite pastors blogs this morning and it really got me to thinking today. how come Christians, not all, but enough to make it an issue, tip so poorly at restaurants ? i've had conversations with some of those said people, and their response is somewhere along the line of not wanting to give more to a servant than they do when they tithe to God. ok... so many issues with that statement, but since my thought process went further than that today, i will only say this, then move on: when you tithe, 10% is a guide line. God is looking for a posture of giving, not rule following, and i'm pretty damn sure He'd be shaking His head if we chose to give LESS to someone serving you just because you want to give Him more. how bout you give your 10% at church, then when you go out to eat after church, you continue that act of giving to His children and bless them for allowing you to not have to cook!?!

enough about that. here's the rest of my thought process:

we, at the Stirring, are known for our love. Bethel is known for healing, Neighborhood for Grace and so on. we all have our roles to play in this community, but does that mean that just because Bethel focuses on healing, that grace gets overlooked? NO. are we, who attending the Stirring, going to only send our sick to Bethel to be healed? NO. why? because being strong in one area of service, doesn't give us the right to slack off in all other areas. God can heal people through friends at Neighborhood and find grace when they talk to friends at Bethel. I just believe that God leads people to the above said churches to be forged by the best in the land, then sent out to reach out to the rest of us. The connection with my thought process is this: we call ourselves Christians, read the Bible, give our 10%... then treat people like crap all because of our "beliefs". some churches, (none of them listed above) pride themselves on being more Godly for handing out tracts instead of a tip, or "showing" God their love for Him by giving more to Him on Sunday morning. i think if the Bible was still being written there would be a whole letter written to each of these churches begging them to change their ways. NO ONE GETS IT RIGHT PEOPLE, but at least TRY to humble thy-selves and look at the example that Jesus gave us. being a servant is not a glamorous job, but an important one, and if you want to seal your place BEHIND them, then continue on being jerks by cheating them out of what you KNOW is right. i am so very thankful that a few of the churches here in town, meet on a regular basis as the FRIENDS THEY SHOULD be and help each other. what's that called... oh yeah... SERVICE! read the bible, all of it, not just the old testament, then get out and live it!