Just When You Think You've Seen It All

Here's my friend David and his alligator friend. Someone on the boat said alligator's don't have brains which is probably why the alligator kept chasing the lure even after it got hooked once or twice before David got it to the boat. I commented that I wondered if some fishermen were like alligators in that they keep trying to catch something that could bite their leg off. Oh well...it makes for a great story for years to come.

On the way to Salado today, I saw a church advertising their 30 minute worship. Ain't that grand? All you have to do is carve out 30 minutes for worship. I went to their website and it said they have 8-10 minutes of singing, 12-15 minutes of preaching and about 5 minutes for response (listed as praying and giving). That's pretty tidy.

At the risk of walking too far out on a limb, I'm going to suggest the way we "do church" is ineffective in some ways and we need to learn from churches that are doing some innovative things to grow in numbers, but more importantly, in spirit. Yet I tend to go in the opposite direction of the 30 minute worship. I get frustrated that we have to be efficient and keep our worship service within a designated time limit. I realize there are certain groups of people that have trouble sitting in one place too long but I also know there are some who complain only because they are not being entertained enough or because they don't feel they are getting enough out of the service. The focus is inward when it should be upward. The focus in on them instead of on God, on what they get instead of what they are giving. I know because I have been guilty. I have complained the sermon was boring or too long, the songs were too old and too slow. I'm guilty of focusing on what I want from worship instead of what God wants from worship.

30 minutes to worship. Have mercy on me Lord when I try to stuff you in a small box of time so I can go about my life. Help me God to have a soft and open heart and a desire to worship you with disregard to the world around me.