It's a Swirl!

Today, Year of our Lord, November 12, 2005, at 0316 hrs, my sister, Grace Midwinter, gave birth to a 7 lbs 3 oz girl. Her name is Cloe Ava Midwinter, and I'm her uncle. IN YO FACE, FOOL!

"Grace said it's your turn now, Neil." my mom told me.

"My turn?"

"To multiply."

Yeah, I'll get right on that. I think I need to take a few more steps before I can make babies, don't I?

Sometimes, I feel like this guy...

So I went to the big AIA thing tonight. Kinda got suckered into it. I really didn't want to go, but I felt that God was calling me to go, that He might have something to teach me. And boy, He sure did...

I'm really thankful that there are a handful of brave souls that are willing to stick their necks out and sell programs with some guy's testimony written in it and sell DVD's with his biography in it... but what about our testimonies? Our stories? I never told anybody this, but I didn't stop attending CCC because I was too busy, or even because of my other lame excuse that I'm too lazy to make new friends. In fact, I love to meet new people. To be completely honest, I stopped going because the way CCC does ministry is totally not my style. I can't just get into somebody's face and start telling them about Jesus and how He wants to change them. It's so obnoxious, so intrusive, so... impersonal. Jesus never did ministry like that. He always took the time to listen to people, to eat with them - which in those days were a big deal. Imagine having dinner with royalty, that's how it was. People were so ashamed that Jesus, the coolest guy on earth, wanted to sit at the same table with them. But I digress.

I think that if Jesus came here today, we'd have the same scene of him clearing the temple all pissed off. We've been doing it all wrong. No amount of organizing or programming can compare to the love of God. It's not up to us to save souls, Only God's mercy alone can do that. All that God commands us to do is to love one another, and that doesn't take a whole lot of effort when you realize that you're not responsible for the salvation of others. Indeed, tonight has only reaffirmed what I've been feeling deep down inside my heart, thinking in the back of my head, and helped me to form my own type of ministry. One that's based on relationships. A friendship goes deeper than any retarded tract, novel, movie, or magazine. I've seen it on all the faces that I have met.

It is my prayer that I will be a blessing to those around me and to everyone I meet. This will only serve as the catalyst to something greater, something new.

"To penguins." -Tony, the beat poet, as he raised his glass.