Jazz Thoughts

Okay, I got scolded earlier today for not posting regularly. Can I use the "busy" excuse? I know that is pretty lame, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

Lately I have been reading a very good book by Donald Miller entitled, Blue Like Jazz: Non Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. There are many thoughts within the book that I'd like to discuss, but here is one that I wanted to share with all of you. Miller is writing about how most of us are pretty self-centered. We do what we want, when we want, how we want. We spend money on what we want, and we pretty much ruthlessly defend our self-centeredness.

Here is an excerpt:

"I understand the plight of the children of Israel, to be honest. Moses goes off to talk to God, he doesn't come back for a while, and so the people demand a god they can see and touch -- a god they can worship with the absolute certainty it exists. So they build a golden cow (odd choice, but to each his own). Moses comes back from talking with God and finds the children of Israel worshiping a false god, so he goes postal. I imagined myself as the children of Israel when Moses comes down off of the mountain.

'What are you doing, Don?' Moses asks.

'Worshipping a golden cow.'

'Why? Why would you reject the one true God?'

'Because I don't get to see Him or talk to Him. I am not even certain that He exists.'

'Are you on crack, Don? Weren't you there when God parted the Red Sea? Weren't you there when God fed us from the ground, made water from a rock, led us with a cloud?' Moses screams.

'Calm down, Mosey. Listen, man, you always go up and talk to God and come back with a sunburn, and you have God hover around your tent in a cloud, and you have God turn your staff into a snake, and we get nothing. Nothing! It's like we have this personal communication going with God, you know, Moses. We are just sheep out here in the desert, and, honestly, we were better off as slaves in to the Egyptians. That is where your God brought us. We need a god too. We need a god to worship. We need a god to touch and feel and interact with in a very personal way. So I made a cow. You can also wear it as a necklace.'

'Don,' Moses responds, 'before I put you to death and send you home to the one true God, I want you to understand something. I want you to understand that God has never been nor ever will be invented. He is not a product of any sort of imagination. He does not obey trends. And God led us out of Egypt because you people cried out to Him. He was answering your prayers because He is a God of compassion. He could have left you to Satan. Don't complain about the way God answers your prayers. You are still living on an earth that is run by the devil. God has promised us a new land, and we will get there. Your problem is not that God is not fulfilling, your problem is that you are spoiled.'"