My pride hurts

OK, apologies to Haemin for the lack of update. For onece I have a good excuse, as after the NSC, I went straight to Dundee for a week to help out with their mission week and didn't get back till late last night. Just watched Scotland get thumped by Ireland and the Chapel team got wasted 5-2 this morning (with most of the credit for their vicotry going to the referee) so I'm not in the best of moods and for some reason thought that this owuld be a good time to finally get round to updating.

So interesting things: The Agape National Student Conference happened last weekend. Despite the 6 hour drive I had to undertake to get there, the weekend was flippin great. Tons of students had their lives changed and realigned themselves to God's will, and when we went out into the student area of Birmingham to do some evangelism on the Saturday afternoon, some one even gave their life to Christ! For me, it was great to be challenged on some issues and to be reinvigorated by the Agape vision. Great stuff.

After the 6 hour drive back, I got stuck into watching the Superbowl for the first time, and now have a certain appreciation for American Football, although I still think it's played by overpaid pansies who don't seem to be able to run for more than 2 second bursts and then feel then need for a tea break. Girls.

The next week (i.e. the next day) we'd been invited to help out with Dundee Uni Christian Union's mission week. SO after about 6 hours sleep, 3 of us set off on the road again. Basically, our role was to help out with flyering, giving out gospels, striking up conversations and encouraging CU members to share the faith. We had a great time and got to know some really great people up there, but what struck me the most is the general apathy from loads of CU members.

Lots of Christian students (and this isn't just Dundee, but a generalised sweeping statement), apear to have had a pretty Christianised upbringing, and had the vast majority of friends being folk from their youth groups. Then they come to university and get a bit scared by the big wide world and run for the sanctuary of the CU and end up in some sanitised bubble for the rest of their uni lives, barely knowing a nonchristian beyond their course mates. One possible reason for the lack of folk making the final step of faith (and lots of people came very close last week) appears to be the lack of Christians in the secular environment, actively living out a transformed life every day. Non christians don't see that this 'Spirit filled life' we're offering them is actually anything real and don't want to commit their lives to something that they dont seeing having any effect on them.

Why do Christians seem to always want the comfortable life, getting spiritually fat, so they can 'get to know God better'?? I can't really think of anyone in the new testament living a comfortable life; there are many who were joyful and thankful, but this was a result of living on the front line, continually letting God's power work through them. How can we really grow if we're just listening to sermons every friday and not being a changed person 24/7, in the real world (and i think that it's living in the real world that's the really important bit)? Is this why so many are bored with the Christian life? Are we more bound by legalism than we think - not particularly excited by God, but ritually doing quiet times and going to church so we feel we deserve our ticket to heaven a little bit more?

Anyway, rant over. I realise that that may offend some people (I already think I have in the last few days), so feel free to abuse me and let me know what you think.