9-25 The Gospel according to John, The Shack and Rugby

Spent much of the morning with John...not in the John but with the Apostle John as he unfolded the majesty of Jesus...who is my life, my door, my shepherd, my vine, my truth, my gate, my bread, my King, my grace -giver, my light, my creator, my Messiah, my teacher, my friend, and ALL THE OTHER WONDER-FILLED ATTRIBUTES that John reveals about Jesus!

Also spent time reading and finishing "The Shack"....powerful and controversial book. I personally was refreshed by it...afterwards I read praises and critiques of the book by Christian leaders I admire. My opinion? A good book to help people relate to God more personally and less religiously. A poor book to derive some of your theology from. It's FICTION and must be read like fiction. If it was a theological work my concerns would be on matters of "revelation, scriptural authority, trinitarian accuracy, universalism, and undermining of the church".

On to more serious matters: RUGBY...I had hardly heard of the game...but my "PASTOR" in Vernon is convinced on the 8th Day God created RUGBY. So after spending 3 days with 4 female theologians I fled to the "city of refuge" for a testosterone fix... went to Pastor Stuart's house to watch RUGBY...South Africa vs. Australia with 50,000 people in the stadium...I learned a new foreign language including "scrums" and "trys" (why would you score a goal and call it a "try"? It's quite confusing because if you score you are not "trying" you are "scoring".)

Searching for theological revelation in rugby may seem a far fetched effort...but I did receive a vivid illustration of what some days of ministry feel like..."a scrum with Satan". Also I began to see how whole segments of people can miss the gospel....here I am, a world traveler, highly educated, YET the revelation of "rugby" was completely foreign to me...I had heard it, had a clue about it...but had missed the powerful truth of the gospel of rugby!

After the sacred time, we retired to the living room for some more "ordinary biographical updates and more common theological discussion...including "The Shack"...Pastor Stuart is a bright theologian and sharp leader from Scotland. His friendship sharpens my life.

Also in the afternoon I rode my bike all the way to the top of Silver Star mountain. Some real mountain biking! What a work out but what a view from the top!