—Today’s rent-a-blogger is a 28-year veteran of the media jungle, spanning the gap between thirty second prerolls on quad video tape to renders on a shared storage system.  He is a senior member of the production team at a major midwest ministry. 

I just returned from a pleasant drive to the country for a lovely breakfast with my family.  Here in the midwest the corn stalks are brown and dry, the pumpkins pop orange from the patch, it was a bright warm happy morning in the heartland.  This country repast took us into Amish country, and tweaked my brain about cultures clashing and interacting at the same intersection. 

The Amish and Mennonite communities are a sharp contrast to so-called normal life.  These Christian believers are not shy in their beliefs, their moral standard, and their passion in sharing both the message of Christ, and His love extended.  The lovely young girls with their plain cotton dresses, and braided hair speak of a life-separated.  But their culture also embraces service outside their group as well.  The woodwork of the carpenter-artists is both prized and long-lasting.  The home baked good fill many a basket back to the big city.  They are a people separate, and intertwined.

Are we maintaining our integrity by standing by our message and morals, while keeping our door open, our hospitality warm and welcoming?  Does our marketing message preach to the choir, or entice a hungry traveler like a fresh baked pie?  Do our lives serve as a an example of “follow me as I follow Christ”, or are we locked behind the castle walls? 

 A Saturday drive in the country can create complex questions, and inspire simple answers.

Lord, keep teaching me through the simple activities of life how I can serve you better, and love my neighbor as myself. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Devotional, Guest Blogger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.