So I Drove To Minneapolis...

So I haven't done much blogging lately...well I've been busy! Last Thursday afternoon, I took off for Minneapolis, MN. I stopped by Southern Illinois to meet my dad, and the two of us left for the land of 10,000 lakes on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, we arrived at the Field of Dreams Movie Site (see second picture). The Field of Dreams is located in Dyersville, Iowa, and isn't really worth a trip in and of itself, but it was neat. The wind chill when we got there had to be in the upper 30s. It was freezing. On Friday night, we arrived in Albert Lea, MN. Saturday morning we went to the Mall of America (see first picture). This mall is awesome, and I hate malls. There was more Minnesota Vikings stuff in one store than I've seen in my whole life. The whole mall was filled with Twins and Vikings stuff (two of my favorite teams). Plus, it has a mini theme park inside. Pretty cool. Saturday night, we watched the best pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana, give up 4 runs in the 1st inning, and the Twins lost 4-3. On Sunday morning, my dad and I visited Bethlehem Baptist Church, the church in which John Piper preaches. We were treated to a friendly visit full of meaningful worship and edifying preaching. On Sunday, we watched the Twins lose again, and on the way home, listened to the Vikings lose on the radio (oh, I forgot to mention that we watched the Twins lose on TV Friday night). We got out of the Twin Cities around 5:30 PM and decided to drive all the way to Southern Illinois and arrived at 4:30 AM. I had to put in Sandra McCracken's hymn CD to keep me awake the last couple of hours (since I had all the songs memorized, it kept my mind engaged). Of course, after 6 hours of sleep, I drove back to Alabama. Wow, what a trip. Good times with the pops. I hadn't spent that much time with my dad in the last 10 years combined.

Yeah, so the above post wasn't very spiritual. I usually try and make most of the posts on this blog spiritual -- so someone reading can get something out of them. The following is going to be a major stretch - but it's my blog, and it's what I want to do, so deal with it!

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Can the gospel get stale to people? Especially people in America? Have you tried to talk about the things of Christ to some, and it seems that by the time you're finished, it doesn't seem like good news anymore?

Well, consider the following analogy:

There I was last Sunday afternoon, sitting in the Metrodome, the place where the Twins and Vikings have called home all my life. I'm a 26 year old man, and I've dreamed of setting foot in such a place since I was 7 years old. A large majority of the fans there with me had been there many times before, and the Twins haven't had the greatest year. But they were still my team. It wasn't stale to me. I videotaped the entire starting lineup introduction. I bought a souvenir cup (Justin Morneau version). And then it hit me about half way through...there's a good chance I'll never be here again. And if I do come back to Minneapolis, the Twins will have a new stadium in 2010. So, as I was leaving, I was amazed to see the hundreds of souvenir cups left in the seats. Not only did those cups cost 5 or 6 dollars, but they were cools cups. So I walked the dome picking up empty cups. I walked out of the Metrodome that day with 6 Justin Morneau cups, 4 Johan Santana cups, and 2 of the Twins giant souvenir cups! Why? Because I'm a weirdo? Probably. Because I'm a pathetic 26 year old man running around a dome grabbing used cups? Probably. But because the Twins weren't stale to me? Definitely! It was an exciting time. I'm sitting here typing this blog drinking from a Johan Santana cup that I didn't buy. I consider it a free gift...just like the gospel.

While the gospel may be stale to some, it might just be exciting and new and great news to others! So don't give up. Find new faces, new people, and new countries if you have to. Because for the hundreds or thousands of fans that leave their souvenir cups behind, there are a few guys who would love to take them home. And it's the same with the gospel. We just need to do what we're supposed to do and love people.