Retreat to Black Mountain - digg this
I could blog about the Pisgah Brewing Company where they have some of the best stout I've ever had and an open brewery night on Thursdays from four til eight and where three bucks will get you the freshest liquid bread this side of heaven.
I could blog about Perry's BBQ, a little hole in the wall joint in Montreat, where for seven bucks each our little group (which barely fit in their dining room), got us all the pork, chicken, and brisket we could eat along side hush puppies, slaw, buttered red potatoes, baked beans, and sweet tea that would make any true son of the south cry.
I could blog about My Father's Pizza, or the beauty of the mountains, or the wonderful folks at the Blue Ridge Assembly, or the great ride up and back I had, or the games of Catan played, or the music, or the hornet in my bed, or the hike topped off with cooling my head via a hat dipped in a mountain waterfall.
Oh wait, I sorta just did. More on some of that to come (maybe).
Mainly I want to say this. I went to the mountains hoping desperately that I wouldn't worry about who wasn't there and focusing instead on renewing relationship and hearing the gospel. That happened. Oh I worried a little. I'm a worrier in spite of what some may think. More importantly I connected with guys both old friends and new. We shared our pain and fears, but we also shared our triumphs. Men laughed and cried, some (including myself) who hadn't done enough of either in a long time.
I heard the good news again that the Kingdom of God is here, now and that as screwed up as all of its inhabitants are we can love one another and our wives and our Lord without shame or reservation. That's not something that we do often enough down here in the valley. I for one have resolved to change that. I've been disconnected from some of my brothers. Time is a precious commodity, but I need to refocus on how I've been spending that. There are enough hours in the day if I'm wise.
We talked about loyalty and transparency in our dealings with one another. I'm pretty good at both of those things, but there's always room for improvement. I honestly worshipped for the first time in months, maybe longer. God unlocked some doors and flung others wide open. I pray that they'll stay that way and more importantly that the "mountain top experience" doesn't just happen on the mountain.
If you enjoyed this entry subscribe to this blog by email or feed reader
Total Number of Comments: 5
Though my theology leads me to a different interpretation of your religious experience, I am sincerely glad you enjoyed your self on your trip in so many ways.
I'll blog about my trip when I get the pics up on my site.
"Though my theology leads me to a different interpretation of your religious experience,"
Gotta know what this means.
Sure thing.
You mention a lot of positive, personal developments in your post, especially with regards to open and honest interactions with fellow humans. You then credit God for this progress, "God unlocked some doors and flung others wide open."
As a deist, I believe in a non-interventionist God. Thus God did nothing for you on your trip - you did, with help from friends. Give yourself some credit. You are capable of making changes for the better.
This is part of a larger habit of Christians that bugs me. When good things happen, God gets the credit. When bad things happen, its often because of human sin. It's a tautology that paints humans as utterly depraved beings incapable of doing any good. Such a view opens the door to treating people as such. Worse yet, the most likely to do the mistreating are the ones who believe that they are doing the will of God (thus 'good', by definition).
I don't think humans are utterly depraved. Everything we do is tainted, but not completely corrupt. While I do give God the ultimate credit for good things that happen (especially things that I believe are ultimately out of our control) I know that I'm capable of doing things that other folks percieve as good. So are you. I'm just giving credit where credit is due. God used the things we did for our ultimate benefit.
"Worse yet, the most likely to do the mistreating are the ones who believe that they are doing the will of God (thus 'good', by definition)."
Believing that one is actually doing the will of God and actually doing the will of God aren't one and the same. I suppose there you'd have to get back to the fruits of their behavior. If I believe that people are corrupt in some fashion then that should drive me personally to love them more and be understanding when they fail to meet my expectations. It often does and when it doesn't that's my problem.
I didn't mean to imply that you, personally, consider humans as utterly depraved. I was just saying that attributing all good actions to a non-human (God) and all bad actions to human actions (sin) creates that attitude.
I couldn't agree more. But all that is required is that additional false belief that one is doing the work of God. Since acts of God are synonymous with 'good' in a believer's mind, they would feel no responsibility to any human condemnation of their acts. This is not to imply that believing that one is doing the will of God is the only way one can become dangerously self-righteous. Any dogma can do that.
I can understand that point of view. After all, nothing could be done if God had not created everything in the first place. But why not also give God ultimate blame for bad things? Is not the reasoning behind giving Him ultimate credit the same as giving Him ultimate blame?