Shorthand Messages

Well, hello all once again. It's been about 2 weeks since I last blogged, and the truth is that I've missed it. I haven't blogged for a few reasons, mostly because I've haven't had much to say, but I really want to carry on writing, so I'll continue to blog 5 - 7 times a week, and you can let me know if it's become a load of shit.

A fair amount has happened since I last blogged: I've met some wonderful people, and made a few good friends, I ran into the ocean mostly naked in front of a large number of strangers to save a friend [which later turned out to be less heroic than I'd hoped because he didn't need as much saving as I'd been led to believe], I've become a pizza delivery boy until I go to Joburg in June, I've gotten some great new music and I've encountered some people that have angered me immensely.

Now, I shall blog on a few of the above incidents, but today's blog revolves around a man who astounded me more than angered me, but by doing so has given me some food for thought.

Before we think about what he said, let's consider something that is related. Do you ever think about what you wear? Do you ever get up in the morning, and wear specific clothes so as to 'say' something? When you buy your clothes do you consider the message it will send to people you encounter?

I know I do. You may not consider it on a conscious level, but the truth is that these things are processed by our brains, and we send the same message or reiterate that message, by our body language every minute of every day.

Example, I am a fan of metal and hardcore and I like to think that I send that message by the clothes I wear. If you've never met me, I wear mostly black. So, I like wearing black t shirts and shirts, black jerseys, black shoes and occasionally black blazers [I like blazers, but for the most part the climate doesn't agree]. I usually wear dark blue jeans, just to make the different textures noticeable [yes I've thought of the different textures]. I also have long hair.

Now, I may have thought this through more than most people but the same is true for everyone, just to varying degrees. So, the question is, should this principle be carried through to other aspects of our lives?

Recently a few of my friends attended a charismatic church, and the preacher used the story of Moses and the burning bush to justify his idea that all churches should have big sound, bright lights and the like because we need to "sell the gospel" effectively. Now, this made me rather upset because besides the fact that you can't in any way extrapolate that from Exodus 3, I've never read anything in the Bible that tells we need to "sell the gospel".

But the truth is that, while he may have been taking that to the next level, we do send a message to people and if we're hoping that people are going to accept Jesus we should be intentional about the message we send. That doesn't mean we need big lights and pyrotechnics, but maybe just keeping the seats clean would help.

So, was what he had to say worthy of the reaction it provoked from me? Well, what he had to say contained an element of truth, but by trying to make Exodus 3 fit into it, well that's what truly upset me.

You see, I believe that most of what people say contains some amount of truth, irrespective of how small. There is usually some truth to be found. It's why I almost never disregard what anyone has to say. There are of course times when what people have to say is just a big load of shit, but even then if we can dig through our own perceptions and judgement, there's something we can learn.

I know this is a weak blog, but it's just a short one this time. There will be some better ones in the coming days, I hope.