revolutionary love

welcome to the 2006-2007 revampling of my blog. it's strange - i used to not want to be a blogger. i used to not want to share my worth(y or less, take your pick) thoughs with the world. ah well, things change. specifically, a few things changed. one, i am finally experiencing things that people should know about. two, i am finally in a place where people want to read my stuff. that may sound selfish and/or boastful, but too bad. i care too mcuh about what i write about for it not to be heard. hence a new commitment to this blog.

so what, you may ask, is going on in the life of steve that is so important? well, i might answer, i have been transported to russia on a secret cia mission. or, i might truthfully answer: i am a youth pastor and a college student - all at the same time. i'm not sure which one sounds scarier. but it's a wonderful life. my students really do rock my world, even if i want to kill them at times. they challenge me to think practically about my passion for students bringing missional awakening to the world. sometimes i forget that no matter how badly people are dying around the world without Christ, dating is still a serious issue for those in high school. i forget that people are homeless in tallahassee, but guys still need to talk openly about lust. i forget that many of my friends in college are drowning in an alcohol induced, party atmosphere deviod of God, but i still need to care about 6th graders...period. a big thank you goes out to my youth for all of these things.

perhaps that is why i title this 'revolutionary love'. revolutions are hard. people die. things get blown up. lots of people go away cynical and dissallusioned (cuba, anyone? castro was at one time considered the good guy by much of the world). what it will take to change this world is not simply a bunch of teenagers ready to throw their money and time and lives at the world's lost - it will take a bunch of teens doing that with LOVE. my prayer for my youth today is that they will love - hard. if they love, they will give. if they love, they will go. if they love, they will never stop. otherwise, somebody smarter than me wrote 2000 years ago, all our actions will amount to nothing.