A couple of weeks ago I was telling a friend about the preacher Charles Stanley.  She said, "that name sounds familiar, but I don't think his name is Charles."  Well of course I have my 1 year Bible degree, so I know my preachers.  As, we continued talking she said she thought the name she was thinking was 'Andy.'  Well, she was right Andy Stanley is the son of Charles Stanley, and he is also a preacher. The interesting thing about this seemingly boring story is that, that conversation got me listening to Andy Stanley's messages while I walk/jogged.  I started listening to his most recent series "Christians." Over Easter weekend my daughter mentioned Jefferson Bethke a young believer with a bit of a different ministry than Andy.  She said she thought some of the statements he made about Christianity were judged to be a bit over-the-top by some people and it turned them off.  Well, that caused me to make a flippant comment about how I think that Jesus was young and immature (radical, quick to respond, not cautious about what he said or did) concerning his ministry, too; and that we can't deny the fact that there are inconsistencies in his ministry and in the Christian faith.  My mom, husband and daughter accused my of blasphemy.  There was more to it than that, and I can see how in my inability to explain exactly what I meant, I may have sounded like I was dissing Christ, but really I wasn't. Now back to Andy Stanley. Today, during my run, I downloaded the next message in the series and listened to it.  The title of this message is called "When Gracie met Truthy."  It completely explained what I was trying to say day to my family about my faith.  I love how God reveals himself to us in the most subtle ways.  I may not have been able to explain exactly what I was thinking, but this message does.  Please take time to download it and listen to it on your drive to work or while you are making supper or whenever you can.  No matter what your faith walk is, I really think you will get something from this.
http://www.northpoint.org/messages/christian