Friday, January 19, 2007

Jesus People USA #2

Well, I have spent the last month or so at Jesus People USA, (with the exception of 5 days at Urbana, which rocked). So far, I have found my faith in God encouraged by the example of people around me, but at the same time, I have grown quite flabby in my love for Jesus. It is easy to get fat if you don't excercise, and I have not been excercising. Thus, once again, I find that ease and comfort (even though they may be accompanied by structured Bible studies, etc.) all to often lead me to give in to wasting precious time on frivolous activities. Although the social environment at JPUSA is relatively warm and welcoming, it all-to-easily becomes very inwardly-focused. For example, it is very easy to spend a whole week at JPUSA without going out, meeting people of the city, etc., because all of your needs are provided for within the building of JPUSA--work, food, laundry, entertainment, etc. So, early on, I encountered a guy named Nick, who went out almost every week on a trip into the city on a bike with his friend to talk with people about Jesus. I was encouraged by his example, but as of yet, I have still not done anything to follow his example. (He left before Gus and I left for Urbana). In the meantime, I have watched a number of movies and played a number of rounds of Bang (an amazing card game that is quite a crowd pleaser, though I play it too much). This is the culture of JPUSA--work, then hang out and goof off. So I'm trying to learn how to be intentional about loving the poor, even when I'm in an environment of other believers who say they love the poor, but are still learning how to practically carry it out.