Fourth Fun

My trip to Arlington, TX was nice. I got to play with my very weird nephew and niece and talk to my sister and see a big, all-day concert at the South Fork Ranch (where they filmed "Dallas"). I didn't see any fireworks last night, but I'm not really a huge fireworks fan anyway.
The concert was pretty good. I didn't really care about most of the bands there, but when I found out Caedmon's Call was performing, I got pretty excited. They totally shocked me when they started their set with a cover of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" from Paul Simon's Graceland album. Like him, they've recently recorded an album incorporating third-world indigenous musicians. After their set, I headed to one of the pavilions to buy said album for the bargain price of $10.

What can I say about Share the Well? It's both joyous and sobering, challenging and comforting, I danced, I cried...blah, blah, blah. It's awesome. Go listen to it. The trademark Caedmon's Call sound is definitely there, and, as usual, the band has continued to develop their musicianship even further. What sets it apart are the conscious effort to blend their sound with native Indian and South American sounds, and the fact that every song ties in with the theme of practical evangelism. The result is very effective. While listening to it on the way home, I found myself actually regretting buying the CD because it was $10 that I could have given to World Vision or the Blood:Water Mission or something. I'm not sure any sermon or presentation in the past has quite affected me the same way.


Let's face it. I, like most modern Christians, am a near-incurable consumer. Every now and then I reform, but I'm usually sucked back into believing that I actually need whatever it is that I'm wanting at the moment. I've let the culture around me corrupt and destroy my faithfulness in this area. And, what's worse, I've actually convinced myself that this isn't the "main area" of sin in my life, that God is really angry about some other thing or things that don't signify nearly as much about the actual state of my heart. I've learned to block out the story of Jesus and the rich young man, the parable of the camel and the needle, the fact that we can't serve both God and money (or material possessions). I've learned to see the sin as completely normal, moral behavior. But, lately, God's really been dealing with me. He's not letting me off the hook because I send a measley $30 a month to a kid in Haiti and tithe when I remember to. He's leading me to ask whether I really need an internet connection in my apartment, whether I can't sell some of my books and DVD's and send the money to a place where most of the kids never learn to read and never see a movie. And, I'm realizing that the scariness in all this doesn't come from any huge attachment to the things themselves, but from the fear that if I get rid of them, someone might notice what I'm doing. I'm afraid of breaking with the culture around me, which I guess means that I'm afraid of being identified with Christ. How's that for a witness, eh? I've never thought of it in those terms before, but it's true. I wonder how many Christians feel the same way deep down but never know it. I feel like, despite all our efforts to separate with the culture around us over issues like evolution and abortion and the "Christian worldview," we've really been unconsciously identifying ourselves with the world on the huge issue of stewardship. How can anyone adopt a my-morals-are-better-than-your-morals attitude when both parties would rather go out to dinner than keep a foreign child from starving? I know other people have said all this before, but it's been hitting home for me these past few months.
Okay, well this has been long and rambling and all that, so I'll just shut up now. Go listen to and/or buy Share the Well.