lunch with a friend

had lunch with a friend today – some of you have met her… she is a long, tall drink of water.

she’s struggling right now to see how religion fits into things, not sure that “religion” is all that necessary. i almost agree with her – especially in the way she is thinking of it. she would probably use church and religion interchangeably, right now.

i asked her if it were possible that church/religion (in the way she is using it) is really just how man connects to man, not how man connects to God? by defining myself as someone who believes in jesus, really, i’m defining my connection to another person who believes (and, i would argue, largely serves identification purposes here on earth.) she seemed to “connect” with those thoughts.

i connect to God not necessarily “through” the church/religion. though the memorial service for chad did evoke a connected feeling in me. it seems like my connection to god comes through people and his word, primarily. in that way, i guess “religion” as defined by churches on the corner or denominations aren’t all that necessary for me.

by the way – the story that got me at the memorial was how Chad’s dad shaved him the first time and then for the last time – gone, i was gone.

were it not for people, left only with his word – i don’t think i would be able to continue this pursuit. i’m pretty confident of it.

(oh, and i’m not trying to be a theologian here, just some stream of consciousness stuff…)