PASSION

I am passionate person. I have always been a passionate person. When I was a younger man that passion came out with unbridled intensity coming out into the open like those "pop-up" commercials and messages that come almost annoying to your television when you are watching USA, TNT or TBS on the cable. At age 59, that passion is not so uncontrolled that you never experience a lighter or more casual moment with me. But if you open the door on a subject on which I am passionate you will be surprised, perhaps overwhelmed by what flows out.

Baseball, especially Tigers baseball, creates one of those flood gates. I am not fanatical like some fans of the Steelers or Eagles persuasion seem to be; but I care greatly about the game and in particular, how Jim Leyland's boys play the game.

The Church is something I am deeply passionate about. I am especially passionate about the church being the Body of Christ and behaving like the body of Christ. I stopped playing church as a child. I stopped "going to church" when I realize that the Body of Christ is not a religious activity or social association. It is a supernatural organism charged with the purpose of continuing the work of Jesus Christ. People who went to reduce it to something other than this biblical vision of the church sometimes find me letting flow the floodgates of passion. I can be more than a little intense - and overwhelming to those who do not share this same passion.

Reconciling people to God through Christ is the third area. I firmly believe that I have a mission from God and that is to help people rec0ncile to God, to end their broken relationship with Him and to return to His original design where only He is God and live under His authority according to His values working His purpose. Without that reconciled relationship we will be eternally separated from Him and without that relationship this life will be without its wholeness and fullness. In terms of the church, I believe that is the prevailing purpose of the Body of Christ not to be denied or neglected.

People with a passion should not apologize for having it especially if it is passion given to you by God. We should not try living apart from that passion. We should pursue it, well, with a passion. Sometimes we need to filter a bit so as not to overwhelm people who do not yet share it, and who might claim that passion for themselves without counting its cost.

Too many people live lives of quiet desperation or comfortable passivity. They will never truly influence their world nor change it. If God has given you a passion you should pursue it because God does not make mistakes.

Know your passion.
Know the source of your passion.
Emrace your passion.
Proclaim your passion.
Pursue your passion.
God will work in and through you to change your world.