Jesus doesn't like fat chicks...

I debated whether or not to have this be the title of the blog... apparently I decided to go with it...

I was going to church at The Salvage Yard last Tuesday and there was a message given by a 55 year old man with dreds named David Pierce who gave a message about the work that he had been doing through Steiger International. There were many fantastic stories about the amazing and difficult adventures that they had experienced and the way that God was able to work through their obedience...

there was one thing that stood out more than anything else though...

it wasn't the near death experiences shared with us, not the riots swelling on the streets in the middle east, the extremists beginning to organize an attack.. none of that.

it was the fat chicks.

and the story goes something like this...

paraphrased...

" I was looking out my window one day when a peculiar sight caught my eye. I saw a nest with two little baby birds in it... or rather.. two incredibly plump and obese chicks (baby birds).

These two chicks were so fat and gelatinous that they were barely recognizable as chicks.

The mother bird was working frantically to continue feeding them and was constantly gathering worms to feed these two chicks. All along, the fat chicks were crying out "more, more, more!"

It was surprising that these two chicks had grown to the mass that they had... They barely fit in the nest, they were so overfed.

for several days I would walk by the window and see this scene replayed... the momma bird frantically struggling to feed the chicks, the chicks becoming more overstuffed and crying out for more, and so on.. and so on.

until...

one day I went to the window to check on the situation.

the nest was empty.

The mother bird had pushed the chicks out of the nest, because the time had come.

It was time to fly, or time to die"

David went on to explain how he felt that this was an accurate representation of the church. We have gotten comfortable in our nest and we continue calling out for more.. more... more.

We have become overly saturated with focusing on what God is doing for us.. what the ministries of the church are providing for us... our personal preference for what the music in the church sounds like.... where we think the altar in the church should be placed... more... more... more...

let me spell this out more clearly...

We "christians" have focused on ourselves and expected the "church" ( pastors, worship leaders, staff, ministries, etc...) to momma bird the fat chicks (the congregation) while the people attending continue to get more fat, and more comfortable, and whether we like it or not there will come a new season where it is "time to fly, or time to die"

we cannot fit in the nest any longer.

and...

if the entire focus of our faith is for self-improvement we are probably doing something wrong...

in other words...

If what we are doing within the four walls of the church has no effect on the streets we take to get there... we might be missing the point...

So, as I was processing through some of this with a friend, a simplified summary surfaced...

"Jesus doesn't like fat chicks"

It is time to fly