The Bowling Alley Condom Dispenser

Intimacy with God.

What does that even mean!

In a culture that is bombarded by distorted images of Love and intimacy how in the world are we supposed to know intimacy with God? I mean, if we can't even get a clear picture of what it means to be genuinely intimate with another human how are we supposed to be intimate with a God we can't see?! This is especially hard for those of us who are single, those of us who come from broken homes, and/or those of us who have come out of broken relationships. This is truly a battle that Christians in today's day and age are going to have to choose to fight. That's right...CHOOSE to fight! The truth is we have no idea what it means to be intimate with God but we sure do pretend like we do. How frequently do we go before God time limit-less and say, "I just desire to sit here in your presence. I don't have anything to ask of you; I just want to know you"? How long are we willing to serve God without "feeling" anything? In all honesty, we come before God presenting our requests (which is biblical) only (which is not) and we are "feeling" chasers! We want to get some goosebumps, some assurance our life direction is OK, etc. We very rarely seek to truly know the God whose services we are seeking or who gives us our direction. God forbid we don't feel something at church or that the service goes over our allotted time frame!

We are seeking a quickie encounter with "god"! When I say "quickie" I am referring to individuals having a quick sexual encounter. This evening I had a really good conversation with Joel which touched on a lot of topics. One thing that was brought up was the idea that in the US we, meaning guys, are bred to "spit game". Although this is quite a humorous when considering myself, when taken in another context this is really profound. The American church is breeding people who can spit some mad game. I am telling you, we talk some mad stuff! I mean, we place ourselves on the "super sexy" pedestal, we tear others down, we produce some good hits, we have the nicest cribs for God; we're doing all right! The tragedy is we don't know God! We've been primping in the bathroom and working our stuff on the dance floor, while all along God was sitting on the couch waiting for us to just come and lay in His arms. We are missing the point!

We are a self centered church. We spit game. We strut our stuff, often at the expense of others. We preach on what God desires based on what we desire. We have missed the point.

Have you ever wondered why they put condom dispensers up in bowling alleys? I mean, these things have got the funkiest types of condoms in them, ever! Just a question I've been asking, I guess. I'll ask it a couple of more during the course of this series.

Have you ever wondered why we seek the pleasures of God, the quick work of His miraculous power, but we get mad when we are called to wait on Him? Why are we so desiring of a "quickie" spiritual experience with god but we wont seek His face to just know Him? Here's a couple or thoughts.

Maybe it is because we will see who we truly are. Maybe it is because we will be scared at God's will for us. Maybe we will see that God desires for us to bring life and light to a prostitute far more than He desires for us to be wealthy. Maybe we will come to find that the Holy Spirit is living on skid row and not in our churches. Just maybe...

We do not know what intimacy means. I do not know what intimacy means. I do know however, that I want God to be worth more, and more real to me, than a 50 cent bowling alley bathroom condom experience! I want to know God! I want you to know God! Let's interact, let's dialogue (comment button) as we truly seek God and seek clarity on what it means to be intimate.

Part 1: Spitting Game (Sunday the 15th)

Intimacy