Mini-Vacation

Rochelle and I returned yesterday from a short, mini-vacation. The highlight of our four days was getting to see two movies; Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and the new Adam Sandler vehicle, The Longest Yard. About half-way through every Adam Sandler movie, Rochelle and I remember that our senses-of-humor could not be more different. She's usually rolling her eyes and I'm usually rolling in the aisle! ("Big Daddy" may be a possible exception. She liked that one.) Well, since we NEVER get to go to the movies, we were glad to pay way too much for popcorn.

On the spiritual/philosophical front, I was continually haunted by one question during my time away. The question: Is my faith useful? I know I have faith, and I know much about faith, but is it useful? And by useful I mean, "Is it useful to anyone besides myself?" Sure, it's useful to me, but what about the ones around me, and not just to them, but to the world around us all? Is there a way my faith impacts the poor in the inner-city--not just with an occasional check, which you don't need faith to write, by the way--and is my faith useful to the oppressed around the world, the down-trodden, the hurting?

These questions, hopefully, will occupy my week and the months to come. In fact, that question is the genesis of this week's not-yet-written-sermon. Maybe by next Monday I'll be closer to an answer, or at least, maybe I'll be asking better questions.