April 15th, 2012. The lie.

And The Skeptic Wept

A blog by Rich Reid of Questions

Ahhh, my first foray into blogging. I sometimes find unique and mildly humorous things to say, but rarely write them down, so this should be interesting for all concerned. In this blog I am mostly going to focus on the positive side of my spiritual quest, and blog on how I feel while watching my good friend, partner, mentor, inspirational guide  and pastor, Jamie George of Journey Church in Franklin, TN (just in case someone reads this not associated with Journey, which is highly unlikely right now) give his Sunday sermon. I thought it might be interesting to give an account of each Sunday service, from the perspective of someone who may be at a different place in his spiritual journey, and stay away from the typical skepticism that I exude in our world famous Questions show and podcast. So, I figure some of you are saying “Hey, what in the heck does the title mean and why does it say that you wept. Are you emotionally unbalanced or do you often weep like a small child that has just had his/her favorite toy taken away?” Well, the answer to the latter of the two questions, my friends, is clearly a little of both. As for the first question, I came up with the idea for the title as I sat there this Sunday April 15th, 2012, after having watched Jamie give what was the most heartfelt, emotional service that I had ever witnessed, and I must admit, I had more than a couple of tears rolling down my cheek. It especially hit me when I looked over and saw Jamie with his wife and two oldest sons (affectionately known as “the twins”) who were clearly proud of their patriarch (wow, what does that feel like) hugging, crying and praying together. I must say, it moved even a hardened, cynical heart like mine.  So I sat there, watching this beautiful moment, feeling lost and shut off from this wonderful God of which Jamie speaks (for more about this and other issues I have, check out our every other Tuesday night show Questions, at 6:45, starring Jamie George and Rich Reid at a local Building 8 near you), wrapped in the irony of it all and I just had this one thought.  Here I am, an open and vocal skeptic, sitting amongst this incredible group of welcoming people, witnessing this beautiful, spiritual and moving sermon, that was so powerful it made even the skeptic cry. That’s when the name popped into my head. “And the skeptic wept”. I said “Hey, that has a New Testamenty ring to it, so I’m going with it”. Anyway, on to the actual blog part…
The main reason why I started going and love to go to Journey is that I love to hear Jamie speak. As most of you know, and if you don’t, listen to the podcasts from either Journey or Questions, (does it seem like I’m pimpin’ it too much?) Jamie has an incredible gift of speech. He draws you in as much by how he says something as what he says. The first time I ever heard Jamie speak in front of a group of people was when I was hired to work the coffee bar in Building 8 (where Questions is held every other Tuesday at 6:45) (too much? I’ve never really been good at subtle) where there was a Christian Music Seminar involving Christian musicians and publishers from all over the world. So, picture a room of 200 people from different denominations and parts of the world and the first words Jamie (as a guest speaker only mind you, this was not a Journey event) says to them are “Western churches are failing”! Wow, I’m sold. Where do I sign up.
So over the years Jamie and I became friends, and I started going off and on, mostly off, to Journey semi-full time. But the one thing that has always held true for me is that when I leave a Sunday service, I’m always inspired to be a better human. And honestly, I may not know Jesus (he’s still Mr. Christ to me) but I know Jamie. So enough kissing up to Jamie for now (I don’t even owe him any money or anything) let’s talk about Jamie.
So, what did I learn from this day? What will I keep with me? Well friends and readers, (hopefully both), I think today’s sermon answered one big question that I had about Judaism and what would later become Christianity. I never understood how two religions could base their entire being on a lie. Not a debatable lie, such as God didn’t create man or that Jesus died to save us, but a clear and outright lie stated in the Bible. That Jacob, with his mother’s help, had to deceive his own father to gain his blessing and through this blessing one day become the leader of a great nation. Sure, it shows the deceitfulness and drama of a modern day Jersey Shore, but I could never get my head around the fact that this entire story, where a people believed so strongly, was based on the lineage of a professed liar. Really?!? A guy who deceived his dying, blind father, who had to run away because he was too wimpy to stand up to his brother, saw the ladder to Heaven in a dream and still bargained with God about belief, and not until he wrestled with a questionable man did he fully believe, and this is the guy that the Hebrews decided to believe was their founding father?!? Really?!? Well, that is what I had believed. In fact, I was almost salivating at the mouth because I had enough material for our next Tuesday night in just one story. Enough questions built up inside that I thought I was going to stand up right there and shout them out! But then it happened. Jamie, in his Jamie way, brought it all home. Put it all together and I actually… understood. Wow, what a weird feeling. Not only did I understand, I was moved to tears watching this man’s passion for this story, his moment of realization that this was the true beginning of it all, and if God could create a Nation out of this entirely broken man, that the rest of us, through any struggle that we may have, still have a chance. I still have a chance. At that moment I had never disliked, loved, and respected a man more than Jamie. The love and respect part I’m sure you can figure out on your own. The dislike came from pure selfishness…this man made me have to come up with a whole new set of questions for Tuesday night…thanks Jamie. Truly, thank you.