Part 1: American Church

It's the last day of 2006, and it's a good snowy day.
I'm in Kansas City @ the Onething Conference with my roomies from college + Michelle (twin sister). We've been spending today doing several different things: @ Starbucks in intenese conversation while drinking my favorite drink - a grande Americano w/ whip, @ Onething worshipping, and enjoying some quite @ the hotel room.
The conference has been a mixture of good and hard for my sister as well as the rest of the girls I'm with. I think they have learned a lot from being here but have also been taken back by the intense atmosphere. It's been raising many questions within their hearts about who they are and who He is.
I believe that with all the mixed feelings they are having, they are right where they need to be. As I type this they are here in the hotel room spending time with God, something they all confess they rarely take time for. On top of that, they are all fasting today - and I'm so proud of them. For my sister it's the first time she has ever fasted.
I think in a lot of ways my roomies represent the mindset of the church today (and I don't say that because I want to say anything negative about the church or anything about them). I say it because to me they represent the prototype of the American church in a very real way. My roomates all have busy middle-class American jobs, go to church on Sundays, and do good things for the people around them. They love Jesus, hear sermons on "tolerance" and how to be a better wife, and read books that talk about the Bible for their "quite times". Which are all fine....but....
We've been in many discussions over this weekend about how little they spend time praying, fasting, and reading their Bibles - and I believe that most of the church if it was as honest as they are about it - would say the same thing. They've said how guilty they feel about it. They talk about how hard it is to really include God in decision making and rarely find an hour a week to spend in prayer.
So as I've been @ the conference I've just been praying for the church in America. That God would some how interupt our lives and make us realize who He is. And I'm right there with them..cuz honestly, yeah i'm in the prayer room for 6 hours a day, but often I realize my own prayerlessness and wonder where I would be if I didn't have a prayer room to go to every day.

God make us more aware of you and who you are! Shift this generation to be one that seeks your face and knows your heart. Help us to carve out time, in and out of season, to be with you.

here are pics:
- of the girls @ Starbucks today

- and Michelle and I (I squint when I smile apparently)