Not Ashamed... But Still Kind of Nervous

I interrupt the blog I WAS writing to insert this little piece of panic… Some of you know that my incoherent ramblings also make a monthly appearance in The Chapel Hill News… And I have one coming out tomorrow, which is, basically a slightly edited of this blog I wrote last Christmas.

We might have fallen though
one of the holes in the Bible Belt.

In case you don’t have time to click back and read it, it’s about how I don’t give a crap about commercial and secular interests “stealing” Christmas… Because I view it as God spilling out into the whole world instead…

Now, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have no qualms about sharing the good news of God's love with people… However, after turning in this particular column, and as the day of its publication approaches I have found myself growing more and more freaked out about having put it out there on display for the whole town to see.

In my version of God's feast, 
there's all manner of Southern food... 
and cake, of course.

I mean, I live in the South – the Bible belt, as it were, but this town I live in might have slipped through one of the holes in the belt. There are many, many faithful Christian people here, but there is also a university here, and so, a profound appreciation for diversity and political correctness. So, I guess my worry is that I have done something that could be interpreted as similar to running out in the street and yelling, “I love being white!”

Here's hoping Peter
Holsapple and Chris Stamey
aren't mad at me...

But I hope that I am not an imperialist oppressor, trying to suck people into what I feel is the only valid way of life. Although I kind of am... I’m not an imperialist oppressor… First of all, I have no power with which to oppress. Also I do feel that the cultures of others are to be appreciated and not stamped out. I also believe that people can certainly choose what god to worship and how to live their lives, within certain civil boundaries, of course.

However, I am trying to turn people on to the best way of life that I have yet found. The way I see it is… like God has prepared a huge, delicious banquet and I’m so excited about it that I’m handing out invitations to it to the starving people around me. They can always say no, right? I guess it’s up to them to determine whether or not they are starving and how best to satiate their hunger.

I do whole-heartedly
recommend their record.

Anyway, I’m just writing this because I’m super nervous about it. Another thing I am nervous about is that I mention some local musicians BY NAME who actually live in the area. Which, in retrospect, might have been dumb. But I did give one of their records a plug, so maybe they’ll forgive me…?!  Of course, I may be aiming kind of high to think that Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple would read anything I wrote…!

So… that’s all I’m putting on the table right now. I wrote some blatantly Christian stuff in a secular newspaper. And although I’m “not ashamed of the gospel,” as Paul said, I am kind of nervous about it. Maybe no one will say anything… but if they do, I guess I could remind them that the name of the column is “My View.”