So the other night I was having a great conversation with a friend.

And this friend and I were discussing the role of the church in modern society, but more specifically, in our immediate sphere of life. What purposes does it serve in the world and in my/your world?

Here is what I concluded to put it simply: God is God. God is in everything. But God is not church. Because God is God. And church is church. duh.

God has a son. His son's name is Jesus. If Jesus had a wife, her name would be "the church." The church is the bride of Christ. We, as believers, are the bride of Christ. We are the church. We are Jesus' wife. Still with me?

So technically, if Jesus is the son of God, and the church is His bride, that kind of makes the church God's daughter-in-law. An important role in la familia, but not quite AS important as the son himself.

But like every great bride, the church is meant to love and serve and fulfill the needs of Christ. And in return, like every good hubby, Jesus is our protector, provider, and unconditional lover. Sounds like a match made in heaven eh? (pun intended)

Therefore, church, in the physical/social definition of the word, is important, but not everything in the grand scheme of faith. Before you crucify me for blasphemy, hear me out. What I'm saying is, if you fit into that group of us that have missed more than one church service, or don't look and act like everyone else, or happen to have sinned more than twice in your life, you shouldn't feel as though you've missed the boat. We don't just go to church, we ARE the church, and the church is a beautiful, romantic body with the potential to remedy every one of this world's infirmities with God's love. Let's make our man proud.

Through out the course of history, several ancient empires have risen to power to by conquering their surrounding territories and preserving a strong imperial drive through the generations.

The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Persians, the Romans – they all established strong empires through strategic military and political advances. One common denominator sticks out – a tradition of greatness.

Take the Spartans for example.

As soon as the children were physically able, they were trained vigorously at a special training academy where they were hardened in body and mind; taught to fight with ferocity, skill, and valor.

The point is that these young children were instilled from birth that their lives were destined for greatness. Success was a given. They did not think this way out of arrogance but out of the understanding that success was always attainable through relentless effort. They were told that their very existence was crucial to their people’s survival; that their existence made Sparta better, stronger.

Whether this was actually true or not, they believed it with every fiber of their being. And that is what I believe actually does make it true.

What’s your point?
Imagine if we lived in a world where from day one, it was stressed to you that your presence in your family, on this earth, and in this global community, makes everything better. You are meant for greatness. You are a wellspring of potential. The whole world depends on your life’s contribution. Nice, huh?

Where does God fit into all of this?
I believe that God is calling us to be Empire thinkers. He wants us to develop our generation, and the generations that follow, into people who realize the weight of His call and purpose. We’ve been called to go into the unconquered places (i.e. school, work, home, etc.) and to make disciples for our Kingdom.

Stop everything. Think about it. Go realize your greatness. Come back. And go tell someone about theirs.

Labor day is a funny joke. If the creators of this oxymoronic holiday were referring to the labor involved in being extremely lazy all day, then alright, we're on the same page. I agree that is hard work doing this much of nothing.

For those of you who shared the same confusion about this holiday, read on...

Labor Day celebrations began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is obviously still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a federal holiday by an act of Congress in 1894.

What does this mean for you and I?

I have no idea but I like asking that question because It makes the reader anticipate a very intelligent, informative answer to no avail.

What I do wonder is why we didn't name the thing, "Take A Break Day", or how about "Hey, Chill Out Week", or even "Mom, I'm freaking playing XBOX, turn off the garbage disposal 'cause I can't hear where the shooting is coming from!...Day." Any of these potential holiday titles would adequately suffice in describing the contents of such a labor-free day. And furthermore, they would prepare a foreigner for "how we roll" in the United States of Awesome.

Either way, I commend you Central Labor Union Worker Man for getting fed up with constant productivity - who needs that anyway?

I say all this to say, Happy Labor Day. It's good to know we're sharing the fun with Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands.

And as a group of well-versed philosophers from the UK, better known as Frankie Goes To Hollywood, once wrote: "Relax, don't do it, when you want to go do it." - Let that move you.

The YMCA - it is a fertile ground for physical discpline in the community. Such disciplines would include sculpting and crafting your body into a desired form of anatomical art. Others would be the discipline to not look down while a certain clothing-impaired old man strikes up small talk in the locker room. Take a guess which discipline I exercised earlier this afternoon - you guessed it, the second one.

...You know, I really want to go on and somehow transform this traumatic blog into some kind of deep, spiritual truth. But I really can't. And in fact, I think it's much more amusing to leave it at that and allow such mental images to sink in for further comedic effect.

The moral of today's story is this: eye contact is everything. Just don't let your eyes contact anything below the waist. Goodnight.