James Harmer

It snowed allot yesterday.  The one day I don’t have classes, the college shuts down!!  Oh well, it’s done and I certainly can’t change it.  Hey, tomorrow is my birthday so happy birthday to me!!  Since I never really have parties, my birthday has always been kind of a family thing, but in case anyone wants to come, Sunday after church my family is going Ice Skating in Masseena just because I want to… even if you all think it’s lame, it’s what I want to do.  Anyone who wants to come is welcome, because you just are.  And no, I don’t want you to bring a present…. you see, I don’t like that idea very much, I mean if you want to that’s great, but I don’t want to pressure anyone and don’t expect anyone(aside from family) to do so.  if I invite you it’s because I want to hang out with you, not a present… If that was all I wanted than I would invite a bunch of presents over to hang out on my birthday and go skating with them in Masseena… now, the idea of a bunch of inanimate objects skating with me is cool… and if anyone has any that can skate, bring them.  But I’d rather have you(as in anyone who reads this, Eskimo’s included) there than a present..  even if it can skate(which would be awesome!!)

I have been taking a Behaviorology(The scientific study of how to interpret, understand and predict human behavior) class and it’s quite interesting.  I’ve found out that I’m quite observant already and most of the observations I have made concur with what I’m learning.  I’m quite interested in this field because I have always wondered why people do what they do and because of that I spend a lot of time watching people and seeing how they react to various situations…  fascinating.  What I already have begun to naturally do, I am now getting to do for college credits.  The other cool thing is that we are learning how to manipulate human behavior(and are told not to abuse this skill.)  What I don’t understand is why they teach us how to do it if we aren’t supposed to do it.  That would be like having a high-school class on how to cheat on your exams… and expecting nobody to do it.  Maybe I could manipulate the teacher into not making me take tests…. If I can do that, he should give me a really good grade!!  What?  All I’m doing is applying the learned principals.

In parenting class I learned a new word, “food-satiated.”  It’s the scientific word for “Hungry,” now my question is… why do they teach us this in parenting class?  Are we gonna need to know this to be a better parent?  Next time my dad is like “I don’t know what to do with your younger siblings James!!  They won’t obey..”  I’ll be like, “Dad, if there’s one thing I learned in parenting skills class, it’s that you need to know what “food-satiated” means.  You need to know so you can food-satiate them on a regular basis.  Once they’re food-satiated enough, you can get them to do anything for food… including obey!!  So dad, just remember to get them food-satiated.”

I have been thinking(what’s new?) lately.  I think that we as Christians often give off the wrong impression to unbelievers about why we do things.  I have a non-Christian friend who I know is reading this(webstats) and they told me recently, “All you Christians drive me nuts… you only want to be our friends so you can convert us.  If it weren’t for that you would never talk to us!!”  That got me thinking, is that the impression we give off?  I certainly hope not, but I know that when I look back, I could have given some the inclination to think so.  Is that actually what some of you as Christians believe?  That you should treat people like projects?  You hope you get a good grade?  I know that cold-contact evangelism is a real powerful type of evangelism, but people understand that… we love people, so we just go and tell them.  But friendship evangelism is a different thing.

If you are reading this and you are not a Christian, know this.  I do not become friends with you so I can “Convert” you.  It’s really the other way around, I want you to accept Christ because I’m your friend.  I love you and because of that I want to share with you the love I have found!!  So don’t let my foolish mistakes let you think that I think of you as a “Conversion Project.”  The more I love you, the more that I want to tell you about Christ…. that’s real friendship relations.  And know I’m not talking about the “Flirt & Convert” Missionary dating, that’s not biblical.  I’m serious.

Christians, think about that next time… It’s like Derek Levendusky said about two years back…  We can’t be Religious about Evangelism, true Evangelism comes from a burden God places on our hearts for people… to love them to Christ.  Even cold-contact evangelism should come out of genuine love, not Religious practice.  Derek said once(Before Napoleon Dynamite), “I had to come to a point where I just was honest with God and basically said ‘I don’t give a flip about the lost!’”  That’s real honesty and if we need to say that to God sometimes, we should just do it, and He will really honor that.  When we need Passion, we don’t try to conjur it up, we go to the One who embodies Passion itself.

Isn’t Jesus just so amazing?  I think so.  Come Ice Skate with me, because I’m cheesy and not afraid to admit it!!

-James’