It Was Really An Ego Thing

Carlos joined us for our Free Store conversation on Wednesday morning.  He started by asking us to imagine what it would be like to have a group of teenage boys to care for.  Sheila said, "You're dead" which made us laugh.  Carlos then asked us to think about our relationship to God as parent to child and to reconize that "you've had some bad ideas" which also made us laugh.  He said that we are all stubborn and determined to do what we want but that may simply be because we like our freedom.

As we moved into the discussion Carlos said we would be looking at Romans 1.  He said that we all tend to place something of ultimate value in the place of God.  At this one of our new friends said, "I have to remind myself not to get into that ego thing."  She said that sometimes she wanted to post comments on FB about her relationship with God but didn't out of fear of what others would think of her.  Carlos said that is is easier to work with God when you acknowledge God.

At this point we talked a bit about our ideas about God and how they might impact our lives.  Carlos said that over the years he had heard some pretty strange ideas about God.  He told us about a guy that thought when he died his heart would go up in the sky and merge somehow with the heart of God.  Someone else said that she had just talked with someone recently that felt that unless a person referred to God as "Yahweh" that they don't really believe.  Carlos suggested that we all probably define God in the wrong terms on some level.

As Carlos read a bit further in Romans 1the idea came up about God abandoning people and giving them up to their impulses because they don't acknowledge the existence of God.  Carlos asked, "Have you ever had to let somoene go?"  He said this could be very difficult because "I'm thinking about me and my feelings" rather than what might be best for the other person.  Someone said that for years she had fought the idea of her little girl spending one week with her dad and then one week with her.  She said that in retrospect it was really an ego thing because the little girl actually loves that arrangement now and it is working really well.

As our conversation moved to a conclusion we talked about what it means to let someone go.  One of our new friends said that his brother is an alcoholic but won't admit it.  He went on to say that when his mom went into a nursing home that the brother really struggled and actually went to the nursing home drunk because he was missing his moma.  At this our friend George said that "I was the baby boy in my family.  I was the pet."  He said that when he was in a chain gang that one of the guards had to convince George's mom to let him remain in prison and let him pay the consequences for his mistakes.  Although it was hard she did it and George felt that it was good for him in the long run.