Last night was a blast. Some of our men from Southside decided to head out to one of their campsites for a night of male bonding. It was awesome. We beat drums, chanted and danced around a roaring fire. Ok, we didn't do that. But we did grill hamburgers and hotdogs over the open flame, told stupid stories and went from ragging to bragging about our wives. Then, of course, no night of camping amongst the men of Southside would be complete without game after game of MADDEN! Oh yeah, baby, it was play off time! And yes, my boy Tim is still undefeated in our league. I hung with him for 2 1/2 quarters and then I turned the ball over a couple times and he pulled away. I was frustrated all night long and as I laid on the most comfortable bed ever, in the camper, I thought of all kinds of ways to beat him. I was ready for a grudge match this morning, and Tim was ready to kick my teeth in again...and he did. He beat the tar out of me this morning…all my strategy blew up in my face.

Anyway, like you care. Here's my point. Fellowship and goofing around with brothers and/or sisters in Christ is one of the most spiritual disciplines in the life of a believer. I'm convinced that many well intentioned believers and even pastors, fall, because there was no one there to help them stand when they lost balance. Think about it in your life, who would you trust to confide in when times are tough, an expert or a friend? My guys know me pretty well. I can be an idiot, I can be inspired, I can make mistakes, I can teach...the only person on earth who knows me better is my wife.

How high do you view true, genuine fellowship? What does that word mean to you? Do you have a band of brothers or a circle of girlfriends? Jesus did. Paul did. What do you think life was like among the twelve? We're they always doing "important stuff", or do you ever envision them goofing around, "ripping" on each other or playing jokes on each other? (oh, do I have a good one that I'll share at the end of this). Obviously I do believe that the Christian life is a life of spiritual warfare, bearing a cross and fighting the good fight. Life lived for goofing around is surly a life of shallowness. But I'm glad for times where the men of our church could get together, hoot and holler at each other while playing MADDEN and tell crazy stories from days gone by without constantly feeling like this is “carnal” unless we stop, take prayer requests, open a Bible and "be spiritual". Had the Spirit so led we'd have done all that and more...but I truly, in my heart of hearts, believe that He led us to play lots of MADDEN till 2am!

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

ps

Ok, here's my story from last night. There was this raccoon who kept sneaking up onto the porch where we were playing MADDEN. This was one brave raccoon, let me tell you. We'd chase him off with a broom, scream and try to scare him...after one or two times of that he got sick of running an eventually would just sit there and watch us jump up and down. Tim actually took the broom and cracked him on the head which got his attention and he ran off, for a second. We ended up placing some lit candles on the steps and his fear of fire kept him off the rest of the night. Ok. So I took that broom and when Chase was in the middle of his game of MADDEN I brushed the back of leg with the broom bristles. THAT DUDE JUMPED A FOOT IN THE AIR! I about died laughing cause to be real honest with you, Chase ain't the type of guy to get freaked out by stuff like that, it really surprised me and I about died laughing!