"Ever notice how people who tell you to calm down are the ones that got you mad in the first place?" -Maxine

I had to visit my least favorite place today.....the dreaded post office. Is there another institution that has more rules and changes them more frequently? I don't think so. Today wasn't so bad, though it was still interesting.

We're doing a lot of bulk mailing these days. So much so, that they're starting to recognize me at the post office. It's like Cheers whenever Norm would enter...."AMY!" OK, they don't really do that, but I feel like it's going to get to that point. I don't like to be recognized. I like to remain mysterious and incognito. It doesn't work when you have to sign your life away to process a mailing. They know everything about me. I'll probably have to give them my first born.

Since we're doing a lot of mailings, our congregants are receiving a lot of mail from us. This must be confusing them because today the postmaster told me a woman was just in the post office, upset because the outside of the envelope she received from us said, "Change Service Requested". Apparently, seeing that stamped on her envelope set her off. She didn't understand the post office requires us to stamp that on every bulk mail envelope we send out. She was mad, the postmaster said. My response? "We have a lot of angry people at the church."

Isn't that the saddest response I could give? I didn't even think about it. It's what I meant. We have a lot of angry people at the church. Could I emphasize that more? We have a lot of angry people at the church.

That's a little oxy-moronic, isn't it? Or just moronic.

I understand that people come to church with a lot of baggage....a lot of issues. Isn't that what church is about? Saving the lost souls? But shouldn't those of us who have been going to church for decades, at some point, become more like Christ? Isn't that the point? Or will we always be angry, selfish, greedy, manipulative, hurt people? Is that our lot in life?

I don't believe it. I believe that if you study Christ, you open your heart to Christ, you live the life of Christ, then all that bad crap lessens. I'm not saying it goes away. We're sinners. We'll always be sinners. But I think, those times when I'm deep in Christ, I'm the best person I'm ever going to be. Those times when I'm furthest from Christ, I suck.

So let's stop sucking, people. Let's go deeper with Christ.