It will make somebody's day if you click here.

I blogged about this book and you can read about the success of her campaign to have it blogged about here.

If anybody is reading this and is so inclined - please help Brenda Coulter out by passing this along (or linking to this post).

Just for kicks, let's see if we can get a "Christian romance" novel at #1!

The following quote (courtesy Catez Stevens) comes here in a roundabout way from Brain Cramps for God. (Follow the link for his blog and a link to the direct quote.)

There is a tension that can develop between two different aspects of the Christian life. Should we be the city on the hill or the salt of the earth? Should we be a very separate group of people removed from others and wait for people to come to us - or should we be sprinkled out in the world like seasoning making a difference in our particular circles? Of course the obvious answer is both, but we don't always find the balance of both so easily.

Here's the problem: Salt is not only a seasoning. In Biblical times, one of salt's most extensive purposes was preserving meat and fish.

There was a lot of things wrapped in that quote, and I don't really want to get into that again - most of my thought processes on this matter are going out there on a church search, so that's the direction I'm going) but I've really been pondering the uses of salt.

This is going off on my own little "thought process", so there will probably be disagreement - oh well...

Looking at two very important descriptions in the Bible: meat and fish.

With meat (used as a description in the KJV for deep doctrine) and fish (Jesus said He would make His disciples "fishers of men" - making men the fish), salt was used to preserve these two foods.

Being the "salt of the earth" isn't just about being sprinkled out there for a little flavor. It's also about preservation - keeping the food good and safe.

All the flavoring (salt) in the world isn't going to help much if the meat (doctrine) has gone bad.

Same thing with fish. If we are "fishers of men", then other Christians are the fish. Are we out there "flavoring" them, or is our goal to help keep them safe?

Taking a look at the church my membership is currently at, how does all this relate?

Are my church leaders being "salt" to the congregation?

Are they preserving sound doctrine?
Are they "sprinkling" their congregation out into the world without making sure of the saltiness?
Are is it becoming that they are just out there for the flavor?

And how does this relate to me personally?
Am I trying to be "salt" when it comes to what my church is teaching?
Am I tring to convey to my children the "saltiness" that they need in order to be effective when they are "sprinkled out"? (one of them is really struggling, one of them is really taking off)
Is my family "preserving" or "flavoring"?