I am not really a lemming, but I play one on my blog.

Most Christian bloggers today are probably going to be putting up their thoughts about Lent. What it means to them. What they are going to do...or not do. Some will look to begin a Lenten reflection series that will walk them and fellow bloggers through a series of Christ centered reflections in an effort to help them to understand the great suffering of Christ, His time in the desert, and the correlation between those 40 days and the length of Lent. Some will discuss the significance of Holy Week and some may even discuss the timing of Lent in relation to the pagan rituals of Ancient Rome. I am not going to discuss these things today...oops, I sort of did.

Please, I hope I did not offend anyone. These are all tasks that are worthy of discussion on our faith journey. I, myself, will try to do some of these things in my personal life. But you may ask, "Uh, JD...what is your point?"

As each of us discuss these items with our families, friends, and congregations; as each of us explore our own relationship with the Lord, let us ask ourselves why it takes a time in the church calendar, like Lent, to reflect on these things in our lives. Why is it that we can give up things in our life that are particularly not good for us anyway, yet pick up these "bad habits" again after Easter? Why is it that we can work on sacrifice, prayer, and reflection during Lent, but the rest of the year it seems to be less of a priority...for some? Why?

I am not perfect and, at times, I have felt somewhat hypocritical in this post, because I too am challenging myself to do things and live ways I should be living everyday of my Christian walk. As I step into the Lenten season, I too am a lemming. I will be reflecting more than I usually do on a daily basis. My hope: to understand the challenges that I face. My hope: to have the courage to trust the Lord enough to not just breathe a sigh of relief on Easter Sunday, but that I continue forward with my choices and reflections. My ultimate hope: to live any changes I made during Lent every day for the rest of my life.

During this Lenten season, are YOU going to be a lemming with a purpose, or just a lemming doing what lemmings do?

Well, Guy beat me to posting it, but I was finally able to meet my first fellow blogger face-to-face. A few months ago, I found out that a fellow Methoblogger, Guy Williams, was an Associate Pastor at a church right down the road from me. I had been meaning to go and listen to him preach and meet him, but have been too busy at my home church to do so. Well this weekend, I was finally able to meet him and hear him preach.

First off, I was relived to know that, contrary to the profile picture on his blog, Guy is not 6 inches tall. It was at that time I realized that the picture was not scale representation of Guy. Secondly, he had a good sermon about the "Presence of God in Our Lives." There was a wonderful tie in to Scouting Sunday, a celebration of Scouting, boy and girl, in his church community. To my surprise, when the congregation was polled, at least, and I do not exaggerate, 95% of the congregation is currently, or have been, involved in scouting at some time in their lives.

It was a great meeting, and we both had families waiting for us after the service (and I have a tendency to be a little chatty....I'm a people person). I look forward to visiting his congregation again in the future.

Jeep® uses this at their auto shows. It is SWEET! Enjoy!