huh?

sometimes you just have to wonder if things really do change. maybe we stop drinking, maybe we stop smoking, maybe we stop beating our wives. what? is that not good enough? it's the everyday things that i don't understand. if lifestyles are changed, old habits left in the dust and a joy in life realized, then what is there more? we keep hoping to see fruits in the shapes of different things--worship services, budgets, accounts, expenses for ministries, offerings in the plate or bag, others being evangelized and organization, organization, organization. if things don't grow, is it our fault or theirs? does it mean it's real?

john talked about a mark and that we shouldn't get it. i was reading that maybe the mark he was talking about used to be the way people were allowed to buy and sell in the marketplaces. it was how people were able to participate in the economy. if john says don't get it, then how did people live without it? maybe the amish have it figured out. i don't know.