ASME Barcrawl and the Presence of God

So I went on my first barcrawl of my college career last night. Yes, I'm a senior, and I JUST went. It was pretty fun though. The setup really worked well. There were pitchers of free beer and buffalo wings at Brothers. I loved the wings, and since I'm not much of a drinker, drinking a couple free glasses and then not buying any more drinks for the night worked well for my wallet. I got a chance to see my buddies in totally different elements from class. ASME is the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and my classmates definitely know how to drink...and drink. It was fun to talk to them. Alcohol definitely ends up being a social lubricant for people and because of it, I was able to get a lot of conversation out of them.

I talk to one guy about just the roughness of life and another couple about just who they were on a deeper level (as deep as one can think when out at a loud bar).

This got me to think (and then this morning talking with Matt). It made me think how sad it was that we needed such a night as that to hang and talk. It makes me sad (to be honest) that that is the only way people feel loved. It makes me sad that the church sits in their tower and loves themselves without reaching out and caring about people (not that this always happens). It makes me angry. Let's be honest.



This is stream of consciousness...
OK, tangential to that is the presence of God. I'd have to say that tangibly feeling the presence of God has been a no-go for me recently. Yet I know his presence by so much more than feeling. I think that's a really good thing. When we can separate God from emotional experiences, I think we are getting one step closer to his pure identity. When we can separate how the church acts from who God is, when we can separate how others make us feel from God, when we can separate emotional music from God, and when we can separate inspiring talk from God, and still know him, we are on the right path. it's not that God isn't in those things, it's just that they are imperfect. The church can screw up, music can evoke fake emotions, inspiring messages can falsely get us pumped and leave us waiting for the next one. I think God
transcends that stuff. He is there no matter if we 'feel it' or not. I need to hear that...a lot.