My wife and I had a conversation last night that was one of those reflective sorts of conversations. One were you look back over your life thus far and realize you are spiritually not were you want to be just yet. It is always good to have these conversations and thoughts, it helps me to continue the push forward in my spiritual journey. As we continued talking my wife said something profound (this is typically her role in the conversation, I am not the most profound person in the world). She said that she looks back to times in her life were she was the closest with God, but during those times she was not great at connecting with the people around her to show the redemption and love of Christ to them. As we talked this through we came to the conclusion that this is the tension of being "in the world but not of it." I think this phrase all to often is take out of context by parents and pastors when talking to students. What they mean by it is don't do drugs, have sex, or drink while you are out on your own in "the world." I think however, that it is really more about that fact that as Christians we have a tension between wanting to be intimately close with God but still living in a fallen and broken world that needs redemption. It will forever be the challenge of Christians to embed themselves in the world so that they can show Christ love for it (living missionally), while at the same time striving to know God more and draw closer to him. I guess this is probably the same tension that Christ felt as he entered a broken world in a barn 2000 years ago. Merry Christmas