Starting Over.. over New Years

It's been a long time since I have posted here. I'm not sure exactly why I stopped posting, but I imagine it had a lot to do with the desire to do so fading into the background. So be it. My father often said there was no sense doing something if the joy has gone out of it for you.

But I have been thinking lately that I might start blogging again, but I think I'll stick with just the one blog. I suspect part of my problem was trying to keep up with keeping three blogs going and doing all the other things I enjoy as well. Something had to give, or everything would suffer.

So I've decided just to post to this blog and this blog alone. I'll likely copy it to my Multiply site. It will encompass a lot of the things I blogged about before only this time all in one blog. Sometimes it will be about the Bible and faith, sometimes about church history, sometimes about theatre or cycling all the various things that go into making me who I am. In short it will live up to it's name - Myriad Shades of Gray... Dennis Gray.

I hope you don't mind coming along for the ride...

So where to begin? How about a video? Some of you may not recognize or know of Penn Fraser Jillette, if not you can read about him here.



Jillette poses a question in this piece that really stuck with me when I heard it.

"How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much to you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

I have often heard a variety of preachers encourage me to spend more of my time witnessing to others about Jesus. I have been told I should do it out of compassion for the deluded, because God has commanded it, because I won't get any heavenly brownie points called crowns if I don't, and of course I have been told I should do it out of love for the lost.

And while all of them have had varying degrees of effectiveness for varying lengths of time; none have struck me as this strait-forward, in-your-face question from a non-believer. I don't usually make New Years resolutions, but I'm downloading this video and watching it over and over until the point sinks in.

If you haven't done so, take the time to watch the video. Share it with your friends, both Christian and non-Christian. And while I do pray that all of you will have a safe, happy and blessed by God abundantly New Year; I also hope that this question stays foremost in your consciousness for each of the next 365 days.

Shalom.