Sweet tea, me-way and ministry.

I am a sweet tea addict.

Sweet tea defines my identity: in it, I am proud southerner. Nothing gets me out of a funk like some ice cold sweet tea. Now, I like to consider myself smarter than Esau, and I truly believe that lentil soup would never make me sell my birthright, but in my more lucid moments, I have to admit that a pitcher of liquid brown goodness would give me pause.

Now, along with this love of sweet tea comes an absolute disdain of iced unsweetened tea. Just typing that pushes me to the edge of insane anger. Would adding some sugar really be that hard? It gets worse when you go to a restaurant an ask for sweet tea, and they offer you the unsweetened, poisonous version. Then, they rub salt in the wound by offering to mix in sugar for you. Really? It should be criminal. People have been jailed for less.

It's just the way things should be. Sweet tea should be sweet, and it should be cold. When I say sweet, I mean it should hit the brain on the first mini-sip. When I say cold, it should threaten the esophagus with frostbite from beginning to end. Yeah... that's how it should be. As Mr Nezzer of Veggie Tales fame would say: bland, lukewarm, barely-any-sugar "sweet" tea is for sissies!

So, I think something is clear. I couldn't really explain the pros and cons of the latest stimulus bill, but when it comes to serious issues like the chilled consumption of Camellia sinensis, I am very, very passionate. The Boston Tea Party holds extra special significance with me, homie...

Hey, Don't judge me. We all have our individual passions...

It's funny, though, how my way becomes the "right" way. Almost imperceptibly, my way becomes THE way. And, despite my good intentions, that becomes dangerous when it supersedes what should be my true Guide.

When it comes to ministry, it can be a tricky balancing the need for open-mindedness with the requirement of unyielding ethics. On the flip side, we have seen when the "me-way" leads astray when it is paired with an unfettered desire to think outside the box... and that, my friends, is a discussion for another day.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.