AOL Interview with Jill: 1996??

XianComLtd: Sorry I was knocked off.  Anyway my point is that the Bible is God's will.  Whether it is

specific, I'm not quite sure.

Mintgirl:   So God has a plan for you. Is it your choices you're making, or is He

making the choices?

XianComLtd: Jill, is this still one transcript?

Mintgirl:   i've been saving it all along, if that's what you mean.

XianComLtd: Okay, good.  It sure feels like it's me making the choices.  I've made some bad ones, so He must be allowing me some flexibility.

Mintgirl:   Well we learn from our mistakes.

XianComLtd: I think that He knows what choices I will make because He knows me better than I know myself.  So it's not that He makes the choices.  It's just that He is God. I make the choices, He just knows what they will be.  How, I do not know.

Mintgirl:   That makes sense.  And would you say this is the way all

Presbyterians look at it?

XianComLtd: To be honest, I think very few Presbyterians know anything at all about Calvinism. I think that it just happens to be the church they grew up in.  I think most people believe in Free Will.

Mintgirl:   Which reminds me of another somewhat related question...what

seperates you  from everyone else?

XianComLtd: That they are little islands that can hold God at bay.  The creator of the universe! And we can resist Him? But I'm preaching, so I'll stop.

Mintgirl:   Its what you do Rob.

XianComLtd: This is true.

Mintgirl:   Did you catch my question?

XianComLtd: I didn't know about this myself until seminary.  No one told me.

 So all Presbyterians and Methodists are probably just the same.  Methodists incidentally, believe in Free Will. (officially). Okay.  What separates me from everyone else?

Mintgirl:   Yes.

XianComLtd: Well, I do still read books.  But there I go being cynical again. Ummm.  My love of simplicity, maybe?

Mintgirl:   Well it is a fact that you are intellectual, and nowadays a lot of people aren't.

XianComLtd: I'm afraid my possesions are beginning to own me.

Mintgirl:   Perhaps it is more fact that cynicism.

XianComLtd: But that's superficial. Uhhhhhhh.  Well, not everyone has a friend they've never met.

Mintgirl:   Are you saying you are more materialististic than you'd like to be? ("my possesions...")

XianComLtd: Errrrrrr.....Uhhhhhh....Well, I'm not all that different than

others.  Maybe more  aware of some things. Oh, definitely.  My car owns me.

Mintgirl:   And your car is...?

XianComLtd: Not the other way around. A white VW Golf.

Mintgirl:   ooh...nice...

XianComLtd: I like it.

Mintgirl:   Rob, you have worked in homeless shelters, correct?

XianComLtd: Anyway, I'm still thinking.Yes, I have. That's different.  That separates me from a lot of other

Christians today.  I want to really help people.

Mintgirl:   How does this make you feel? You have told me you feel good about

doing this.

XianComLtd: It makes me feel really good.

Mintgirl:   That it makes you feel more "real."

XianComLtd: It's because it does make me feel real.  I sit in classes every

day, talking about how wonderful the Bible is, and then I read it and it says that "What

you've done to the least of these, you've done to me (Matthew 25)" And these people are certainly that.  After all the talk about loving people, in college, here.....It feels good to just sit down and have a conversation with a "real" homeless man. And to give him some food, and eat the same food yourself.  It's humbling.  It reminds you that you're no better than they are. You have more choices, maybe made better choices. You experienced this yesterday, right Jill?

Mintgirl:   Yes I suppose I did.  I went to a thrift store actually and was browsing when I looked up

to realize everyone else there was there because they had to be.  Not like me.  They had to

buy their children clothes there because they couldn't afford anything else.

XianComLtd: It's scary.  They go back to the streets, and I go to Starbucks

to buy coffee to reward myself for giving another human being food.

Mintgirl:   They had to walk there because they didn't have a car.  I felt

spoiled and petty.

XianComLtd: They don't have internet access, either, that's for sure.

Mintgirl:   No. They don't.

XianComLtd: Next?

Mintgirl:   Is there anything you want me to know? Anything you want to say?  About yourself, your faith, any random thing?

XianComLtd: I've said about all of it.  Love each other.  It's not as radical as we've all made Christianity seem.  Put God first, Others Second, Yourself third.The world really would work better that way.  Please don't say I never told you.  Stand in the place where you live.Think about direction Wonder why you haven't before. Think Globally, but ACT Locally. Thanks everyone.  This has been fun.  I've always wanted to be

interviewed.  I  guess that is what makes me different than everyone else.

Mintgirl:   Rob, I admire you because of your strong faith and devotion to what

you do. Even though you are older than I am and have different beliefs in some areas, I can

identify with  you. You are a real person.   I think you are truly exceptional because of

what you have mentioned: you are loving and trustworthy and loyal.  You strongly believe in

yourself and what   you do, but you have an ability to connect with people that is

extraordinary.  You are unselfish and caring  ("What you do for those kids is so great, Anna-Louise...")

And although I have never met you I sense these things, I sense that you are a wonderful

preacher and a great friend, a good man.  I look up to you as an example of a strong,

faithful person.  I  admire your personality, your sense of humor, and again your ability to connect

with people.  This is why I look up to you.

XianComLtd: Thanks so much, Jill.  That means a lot to me.

Mintgirl:   Thank You.