181. how to be a millionaire

There's this concept that goes, "if you want to learn how to be a millionaire then hang out with millionaires." Because chances are, you will end up being like the people you hang around. And so if you want your life to be different than it is today, hang around people who have what you want. Hanging out with millionaires will help you think/talk/act like they do, and if you start thinking/talking/acting like they do, then your chances of achieving success go up. And even if you don't become a millionaire, at least you get to attend some cool parties.

But that's not really what this blog entry is about.

I mean sure, I'd like to be a millionaire but not bad enough to hang around them. What I do want, though, is a kind of spiritual discernment and/or understanding. I've been blogging a lot about this for the past month or so (see blogs 167-169 and 174), and basically what I'm trying to get at is a taste of the vibrant, experiential Christianity that some Christians have as opposed to the more bland, cerebral, theoretical Christianity that I have now.

And so this weekend, I'm attending a conference that, from what I can tell, is going to be full of Holy Ghost, tongues speaking, Pentecostal types of people. The conference is called Maturing in the Prophetic and is being sponsored by Laulima Ministries International - an organization that desires "to see ordinary people trained in Christ centered healing prayer." The way I figure it, it's kind of like the hanging out with millionaires deal, only this time it's "if you want to experience the spiritual side of life, hang out with people who are filled with the spirit."

And I know I'm going to be way outside my comfort zone, but that's kind of the point. Back to the millionaire thing again, part of the reason more people aren't millionaires is because they keep living their comfortable, normal non-millionaire lives. Hanging out with millionaires will probably be uncomfortable at first because they talk different and act different because they have their own way of seeing the world...that and they probably have nicer shoes. And the advice is to hang around them because if you keep living life the way you do today, chances are your life will stay the same, whereas hanging out with millionaires will get you to change your way of thinking/living/speaking/acting and those changes can better your odds of financial success...ideally.

So I'm not so worried about feeling weird or out of place. I expect that. What I am worried about is not being able to turn off that nagging critical voice inside me that seems to want to explain away any manifestation of the spiritual side of life. But at the same time, God gave me a brain and I'm going to use it.

And so my worry is finding the balance between the two...but I'm not that worried.