Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

I was recently challenged with a question. This question seemed innocent enough at first. I had a pretty good understanding of the words being used, so vocabulary wasn't an issue, but when it came to finding an answer, I felt like a stock boy at a grocery store being asked, "Do you have anything to eat?" My brain was overwhelmed with possible answers and like my family's old farm truck that would get flooded if you pushed the gas too much... I stalled.

The question in question went something like this, "What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and why is it good news today?" It was really two questions in one, so maybe that is why I was stumped... tricky tricky.

But here is the truth. It wasn't that I didn't have any idea of how to answer this double-decker Christian foundation question. It was that I had too many ideas that were all vying to be the best answer. It was in that moment I cursed the Bachelors in Religion and Masters in Theology of which I'll be paying off for the next several years. Despite all my training and education, I did not have an answer that I could in good conscience give.

I would love to blame my school or church for this, but I am the only one to blame. This is why I was so frustrated. As much as I may read Christian books, sing Christian songs, and lead Christian ministries, I do not spend time everyday thinking, "What is the Gospel and why is it GOOD NEWS today?"

So for those of you who be caught up in doing a lot of stuff, labeled as Christian, I invite you to answer this question (2 questions really), "What is the Gospel and why is it good news today?" Finding the answer to this question right now may completely change your attitude about today.

... Oh! And by the way, here is my answer.

The brilliant Creator of everything saw the way our selfishness and sin separates us from Him and from each other. Compelled by love for His creation, God, the Father, consistently intervened ultimately leading to His coming to earth through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus taught of love, repentance, and forgiveness and modeled it as well. He lived life better than any before or after and showed Himself worthy of being followed. This love culminated in his death and resurrection. Through His death, we can see the all-powerful God laying down His life so that He could reconcile us to Himself and each other with love and forgiveness. Through His resurrection, we can now hold to hope that our God gives life to dead things and that he is more powerful than death. And it is with this life-giving, death destroying, loving, creative and forgiving God that we will spend eternity.

This is good news today because I know I am loved and have no reason to fear.  Not even death is worthy of anxiety. In God I can place all of my trust. And that, my pub-going friends, is a good good thing!

A New Beginning

Welcome to Wallace's Pub.

My name is Greg Wallace Dolmage and this will be my second attempt at writing a blog. I imagine most of you who are reading this are doing so because you either enjoyed the first one or are "connect"ed to me in someway. Hell! Maybe it's both! Either way, thanks for being here... especially any new comers.

Now, before I just launch into some anecdotal catharsis on life, God, or the joys of a good beer, I thought it would be important to explain to you both why I quit the first blog and why I am starting the second. The first blog was actually something I was asked to do for my old job. This blog became a fantastic vehicle for me to present and develop my thoughts and invite others in on the conversation. This was really an enjoyable process, but sadly it started to feel like a stage and I felt a pressure to perform. So, when my ideas began to run dry, so did my desire to write. The show was over. 

Ultimately, I believe this happened because the blog lacked the vision to endure.

But guess what? ... I had a vision.

Some of you may remember a place called "Wallace's Pub" (a.k.a. my old kitchen). The beautiful thing about this place was that, like a true pub (a.k.a. public house), it provided a space for our community to gather, share ideas, and have some laughs (a.k.a. Good Lord, Greg! Stop saying, "a.k.a."!). I had thought that my most recent move and job change, along with the moves and marriages of several within our community, had brought an end to the era of Wallace's Pub... Oh me of little vision. What I realized was that there still is a way for us to all come together, share ideas and continue to grow as a community no matter where on the map we live.

That way is this blog, and I am naming it "Wallace's Pub" because I don't believe the era is over. The medium has changed, but the goal can be the same.

This blog will not merely be a soapbox for an arrogant young idealist to spout his ideas. It will instead be place for a community to come together and ask similar questions, dwell on similar ideas, and maybe even start to walk down a similar path together, which will hopefully lead to some real "Kingdom of God"-"Acts 2" kind of stuff.

Ambitious? Maybe. But maybe God has a bigger plan for our little community. We just needed a way to Connect.

So pull up a seat, grab a pint, and lets start talkin'!