In honor of the 10 year anniversary of Fight Club, I tweeted the question, "If you could pick a fight with any religious figurehead, who would it be and why?" The winner would receive a box of student ministry goodies for their ministry and personal growth.

For those of you who may not know, Fight Club is not really about the physical act of pummeling another human being. It's built on the frustration against the system of a consumerist society, the disillusionment of a generation of men who have been raised by women to misunderstand what it means to be a man. Real manhood, according to the movie, begins with knowing yourself and authentically knowing others in a community of authentic living. The dream of stripping away everything we hide behind, and standing knuckle-to-knuckle with others who aspire to rebuilding ourselves from the bottom up. 

When the question rises in the movie, "if you could fight anyone, who would it be?', it's a step towards really knowing yourself ("How can you know yourself if you've never been in a fight?") and really knowing another person. 

When I tweeted my question, I got a multitude of answers: 

"The Pope (cuz he's old and I think I would win).

Ghandi.

Buddha.

Tammy Faye Bakker (she already looks like she's had the crap beat outta her).

Tim LaHaye. 

Sarah Pailn.

Joel Osteen.

Tom Cruise. 

Al Sharpton. 

Ann Coulter. 

And, of course, Jesus. 

Each answer was great in it's own right. I'd love to know each of those a little more, for different reasons. I never see eye to eye with anyone of those listed 100% of the time. (Yes, I even disagree with Jesus at times. I don't always like when He's right about everything..) 

Jacob wrestled with (the pre-incarnate) Jesus. He ended up being blessed, but he forever walked with a limp because of it. Was the limp worth the experience? I think Jacob would say it was. I have a hunch that the vast majority fight him regularly. I want to know him. I think I know him…but there's always more. And He always pushes me to let go of things, take up other things, and give still more things away. Quite honestly, I expected the winner to be chosen because he/she cited someone other than Jesus. I really wanted to send the box of goodies to someone who had good reasons for fighting and getting to know someone like Osteen or Buddha. Really I did. 

After tallying the votes in my super-scientific, quadruple-blind survey, the winning tweet goes to  Michael McMinn for suggesting we fight with Jesus. It sounds trite and all Sunday-Schooley, but I challenge you to ask yourself one question: "How would my life change if I stood toe-to-toe, knuckle-to-knuckle with Christ, fullly engaged, fully attentive, and let him chisel me into His image? To spend enough time with Him to be able to know when He would move? How he would move? And the manner in which I should react to his movements?"  Ok, that's actually 4 questions..but you get the idea. 

Maybe I've been drinking the Fight Club kool-aid too long. 

Or maybe I've been fighting with Jesus long enough. And yet not long enough. 

Maybe there's still more to come.