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b'As a youth pastor, I often found myself playing silly games with students. As the "authority" of the bunch, I was supposed to be neutral. This was especially difficult if I was playing on one of the teams, because I\'m fairly competitive. After struggling to find a balance between competition and neutrality, I finally decided to stop faking impartiality. I realized that there really wasn\'t any neutrality on my part. I wanted my team to win. So after a while, I just let people know, "I\'m on Team A, and I won\'t be helping the other side." I picked a team and stuck with it. Sometimes you just have to pick a side. In John 7:25-52, Jesus is calling people to pick sides. In this passage, he is controversial, provoking, and definitive. And, it causes people to have two reactions: they find themselves with Jesus or against him. Jesus lets us know that, when it comes to him, there\'s no such thing as a neutrality. Have you ever wondered if you\'ve been trying to take a neutral position with Jesus? Most of us would say, "no" because most of us just assume we are siding with Jesus. But have you ever stopped to examine your life and see if you\'re trying to remain neutral on Jesus? That\'s the big question for this Sunday, as we see Jesus calling us to "Pick Sides!" As always, I can\'t wait to see you on Sunday! P.Dave'