Do I give up me? (This one is personal)

     This quandary is implicit in living in this century.  However, the practice of asking people to give up who they are has been going on since God's first creation decided to give up who they were to find out who someone else thought they might be.  Satan did a fine tap dance on Adam and Eve's heads that resulted in the history of mankind fighting to retain who they think they are, thought they were or have an idea of who they want to be. 
     My son Benjamen was about 4 when we were sitting on the couch watching TV.  He was tucked under my arm snuggling with me.  I noticed that he was quiet and looked to see him in a very determined thinking mood.  I waited.  The question would come when it's time came.  Then it hit and Benjamen said, "Dad?" with that tone that said "I have something to say and want you to listen."  So, I replied, "Yes Benjamen?"  He paused for a few more moments before he asked me this question: "Do you know what I want to do when I grow up?"  Being a parent who loves his children I want them to be who God intends them to be.  That discovery has to come over time and in their own minds.  I told him that I didn't know and asked him to tell me.  He said very deliberately and positively, "Everything."  He wanted to do everything!  I replied, "You can do everything!  Whatever you want to do and be you can."  We went back to watching TV and he was snuggling a bit closer.
     Benjamen will graduate this June from high school.  He's already been accepted into a good college of his choice and has plans for some travel before entering into classes and work.  As has been the case over his lifetime I will be there to support him, offer advice when asked (and sometimes when not asked!), and to listen.  My job as Dad should have been enough for him to find his way in life that reflects his Christian commitment as well as his desire to do "everything."  There are people and organizations that will try to take that away from him.  There are demands that the world has placed on people that cause many of us to cringe for our children.  Benjamen, like his siblings, is very intelligent and gifted.  Mining that intelligence and giftedness is a life long endeavor.  It's a job he has to do.  I cannot do it for him and neither can anyone else.  It's his job.  That is true for all of my kids and human beings in general.
     When I was in my senior year of high school I couldn't wait to escape school and home.  I had no idea of who I was but knew who I wasn't.  Tired of people and social times trying to determine who I had to be I left.  The unfortunate factor in my life was I didn't know who I truly was.  Over the years I would make good decisions, bad decisions and sometimes no decisions at all.  However, all of them uncovered a bit more of me.  Besides those who would take away who I was discovering I was, there were those who would encourage me to become whom God designed me to be.  Even today at 61 I can be heard saying, "You know what I want to do when I grow up?  Everything!"  The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.  Where "my generation" were told to graduate school, get a job, marry, have children and retire at 65 I never fit in.  My life has seen 17 vocations.  I loved most of them and learned from all of them.  I have gone on to additional schooling and have 2 masters along with many credits towards a third one.  I've written one book and published it.  A second book is at the publisher.  I've lost loved ones and enemies.  I've discovered loved ones and enemies I never knew I had.  Through all of this the greatest challenge has been to keep going.
     Life's greatest task for me has been to preserve who I have discovered I am while looking for more of me.  There continue to be many who try to take "me" away from me.  So that battle rages on.  I know it won't die until I do.  Tenacity with integrity is valuable to all who desire to go forward where others try to hold them back.  Knowing that we live life only once, I need to deal with my past failings and indeed leave them behind me.  I don't know what your struggle today is.  I pray that you will take heart that you too can do "everything" and not give up on you.  Don't let anyone take away who you are.  Be whom God designed you to be!

Taking things too personally

     Human beings take things too personally.  It's not a theory that needs proving beyond a shadow of a doubt by some institution of higher learning and the sanctioned by the powers that be.  It's just a truth.  Simple.  As a young therapist I went to a continuing education class one day.  The teacher was 20 minutes late.  When he came in and stepped to the podium his first words so shocked me that I don't remember anything after the opening statement.  He said, "If you don't learn anything else today, remember that you are not as important as you think you are."  As he launched into his lecture I checked out.  What incredible guile this guy had!  Didn't he know that I was responsible for helping people with their problems day in and day out.  There were people in crisis that depended upon me to be there for them.  With a full schedule of clients I knew this couldn't possibly be true.  As I drove home from the class the voice of reason (God) began to talk to me.  He said, "What would happen to all your current clients should you be disabled or die tonight?"  After what seemed to be a WWF episode inside of myself the truth dawned.  The clients would go on.  They would find someone else and continue on their journey.  Without me.  I wasn't nearly as important as I thought I was.  No one is as important as they think they are.  What began with me taking things too personally had become a life saving (mine) lesson that I repeat for you who are reading this today.
     What goes wrong that we fall into this trap?  Are we so embolden in our endeavor that we forget we are a limited being? Do we really think that the opinion of someone else is so powerful in our lives that we stake our lives (and the lives of others) on the venture?  These are all questions that each of us must answer.  What stands in our way is us.  We stand in our way.  Between our egos, upbringing, education and social standing "we" get in the way.  Prejudice and bias (not always about race) grow into this machine that drives our lives forward.  Sometimes like an out of control bulldozer.  We fill our lives with self-perceived successes and failures as our justification in thinking that life revolves around our frame of mind.  Hence the problem is built in many lives with variances that separate rather than unite the common good.  Taking things too personally ends up building walls that we either won't or don't break down.  It's here that we often come to the place of being the god of our world.  It's not a wise decision.  But then we don't always make wise decisions.  Taking things too personally is evidence of that affliction.
     It's equally true that "if we stand for nothing we will fail for anything."  Should we base our being on what we think?  On what our friends and family think?  Maybe what our enemies think?  Government has long told us that they can do the thinking for us.  Should we submit to their stand?  I don't think so.  In order to make a stand we need to know who we are.  After much thought and conflict I chose to find out who I was.  In the end I chose to see myself as a child of God and gave my life to Jesus.  Before I go on it needs to be said that I have failed many times in submitting myself and my will to God.  However, my basic person is grounded in whom God created me to be.  If I really believe this then when things happen I don't need to take things personally because "things" are being said, reflected, or done to God who resides in me rather than to me.  The corner that must be turned on my part is that "it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me."  As long as I exercise my will my life will always be less than what He intended it to be.  If I act outside the person God has created me to be; I will most like take things too personally.  It's not what I want and not what those around me need.  They need to see Christ crucified and risen living in me on a consistent basis.  It's God who is important beyond measure.  When this takes place there is nothing to take personally.  God is perfectly capable of defending himself. 
    

Christian tolerance

     No, I'm not going to talk about how we need to turn the other cheek.  We already know that.  I'm going to suggest that others should be tolerant of Christians.  What would that look like?  Would the Christian body actually be able to join together to become a force to be reckoned with?  These are important questions in this day where we are being asked to tolerate everything from a persons right to have processed sugar to a president who refuses to obey the very law he swore he would obey.  Why is it okay to trample on the beliefs of the Christian if it's not okay to trample on everyone and everything else.  Okay, I just have to say it.  I love butter.  Both as a Christian and just a content man.  Butter is wonderful!  I prefer salted but like unsalted also.  Butter goes with just about everything.  The powers that be have, over the years, tried to vilify butter as the enemy of mankind.  Huge amounts of private and public money have taken butter to task.  Guess what, butter is still there.  Many people I know would defend butter until they removed it from our cast iron skillets!  But then I digress. 
     I read a missionary story quite a few years about the underground church in Russia.  In a certain town the members of the underground church were concerned about what would happen if the KGB came to take away all of their Bibles.  They did something radical to oppose this intolerance by the Russian powers.  They took apart the Bible giving each member a section to memorize.  This even applied to the children.  When they were done the church had a memorized version of the Bible!  Now, who could take that away?  You see, that is what tolerance and intolerance is all about.  How do I survive when people are intolerant of my love of butter?  How about my belief in the Bible, God and salvation through Christ only?  It's not really that different because of the application of the principle.  I am intolerant of lots of things.  You are too even if you won't admit it.  We are intolerant of those who are intolerant of us.  Because this is a big world, you can go pretty much anywhere you like and be whoever you like (unless it's illegal).  You can hide in the mountains of Alaska or you can hide in Times Square.  Hiding is, like tolerance and intolerance, first an internal determination.  I have chosen to believe in Jesus as my Savior.  It was an internal decision that has a external expression. 
     The analogy of the frog in water comes to mind.  If you take a live frog and put it in a pan of water that frog is content.  If you turn on the heat under the pan the frog adjusts to the heat to the point where it will boil to death not having made any attempt to jump out of the pan.  When people tell me I need to be tolerant because my intolerance might hurt someone's' feelings they are telling me to just stay in the pan and quietly die.  It's not okay when the world does this to the Christian AND it's definitely not right when the Christian community does this to their members.  When someone tells me to be tolerant of who or what they are that is being intolerant of who and what I am.  Our actions and inaction's impact not only our world but other peoples worlds as well.  I cannot and will not change the way you think, live and believe.  Get the hint!  You cannot change the way I think, live or believe.  You can impose laws, make prisons to hold me, or even kill me but you will never kill what is inside of me.  You can never take the word of God from my heart and you can never take away my salvation in Christ.  I will be in Heaven one day regardless of what you do or don't do to me.  Can you say the same about what you believe in?  Who in the world are you going to give up yourself to so that they can feel comfortable?  Practice Christian intolerance. 

Quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, must be...?

     I would have loved to complete the statement by the single word "duck" but that would make this blog really short.  So, in light of our need for stimulation let me try and put this into a Christian context.  No Aflack jokes here.  Don't get me wrong, I like ducks.  They don't taste like chicken but they are good!  There are many different kinds of ducks in our world.  Some are tiny and others are huge.  Some are colorful and others are not.  Some make great pets while others wouldn't stay unless you cut off their wing feathers.  There are some resilient elements of being a duck.  For instance, the colorful ducks are male.  This is NOT an ego thing.  Their colorful appearance is to distract predators from the mother and babies.  That's true with a lot of bird species.  Ducks don't sink.  If you are a hunter that, again, is a good thing.  Their kids don't need to learn anything to keep from drowning!  They make flying look effortless.  Needless to say, I wouldn't make a very good duck.  I'm not a particularly colorful individual.  Nor am I wanting to be.  I have adversaries but they pretty much let me know when they are close.  I dive into the water and I sink.  Yes, I can swim but can only save myself.  The list could go on but you get the idea.  I don't even know what kind of duck I'd most resemble!  Maybe Daffy Duck!
     In politics it's common knowledge that our politicians are predominantly lawyers and liars.  So, when we see a politicians lips moving we can feel fairly certain that they are lying or at least bending the truth.  They usher in their "supremeness" with great pomp and leave us to believe they crawled out from under a rock rather than having been birth by loving and caring parents.  We can take this analogy to it's end and replace "lawyer" or "politician" with therapist, doctor, taxi driver, farmer, and so on.  Each may have their own particular description but would nevertheless be different than expected.  In fact, we have become so accustomed to being outside the definition that we now live in a new norm.  One only needs to look at the paper, listen to the news, or talk with a co-worker or neighbor to know that what I've written is true. 
     So, how about the Christian.  Bet you hoped I had forgotten the initial focus of today's blog!  We hear a lot of banter from believers and non-believers alike who set different standards for who or what a Christian is.  The opposite ends of the spectrum seek to explain how we excuse ourselves from responsibility of being a Christian.  There may be a "born again" element to your story as there is to  mine.  Yet, we don't live like Christians.  So, we take the human example and adjust our thinking and others thinking bringing us to a new definition of a Christian.  Basically, we find excuses that make our sin okay.  Ouch!  That certainly has applied to me in more than one area of my life.  I've not only believed the lie but have also taught it to others.  You have too if you are a Christian caught up in the world.  It's difficult to be a Christian.  Being a Christian as Christ outlined requires us to be at odds with most of he world around us.  Most people don't like to be at odds with their family, social and work world.  It's too uncomfortable and may offend someone.  I should hope so.  People need to be rocked out of themselves and into who they are in Christ.
     Will you?

On tolerance...

      tol·er·ance
noun \ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s\

: willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
: the ability to accept, experience, or survive something harmful or unpleasant
     These seem to be straight forward in how we understand and engage tolerance in our world.  Whether we correctly understand tolerance is debatable because of bias infused into our understanding.  There seems to be a struggle between being tolerant and being intolerant in a secular sense as well as religious.  No matter how much we claim to be tolerant there will always be ways we are intolerant in our lives.  I'm not just talking about your hate of vegetables or the driver who goes too slow in the fast lane.  I'm not just talking about your idea of right and wrong.  Though they too are very important.  Without a guideline there is little to talk about.  Without a law everything becomes permissible.  Without moral inclination we are without a stand on which to either tolerate or be intolerant in the ways we are. 
     I don't tolerate situations where I'm feeling pressure to "go along" with the crowd.  I am intolerant of people who hurt children.  There is a definite tolerance for those who struggle with the many issues of life.  Special tolerance goes to the veterans who lost part of themselves so that you and I could be free to be tolerant or intolerant.  People can present their tolerance or intolerance in many different ways.  Why?  Because those two words mean different things to different people or people groups.  Sometimes our intolerance is seen as prejudice.  Sometimes our tolerance is seen as prejudice.  Sometimes we just don't want to deal with people or situations so in an intolerant moment we move to the rural Alaskan country and catch salmon (and not paying $14.99 per pound!).  You see, it's not so simple as saying I tolerate or don't tolerate.  There is context to contend with and that throws so much more fuel on the fire. 
     In the 60's there were bumper stickers that proclaimed everything.  One of my favorites was "Different but not wrong."  I hate to be the one to say it but, that's not true.  Yet, that one phrase was applied to ALL people and ALL situations.  We do not have all things in common and thus cannot be defined by one quip.  I'm different and yet not the same.  So, is that wrong?  Those who beat the drum and carried the flowers in their hair were different just as the generation before and after them.  Being different was sometimes wrong.  Terrorist groups from anywhere in the world are different and are wrong.  Yet, it was the very revolution that brought the United States into being.  We did not tolerate and did not feel or think we were wrong.  We advised like minded people to be intolerant of what the mother country, England, wanted.  In the end, "right" prevailed in the minds of the new Americas and "right" did not prevail in the minds of the English.
     Don't mix up our lack of ability to stand up for what we believe as being tolerant.  It's cowardice.  Whether we cannot stand up against that which is within us and wrong or stand up against what is external to us; it's still cowardice.  Before we get too close to hanging me, I'd like to give an example.  Jesus.  Jesus saw that there were hypocrites in the temple doing wrong.  He took the time to braid a whip and then cleared out the temple.  All in the name of God.  Then he quietly and without any resistance carried his cross on which he was killed.  So, was Jesus tolerant?  Was he intolerant?  Yes.  Jesus was and is both.  He tells us to be like him.  Where does that leave you?  Answer the question for yourself before you try to put your definition on anyone else.  That's what Jesus would do and did.

Only when I am awake!

     I'm not a night person and am a morning person.  Most times both are out of my control.  Yet, I've found, the days and nights in my life go on whether I approve of the time or not.  That's good.  During both daytime and nighttime much of life is ongoing without my even being aware of much.  I woke up this morning at 6:00 AM.  It was dark out, the dogs were glad to see me as I went about getting coffee ready.  Today I used my glass on the stove model that you can see through everything.  I love to smell the coffee as it's ground and as its brewed.  Watching the clear water turn to a dark chocolate is captivating and my various senses are rewarded.  Early morning, coffee and dogs seem to set a certain acceptable picture that many can associate.  I've finished my journal, read the Bible, looked at the news (first mistake) and now the sun is melting away the fog so that I can see the end of the back yard.  It's going to be a nice day.  If my morning started with resentment the day following would be resented as well.  If my morning starts with contentment that all is right in this world where I live, then thankfulness flows to the top!
     I'm 61 and have seen so many sunrises and sunsets over the years where they linger too long or happen too quickly.  The "timing" depends on the season, the amount of items on our to do list and our desire to engage our world.  Questions will surface demanding an answer of one sort or another.  The decisions will reflect positively for some and negatively for others.  Most likely there will be those who are offended and those who are not.  Does any of this overwhelm me or bother me?  Do the choices of others disrupt my life or enhance it?  Only when I'm awake.  Being awake, engaged in life and taking care of responsibilities are a privilege.  There are many who won't wake up today.  There will be plenty of people resenting being under the thumb of an employer whose bottom line is profitability at all costs.  Even though I sometimes feel alone in the task, there will be responsibilities fulfilled by others in my life to lighten my burden. 
     When I am asleep there are a myriad of activities going on by those who are not asleep.  As the sleeping one I am charged with getting rest, taking care of being ready for another day and of course knowing what to begin with when I do wake up.  This is all good and well within the physical world we reside.  We also reside in a spiritual world.  Sometime that world clashes with the physical world.  In the spiritual world we can "hide" ourselves and then "get away with" not doing this or that.  People are witnesses to what we present.  When we don't present ourselves as God  designed us to be; his will cannot be accomplished through us.  That can only happen when I'm awake.  Being physically awake is different from spiritually awake.  Physical needs are different from spiritual needs.  Physical needs can be seen, felt, tasted and such.  Spiritual needs are sometimes not seen even as the solution may not be seen.  God works where we cannot or do not want to see.  God wants us out of the way so that we can be and will be his medium to bring the Gospel to those who do not know him.  When do we have this obligation in our Christian lives?  Only when we are awake. 

The story is told...

     The story is told about a man who dies and go to the gates of Heaven.  He is told that he can enter Heaven.  The man wants to know what Hell is like before he enters Heaven.  The guardian takes him to Hell where the man observes people seated at a dinner table fighting over food and how to get some for themselves.  The people had no elbows so their arms couldn't bend to bring the food to their mouths.  The man then asks what the difference is in Heaven.  He's taken there where he finds a similar dining room where there are many people seated eating peacefully.  They don't have any elbows either.  What the man saw was the people feeding each other.  So, while the people who go to Hell perish, those who go to Heaven thrive all because of a point of view.  In either case the choice is to the individual.  Who would choose which?
     "Well, Hell doesn't even exist!"  Really, if you don't believe in Hell in eternity just look around you as some of the hell on earth that exists right now.  Chances are you and I are the ones who are not taking care of others as we have been gifted to do.  Maybe the choices mankind has made actually has created hell here on earth.  I don't like to think that maybe I've been guilty of that.  Yet, that is exactly what I have done in any number of situations or times of my life.  Thankfully, God has also worked through me to create some heaven on earth as well.  Don't get me wrong.  Mankind needs to be saved to enter into heaven.  That goes for on earth as well.  Perhaps the "feeding" we do is just what someone needs to seek and find the God who saves?
     The story is told about a rich man and his headstrong son.  The son was graduating from college and wanted a summer of carefree living.  He told his father that he wanted a certain sports car for his "reward" for finishing college.  His father was concerned and said so.  Yet, the father prayed about this request.  When the day finally came for the father to give his son the gift they sat down together and the father began to talk to the son.  The son impatiently interrupted his father and told him to skip the lecture and give him the present.  The father was a godly man and knew that his words would fall on deaf ears from this point forward.  So the father gave the son a wrapped box.  The son ripped open the box and found to his dismay a Bible.  It was a beautiful old preserved Bible that had been passed down through the years from father to son.  The son exploded at how worthless this gift was.  He left the home and didn't return until his father died and the estate was to be settled.  The son was talking with the lawyer who handed the son his inheritance.  It was the Bible.  The son started to become angry when the lawyer stopped him and told him to look inside of the Bible.  There taped to the inside of the cover was a car key and instructions on where the car was parked.  The son was gripped with guilt and remorse as he learned that day his father had given him exactly what he wanted.  The gift hadn't been wrapped as the son expected.  Not only did the son throw the father away but he also didn't find the gift. 
     The story is told that we can find ourselves in either of these stories.  We can apply the right setting and details that make the stories ours.  We can allow heaven or hell to encompass our lives as well as those lives in our sphere of influence.  We can go into eternity having chosen Christ or not.  Are we wanting to go down that road?  Have you been living a life that has told others that you belong to Jesus?  There are many instances over the years of my Christian life where others would have rightly told you that I wasn't acting, thinking or being what anyone would consider a Christian life.  That's where the rest of the story comes into play.  God offers us fresh, new, and wonderful grace through his son Jesus.  We can begin life anew every day.  Let's make sure that we take the time to feed someone else and to recognize the package for what it contains.

What is your disguise?

     The superhero's of yesterday (and some today) continue to amaze and mystify me.  Superman's only real disguise from his "true identity" is a pair of glasses and some snazzy pajamas.  Batman has a bit more disguise but everything about his is Bruce Wayne.  It was the same with the super bad people as well.  Sometimes the only way to tell the good from the bad was they symbolic white hat versus black hat.  Of course the dead guy was always the bad guy.  What is the purpose of a disguise anyway?  Couldn't Batman or Superman do the same things as just mere humans?  Maybe we were duped into believing that only "super" people were capable of doing good.  That gives us an excuse to be bad.  Let the superhero's take care of all the chaos we have created.  One of my favorite superhero's is Underdog!  He and Superman transforming in telephone booths and other private places is remarkable when you consider we all knew they were still just the dog and man. 
     I don't believe that it is an exaggeration to say that we all have disguises that we put on from time to time.  We usually do this for selfishness though and not for the good of humanity or to save the world!  People put on their persona when they get up and then take it off when they get home from work.  Some do the transformation while they are in the secrecy of their car in the middle of traffic moving at 10 mph!  Got to keep our secrets!  Truth be told we don't want to have anyone know about the person we are disguising.  What do you and I look like striped of our disguise?  As I look back over my past (16 vocations) I can see how I put on each of the vocations I was involved in.  People didn't see Steve; they say whatever I was doing.  How about you?  Do you catch yourself putting on a disguise so that you can have a secret life?  Maybe you are like so many who wink at the act knowing the person is something other than their disguise belies.
     Here we come to the painful part.  We know who we are.  The disguise is a temporary element in our lives designed to help us deal with the world we live in.  People don't want to see the negative in their lives.  Unless they are a psychopath or sociopath.  I'm not suggesting that you need to be either in order to justify the picture of who we really are.  When I was a small boy of 10 or so I fantasized about being a spy.  I wanted to save the world from evil.  I made a mask and everything.  No cape.  It was my private world where I could go and do good and be recognized for doing good.  In the real world of my life it wasn't the case.  In real life the worse they made me out to be the worse I became.  With a "monster" living in the community there was little reason for people to look at what they thought and did as bad because they weren't as bad as me.  My "badness" was a disguise so that NO ONE would see the hurt, scared and even terrified little boy named Steven.  Most people still don't want to hear that for fear that they would have to face the truth about their own stories. 
     It really comes down to how much we trust God to love, accept and approve of us.  If we accept the love, acceptance and approval of God for us, then we lose the need for a disguise.  There are people who hide behind anything in order to not face the truth in their lives.  The truth doesn't kill us.  The secrets kill us.  They kill us from the inside out.  The secrets take us to where we see ourselves as an empty shell with little left to offer.  That's not what God wants.  He wants us to be free of our self.  So, he developed this plan that would allow us to abandon our persona of old and put on a new persona of a forgiven, loved, accepted and approved man or woman of God.  There are many alleged Christians who put on the Christian disguise and know nothing of the renewing of the body, mind and spirit by God.  We can only pass on what we have.  If we have Christ we can pass Him on.  If we have self then that is all we can pass on.  Who do I want to be like me?  The old me?  No one. 
     Sanctification is the process of letting go of self to live for God in all areas of our lives.  There is no disguise.  Belonging to God and being reborn by God leads us to a life where we feel fulfilled and of value to God and others.  If you have disguise(s) that you are hiding behind, get rid of them.  It's better to be know for who you really are than to leave people guessing who you are.  Still, I struggle day by day to abandon my disguises.  Some days are better than others.  I'm sure that's true for you too.  Still go forward and become more like Jesus.  He's not a disguise!

Nothing is simple.

     Because we make everything complex.  Complex ranges from simple complex to terrifying complex.  When faced with putting toys together at Christmas many people get that feeling the task is going to be more complex than we thought.  In order to develop this feeling we have to open the box.  Once the box is opened, there is no going back.  You are committed.  Well, I imagine you could close the box up and return it if it came to that.  Keep your inhaler close by.  Because of my past I am able to strip down a 4 barrel carburetor, replace parts and reassemble with a working carburetor on my car.  Put before me an entertainment center that is "packaged" in China, marked as being "intermediate" for level of difficulty and you just as well put me on a ski slope meant for those who are experts.  "Some assembly required" strikes terror in the hearts of many men.  Then, after you have taken two days to assemble that shoe rack what do you do with all the extra parts?  They do that just to mess with our heads. I have a box full of extra parts.  Maybe they will come in handy in case they decide to cut corners and eliminate a screw here or a bolt there.
     I love to cook.  Simple meat and potatoes meals were what I was raised on and are what I do best.  Every now and then I am tempted to take on a recipe because it sounds and looks so good.  So, I make my list of what I don't have and go to the store.  Not many stores carry liquid smoke.  Those who do sell this insanely small bottle for an insanely big price.  Next time I'll just start a stove fire and let the natural smoke permeate the food (and everything else in the house.).  My favorite trip to the store involved hunting for Saffron strings.  I had no idea what Saffron was, how it tasted, and where I could find it.  Three stores later I found it in a local grocery store.  They said I was out for 30 minutes having fainted from seeing the price.  When I came to there were very sympathetic souls offering advice.  "I fainted too the first time." said one older lady.  The people who wrote the recipe didn't have any problem paying $15.00 for 2 strings of Saffron.  I did but there is no substitute.  Luckily my bank was inside the store so I went over and took out a loan so I could get the Saffron.  Nothing is simple or cheap.
     There is the old adage "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."  Boy is that true!  Equally important is the "If you need to ask, you can't afford it."  We've defined ourselves by what we have and what we can afford.  We don't define ourselves as to our dedication level to Jesus or what we do for Jesus.  That's because, we have had the Gospel presented to us in the "Take Jesus to be your Savior and everything will be wonderful!"  So we end up thinking this is something simple while we have made the life lived for Christ complex by our endless conditions on unconditional love.  For instance, we are asked to die to self.  Okay, what does that entail?  How long will the death take?  Will this be as painful as it implies?  After I die, who am I?  So many questions with such a simple command.  We are asked to pick up our cross and carry it.  Isn't that what Christ did so I don't have to do that?  What kind of cross?  How big a cross?  Can I have help carrying the cross?  Why is this so complex?! 
     The truth is if we live simply for Christ our lives will be in great conflict with all this world has in it.  We are told that people will persecute us because of Christ in us.  We are told to stand firm for that which the Bible commands us to stand firm.  No hint of inclusiviness or tolerance there.  We are told that when we stand firm that trials will come upon us and we may even be killed because of our faith.  That's not simple.  That's scary!  Believing is wonderful and simple with a huge reward at the end of the journey.  Believing isn't simple because we don't live in a simple world.  Abandoning ourselves to Jesus gives us freedom in Him, not the world.  Nothing is simple.  "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."  That instant is the last simple one of a life requiring contrary living.  It's still worth living.  Just don't expect to keep it simple.

When all else fails.

     "When all else fails." means that we've exercised every option available to us except God.  Ever notice that these type statements are usually addressing the negative?  You don't hear people say that by faith they believe that all things work together for good to those who love Jesus and are called according to his purpose.  What we more than likely find is people who live their lives with at least one foot in the disaster circle.  I've been that type as I am sure many others have as well.  You know that you are there when your prayers are to correct what you thought was right to what God thinks as right.  Coming to the end of ourselves is a great idea.  "I finally came to the end of myself AND it's not a failure!
     When all else fails try manipulation.  I've done this as well and can speak with a bit of authority on the subject.  However, that's still not God's answer to our failures.  We manipulate in so many different ways.  There is mental manipulation, physical manipulation, emotional manipulation, and intellectual manipulation to name a few.  None of them are from God.  How do we know this?  Because God doesn't manipulate us into believing.  However, when all else fails and we come to the end of ourselves, God is there to once again make a success out of our failure.  There are no coincidences in life.  There are only two forces in the world.  Those forces are God and Satan.  So, if I'm not serving God, who am I serving.  I never have liked that dilemma.  I don't want to think that I am a servant of the most low Satan.  No one who calls themselves Christian does want to be seen that way.  So, before all else fails turn it over to God.
     When all else fails, charge forward like a bull in a china shop.  That's not the answer either.  Men especially find this alternative attractive.  There is the "I took care of it." attitude that precludes failure.  Even a failure can lead to a future success.  Not to appear biased in my view I must say that there are a lot of women who live this kind of life as well as men.  Should you get a marriage and family of this type of nature, look out!  There is going to be trouble like never before seen.  The thriving off this type of behavior is under laid with fears of others finding out just how powerless and in trouble we are.  The deeper into the negative thinking; the harder to break away from this habit.  When you have two people or more reinforcing this lifestyle there is sabotage at work between each other.  Maintaining a sick world is easier than fixing as sick world.
     Don't wait for things to fail.  Ask for directions.  I've done that when I wasn't sure where to go somewhere.  My wife was shocked and couldn't believe that I had asked for help.  At first I felt that she was disappointed in me.  The "man" of the house not being able to do something?  I do this fairly often now.  When I do so, things seem to smooth out quite a bit.  When I "man up" and get on my knees and ask God, it's even more smooth.  So, when all else fails, quit your day job in the world.  It doesn't pay well and the benefits stink.  The Bible encourages us to be in the world but not of the world.  Know "whose" you are.  When you do this you won't be worried about the negative quite as much.  When God succeeds we succeed. 

I failed yesterday.

     Okay, I failed.  Now what?  What would you do? Would you admit you failed?  Perhaps admit you failed but not fill in the details.  That would seem the 21st century way to do life.  I failed by choice.  Does that help?  We do fail by other means but it's always my choice.  I wasted most of my day doing little.  Does it matter that I was sick?  What is a waste of a day in your mind?  It drives me crazy!!  Probably not the worst thing I did yesterday.  Okay, it wasn't.  Why is it important that we know what other people's sin is and isn't?  I assume, that like me, everyone sins every day and thus fall short of what God wants in our lives.  So, I failed yesterday.  Did I sin?  Yes, we can fail and not sin just as we can fail and sin.  But, again, what does that matter.  God knew we could not keep ourselves from sin.  That's why he sent Jesus to bear our past, present and future sins on the cross.  I have been forgiven for my past, present and future sins.  Yet I failed yesterday. 
     So did you!  You failed too!  All of you (us) have failed.  Maybe we should just give up.  That is just what Christ wants.  However, Satan wants us to keep the mindset that we can do this.  We can make it through a lifetime without sin if only...  Jesus wants us to give up so he can be the conqueror within us.  Satan wants us to hang in there in order to keep us from surrender.  Satan keeps the "legal" system in place so that we will sin.  No one can go without sin.  We are a fallen humanity that has our being anchored in sin just as a cancer would inundate our body conquering and destroying.  What happens if we tell God; "No."?  "No, God, I can do life today just as well or better on my own than by giving my life to you today." 
     I have a cold.  That alone gives me a pass to stay in bed and rest.  However, it didn't give me a pass to fail.  The cold has been progressively going through its stages and I'm currently at the "miserable" stage.  Wait, that was yesterday!  Come to think of it, I've been miserable with this cold for 3 days.  Having a cold isn't a sign of sin.  Not taking care of myself with what God has given me is a sin.  Sometimes we don't do what we know we should an some days we do that which we shouldn't do.  Paul said he was in constant jeopardy of just this dilemma.  Here I am, I failed yesterday.  I also had successes.  However, the world isn't interested in my successes.  The world is interested in my failures.  Not so, you say?  Tell me the last time you heard the news on TV or read in a paper "good" news.  Well, when?  Every now and then there is a cute story about a dog raising kittens.  That's not about mankind doing good though.  That's about dogs and kittens. 
     I failed to give my life to Christ yesterday.  Moment by moment I must be conscious about my relationship with Jesus.  When we begin our day we should not give our day to Him because it's not ours to give.  It's his day.  I'm being blessed to observe it unfold.  If God chooses to use me in that unfolding then so be it.  If he chooses o not use me and to let me rest to get over my cold then so be it.  Yes, I failed to give all of my day to Christ.  Worse yet, I failed to give all of me to Christ.  That left me open to temptations while I was "recovering" from the cold I still have today.  Too much distraction takes us away from our primary attraction.  Jesus.  You will fail today and the only one you might be "right" with is Jesus.  He has a vested interest in you, your walk and your ability to die to self. 

Hitching along for the ride.

     Hitching along for the ride is very general and interpretations vary from individual to individual.  The variations also come up between the Christian and the world.  If you are a Christian this includes you.  If you are in the world this includes you.  No one escapes this one!  When we hitch a ride with someone or some ideology we carry along some agreement with them and their ideology.  This isn't like hitch hiking or jumping a train.  No hobo camp waiting at the end of the line.  When you do either of these tasks, you have an open future and are open to that future being written moment by moment.  Hitching along for the ride means that we have signed on to what we think we understand.  We may "back" someone or something and later, upon being educated, find that we either don't want to have anything to do with this ride or that we didn't realize that our calling was staring us in the face.  So, depending on the message, we move forward or we move away. 
     It's always easier to move away than it is to move forward.  Choices like this are often the "saving grace" option.  Many people live their lives looking for the exit.  The quicker and easier the exit, the less we have to be responsible for.  Sometimes our presence in a group, family, employment is deceiving.  We have checked out or exited and no one either knows or cares.  Sometimes we do this with logical arguments and sometimes we just go to our current addiction.  People love to live without any thought of responsibility for anyone but themselves.  And their pets.  Take care of myself and leave everyone else alone.  Maybe they will leave me alone as well.  What we find is that the more we escape, the more we have to deal with and put time into that escape.  Taking time to keep all of our stories, excuses and lies straight is important.  None of which are elements described in the Christians life. 
     So, how do we exercise wisdom in hitching a ride?  The first question is "Why?"  Why do we want to hitch a ride in the first place.  I've been invited to a number of Amway meetings under some very interesting guises.  Many of you have also been there and done that.  Any meeting that starts with deception isn't good.  Not representing the truth is a sin.  Not telling someone about the challenges of the Christian life when bringing them to Jesus is deception.  I've heard so many say, "Everything will be great when you have Jesus."  No, that isn't true.  Everything will not be great unless you hitch along for the ride only to get off when the call gets tough.  It's not so simple that a caveman can do it.  That's true about so many different areas of life.  So, what do we do?  Always answer the "Why?" question.  Don't dance around the answer.  If God is prompting you to talk with someone about Jesus then He has already laid the groundwork.  Just be honest!  There is nothing better than to listen and know that the person speaking is speaking the truth as they know it.
     Once you answer the "Why?" question, there are no other questions.  Who, what, when, where and how are almost always answered by answering the "Why?" question.  Hitch a ride with the one answering the "Why?" question.  By the way that would be Jesus.  Not me.  Jesus.  This is what will happen if you pursue this person Jesus.  You will be changed.  Maybe not instantly though that has happened as well.  You will show that change.  That change will entice others to seek the "Why?" question which should point to Jesus.  They then can choose for themselves who or what they want to hitch along for the ride with.  When things get tough, many ask to get off the ride.  I've been there and done that.  Not good!  It's like parachuting; why jump out of a perfectly good plane?  There is no really good reason outside the thrill.  Once on THE ride, don't seek to get off regardless the temptations.  Yes, you can get back on the ride.  However, the reasons we are there and the reason for he ride will change because you have changed.  Don't let failure lead you to give up.  There is no reason that God will abandon you so don't abandon yourself.

Escaping the real world!

     Millions of people (mostly in America) spent quite a few hours escaping the real world and watched a high stakes football game instead.  Watching your favorite team win or lose was a high or low for your day.  For those hours men, women, children all joined to "check out" and dial in for "the" game until the next one of course.  People focused on the needs and wants of the real world abandoned their causes for the day.  Ignoring the unfathomable amount of money that was spent yesterday the homeless stood outside of businesses watching the games from the street while those inside had food, drink, and their friends to cheer or complain with.  Where was the real world?  Why wasn't anyone attending to the real world?  Where were the protectors of the under trodden?   They, I would suggest, were at the same place those who "cared" about Jesus went when he was being tried and then put on a cross to die.  No fanfare there. Why would someone want to focus on the real world when they can focus on the unreal world?
     We all do it from time to time.  We abandon the real world for whatever reason.  Jesus even went into the hillside alone to have time with the Father and to recharge.  Though he was always in the real world.  We abdicate our place in the big picture and little picture so often that it becomes expected.  "Okay, for today we will drink, eat and watch TV for hours."  Growing up on a farm I knew the importance of being in the same place twice a day.  That was milking our dairy cows.  They absolutely needed to be milked twice a day.  When the electricity went out we milked them by hand.  We fed the cattle, made sure they had water and kept a sheltered area for them from the winter.  That was on Christmas Day, New Years Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, your birthday, and every day of the year.  To do less was to expose our world to the very dangers we were expected to protect them from.  I can guess that the "real world" people would have loved to have all the good food and drink that was thrown away.  But for the most part, that didn't happen.
     I'm not complaining about big business, overpaid athletes, or the dictates of expenses on the fans.  I'm not complaining about the amount of taxes paid going to support a multi-billion dollar business that most don't get to enjoy.  Nor am I complaining about the many business attached to the event for their wanting to make a "living" as well.  How many millions do we need to consider we are "making a living?"  Being a conservative people would certainly begin to think I was a liberal.  I don't really feel comfortable with either title.  I prefer "Christian."  Where do you stand politically?  I stand for God even as He stands for me.  Where do you stand regarding wars?  I stand for God even as he stands for me.  Wait a second!  What do I mean that I stand for God even as he stands for me?  I mean that my "first" inclination should always be setting my sight on Christ and what he desires of me and secondly on others and their needs with my needs coming in at least in third place.
     That's what escaping the world means to me.  People may think Christianity is escaping from reality.  Quite the opposite.  Christianity is living in THE ONLY reality in life.  The stakes are high and the cost is way more than a playoff game.  The stakes involve individual lives.  Each life in this reality counts the same.  Doesn't matter your designation.  ALL fall into the two categories reserved for man.  The first is believing on Jesus and being saved.  The second is not believing on Jesus and not being saved.  Those who are perishing are many.  Why don't we have the professional playoff game focus for our neighbor?  That's why people seek to escape the real world.  They don't want to have that accountability of what we did and did not do with and for our neighbor. 
     Now there may be some who read this and will be "kind of" convicted.  So they will throw an extra $5 in the offering basket as penance and maybe go without a mocha tomorrow morning.  Where did we get the idea that what we think, understand and decide is truth?  Where does it say that our choices are God's choices?  Certainly not in the "real world."  What is your real world like versus your "unreal world?"  Where do you face reality and engage so you can do the most good for others?  In two weeks there is another unreal event that will once again allow us to escape the reality of our world.  I'm not saying it's wrong to watch the game.  I'm saying to not abandon what God wants you to do in order to avoid responsibility for your fellow man.    

Like it or not...it is what it is.

     Where so many people live their lives in a "reactionary" way, others  choose to engage in life with an "action" orientation.  Which are you?  Do you live your life on defense or offense.  Living life on the defense means at least some imprisonment by those who are living life on the offense.  Offense is living looking forward where defense is living based on the past for the most part.  I realize that there are generalities here and that there are people who don't "fit" in either category.  There are some people who "just go along for the ride."  Maybe that's where you find yourself.  If we fail to have positive stimulation in our lives there is little room for personal or corporate vision.  The Bible tells us that "without a vision the people perish."  That includes living someone else's vision.  If you aren't living your vision or the vision that God has for you, life isn't really happening.  What is happening is someone else's life and you are just along for the ride.
     We make our lives what they are either by doing something or doing nothing.  Both reap results that we have created.  No one else has made the choices for us. Even if we feel forced into this or that; there is always MY choice.  The only way someone can joyride in my life is for me to let them do so.  We don't have to like what is going on in our lives, the lives of those in our lives or even the world that surrounds us.  We don't have to like what people think, say and feel.  They will do whatever they want regardless of our "liking" or not.  Taking a stand where we take control over the life we have been given is both powerful and threatening.  Contrary to what we are told, people around us don't want us to change.  They don't want us to be "more than them" in any context of the phrase.  People, despite their relationship with us still like it or not because it is what it is.
     What do we do about our choices and the world we choose to be a part of?  We need to grow up.  We need to be critical thinkers who can evaluate a situation, envision a solution and bring about positive changes in our world.  Living in the past won't allow this to happen.  Thus, living a reactionary life won't work either.  All that they will do is keep us repeating what we have repeated in the past.  Defense is one down from winning.  There is the old saying, "the best defense is a good offense."  It's true in all areas of life.  One catch comes up though.  The offense we set in place and in motion must be the plan that God has written on our hearts.  If it's not God's plan, it is less than what the plan could have been.  I've spent many years researching in my personal life ways to go through life without God being in control.  From those years of research I've found that life would have been better if I had let God direct my life.
     So, as I go through today (because that's all I have) I will try to once again put myself aside in order for God to take his rightful place in my life.  The reward for doing so is I will be blessed and those around me will be blessed.  There is no down side when I have a heart, mind and soul for God and what he wants.  We don't have to like it and it doesn't have to be what it is.  Challenge your life and thinking today.

The world is...crazy!

     PTSD can develop just from reading the headlines yesterday and this morning.  Where is sanity hiding while the world goes to hell?  The short answer is that God told us this would happen.  In fact, the Bible says our world has o get worse than it was during the flood for the Lord to come back and bring peace.  So, two questions are begged.  The first is why are we trying to make things better if it has to get worse before we can go to Heaven?  The second one is why aren't we trying to bring others to Christ if we truly believe that his return is imminent?  Not easy questions to wrestle with this Saturday morning.  Not the stuff to be chewed on over eggs and sausage.  Maybe is we add toast with jam.  You see, that's what we do when we are confronted about the state of the world.  We deflect or redirect ourselves and others so we can for yet another day keep our heads in the sand.  In the meantime the planet is out of control.  There are pockets of good and groups of good people.  Well intentioned people anyway.  None of us are good.  It's only God in us that bring about any good.
     What are we to do?  Well, we aren't told to sit on our butts and do nothing.  We aren't told to let someone else do what we have to do because they are more qualified.  We are told to step up to the plate and swing at the pitch.  There will be strike outs and home runs for both you and I.  Will we leave the world a much better place when we leave?  Will there be changed lives because of how you and I lived?  As we enter Heaven will we hear, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."  Or not?  Here is where we either bring sanity or craziness to the world around us.  If we should be so brave to proclaim that we are Christian; will we be so brave to act like it's true?  Well, you know me, the greatest of all sinners.  I have both missed the chance and taken the chance of doing both.  There are those who will always be in opposition to my stance whether that stance goes one way or the other.  For some of the people there is never a "right" answer.  There is nothing I can do about that except to pray for them.  What are we to do?
     The issues we face in our world involve us even if we aren't involved physically.  The very least we can do (and many don't even do this) is pray.  Prayer is powerful and when coupled with faith can bring about changes in people and the world we cannot even imagine.  The neighbor may come over for a cup of sugar but really need a cup of grace.  The pastor preaching a message to his congregation is really needing to hear that Word from the Lord for himself.  The successful businessman in yet another meeting keeping him from being with his family questions if it's really worth it while at the same time knowing he and his committed stance is envied by those who want to be like him.  So, it comes as no surprise that others feel as we do, seek answers as we do, and actually do the best with what they are given.  I'd rather have a 100 people praying for me than one person bringing me food.  The prayers of the saints over the years have maintained the Gospel story.  This dedication has preserved the atoning work of Christ for our salvation.  From what?  From the world that has gone crazy and is in need of a Savior. 
     Don't let the world stop you from going where God is leading you. 

Valuing a constant companion.

     Constant companions come into our lives and assume their place of influence and help in time of need.  They are also there to celebrate the goodness of God and the failures we will fall into.  CC's don't come and go.  They simply "come" and then stay.  Some of our interactions with CC's is on a daily basis while with others is every few years or in Christmas cards!  These are the people we know have our back.  These are the people who will drop everything to be there with us either spiritually or physically.  Jesus should be able to see us as his CC's here in the world.  Jesus should be our first CC and primary CC as we go through life.  Putting our faith in Jesus is often difficult when we think we can find a way or think that there is no way.  CC's can see our life from the outside in.  They know much about us and what is going on with us without having to ask a thousand questions.  Their advice is taken without resentment and often without question. 
     The basis of our lives should be centered on our faith in Jesus and his power to save us.  After we find ourselves bathed in the grace of God there is or should be little need for anything else.  So, why don't we live like that?  Why do we struggle and plead and grow frustrated with people or the world we live in?  God wants to bless us.  It's that simple.  We needn't make it any more difficult than that one sentence.  God wants to bless us.  He wants to bless us with eternal life.  He wants to bless us by meeting all of our needs.  He wants to bless us with others whom he has loved and blessed.  The body of believers should be a blessing.  If it's not, you are in the wrong body of believers.  When was the last time that you truly felt blessed?  Was it with a sermon, service rendered, children reaching milestones, friends engaging you or many other ways of feeling and being blessed?  If we look for the extra ordinary to take place in our world, we often miss the ordinary.
     That's where the CC comes in.  The place we put our CC in our life belies our trust in them.  Do we trust Jesus for this but not for that?  Does our earthly CC have access to our life or are our lives only open to others when we feel right?  Being able to have a CC in our lives should help us to do what is necessary to keep and grow that relationship.  When we know we can put all of our life in the hands that seek to serve us without hesitation or holding back, we know that a threshold has been crossed.  While the CC has been elevated, Jesus has been elevated even more so.  He is the example of what a CC looks like.  Jesus was so invested in me and a relationship with me that he surrendered his life so that I could have one.  How do I value that sacrifice?  Do I hold Jesus and other CC's in a place of reverence?  Do I think, say and do life in such a way that Jesus and my CC's are not offended?
     IF we were to look for the instructions of life in Jesus only how different our lives would be.  Should we actually surrender our dead life to Jesus in exchange for the living life only he can give, we can then give it away to others.  That's what a CC does...gives away the life they have.  Yet their lives don't cease to exist.  Why?  Because the more of Jesus we give away to others; the more Jesus fills us up with him to be given away.  Paul says he pours out his life so that Jesus may be glorified in the life that has been given to him.  Do we do the same?  Does Jesus feel valued by you and I?  That's the hundred thousand dollar question.  Do we?

Today is a new day, help me to not repeat yesterday!

     So many times I have moved through my day merely repeating yesterday's regurgitation of the day before.  Repetition breeds boredom and boredom leads to temptations which in turn lead to sin.  That is not where I want to be.  Nor should you want to be there.  Suffice it to say that we, if we choose, have more than enough before us to not have to be bored.  There is absolutely nothing I can do to change yesterday, it's problems and blessings, and alter how it all turned out.  It's over.  You and I cannot redo the day.  It's gone and so are all he missed chances to serve the Lord.  Like me, I imagine you ask yourself if you did all you could or were expected to do?  There are those around us that would argue pro, con and in between on what we did and did not do.  The real question is whether or not my day reflected Jesus Christ to my world.  Yesterday is gone but our imprint in that day will live on with whatever our lives testify to.  That includes the made versus missed moments.
     Tomorrow holds a lot of unknowns beginning the unknown if we will wake in the morning here on earth or in heaven.  If it's the latter, tomorrow doesn't matter at all anymore.  Tomorrow may have it's foreboding elements but we don't know whether or not they will come about.  In fact, if we are honest about ourselves, we have no way of knowing what tomorrow brings or even the day, week, month or years for that matter.  Yet, most people have day timers, calendars, or a combination of any number of reminders of OUR plans for tomorrow.  I know people who have planned their days out up to 3 years in advance.  My question is "Why?"  Is it because of control issues or fears deep within which came from somewhere?  Much too nebulous for anyone to plan their lives on.  Tomorrow can be a wonderful gift or a burdensome never ending 24 hours.  Both are our choice.  Instead of living in the moment we live in the past with eyes to a future we "hope" will come about.
     My dogs are sleeping at my feet as I write this morning.  They have already been given breakfast and taken their medications.  I've petted and scratched and told them they were good dogs.  For their lives it couldn't get any better.  They can have a horrific day yesterday and yet wake up in the morning with a wagging tail and smile on their faces.  Their today is now.  My wife is not a morning person and yet her day begins in similar fashion.  She has an alarm that wakes her at a preset time in order to get up, get ready and get off to work.  If she leaves the house before a certain time the day is good.  If she is running late, the day has a huge potential of not being good.  My children have gone through the various stages of growth and are maturing.  Yet, they have learned that being safe with yesterday is better than risking today for an unknown tomorrow.  That's what the world teaches so that we can keep our eyes off Jesus.
     Today.  It's all we have.  Our lives can be ended here on earth in the blinking of an eye.  This can be without warning or many months or years in advance.  Our lives can be filled with positive or negative.  Which ever one we support is the one that wins.  We cannot and should not compare today with any other day.  When we do this we limit what God can and would do if we simply gave our "today" to him and left it there.  It may come as a surprise that my life frustrates some people.  I'm either thought of as naive or that I don't care.  I don't believe I am either.  Yet if I spend the day dislodging the thoughts and beliefs of others I am held back from being in "today".  Today is loaded with potential and hope.  Today is stuffed with blessings just waiting to be discovered.  Today is filled with people who look to Jesus in you for their beginning, in between and end of their day.  We have the choice to live in the past, present or the future.  Two make no sense.  Choose the day as a present from God. 

What are you serious about?

     That question is unfair as the Seahawks head towards another Super Bowl appearance.  Well, maybe not.  Let's look not at whether or not unfairness exists.  In life, like it or not, the final say on unfairness is God.  No, we don't get to define the word peculiar to our personal circumstances.  No, we cannot use the word and definition to advocate what we want whether that be good or bad.  We need to understand that there is more than "us".  That being a beginning point no one on planet earth has been innocent of being unfair.  Everyone has been unfair either to someone, something or God.  Can't get out of that one!  To tell the truth, we don't want fairness.  We don't want the judgment of God to fall on us from fairness.  No one would survive.  We don't want fairness back at us as we project fairness towards others.  The "truth" is not something we are good at dealing with, much less incorporating into our lives. 
     Rationalization and justification are twin friends most of us carry around in our backpack of burdens.  With both of these powers being plied in our lives the margin of error in both directions is immense.  They determine the amount of wiggle room we have in any given subject or scenario.  Our rationalization and justification are our enemies and the enemy of God.  The Word encourages us to look toward Jesus as the "author and finisher of our faith."  We are encouraged to lay down our lives and let Jesus live life through us.  Rationalization and justification on our part dilute the impact of Jesus in and through our lives making us ineffectual in presenting the Gospel to the degree that others want what we have.  Let me ask a question.  "If being a Christian were a capital offense punishable by death; would there be enough evidence to convict us and sentence us to death?"  Are we serious about our faith?
     We are a hypocritical people who want what we refuse to give.  We want God to take care of our every need but refuse to be instruments of His peace.  We want the answer from God to be "yes" to our every prayer.  When we first genuinely fell in love with God we made a commitment to Him and His will; not me and my will.  When I first believed, the focus I had was solely on Christ and his ministry through others and myself.  Nothing made me happier than to see others choose to live a life full of Christ.  So what happened to me?  The short answer is I quit on God and I quit on others and myself.  I could launch into all those things that took place in my life that did this or that.  However, that would not serve the purpose of today's post.  It's not to be about me.  It's to be about Him.  That is where my seriousness started and where it's been returning to.  Some days are harder than others.  Usually because I make them so. 
     If my focus is on making a living then that is what I am serious about.  If my focus is on having new stuff then that is what I am serious about.  If I am serious about sports then they will fill my life.  Being serious about anything other than what God wants us serious about is a diversion from putting Christ first in my life.  Here is the lesson for today.  Should I focus on Christ and what He wants and is serious about, my needs and some wants will be attended to and finished.  This frees up more time and effort to spend on doing what Christ wants me to do.  The more I do for Christ, the less there is to be done in the world.  Being unequally yoked applies to more than marriage.  It also applies to how we are attached to what is important and what is unimportant.  Christ is the only seriousness we need to live a fulfilled life.  Other focus takes away the joy of the Lord.

Making it up as I go along.

     No matter how much you tell me you don't do this, I know that you do some of the time.  Don't feel alone.  Paul did this.  He had plans galore but often was relegated to being available to "make it up as he went along with God.  Two elements must be present for this to be successful.  The first is faith in God and believing that he will never take us where he can't keep us.  The second is being available without agenda to and for God in every moment of every day.  As a result of the combination of these two principles, anything is possible.  Anything!  Wow!  What would God be able to do with a few million people doing whatever he desires?  People who are not preoccupied with their plans, their vision, their burdens and their bias being available to do whatever God asks when he asks.  Is this even a concept that can stay put in your brain? 
     So, why don't we have faith in God?  Would you like the simple answer or would you like to really understand?  I don't want to waste God's time or yours if you don't/won't give in to Gods plan.  Contrary to what many think, their "learned one" whom they look to for the plan, doesn't know the future.  They don't know the future and their plans are constrained within the confines of their opinion.  We don't have faith in God.  It's that simple.  We have "some" faith but not the kind of faith that Christ asks us to have.  You remember, "faith to move mountains."  It's true that I have kept with my plans above those plans God has had.  Sometimes things seemed to work out for God's glory.  Most often though the things I said or did fell incredibly short of the expectation God has for our life and the world we live in.  We don't have faith or exercise the faith we have because we are not done with being the god of our own world. 
     Like children (and a lot of adults) in a long car ride we want to be "there" now.  So instead of knowing that we will arrive we ask that question for which there is a guess but no concrete answer.  "Are we there yet?"  Did the car stop rolling?  Am I shutting off the car?  "No."  We aren't there yet.  And so we continue to be god of either large or small parts of our lives.  Few among us look forward saying: "God has something good planned!  I can't wait to serve Him."  Here is a key.  We are NOT in control of anything in our lives.  Nothing.  At least we shouldn't be in control.  Our best is never God's best.  Our plans are never God's perfect plan.  Our intentions don't resemble His intentions often in our lives.  We still want to be the god of our world.  When our day/life is full of our plans there is little time set aside for what God wants.  We make it up as we go along.  We tell others that this or that is the will of God often without even checking with God.  We make decisions and moves that when successful we say were what God wanted us to do.  If things don't work out then we may admit that "things" weren't God's will in the first place.
     Living each day with a faith focused on Jesus and what He wants is difficult at first because we need to stop relying on tradition, other's beliefs, and the like.  We think we need to overcome when He has already overcome.  Orchestrating our lives becomes primary all too often.  What if we lived a life where we didn't know how our day was going to unfold?  We would look for God's hand anxiously so that we could celebrate what He is or has done.  There would be pleasant anticipation of the next "act of God" that comes when people are waiting and looking for what God can and will do.  Living each day as God makes it up as we go along is a wonderful way to live.  It's the intelligent thing to do.  Let people see that God is running your life at your invitation.  God's good at his job.

Missing the point doesn't make it the end of the road!

     How many times have you listened to, seen or even engaged people that have missed the point.  I'm not talking about "my" point or "your" point or even the point made by groups that shouldn't try to make points in the first place.  Perhaps you have heard or said yourself "This is pointless!" when involved in a discussion with someone who's sole claim is their ability to not engage on any level but their level.  As long as we agree with "them" then everything is okay.  That's pointless.  I've been on both sides of the subject.  So bull headed that I couldn't understand anything other than myself.  I've also been in groups, classes, or even coffee house groups where others have made the same fatal error that I had made or someone I knew had made.  There is a fine balance between living on one side of pointless or the other.  Where do you live?  What do you do with pointless arguments?  How do you change from "pointless" to pointed?
      The Bible tells us to not throw our pearls before the swine.  That means we need to evaluate with whom we are trying to share our truth.  If it's clear that the other person or group of persons is not going to listen; why share?  What a waste of time and effort.  However, if God tells us to share the truth He must have some result to come of the interaction.  Perhaps YOU will be the only person someone will hear today.  Maybe the Gospel will only be presented by you.  God has gifted each of us to do different functions in the body of Christ.  God has not gifted anyone to be pointless.  To be pointless means we have lost contact with Christ in us.  Christ is not pointless.  The Father is not pointless.  The Holy Spirit is not pointless.  Their voices should never be seen as pointless.  That is no what God is all about.  God has a point he wants to give us in order that we won't perish in our foolishness and out pointless beliefs. 
     So, here we are doing pointless things like road rage, saying pointless things like we alone have the market of correct information and falling into a trap that prevents the Gospel (which does have a point) from being shared effectively.  William James once said, "We may have a God in heaven who forgives us our sin.  But mankind does not."  Very true!  Yet we look for mankind to forgive us when it's God who brings forgiveness.  By the way forgiveness isn't pointless either.  Sometimes I sit in front of a soccer match absent mindedly eating chips or whatever there is to eat.  It's pointless as far as applicable good points.  Yet, I'm not alone.  You have things in your life even as I have things in my life that we hold onto but are pointless.  These things get in the way of our learning from God and passing what He says onto others.  Perhaps we can begin to change that and feel the freedom that comes with submission to God.
     There are so many diversions in life that we cannot possibly avoid them all.  Yet, we need to be careful so as to not affect our testimony of God's greatness and grace.  Before you engage your mind take some time to really see if what we are thinking is from God.  Make his grace the point. 

Juxtaposed people

     While the world is in the throes of trying to make others like themselves, Christians are not to be a juxtaposed people.  So, why are we?  Looking at the definition of both juxtaposed and Christians might be a good starting point.   

jux·ta·pose

verb \ˈjək-stə-ˌpōz\

: to place (different things) together in order to create an interesting effect or to show how they are the same or different

 

     Notice how that definition cleared up the subject totally!  Sometimes the definitions are so accurate and definitive that we, at first, shy away from them.  Largely this happens as we are afraid of expanding our knowledge and in the process understanding more of who we are.  Carried to an end, that means change for many of us and guess what, the definition changes.  Today we should leave the definition alone and accept its truth.

     We are placed together which has created an interesting effect on the world we live in so that others may see how alike or different we are.  Here, then, is the root problem.  Yes, we are individuals and yes, God created us this way.  God also created us to be a conjoined body that is consistent in it's presentation to the world in order that others may believe.  We are asked to forsake what we think, see and feel in order to present Christ to the world so that they may believe and be saved.  God, for good and bad, has given us our free choice.  In so doing, He has set different people together with the expectation that like artists will complete the same masterpiece.  God wants the world to be asking what makes us tick.  So, like a jury of 12, the number of people who are in agreement presents the greatest convincing argument.  It's not hard to not accept one persons truth but is difficult to take apart a belief held by thousands.

     Juxtaposed we present either an obstacle to faith or a doorway to faith.  Die hard theologians with their unbending dogma can be both a doorway and an obstacle.  It comes down to what is important.  Many a defense has been lost when the argument isn't substantiated with enough evidence to win the argument.  The same goes for people living for Christ in a fallen world.  We are called to be a juxtaposed people who present Christ in our various worlds in the same way.  Our lives are a statement or argument for the truth we say lives within us.  External showing of this truth is often muddled by our sin.  At least it is for me.  People see me saying, "Yes, I am a Christian." and immediately place my statement within THEIR definition.  If they are unbelievers the belief in my truth becomes harder to accept.  Contrary, you would think, the believers would accept the belief with confidence.  We all know this is not necessarily true.  That's why we have so many religions and so many denominations with so many interpretations that few have confidence in any of the beliefs presented. 

     The picture I just painted is real.  This is a dilemma in anyones world.  The intensity of that dilemma is directly proportional to how much we believe in what we say we believe in.  I can argue another persons point of view and convince some that this is the truth.  Likewise I can argue that another persons point of view is flawed and that there is little or no truth in that point of view.  In order to do either I need, like you, to have a base from which we can judge correctly what we do and do not believe to be the truth.  Other's arguments, if presented correctly, should cause me to grow closer to that which God has given as truth.  If growth isn't seen, the truth is the same but the argument is weak or unbelievable.  Our consistent dependent upon God for all aspects of our lives is the brick of the foundation carefully set and built upon.  Yes, we do this as juxtaposed believers.

My apologies...

     First, I want to apologize for not blogging yesterday.  I forgot.  Please forgive me.  Now on to what God has to say to us today. 
     I, like you, have areas of my life where I need to apologize and areas of my life where there is no apology needed.  I just expressed my apology for not writing.  That is where I "need" to apologize.  I have a faith in Jesus Christ that "needs no" apology for.  Should I do what is right, I don't need to apologize.  Likewise, should I do what is wrong, I need to apologize.  Who sets the "right" and "wrong" standard?  Is there some wiggle room for good intentions?  The easy answer is that God sets both standards.  So we are encouraged that this can be simplified for us.  What is right defines what is wrong.  Rarely do we look at this from the other direction:  what is wrong defining what is right.  If we are honest with ourselves, God and others, what will surface between the black and white of right and wrong is a huge area of gray that has been defined by man.  Basically this area is the place where we go to justify or rationalize a wrong to make it feel or sound right.
     The only time we wrestle with a stand for "right" is when our faith or beliefs are challenged.  We'd like to have verified that the rest of my world sees the world as I do.  Then there is the opposite view that all I need to do is see the rest of your world as you do.  Neither is good.  That thinking has brought so many different belief systems into place where they jog along in the competition to have people convinced that you (or I) am right.  This has, since the garden, began and continued to divide a created humanity that is "less than" what they could be.  We live in a world where the prominent attitude is to "tolerate" and to "co-exist" with others who have beliefs contrary to God's teaching.  So muddled is the water that no one (almost) is able to see any light from any of the tunnels we are rapidly approaching.  In  the end, "He who won't stand for something will fall for anything."  Many practice "oral tradition" from generation to generation even if it's contrary to what the Bible says.
     I'm reminded of the story about the young girl helping her mom in the kitchen after church.  Her mom was preparing a beef roast for dinner.  Prior to placing the roast in the oven her daughter asked her why she cut off the ends of the roast.  Her mother thought for a moment and said that she had learned to do this from her mother.  Her daughter ran along but the mother, whose mother was available by phone stated that she had learned the habit from her mother.  Grandmother was in a nursing home but answered the phone call from her granddaughter.  After hearing the musing and problem her granddaughter was addressing the grandmother said:  "I cut off the ends of the roast because it wouldn't fit in the oven."  Even though technology had changed the "tradition" though no longer needed, continued.  We do this.  We profess what we are taught until proven wrong.  We hold others to our standards until we find out that our standards are sub par. 
     Jesus said, in the Bible, that the Word is offensive to those who are perishing.  Don't apologize.  The Word says that there is no other name than the name of Jesus by which man can be saved.  Don't apologize.  The Bible further states that we will be hated (God's term) because of our belief in the Bible.  Don't apologize.  Jesus instructed his followers to not tolerate sin (even other belief systems) in our own life or the lives of others.  Don't apologize.  Salvation is about being saved from living outside the will of God and not just being a good person.  Don't apologize.  God tells us to tell everyone in the world (big place) to share the Gospel so that some might be saved.  Don't apologize.  We who believe and are saved in Christ will not taste death but will live to life eternal.  Don't apologize.  Those who do not know Jesus will not be saved.  Don't apologize. 
     I'm sorry that I forgot to write yesterday.  I apologize.  Please forgive me Jesus. 

The easy answer isn't always easy!

     The easiest of answers is often the result of the toughest decision.  I could stop there with that wonderful sentence that I crafted in seconds.  That would be too easy though.  It's like saying that he sky is blue or that water is wet.  Without the rest of the picture, the easy statement is well....to easy and incomplete.  Don't get me wrong, some things are meant to be easy while others require the more difficult of elements.  It's easy for me to tell my kids I love them.  Most of us do this daily and really mean it.  Then we add the element of doing wrong.  Yes, I still love you but I don't love what you did or were doing.  See the difference?  With little more than a few words easy becomes entangled like morning hair.  Okay, I love my kids and will always love my kids.  That is a good statement.  It's an imitation though.  God says, "I love my kids and will always love my kids."  He too doesn't love what we do but remains in love with us.  How can this be?
     Potential.  That's the simple and easy answer.  However, what we see as potential and what our kids see as potential (use the same statement for God) can be worlds apart.  Life is supposed to enlighten us as well as our kids to how much potential we have thus allowing others to see who we truly are.  Then include that into loving us and us loving our kids.  God sees the potential in all of us.  When?  Before you were born.  The Bible says that he knew us before we were conceived in our mother's womb and that it was He who knit us together and set before us all the days of our life.  God is pretty good at seeing potential in us when we don't.  So where does this standard for potential come from and how does it work?  Does the standard change for different people, different ages, different capacities?  Yes and no are the simple answers.  God only sees the standard as being for everyone.  We see and set different standards for individuals, groups, and ourselves.  We really are a messed up creation when you get down to the nitty gritty.
     The standard can be set based on just two commands that God has given us.  First he has commanded us to love Him with all our heart, soul and life.  Second he has commanded us to love our others as He has loved us.  Hmmm....sounds like a difficult dilemma coming up.  You would be right.  This is problematic as we find ourselves loving God as we want and loving only those people we want to love.  Then our love, in both cases, is less than the word was intended by God.  Can we really do justice to God's love for mankind?  No, we cannot.  Can we really give God's love for others to them of and by ourselves?  Nope, we cannot.  Like I started with, the easy answer isn't always easy.  Two errors pop up.  The first is trying to know what God exhibits as love.  We often "love" as we feel we want to.  Rarely do people love with the love of God.  Second we then turn around and love others with "our" love which is again less than God intended.
     So, what to do?  Seeing ourselves as God sees us is the first step.  God sees us as worth while.  He, in turn, asks us to see ourselves as worth while.  When we reach that point we can see others as being worth while.  Sounds like what God does for us.  Like a relay switch, as soon as the switch is flipped and we understand God, we can pass that understanding onto others.  This applies to our enemies as well.  Hmmm...didn't see that one coming; did you.  Neither did I.  So, whom are we going to choose to love today?  The easy answer is the one you despise the most.  Yourself.  Didn't see that one coming either did you?  You see, our feelings towards what God created in us should mimic what God created in others.  We are only able to give others the worth that we accept from God.  If we see ourselves with great self worth (yes), then we are able o see others as having great worth.  If we are able to receive the love of God at whatever level, we are only able to love to the level we have received the love of God.
     The easy answer isn't always easy.  Do it anyway.