Monday, April 30, 2012

Psalm 23

The Lord is my Shepherd = That's Relationship!
I shall not want = That's Supply!
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures = That's Rest!
He leadeth me beside the still waters = That's Refreshment!
He restoreth my soul = That's Healing!
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness = That's Guidance!
For His name sake = That's Purpose!
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death = That's Testing!
I will fear no evil = That's Protection!
For Thou art with me = That's Faithfulness!
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me = That's Discipline!
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies = That's Hope!
Thou annointest my head with oil = That's Consecration!
My cup runneth over = That's Abundance!
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life = That's Blessing !
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = That's Security!
Forever = That's Eternity!
Face it, the Lord is crazy about you.
'Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to move your Feet
source unknown

Sunday, April 29, 2012

SFGTD – Something for God to Do

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day.
I love you.
P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.
Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new grey hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!
God
source unknown

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Child Shows Best Way to Prepare for Christ's Return

If, as Jesus said, we cannot know the hour or the day [of his return], yet we also see the signs, how are we to be both ready to go and resigned to wait?
According to the apostle Peter, the scoffers say: "Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. … Where is this 'coming' he promised?" (2 Peter 3:4; all Scripture quotations from the NIV). But he reminds us that the Lord's tarrying means salvation for more. Still, Peter poses the question: "What kind of people ought you to be … as you look forward to the day of God?" (3:11-12).
His answer: "You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God … looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth" (3:12-13).
[Here is a story] that can fill in what "looking forward" might mean.
When our middle son, Ben, was much younger, he had heard more than one sermon about the importance of surrendering our lives to Christ. Ben seemed well-attuned to the heart of God; he exhibited the selfless and kind tendencies that would take some - like his mother - a lifetime of sanctification to acquire. So it disturbed my husband and me when Ben stubbornly resisted our invitations for him to give his life to Christ. He would offer no explanations; he would simply tell us in his preschool English that he wasn't ready.
He resisted for several months. Then, one morning as we sat around the kitchen table eating our Cheerios, little Ben announced that he was ready to give his life to Christ. He then got up from the table and went upstairs. My husband and I looked at each other and followed him. I guess we expected to find Ben on his knees in prayer. We didn't. Instead, we found him folding his Star Wars pajamas into his Sesame Street suitcase.
We said, "Ben, what are you doing?"
He answered, "Packing."
"Why?" we asked.
"To go to heaven," he said.
We then understood why our child hesitated to give his life to Christ. He thought that in so doing, he would have to leave us and take up residence, literally, with Christ in heaven.
We should all possess the faith of little Benjamin: we should have our hearts so fixed on Christ's appearance that the attachments of our earthly life pale in comparison. For we are "aliens and strangers on earth … longing for a better country—a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:13).
Wendy Murray Zoba, "Future Tense," Christianity Today magazine (October 2, 1995)

Friday, April 27, 2012

More than One

There is a wonderful little story from Africa. The villagers in a poor area decided to build a hospital but really had no money so a small boy decided he would do something. The only things he had were some pens. So he started to knock on doors asking people to buy a pen to support the building project. A lady said to him, "But that's too big a challenge for you!" Then the boy smiled and said, "Oh, but I am not alone! My smaller brother is selling pens on the other side of the street."
source unknown

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Being Thankful

I am thankful:
For the wife who says it's hot dogs tonight, because she is home with me, and not out with someone else.
For the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato, because he is home with me and not out at the bars.
For the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes because it means she is at home, not on the streets.
For the taxes I pay because it means I am employed .
For the mess to clean after a party because it means i have been surrounded by friends.
For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.
For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and I have been blessed with transportation.
For my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
For the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear.
For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.
For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means I am alive.
And I am thankful: for the crazy people I work with because they make work interesting and fun!
source unknown

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Human Capacity for Evil

The first time I visited Rwanda, I went looking for monsters, albeit a different category of monster - the kind that isn't relegated to B movies. I had heard about the 1994 genocide that had left one million people dead - tortured, raped, viciously murdered - and somehow I thought it would be easy to spot the perpetrators. I naïvely assumed I would be able to look men and women in the eyes and tell if they had ben involved. I was full of self-righteous judgment.
What I found left me puzzled, confused, and ultimately frightened. Instead of finding leering, menacing creatures, I met men and women who looked and behaved a lot like me. They took care of their families, went to work, chatted with their neighbours, laughed, cried, prayed, and worshiped. Where were the monsters? Where were the evildoers capable of heinous acts? Slowly, with a deepening sense of dread, I understood the truth: There were no monsters in Rwanda, just people like you and me...
Before that trip, I can't tell you the number of times I reacted to evil I read about or witnessed by saying, "I would never do that!" But thousands of years of bloody human history prove differently. Fifty-four years of my own history prove differently. We are all proficient in our ability to conceive, plan, and execute evil. Of course, we don't call it evil when we're the ones involved. But it is. As French writer La Rochefoucauld observed, "There is hardly a man clever enough to recognise the full extent of the evil he does." You might as well face the shameful truth: You and I, put in the right situation, will do absolutely anything. Given the right circumstances, I am capable of any sin. I've grown more afraid of the monster lurking in the dark corners of my soul than of any monster lurking in the dark corners of my house.
- Kay Warren, "The Only Hope for Monsters," Christianity Today magazine (October 2008), p. 98

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Mandela's Eight Lessons of Leadership

In honour of Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, put together Mandela's eight lessons of leadership. Stengel writes: "[The lessons] are cobbled together from…conversations old and new and from observing [Mandela] up close and from afar. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place."
Here are Mandela's eight lessons of leadership:
1. Courage is not the absence of fear—it's inspiring others to move beyond it.
2. Lead from the front—but don't leave your base behind.
3. Lead from the back—and let others believe they are in front.
4. Know your enemy—and learn about his favourite sport. [In order to work more effectively with Afrikaaners, Mandela learned their language and all about their most cherished sport: rugby.
5. Keep your friends close—and your rivals even closer.
6. Appearances matter—and remember to smile.
7. Nothing is black or white.
8. Quitting is leading too.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Importance of Church in Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation is so often couched in more individualistic terms, that it's easy to forget the important role the church community plays in our growth as individuals. In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott shares a story she once heard from her minister that illustrates well the necessary presence of others in our journey of faith:
When [my minister] was about seven, her best friend got lost one day. The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn't find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, "You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here."
Lamott further writes:
And that is why I have stayed so close to [my church] - because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home.
source unknown

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Quickly Versus Deeply

Larry McMurtry, known for his [book] Lonesome Dove, wrote another book about roads - the many roads he had driven on and the hundreds of miles he had explored across America. At last, returning in memory to the place where he grew up in east Texas, he recalls that his father had seldom gone much farther than the dusty roads near his dirt farm. Comparing his own travels to his father's localised life, McMurtry admits, "I have looked at many places quickly. My father looked at one place deeply."
source unknown

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Value

To realise the value of a sister/brother ask someone who doesn't have one.
To realise the value of ten years: ask a newly divorced couple.
To realise the value of four years: ask a graduate.
To realise the value of one year: ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To realise the value of nine months: ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realise the value of one month: ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of one week: ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of one minute: ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realise the value of one-second: ask a person who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.
To realise the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE.
source unknown

Friday, April 20, 2012

Death

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'
source unknown

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Thoughts for a Better Life

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it..
5. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realise you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
21. Spend some time alone.
source unknown

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Why Can't I Shake My Sins?

A surprising answer to a stubborn problem
A man came to see me. It was the beginning of Lent, the original "40 Days of Purposeful Repentance."
"Pastor," he said, "I want to confess my sins." And in tears, he spoke honestly and openly about the sin in his life—nothing illegal, most known only to him, yet serious, and he wanted to turn away from it. We talked and prayed together, and he left.
Forty days later, he came back.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
"I haven't made much progress," he admitted, his eyes unable to meet mine.
In his agony was a question I've often asked: "Why does sin so stubbornly remain in our lives?" He and I both want to change more than we have and more than we do.
I've heard many answers, ranging from "You just haven't gotten serious enough about turning away from your sin" to "You need an experience of greater or entire sanctification" to "You need an accountability partner" to "You need to let go and let God." All helpful, to a point, but they didn't seem to fit this man hunched over in front of me.
So I read several classic books of spiritual devotion. Their answer was not what I expected; in fact, it was the opposite.
In the first book, Francois Fenelon, a Christian spiritual adviser in the 1600s, wrote a letter that included a phrase that stopped me: "Sometimes [God] leaves people with certain unconquerable imperfections …" Really? God does this? What good end could God possibly have in mind for leaving unconquered areas in our lives? Fenelon continued, "… in order to deprive them of all inward self-satisfaction … Self-reliance, even in the matter of curing one's faults, fosters a hidden conceit."
In other words, we are most concerned about our "unconquerable imperfections." God is more concerned about our pride. And in order to stab our pride, he may leave those imperfections in our life, for a time, to make us humble, to cause us to throw ourselves, in frustration with ourselves, upon God.
Even faults that stubbornly remain can be used by God for our good, says Fenelon: "Let us profit by the faults we have committed, through the humble consciousness of our weakness, without discouragement."
I swelled with hope. Could it be that our frustratingly persistent sins, which abound, lead us to a greater awareness of God's grace, which so much more abounds?
In a second spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales concurs: "For the furtherance of humility, it is needful that we sometimes find ourselves worsted in this spiritual battle." Needful. Necessary for us. But "we shall never be conquered until we lose either life or courage. … we are certain to vanquish so long as we are willing to fight."
Our persistent failings bring us "abjection" (humility), and that's spiritually beneficial as long as we persevere.
While striving for holiness, we must not underestimate the value of humility. As Peter of Damaskos wrote in the Philokalia: If "you sin out of habit even when you do not want to, show humility like the Publican (Lk. 18:13); this is enough to ensure your salvation."
So when struggling with persistent sin, take heart. God is at work, and even your persistent failings may work to your good and his glory. Let yourself be humbled by your falls.
Fenelon concludes: "Bear with yourself in your involuntary frailties as God bears, wait patiently for His appointed time of complete deliverance, and meanwhile go on quietly and according to your strength in the path before you, without losing time in looking back; sorrowing over [your sins] with humility, but putting them aside to press onwards; not looking upon God as a spy watching to surprise you, or an enemy laying snares for you, but as a Father who loves you. … Such you will find to be the path toward true liberty."
© 2008 by Kevin A. Miller

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hung By The Tongue

Some people just have a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. They are being, "Hung By the Tongue!"
A state trooper pulled a man over for speeding on a deserted road. Since the road was clear and the weather fine, the trooper had indicated that he may not give the man a ticket, and let them off with a warning. He even complimented both the man and his wife for wearing their seat belts. At that point the woman leaned over and said, "Well, officer, when you drive the speeds we do, you have to wear them." That's when the trooper wrote the ticket. Hung By the Tongue!
Gene and Carolyn were entertaining for the first time since the birth of their baby. Everything ran smoothly until one of Gene's buddies arrived with his new girlfriend - a woman whom Carolyn did not particularly care for. She beckoned her husband upstairs with the excuse that they had to check on the baby. In the privacy of the nursery, she spoke freely of her disdain for the new guest. When they went downstairs to rejoin the party, they were greeted with an awkward silence-except for the occasional murmuring of the sleeping baby that came from the infant monitor sitting on the table. Hung By the Tongue!
There is an ancient Japanese proverb that says... "A tongue three inches long can kill a man six feet tall."
If you are continually being "hung by your tongue", you can be "loosed from the noose" if you would just learn to engage your mind a little bit before you speak! Here's the process... think... then speak! I believe that we need to make our words sweet... just in case we have to eat them!
The words of your mouth are a creative force. They play a big part in predestining your future. Your words are the architects of your life. The tongue is like a tool. We need to use our tools of the present to build our future we desire.
You see, your future will someday be your present. Your present will someday be your past. You can chart the course of your future by your compass... your tongue. It will guide you like a rudder... into either troubled waters or a calm sea. But, don't be misled... it WILL guide you.
If you can change what you think about, you can change what comes out of your mouth. What comes out of your mouth will someday be in your future.
The words you speak create an atmosphere. If you are going to have a meeting and you really pump it up and build it, what happens? People come with expectancy! They come excited. Your words have set the stage for success! One of the foundational revelations of a wise leader is to learn to control his or her words!
Remember, Samson slew 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Way too many businesses, lives, and relationships are destroyed with the same weapon...
Be loosed from the Noose! Refuse to be... Hung By the Tongue!
- Gary Eby

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Beautiful Mystery of the Trinity

Here's the beautiful thing: you don't need to fully understand the Trinity to worship the Trinity, pray to the Trinity, and enter into the life of the Trinity.
They tell me that deep within the core of the sun, the temperature is 27 million degrees. The pressure is 340 billion times what it is here on Earth. And in the sun's core, that insanely hot temperature and unthinkable pressure combine to create nuclear reactions. In each reaction, 4 protons fuse together to create 1 alpha particle, which is .7 percent less massive than the 4 protons. The difference in mass is expelled as energy, and after one million years, through a process called convection, this energy from the core of the sun finally reaches the surface, where it's expelled as heat and light.
Now that was all kind of interesting, but you know what? I didn't need to know all that in order to get a tan.
source unknown

Sunday, April 15, 2012

When Two People Are One

When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze; and when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts, their words are sweet and strong like the fragrance of orchids.
Confucian and Taoist

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Brick

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighbourhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared . Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?' The young boy was apologetic. 'Please, mister... please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the brick because no one else would stop...' With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. 'It's my brother, 'he said. 'He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up.'
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me.'
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. 'Thank you and may God bless you,' the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home..
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: 'Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!' God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's our choice to listen or not.
source unknown

Friday, April 13, 2012

Dancing in the Rain

It was a busy morning in the ER, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.
On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.
I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognised him in five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.."
I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life ."
True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.
The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.
"Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain."
source unknown

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Psalm 23, Antithesis

The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest.
It makes me lie down only when exhausted.
It leads me into deep depression, it hounds my soul.
It leads me in circles of frenzy for activity's sake.
Even though I run frantically from task to task,
I will never get it all done, for my "ideal" is with me.
Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me.
They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule.
They anoint my head with migraines, my in-basket overflows.
Surely fatigue and time pressure shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever.
- Marcia K. Hornok

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Spiritual Friends

Here's the gift you should really be seeking
There is an old Celtic saying: "Anyone without a soul friend is a body without a head." There are not many Celtic sayings about what people without success are; the Celts didn't seem to be terribly interested in success. But they were pretty big on friendship.
I've been thinking about this because I just got back from a once-a-year weekend with four of my oldest friends. We've been friends for over thirty years.
Mark is the smartest of us. He does philosophy professionally. None of us argue with him, because we're afraid that if we did, he might prove we don't exist.
Tommy is the WD-40 of human relationships. He makes any group he's a part of better, more human, and deeper, because of his ability to draw out whatever is inside of you.
Kevin is a charmer. Girls were drawn to him enough in college that we used to hang around just hoping for a chance with some of his discards.
And Chuck is my oldest friend, whose sense of humour can be described only as demented (and I mean that in the most complimentary way); a doctor who drove an ancient car he named Waldo and begins each day in prayer at his practice and makes us laugh till we cry with the same stupid material he's been using for 30 years.
We meet each year at a cabin up in the hills. We have developed certain rituals: we walk certain paths; we grill a huge salmon dinner on Saturday night; we talk and pray for hours before a fire Sunday morning; we smoke cigars and watch the sun go down behind the Pacific; we laugh until we cry at things an eighth grader would find sophomoric and unsophisticated. We mark our lives by this annual meeting. We speak of our marriages, our families, our dreams, our scars, our depression, our therapy, our victories, our brokenness, our knowing God. We are a circle in which everyone matters, and we never know what will be said next.
I do not understand very much about friendship. I think one reason I value it so much is that I went a long time without it. I did not have a real friend my own age (outside my sister and my cousin Danny, and they were both more or less obligated by genetics) until my sophomore year in high school. I was lonely without even knowing it. It would have been beyond my self-awareness, or maybe pride, to name it.
And then one fall, I was in two classes with this kid named Chuck. One month I did not have a friend, and then I did. I don't know how it happened. I just know it changed my life and gave me a deep hunger for this thing called friendship that has never gone away. Then I went to college and again spent a lonely freshman year, and then a guy named Kevin opened a friendship gate and I was inside another circle.
Years ago I was wandering through a bookstore in Pasadena and picked up a book on spiritual friendship by a monk named Aelred who lived centuries ago. And I loved it, because here was someone who was enchanted by friendship and never got over it - who loved it so much that he said, "God is Friendship."
A friend, Aelred said, is someone to whom you can entrust the secrets of the heart. He said that sometimes you may think of someone as a friend but they are really only useful to you (like people in your pyramid sales group). I sometimes think that relationships between pastors and folks in their churches are like this. It's not that friendships cannot develop between pastors and attendees; they do, and I've enjoyed a few myself. But there are dynamics of role and confidentiality and the desire for success that often complicate them.
A friendship, like falling asleep, is something you cannot enter into by sheer willpower. I can open myself up to it. I can pray for it. I can look for people (Aelred actually recommends putting potential friends through a probationary period) and invite them out for coffee. Then maybe we find common ground. Maybe we make each other laugh, or find the same books interesting. Then we find that we are somehow loyal to each other, want good things for each other, are willing to speak difficult truth to each other.
But I cannot make this occur. Friendship happens, when it happens, as a gift. It comes like rain or sunshine or Cinnabons; a delight and joy and bonus that makes the world a better place. I think, maybe, that when you come right down to it, friendship is pretty much what the Church is about. And the human race, for that matter. And - this is beyond my theological competence - maybe the Trinity, too.
I need to work and grow and hone my abilities and add value to the world. But mostly, I think, I need friends. My friends are those people, those few and mysterious people, who love me for no reason at all. Which is the only really good reason to love.
© 2008 by John Ortberg

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

This Explains Why I Share Jokes

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.
'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.
'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.'
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.
'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'
'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'
'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog.
'There should be a bowl by the pump.'
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.
'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.
'This is Heaven,' he answered.
'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'
'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'
'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'
'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'
Soooo.
Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word.
Maybe this will explain.
When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? You forward jokes.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, you forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how, you forward jokes.
Also to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get?
A forwarded joke.
So, next time if you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile.
You are all welcome @ my water bowl anytime
source unknown

Monday, April 09, 2012

Easter as the New Creation

John doesn't waste words. When he tells us something like this twice, he knows what he's doing. It isn't just that Easter day happened to be a Sunday. John wants his readers to figure out that Easter day is the first day of God's new creation. Easter morning was the birthday of God's new world. On the sixth day of the week, the Friday, God finished all his work; the great shout of /tetelestai/, "It is finished!" in John 19:30 looks all that way back to the sixth day in Genesis 1 when, with the creation of the human beings in his own image, God finished the initial work of creation. Now, says John (19:5), "Behold the Man!" here on Good Friday as the truly human being. John invites us to see the Saturday, the sabbath between Good Friday and Easter day in terms of the sabbath rest of God after creation was done:
On the seventh day God rested
in the darkness of the tomb;
Having finished on the sixth day
all his work of joy and doom.
Now the word had fallen silent,
and the water had run dry,
The bread had all been scattered,
and the light had left the sky.
The flock had lost its shepherd,
and the seed was sadly sown,
The courtiers had betrayed their king,
and nailed him to his throne.
O Sabbath rest by Calvary,
O calm of tomb below,
Where the grave-clothes and the spices
cradle him we did not know!
Rest you well, beloved Jesus,
Caesar's Lord and Israel's King,
In the brooding of the Spirit,
in the darkness of the Spring.
Then on Easter morning it is the first day of the week. Creation is complete; new creation can now begin. The Spirit who brooded over the waters of creation at the beginning broods now over God's world, ready to bring it bursting to springtime life. Mary goes to the tomb while it's still dark and in the morning light meets Jesus in the garden. She thinks he is the gardener, as in one important sense, indeed he is. This is the new creation. This is the new Genesis.
... with the new creation a new order of being has burst upon the startled old world, opening up new possibilities...
(The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering who Jesus was and is, p 175ff)

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Easter's Sweet Surprise

"Mary Magdalene went out and said to the followers, 'I saw the Lord!'" (John 20:18)
If you like surprises, you should like the Bible, because God is the God of surprises. If you like parties, you should like the Bible because God is the God of parties. If you like them both, you should like the story of the surprise party that God gives Mary when she approaches the tomb.
Jesus, thank You for the sweet surprise of Easter morning. We are thankful that when You arose from Your sleep of death, You didn't go immediately to heaven, but instead You went and visited people. This visit of love reminds us that it was for people that you died. We praise Your name for that sweet surprise.
- Max Lucado

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Between Failure and Fraud

In a very difficult season when finances were tight, I was driving a dilapidated car that had been donated to the church. It had lots of problems, including a ceiling lining that drooped down and grazed my head every time the broken shock absorbers launched me from the seat toward the roof. The car began to speak to me. It said, "Failure." Why couldn't I get my life together? I was getting older every year, I had a family, this car was humiliating, and I felt like a failure.
This continued for months until the day I took the car to the airport to pick up my nieces. It was a very hot day, the air-conditioning in the car didn't work (surprise), so all four windows were down. Only later did I realize vinyl flakes from the sun-scorched dashboard were being blown into the backseat and covering my sweet nieces.
That day, still without the funds to buy a second car, we leased a new car. It was wonderful! No flakes, no droopy ceiling lining, no broken shocks. I was thrilled until the day this car also began to talk. Its message was also just one word: "Fraud." I was no more put together, no more successful with this new car than with the scuzzy borrowed one. It just looked better. I was a fake.
My life swings between voices calling "failure" and "fraud." The key is not listening to either. I'm not as bad as my critics accuse me of being, but I'm not as good as I've led some to believe. And right there, in the truth somewhere in between, is where we hear the voice of God. He still says to me, and to everyone called to follow Jesus, "I want you and I will use you."
source unknown

Friday, April 06, 2012

Finding Joy

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.
How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?
How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?
I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favourite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.
Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!
We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'
When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.
My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day , I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.
Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to.......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?
Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.
Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?
When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away. ... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.
'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!'
source unknown

Thursday, April 05, 2012

The Certainty of Death

Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!
It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'
Here are some men and women who mocked God :
John Lennon (Singer): Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said: 'Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was OK, but his subjects were too simple, Today we are more famous than Him' (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.
Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil ): During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died
Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro ), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: 'God, that's for you.' He died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a horrible manner.
The man who built the Titanic: After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: 'Not even God can sink it' The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic .
Marilyn Monroe (Actress): She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: 'I don't need your Jesus'. A week later, she was found dead in her apartment .
Bon Scott (Singer): The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: 'Don't stop me, I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell'. On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.
Campinas (IN 2005): In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend..... The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: 'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You..' She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here.....It's Already Full '
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken .
Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer): said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus.
Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.
source unknown

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

My Greatest Struggle

I confess: I am ambitious. I am ambitious in every area of my life. I am ambitious physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually, and financially. I am ambitious in my career. I am ambitious with both the for-profit and not-for-profit organizations I run.
But ambition isn't the problem. Something else is. It is something that runs counter to ambition. It is something I need more of in my life, which is strange, because, while ambition is good, this is good too - and they are seemingly opposites.
I need them both, yet I have huge doses of ambition and I am lacking in this other trait. It is something I want more of in my life because I believe my life will be richer for it. It will fill my life with more joy and happiness. It will make my life more full.
What is it? I'm not telling! Just joking. With a lead in like that, I couldn't resist!
It is contentment.
As I get older, I realize that most of what I pursue with such tenacity is good, but it usually comes much slower than I want it to.
This leaves me with two options:
Be disappointed or.
Be content. Enjoy where I am for all it has to offer, even while I work to be somewhere else.
You see, my life is pretty good. No, it is great. I make a lot of money. I have a beautiful and supportive wife. I have four astoundingly incredible kids. I live in a beautiful town. I run my own schedule. I travel to wonderful places. I run in circles I never thought I would. My friends are loyal. I have terrific business partners and lots of people who believe in me. I contribute a lot to society in many ways. My family and I are all healthy. Who could ask for anything more? Well, me. And I do.
That is a lot to ask for, isn't it? But I am ambitious, right?
Now I am learning contentment. And I imagine that it would do you some good to learn a little contentment too, wouldn't it?
So here are some thought on how to live with a little more contentment:
Take time.
Simply take time off from your ambitions. Take time to spend in leisurely pursuits. Take time to just enjoy your family and friends. In other words, stop working long enough to enjoy your life.
Appreciate.
Appreciate what you have, even if it isn't all that you want. I frequently remind myself that there are children who will wake up today, by no fault of their own, in a country with no hope of ever going anywhere. Their hope is to live through the day, and perhaps get two bowls of rice. This reminds me that I have A LOT to be appreciative of even if I never take a step further in life.
Give money, things, and time away.
Give to the less fortunate. The happiness on their faces and the warmth of their hearts will bring you a great deal of satisfaction and contentment.
Remind yourself of the treadmill trap.
John D. Rockefeller was once asked how much was enough. His answer? "Just a little bit more." Ambition can be a trap if not carefully guarded against the extremes.
Don't take yourself so seriously.
I hate to tell you this but if you died... shhh... the world would keep right on spinning. Tony Campolo says the futility of life is that when you die, your friends get together, say a prayer, throw dirt in your face and then go back to the church to eat macaroni salad and talk about sports. So, unless you are the President of a major super power, with your finger on the button, remember, your life isn't so serious that you can't take it easy and enjoy it a little bit more.
Do I have contentment down? Nope. But I am working on it. I am striving to be all that I can be and make as big of a difference in this world as long as I am here.
But I am working on enjoying the ride a bit more. I hope you will too.
- Chris Widener

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Zen Judaism

Let go of pride, ego, and opinions. Admit your errors and forgive those of others. Relinquishment will lead to calm and healing in your relationships. If that doesn't work, try small claims court.
Though only your skin, sinews, and bones remain, though your blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet shall you meditate and not stir until you have attained full Enlightenment. But, first, a little nosh.
Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health or a life without problems. What would you talk about?
Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?
The Torah says, "Love thy neighbour as thyself." The Buddha says there is no "self." So, maybe you are off the hook. If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?
Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.
Do not let children play contact sports like football. These only lead to injuries and instill a violent, warlike nature. Encourage your child to play peaceful games, like "sports doctor."
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single "oy."

Monday, April 02, 2012

Stay Humble/Give Respect

Respect your opponent.
Never get full of yourself, or you may get ambushed.
Don't ever think you have arrived. Don't be intimidated, but do give respect to your opponent.
You have to pay your dues and prove yourself before being promoted.
Be the perfect gentleman off the field and the ultimate competitor on the field.
Be grateful for what you have and for the support of those around you.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

The Un-Triumphal Entry

Things are not always what they seem! Such is certainly the case in [Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem]. The so-called "triumphal entry" of our Lord into Jerusalem is anything but a triumph, as we can see from the tears shed by our Lord in Luke's account (Luke 19:41-44). Those who enthusiastically welcome Jesus to Jerusalem as the "King of Israel" are some of the same people who, in a week's time, will be crying out, "We have no king, but Caesar!" (John 19:15). Those who cry out, "Hosanna!" (Save now!), will be shouting, "He saved others. Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, His chosen one!" (Luke 23:35). It is not a triumphal entry at all, but nonetheless it is a very significant event in the life of our Lord and in the history of the nation Israel. This is one of the very few events which is recorded by all four Gospels in the New Testament. Let us seek to learn what is so important about this "un-triumphal entry," and endeavor to understand and apply what God intends for us to learn from it.
The fact that every Gospel has an account of the "triumphal entry" of our Lord into Jerusalem indicates to us that it is indeed a most significant event. On our Lord's part, it is a most dramatic and emphatic claim to be the Messiah, the "King of Israel." At the same time, it is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. Jesus does not come as a conquering king, ready to lead Israel against the Romans, overthrowing their rule. He has come as the "Prince of Peace" and as the "Lamb of God," whose death will provide the cure for sin. I am reminded of the spiritual that goes something like this, "Poor little Jesus boy, they didn't know who You was ." This song refers to the birth of our Lord, but it applies equally well to His "triumphal entry." They still don't know who He is.
- Robert L. Deffinbaugh