On Fire For Jesus

A church member complained to a church secretary about being burned out on church work. She replied, “Honey you can't be burned out - You’ve never been on fire.”

There is a difference between doing church work and being involved in a ministry for Jesus. That difference is the passion one has or doesn’t have for Jesus. It is a spiritual, emotional and committed passion that takes the first place in your life.

I believe that to be a Disciple of Jesus means I have a passion to love and serve God. That means my number one priority is a burning desire to please God in everything I do.

New Life With A Change

Sadly my lovely yellow rose bush planted in 2006 died in 2009 after producing these lovely yellow flowers for three years. So I cut the bush back to the ground with plans to purchase a new rose bush to replace it.

Last year to my delight the bush grew back but did not bloom. This year rose buds appeared and when they began to open I did a double take - the flowers are RED.

I am amused with this change. The company that produced the yellow rose must have grafted yellow plants on red roots. Cutting the bush back to the roots when the bush died gave the original plant a chance to be reborn in its natural color.

When a child is conceived a physical body is grafted to a spiritual soul and blooms in this world with what ever color and shape is provided by the two parents. For all the years of physical life what is perceived is one thing to the world and and another to God. When the physical dies the immortal soul returns to God in its original form.

Historia means Inquiry

I love History and the lessons we can learn from the past events and people in human history. The Greek word ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry,” or knowledge acquired by investigation. The fifth century Greek writer Herodotus is considered to be the father of history because his book on the Greek wars with Persia was called “Historia.”  It was an inquiry into the reasons for the war and its execution.

Inquiry is exactly what I love to do. Ask questions of why, how, when, what, and results. For too many people history is a class they had to endure in High School and memorizing names and dates long enough to pass the test. For me it was exciting to not only read the text book but to research in the library for more information. Those people had a story to tell and I loved the stories. I still do!

One of my favorite quotes is, “If you don’t learn from history you are domed to repeat it.”

Those Little Graces

We live in a fast paced world and sometimes we have our cellphones glued to our ears while watching TV or even [groan] while driving. Every day we are bombarded with many facts, questions and appeals that force us to make quick decisions we later wish we had not made.

Our time is the cash of our life and we need to be aware of how we spend it. How much of our time is spent focused on things that sap our energy and crush our spirit? Is it any wonder then that we miss the many little graces that come our way every day?

What little graces go unnoticed? The laughter of a child is a little grace. The awesome vivid color of a rose in the garden is a little grace. The cool breeze of the evening after a hot day is a little grace. The sound of a babbling brook and the song of a robin are little graces. Silence is a little grace.

Little Graces can escape us when we are too busy to stop and take a second look. Today and every day take the time to enjoy your Little Graces as gifts from God.

The High Price of Gas???

You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive?
This gives one pause, and puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 …………….. $10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 …………… $ 9.52 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 …………………. $10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray Juice 16 oz $1.25 ………  $10 .00 per gallon

Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ………………. $33.60 per gallon

Vick’s Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 ………………. $178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 ………………. $123.20 per gallon

Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 …………………… $25.42 per gallon

Scope Mouthwash 1.5 oz $0.99 ………. $84.48 per gallon

and the REAL KICKER?

Evian Water 9 oz $1.49 ………………… $21.19 per gallon.

$21.19 FOR WATER!
….and the buyers don’t even know the source.

So, whenever you’re at the gas station, be glad your
car doesn’t run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, or
worse yet, PEPTO BISMOL or NYQUIL!!!!

Just a little humor to help ease the pain
of your next trip to the pump………..!

Two Paths into Heaven

There are two different ways to get into heaven according to St. Paul,  Salvation and Judgment.

First we must understand the difference between judgment and salvation.

SALVATION:

Those who accept Jesus as the Messiah [Christ] and have lived accordingly will bypass the judgment and thus are saved from judgment. Saved by Grace not judgment.

JUDGMENT:

All other people are judged by GOD according to how they lived in relation to the Ten Commandments even if they did not know them. I believe that God judges in a state of mercy and that a really good person might be judged as acceptable. 

I am thankful that it is up to God not us as to who enters heaven. Judgment is of course the most difficult way to get in but it is possible.

Moment of catharsis and death

I was listening President Baraka Obama telling us about the death of Osama Bin Laden. Soon I to different voices on my television - whooping, cheering, bellowing voices from the streets outside the White House, from Ground Zero and from a baseball game in Philadelphia. All across the country and indeed around the world people danced in the streets and cheered the news.

Many of my fellow clergy denounced the celebrations of a man’s death just as we all denounced the death of over three thousand people ten years ago. I would agree that it is wrong to celebrate anyone’s death. But I think that these celebrations are different than celebrating a death.

These celebrations are much more than that it is a moment of catharsis and a release of a decade of pent up anger and frustrations that the one who led the attacks on 9/11 had eluded capture and still planed new attacks. Osama Bin Laden was a continuing menace to the world and America in particular. He was the driving force behind the terror and we have had him on the top of the ten most wanted list for almost ten years.

The jubilant celebrations were a spontaneous release of joy that the hunt for this killer was over. It is the same kind of catharsis that greeted the end of World War Two.  This catharsis is something we all needed.