Thursday, September 5, 2013

Religious Diversity in Louisville


Louisville Kentucky like most of America has a great diversity of religions. This was evident when recently a major Hindu temple was dedicated in Louisville and over four hundred people attended. This will now be a focal point for Hindu’s from Kentucky, southern Indiana and Tennessee to come and worship. In a nod to American culture they hold their worship services on Sunday.

An interesting note to his event is that they purchased a former Presbyterian church building and converted it into a Hindu Temple. They were happy with the fact that the building had been built for religious uses and consider holy ground. Some years ago two small Presbyterian congregations merged and sold one building to a developer who in turn sold it to the Hindu sect.


Louisville has almost all the world’s religions represented here. 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Past Present Future


Past, present and future: this is not about grammar but more about where we are. We always live in this state of being and how we view it is important to our success in life.

PAST: The past is history and we can not change it but how we view the past can change us. Many of us ignore the past and are doomed to repeat the mistakes made there. Some of us are stymied by our remembrances’ of the “Good Old Days”  and live there rather than the present. The successful person will learn from both the mistakes and successes of the past and use that knowledge to press on to greater success in our present.

PRESENT:  Here we are in the present. This is where we live all the time so what are we going to do with it? Is our present filled with thoughts of what could have been or day dreams about what might be if only?  Living in the reality of the moment can be a key stone for living successfully. What you do with your now determines everything else, make it count.

FUTURE: One way or another, this is where we are all going. Each one of us has a place in the future and the possibilities are wide open. What goals do we set for ourselves and what is our step by step plan for reaching our goals? Our day dreams can be important for success if the dream becomes a goal and a path is laid out for reaching it. Planning early and taking action is the key to success.


Remember your past, live in your present and plan for your future. Success is all up to you. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Hobson’s Choice


We often believe that we Americans have a great freedom of choice but truth be told we are not always free to make the choices we might like, because there are often restrictions that are out of our control. Success is usually a case of knowing when you can make a choice and when you can not.

I am reminded of a figure of speech that is called “Hobson’s Choice” that describes any situation for which there are no alternatives. T his comes from an eccentric livery stable owner named Hobson who lived in seventeenth-century England. Hobson insisted, as and unbreakable rule, that his customers seeking to rent a saddle horse from him must either take the animal who happened to be tethered nearest the door or take none at all. There is your choice take what is offered or walk. Sometimes it is better to walk than to take a runaway horse.


As Christians we will face many choices. Some of them will be wonderful and some will be difficult but the virtue of the Christian life is to find the goodness of God in whatever choice we are called on to make. What do we choose to let dominate our lives? We are ready to face our choices only when we are ready to look for the will of God in each decision. To pray over each choice to discover the goodness of God in all we do in His name. 

Monday, September 2, 2013

The WWW Questions


When I traveled to Jordan I was stopped by customs agents coming and going. Both the Jordanian and American customs agents asked me three questions before letting me pass. 
Who are you?
Where are you going?
What do you have to declare?

These are good questions for Christians to ask of ourselves as we look to the future. These are good focus questions to help us with the challenge of being Christians in our fast changing world. We can restate them as:
Who are we?,
Where are we going?,
What do we have to declare?

Who are we? As Christians, what is our role in our community and the world? How do we define our relationships with God, the Christian Church, other Christians and most importantly non-Christians?

Where are we going? More to the point what is God calling us to do and be as a part of God’s mission? Are we just sitting here doing nothing? Are we going in the right direction? Are we going fast enough?

What do we have to declare? What is our witness to a world in need of God’s love about the Gospel of Jesus the Christ? In deed do we bother to declare the Gospel to non-Christians? 


The answers to these questions are significant for marking the difference between a healthy growing church and a social club that has religious overtones. My goal is that my answers will reflect a life dedicated and faithful to Jesus Christ and his mission.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Who were the other people?

 A girl asked her mother, “Mommy, who were the other people?” "What other people?" "You know Adam and Eve were the first people, so who did their children marry?"
Now here is a great question. First the Bible does not tell us who they were or where they came from only that they were there. This is one of those many missing details the bible does not tell us about. There are a lot of theories but no proofs.
A Few Theories:
1.     On the eighth day after creation – remember God rested on the seventh day – God got back to work creating and made more people in various parts of the earth.
2.     Adam and Eve had more children than we are told and there was necessary incest going on.
3.     They just showed up and no one knows from where.

I like number one best ---- Remember how many thousands of years that story was passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next so some confusion is bound to slip in.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Ancient Witness


The forty-plus writers of the Bible give us their witness of their growing relationship with God. Their life stories were a lot like ours. Life was a hard struggle then as it is now. Even with advanced technology, our basic struggles are the same. We face the same temptations to sin against God and against other people, just as they did. Some of them obeyed God and were blessed, and some of them turned away from God and paid the price of their folly. We can learn from their successes and mistakes that God is quick to forgive those who repent and love. If you find that life is just too much, turn to your Bible, and you will find that someone before you has faced the same problem and has given you a witness for overcoming that problem with power and faith.

It is ironic that in the age of super fast computers, when our access to knowledge and information exceeds any previous age, that confusion is rampant. It is not the new and improved that we need to seek but the oldest source of wisdom and strength, God’s Word. The words and witness of the prophets of the Old Testament and the saints of the New Testament tell us that faith is more powerful than doubt, that hope is more potent than despair, and that only God’s love can conquer those forces within us.


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The ways we spend money


Milton Friedman describes four ways we spend money.

1.     Spend your own money on yourself.
2.     Spend your own money on someone else.
3.     Spend somebody else’s money on yourself.
4.     Spend somebody else’s money on someone else.

One way or another, this is the way money gets spent. When you are in control of your own money you have a high incentive to pay attention to price and value. When you spend somebody else’s money you have less incentive to pay attention to price and value.

We often see government money as someone else’s money but that is an illusion. Government money is our money and we best start paying attention to price and value.