For the Love Of

I heard it once again when a man in a group of people I was standing near said: “The bible say that money is the root of all evil.”

How often do people mis-quote the bible with great self assurance. He likely had heard one of his parent say the same thing and never bothered to look it up. I told him and the group, “That is not exactly how the bible states it.” I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”

Paul never condemned money itself rather the love of money or greed for riches leads people down the path of evil. Some people will do anything for money. The other side of that coin is that the proper use of money can provide all kinds of blessings. Paul goes on to tell Timothy to be rich in good works and to be generous with God's gifts. It is really the focus of our lives that matters most and it is always a choice between doing good and doing evil. One can make a good deal of money and be OK if there is a love of God as the life focus and then the money is a blessing used for blessing others.

If your life focus is on acquiring money for the sake of having lots of money then you are tempted to do anything necessary to build up your supply of wealth. At that point you are driven to destruction of your soul. Meditated on the sixth chapter of first Timothy and seek the things that are good and pure.

Deep Roots

There is a tree that grows well in the arid lad of west Texas where I grew up called the Mesquite tree. It is a very hardy tree that can live a long time with out rain because of its interesting root system. The tree has two sets of roots that provides it with water. There is a shallow set of roots that spread out around the tree and soaks up any recent rain fall. Other plants around the tree have little chance of using rain water because the tree is so good at soaking up the water. The Mesquite has a back up root system for times of no rain and that is a tap root that can grow up to almost two hundred feet deep. This tap root reaches down into the water table and can sustain the tree through the worst drought.

We need a Mesquite like faith with roots that soak up spiritual blessings when times are good and a tap root that finds blessing when times are tough. It is easy to be a Christian when life is rolling along with no worries but it takes a deep faith to over come the trials that life can throw our way. The parable of Job reminds me that my faith in God can over come any adversity and that when trouble comes to me I need deep rooted faith.

Many of Job's so called friends encouraged him to give it up and his wife told him to just curse God and die. Many people are nominal members of the church in good times but fad away in times of adversity. Some change their religions as easily as they change their hats. Shallow roots will do in easy times but it take a deep tap root to go through the hard times. Send your faith roots both far out and way deep like the Mesquite.

Comfort Zone

Today we are faced with sever divisions in our country where people on the extremes of both political and religious arguments hate those who disagree. The idea of meet me in the middle is abhorrent and leaves no room for dialogue. Sometimes we are conflicted within ourselves. There are some areas of my thinking that are very conservative and other areas where I am very liberal. That confuses people who think I should be one way or another across the board. Some of them call me not so pleasant names.

Being hated or labeled for my beliefs is uncomfortable at best but is it not surprising in today’s world. The question to ask myself is, “What do I do with that discomfort?” I can hate them right back but that only makes me like them and I do not want that for my self. It is fortunate that my discomfort helps me examine my convictions and develop a positive response. As a Christian pastor I look to the scriptures for my guide and discover that Jesus faced the same kind of challenges both religious and political.

First I need to check my attitude. Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Good idea! Renew my mind by reviewing facts from all directions. If I watch only Fox or only MSNBC I get distorted views. By watching both and PBS Newshour I can sort out what is and is not. If I read only conservative religious commentary or only liberal commentary I am short on facts. Renewing my mind and seeking what is pleasing to God is a good starting place.

Second I need to accept the fact that what ever my beliefs are they will be ridiculed by someone somewhere. By accepting that concept and renewing my mind about my convictions I can live in peace with God and the people around me.

Third I need to check my actions by the teachings of Jesus who said to love your enemies and do good to those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. Love is the real key to both my faith and all my other relationships.

Children and Guns

It seems like every time I turn on the news there is another insident of school children shooting other children. We are also faced with siblings playing with guns in their homes and killing a brother or sister with it.

I was saddened when I read of a five year old boy who shot his two year old sister. He will carry that pain with him for the rest of his life. The real shock came when I read that he shot her with his own gun, a 22 made for a five year old and painted blue. They make a pink one for girls. What is wrong here?

Right away the pro gun people were posting that it was just a tragic accident that could happen to anyone. In a sense it was a tragic accident from the point of view of the five year old who did not mean to kill his little sister. Many times my brother and I played cowboys with our cap pistols aiming and shooting at each other. They were toys and did not damage. A five year old has no comprehension of lethal weapons; he was playing with a new toy.

The anti gun group began a rant about firearms companies that produce lethal weapons made for such young children. There is also some truth to their concerns but that is not the real problem. Children shoot other children with guns left available by parents. In this case a gun made available as a gift by a parent.

My problem is with the parents who are guilty of negligent homicide by providing a loaded weapon to a child with out supervision. If you have guns in the house with children the said children need to be trained to know that guns can kill and assume that a gun is always loaded. It is OK to train a child to shoot on a target range and respect a gun but not to be left alone with the gun. In a home with a child all weapons need to be unloaded, the trigger locked and the gun locked up.

Where was the adult supervision in that home?

Mowing in an Old Way

Mowing the lawn is one of those household chores that has always been one of “MINE” by the nature of the chore. Pointing out all the neighborhood women who mow their lawns has made no difference what so ever.

I choose to mow with an electric lawn mower because they are greener, quieter and I do not have the added danger of storing gas in the garage. Since mowing is a rote thing it often gives me time to think about things other than what to do next. You know like if I were king of the world things would be different. All was well until my electric mower developed an unexpected problem and finding some one to service it was another problem. Finding local service has never been a problem before but Louisville Kentucky is way short of people who do that. I took my mower back to the Sears store where I purchased it and they sent it off to their central service center and said it will take two weeks.

What to do for two weeks? Renting a goat is out of the question because of zoning. I did not wish to borrow mowers from neighbors and deal with gasoline and noise. A local hardware store had a sale.

A backup old fashion reel mower was an answer. I used one as a young boy so I forgot how much energy it takes to operate that thing. Lord have mercy! I guess I had a lot more energy when I was a teenager than I do at 72. Now I guess the lawn gets done in stages – read that many stages. It is a lot quieter and I am getting exercise.

Troubles in Ukraian History

Ukraine has an interesting history and it's capitol Kiev was once the capital of Russia prior to 1240 AD when the Mongols invaded and the Kevin Russ moved to the area around what is now Moscow. Then Poland rulled from the 13th century through the 16th century. In 1596 the Ukrainian Orthodox church asked the Czar of Moscovy for protection from Poland and he took over Keiv and it became part of the Russian Empire.

After the 1918 revolution Ukraine declared independence and the fight was on with the Red Army victory Ukraine became one of the founding republics of the USSR. With the break up of the USSR Ukraine again became independent but is once again in a struggle with its eastern neighbor. There is a tension between western [Polish] descendants and eastern [Russian] descendants of Ukraine.

It seems clear that the new Czar of Moscow is trying to reclaim what was once the land of the Russ.

Our Library

We have an extensive library with books all over the house. I have two books on my reading table that are giving me pleasure. As I scan our shelves I see books that are old friends from different time periods in my life. It is like they have bookmarked the pages of my life and remind me of things that have happened in the past.

Several time we have attempted to scale back on the number of books we have but both of us must agree on giving away any given book. We set up a table and put the books we are willing to give away and the other can remove the ones we want to keep. With that process in place very few books get donated to the local book sale fund raiser. We have run out of available bookshelf space so our reaction is to purchase a new book shelf. That is on my list for this week.

Rereading my old friends gives me a lot of pleasure and is one of my favorite pastimes in retirement. My darling feels the same way as I do so I can foresee a future home with built in bookshelves wall to wall and floor to ceiling all over the house. The up side of that will be no walls to paint but the down side is we have to hang our pictures somewhere. I guess we will have to figure that out.