Infamy Seventy Years Ago

December 7^th seventy years ago is a date that still lives in infamy but is fading into  history. Some young people may say, “Pearl Harbor what is that?” and only know of it from movies.

For the Japanese it was a great success while for us it was a disaster. The disaster galvanized America and became the cause for the defeat of Japan,

This is a day to pause and remember the more than three thousand that died that day and the millions who died because of it. It is also a day to reflect on the horror of war and pray that some day we will learn to make peace instead. Sadly we are still learning that lesson but some day I hope we will.    

Life Is Hard

“Life is hard, short and then you die!”

These were the words of a man who had lost all hope and I listened to his diatribe every time I went to visit him in the nursing home. He was angry for good cause. His legs had stopped working, he had to be attached to oxygen and took more pills than he thought possible. His question was, “How could God do this to me?”

One day I walked into the nursing home and he was in the lounge area. Sitting beside him in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube attached to her nose was a smiling lady about his age. She was also a member of my congregation so I greeted them both. They had known each other all their lives.

He started his familiar “Life is hard, short and then you die,” bit and she piped up and said, “That is true but God never abandons us.” He turned and looked at his long time friend. She continued, “During my darkest moments on my journey in life I felt the strength and love of God right there with me.” He said, “I never felt that.” She reached out and touched his arm and told him, “You never paid attention.”  

Life is hard, short and then you die but God is always with us.

Receiving Christmas Gifts

I want to call your attention to a part of Christmas that adults often overlook. And this aspect of Christmas is just as important and beneficial as giving. I want you to take a moment to think about…receiving gifts. That may sound strange to think about “getting” instead of giving during Christmas.



Yet during these next few weeks you’ll be receiving so much. You’ll be given gifts, well-wishes, greetings, party ivitations, hugs, smiles, cookies, decorations, etc. The list goes on and on – whether you have small children in your life or not. In fact, you’ll undoubtedly be getting these things whether you actively celebrate Christmas not!



How you receive a gift of any kind reflects how you feel about yourself and about your worth as a human being. Enjoying a gift, relishing in the thoughtfulness and love inherent in its presentation, lets you know that you find yourself deserving of such things. It also honors and exalts the giver; don’t you love it when someone truly enjoys one of your gifts?




So this Christmas don’t play “humble” when you’re given one of the multitude of gifts you’ll receive. Instead thank the abundant love and generosity of both the gift giver and the love of God in the greatest gift of all.

Questioning Faith

Why do we believe in a particular faith?

It is a question that at some point in our life we must ask of ourselves. For most of us the answer is that it is the faith of the family that raised us. There are several old quotes that remind us of this fact. “As a child is raised so shall he be,” and “Give us a child for seven years and he is ours for life.”

The last quote does not always pan out but it is often true. Young adults often reach a point where they question everything their parents said or believed. They question everything including the existence of God. I went that route myself in my early twenty’s. My path back to the faith I was raised in was one that was full of questions and searching. The circle was completed in a very personal and spiritual experience.

The circle of faith does not always return to one’s original grounding then a conversion takes place. This often happens during a life crisis such as the death of a loved one. I have known Buddhist to become Christian and Christian to become Buddhist. There have been Muslim who become Christian and Christian who become Muslim. This can be true for any two religions. One who converts to another faith is often the most zealot because the process comes out of a deep personal choice and conviction.

Either a return to faith or a change of faith produces a stronger personal faith because the person involved has had to question everything.  

Warrning A PUNishment Joke

An ancient Babylonian general was once involved in a plot to overthrow the king. His plot included a number of followers in the upper ranks of the army. However, his plot was uncovered, and the king threw him in jail. The king sentenced him to death without a trial. 

However, from the jail he was able to secretly contact his followers to arrange to escape, meet his followers, and attack the king's palace at night. So the night before his scheduled execution, the general managed to escape from prison. He fled to a ziggurat several kilometers away, where his followers would meet him. However, the ziggurat was one of several in the area, and he wasn't sure if his cohorts would find the right ziggurat. By this time it was twilight, so he lit a small fire and sent smoke signals to indicate in which structure he was hiding. 

However, the king's loyal soldiers saw the smoke coming from the ziggurat, and came to arrest him before he could meet his followers. He was executed later that day. 

The moral of the story? WARNING: The searching general has determined that smoking ziggurats can be extremely hazardous to your stealth.

Protecting Trust

1. Trust is paramount and extremely fragile, it should be safeguarded at all cost.

2. Honesty is the path to trust, with out it you cannot build.

3. Complacency WILL eventually kill a relationship.  And it is a long slow painful torturous death worse then dying.

4. Words, when said, cannot be taken back, and can be sharper then any knife. The difference, the wounds they leave may last a lifetime, and still never heal. Beware.

Taking Control

There are things in life we cannot alter. We can try but it only leads to frustration. Mother Nature brings storms and violent actions that damage our living space and we can not stop that from happening. War happens and people we love die and we can not change that. Other people do things that cause us grief and we must deal with the fall out in our lives.

 

Things have happened in the past that affect us but they are beyond repair. Until we recognize the reality of the past as it was and everyone in it as they were, the past will control us. If we let it all stand as history and simply let it be we can find peace with in us. Then we can create a peaceful now and a peaceful future. If we learn from the past we can keep from repeating the mistakes and grow as a person and as a society.

It is how we live out this day that affects our lives and the lives of those around us. Each choice in the now matters in our future so each point of change is under our control for that moment. So let us live each day to the fullest, loving God and loving others in each action we take.