Birthday Sign

In 1992 to 1993 I was interim pastor for First Christian Church of Highland Indiana. It is a wonderful congregation full of loving committed people.

The first thing I noticed when I first arrived there was that their sign was small, wood, and falling apart. They had the money for a new sign so I strongly suggested that they invest in a sign that would attract attention. This sign would have a place for messages and I recruited a lovely couple to be in charge of the sign ministry. Woody and Margaret Messmer have been serving that ministry ever since.

Every year they send me birthday greetings and a picture of the sign. This year they posted a special message just for me and took this picture. I have such warm feeling for this congregation and a lot of love for Woody and Margaret. Thanks for the memories.  

Perverts

A man I know personally and thought was a fine upstanding guy was caught in a near by city by a police sex crimes sting operation. I was dumb founded to discover that it was sex with a minor charge and it was not the first time he had been caught. He claimed that it happened because of the medication he had taken. That turned out to be Viagra taken on the way over to the house where he thought he was meeting a twelve year old girl.

He was not the first person of my acquaintances’ to be involved in this kind of perversion and likely not the last, sad to say. I have also known men who beat their wives and children and think they have a right to do it. There must be something miss-wired in their brains. These men, if you can call them men, are lower than a snake slithering under a rock.

A real man respects and protects the women and children in his life and does them no harm. You can not truly love some one and also hurt them. You can not love God and prey upon one of His daughters. They will all be judged accordingly. 

Science VS Religion

For many people on both sides of the issue one believes either in science or religion but not both. I believe that they are not mutually exclusive but two parts of the human experience. Religion is a personal spiritual experience that can not be measured by others. Science is measurements of the universe around us.

Religion:

My mother was always a very spiritual Christian woman and taught me about God and prayer from a very early age. As a young man I had a powerful spiritual experience that I interpreted from a Christian point of view. For me there is no doubt that God exist and relates to all creation for I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Science:

I have always been interested in science and still enjoy studying it. Science has to deal with things that can be observed and measured. The fact that over time new measurements have cause scientist to change their theories does not bother me. The gathering of new information and adjusting theories is an on going part of a scientist profession.

I do not see a conflict between the two disciplines regardless of the beliefs of the religion. For me science can only discover the things God created. For me faith reveals the why of the what and that is enough.

Mother

My mother and I a few years ago. I love her so very much and her love and faith made me the man I am today. Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Be A Trusted Friend

There are times in everyone’s life when something hurts deep inside. It may be a lost love, something stolen, a house fire, or the loss of a job. When that happens what you need most is “A Trusted Friend” who will listen to your tale of woe when you need to vent. Sometimes you need to be that trusted loving friend who listens and doesn't say much. You are just a friend and not a trained counselor so how do you best be that listening ear to your traumatized friend?

A trusted friend keeps personal information confidential and honors what ever lines are drawn between you.

The trusted friend listens with undivided attention and helps to clarify statements but does not react in a negative way no matter how illogical the distressed friend might be.

A trusted friend knows that this is not a time for advice or trite clichés like, “I know how you feel.” Nor do you say, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” God may not but once in a while the world does and when it does we can be there for each other to listen and love as a trusted friend.

Being that trusted friend may be the most important thing you do that day. It will be at least for your friend who trusts you enough to share everything. What a blessing it is to be and to have Trusted Friends.

Self Thoughts

A young friend of mine from a past life in a different state allows her self worth to be determined by other people. I have found that to be the case among many young women I have known as a pastor. There are some women who get to the point of loathing themselves sometimes to the point of taking their own life. How do we condition our girls to defer to others and depreciate their self value? Is this being passed down from mother to daughter?

Over coming this kind of conditioning is most difficult. It can be done but it takes a lot of self re-programming the brain. This all starts with the recognition that the self deprecation is taking place. Reality is the beginning of renewal.

The second step is telling your self many times every day, “I am a child of God, loved by God and I am somebody.”

The third step is to locate people who love and value you for who you are and hang out with them all you can.

The fourth step is to put the people who put you down out of you life. Granted that is sometimes not an easy thing to do.

Life is too short to let other people bring you down so don’t let them. You are in control of that. Think positive things about yourself and say them out loud to yourself.

Exercising our Rights

To exercise our right to agree or disagree with our political leadership is part of what makes America great. Yet to treat leaders with outright hatred and disrespect dishonors our nation and undermines the values that has made our nation great. If people choose to treat our leaders with hatred and disrespect it will do more damage than any individual President will ever do.

President Obama and his distinguished predecessors are true Americans regardless of their political affiliations and deserve the respect of having been elected to office. We may or may not agree with the decisions of an elected official and express our disapproval of the actions taken. We can be the loyal opposition and work toward the next election to elect leaders who express our point of view. 

Keep your politics positive and express your political thoughts and vote toward the way you desire our country to become. Building up your political party may be more difficult than vilifying an opponent but it is the better and more productive way.