Neighbor

We had a fire in our neighborhood a while back. Everyone gathered a respectable distance away to watch the fireman do their job. One of them said something that really surprised me. He said he didn’t know who lived there and didn’t know their names.

Do you know your neighbors? Do they know you?

We went to grandparents day at our grandson’s school. We met his teacher, went to his room, all the usual stuff. Then we attended the chapel service. The story lesson was the “Good Samaritan.” Who is neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves?

Do you know your neighbors? Do they know you?

Today everyone is so busy. Both parents work. The kids are in school and after school care. Everyone gets home at the same time. There’s a rush to get dinner, get homework done, get baths and in bed and tomorrow it starts all over again. Who has time for anything?

Do you know your neighbors? Do they know you?

I hope that your house never catches on fire. But imagine for a moment, as your neighbors gather to watch, what will they say about you? “I didn’t know them. They seemed like a nice family.”

To me that is a sad commentary on our culture. I didn’t know them isn’t acceptable to me.

I challenge you to meet your neighbors and make the offer to be their neighbor in more than just living on the same block.

Shoes

I want your shoes: old or new, high heels or flats, sneakers or dress, or anything in between.

Why do I want your shoes?

To give them to the “Shoeman,” that’s why. The Shoeman runs a warehousing operation in Fenton. He processes the shoes and sells them by the pound to South America. The money that he makes from the sale of shoes goes to one of two projects. The first project buys well digging equipment which is delivered and installed in Kenya to provide drinking water for villages that don’t any water suitable for drinking.

The other project purchases water purification systems that are delivered and installed in Haiti. These systems provide drinking water for the people of Haiti. A trip to Haiti. is planned for the near future.

What do I need from you is shoes. I need complete pairs. If the have laces, please tie matching pairs together. If the don’t have laces, please use a rubber band or some twine to secure them together. Once that is completed, please bag them so it is easy for me to load them.

Today, I delivered five tall kitchen bags full to the local drop off point. These all came from one family. And I thank them very much.

See what God can do with some old shoes. Just think what God could do if we gave him our best.

http://www.shoeman.org/

Truth

The other day we talking to some friends. They made a point one way. We made the same point a different way. This went back and forth with a somewhat heated discussion. Finally, one of our friends said, “Well, at least we can agree to disagree.” I hate that statement and it isn’t because I think I’m right all the time either.

Somewhere there is truth.

In this culture, truth is determined by the courts. In the old wild west days, it was whoever had the fastest draw. On TV it was the Lone Ranger who fought for justice then Super Ninja Turtles. But now it is the courts and the court of public opinion.

I don’t like the courts and I really don’t agree with most of public opinion. So, if you believe as I do that the courts don’t always have the truth, then where is truth? We have the Supreme Court. Surely they dispense truth. If you don’t believe them, then where is truth?

Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the light. It turns out that truth rests with Jesus Christ. He has the final judgment. He judges whether or not you are telling the truth. He judges if you belief that He is the truth. How will He judge you?

Lifelong

One of my recent Bible readings was from the first couple of chapters from I Chronicles. As I read through the list of names, a couple of thoughts came to mind.

I couldn’t imagine sitting down and putting those names into a genealogy program. I am sure it has been done but I don’t see me attempting it.

Theses lists of names must be in the Bible for a reason other than being boring to me.

I should memorize the sons of Israel. After all it was these sons that became the twelve tribes of the Jewish nation.

But something drew my attention to I Chronicles 4:10. Here Jabez calls upon the Lord to request the direction of his life. How his life should be lived.

What direction do you want for your life? How do you want your life to be lived. What are your goals, plans, or desires? We would stay today, “What’s on you bucket list?” Have you ever thought of these as lifelong goals?

Maybe it isn’t too late for me to ask for lifelong goals but I do believe it is something we should discuss with our children.  

In Jewish tradition, the father would bless his children. I wonder if the father, being wise would look at his child’s life then form the blessing based on his observations of what he thought his child would need from God for all the child’s life.

Have you asked God for your short term needs? Of course you have. Have you talked to God about what’s on your bucket list? Have you asked God for your lifelong needs? Have you asked God for your children’s lifelong needs? Consider doing so today.

Humor

I like the left handed compliment type of humor. An example of this is: “He has a great face for radio!” While it sounds like a compliment, but then you realize that no one sees the face of the radio host.

Another thing I like to do is say: “Hey, tall, dark and handsome. Well, two out of three.” In this you give the compliment and then take it away. After all maybe he's not tall, or dark, or handsome.

Our Administrative Assistant was very good a putting her foot in her mouth. We were very good at pointing it out. That got kinda old after a while, so I started saying, “I'm being good. It's hard but I'm being very good.” Still I was pointing out that she had messed up.

All these are examples of put down humor. All these are at the expense of the other person. In the first example, the face of the other person is being put down. In the second, some portion of their body is being put down. In the last example the slight mess ups are being emphasized. All to the determent of the person.

We, as Christians shouldn't be putting people down. We are to edify, to lift up people. We shouldn't use left handed compliments but real, truthful compliments. The other person should feel better for having met you.

Looking Good!

Hey! Are you looking good?

Do you take care of yourself? Do you workout? Do you jog a little? Do you polish those pearly whites? Do you use a little after shave? Do you use a little Grecian Formula on the hair now and again? Do you take vitamins every morning?  

Hey! I bet you are looking good!

But let me ask you this: How attractive is your faith?

Do you take care of your faith? Do you do a daily Bible reading? Do you have a quiet time where you meditate? Do you attend church regularly?

Are you the guy at the office who people come to when they have personal problems. Are you the guy that is always smiling? Are you the guy with a kind word when someone’s down? Are you the mediator when there’s an argument? That go to guy!

Do you have something special that others want? Do other people ask you how do you do it? Are you always up and always positive? That positive person!

Seriously, think about this, is your faith attractive to other people? It should be!

The Role of the Modern Pitcher

The role of the modern, major league pitcher is to get the batter out.

Some pitchers try to get the batter out by deception. The goal is either to confuse the batter or to hide the release point. For you see the less time the batter sees the ball, the less time he has to make up his mind to swing or not to swing.

Pitchers use high leg kicks, long strings hanging off the glove, turning their back to the batter and having a long stride before releasing the ball. If the pitcher can get the batter to watch where his leg or foot goes then maybe he won’t see the release point until it is too late. The movement of the long strings may catch the batter’s eye and not the ball.

The pitcher can release the ball at different positions. He may use over the top, side arm, three quarter side arm or even from down low in the case of a submariner. There are righties and lefties (also called south paw).

The pitcher may throw a fast ball, a two seamer, a three seamer, or a split finger fast ball. The idea is to throw the ball so fast that the hitter can’t catch up to it. The different finger positions are an attempt to add movement so that the ball doesn’t have a flat trajectory. Then when the batter is thinking fast ball, the pitcher throws a change up or circle change. A change up is thrown with the same motion as the fast ball but it is actually a slower pitch in hopes that the batter swings prior to the ball getting to him.

Other fancy pitches include: curve, cutter, slider, drop ball, and backup. And others depending on the announcer calling the game. In the old days, the spit ball was famous, though illegal, a sneaky pitcher could throw a few during a game. The thinking was that a wet ball would slide when making contact with the bat thus losing some the energy at contact and hence not traveling as far.

The pitcher tries to locate the ball in the strike zone. He may throw it high and tight or low and away. He may throw it inside hoping the batter will hit it on the handle or smaller part of the bat not getting much energy transferred to the ball. He may throw the ball outside hoping the batter reaches for the ball and misses. He may bounce the ball in front of the plate in hopes that the batter chases it. Anything to keep the batter guessing where the ball will go.

Of course not all pitchers do all these things but they do study the batters they face and decide what is the pitchers best pitch against each batter.

So, how do you pitch? Can you throw a fast ball and a curve? Do you employ a high leg kick?

So, how do you pitch when temptation comes up to bat?

My recommendation and I think the Bible’s recommendation is to flee. Don’t try anything fancy. Just drop the ball and high step it outta there.

Balaam and his donkey

Balaam was a soothsayer, we would say a fortune teller. He was riding his donkey to see a king who requested his talents. The donkey tried to turn aside because an angel was blocking the path. But Balaam prevented him and disciplined him. Again the donkey tried to turn aside but again the same results. However on the third attempt, the donkey just sat down and talked to Balaam.

Well, we all know that donkeys don’t talk so how did this donkey talk?

1. The donkey really did talk but it was God making him talk.

2. The donkey was an angel in the form of a donkey and it was the angel that talked.

3. The angel in the path was a ventriloquist.

3. The donkey didn’t really talk but Balaam thought he was talking.

4. The whole incident was really a vision that God gave to Balaam.

So, what do you think took place?

Personally I think it doesn’t matter. What really matters is that God does speak to us. We don’t worship idols that are made by the hands of man and never talk nor move. (I will grant you that the animators at Disney have come a long way at making their robots both look and talk realistically but they are still controlled by the man that writes the program.)

The God who speaks uses many methods to communicate with us. Whether it is through the Bible, the pastor, an angel, a friend but most likely not through a donkey. We just need to listen.

Marketing Ploy

I took my son out to eat the other day. I was looking over the menu as he was still deciding what to order. I noticed that the wine list wast arranged in three categories: good; better; and best.

I thought to myself what an interesting marketing ploy!

For you see what young man who was taking his date out for a nice dinner would just get the “good” wine. No. He would want to impress her. He would want the best.

And what man who was taking his wife out for a nice anniversary dinner would just get the “good” wine. No. He would want to show his love for her and get the best wine.

I remember back to when I was just married. Sears had the same marketing ploy. I would save for a little longer so I could get the better product. While I couldn't afford the best, I thought the better product was superior to the good product. While actually, the good product make have been the same quality as the better product, it just had additional features and the best product had even more features and most of which you would never use.

Sears' marketing ploy worked on me.

Our God is not like that. He only wants the best for those of us called by His name.

How do you communicate?

How do you communicate?

I took a course on communication a long time ago. Most of this course dealt with face-to-face communication. It dealt with tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, the experiences of the speaker and hearer, and even the choice of words.

Throw that course out! Today it is all about social media, texting and even blogs. We use emoticons, those smiley faces, to express emotions or parenthetical statements like note the sarcasm to convey our mood. If we have-to we may place a phone call but we would rather not.

I noticed that today’s newspaper had a QR code that took you to their website so you could read it online and not have hold this huge paper but flip pages on your super thin, super light iPad.

I believe that we have a God that speaks. Do you?

God primarily speaks to me through the Bible. He also uses sermons and Christian friends to get my attention and share a Biblical truth. There have been times in my life when God has spoken directly to me. There have been times in my life when God has spoken to someone else through me.

So how does God speak in this information age of iMacs, iPhones and iPads?

Well, low and behold, there’s an application for that! The Bible is available on many devices in many different translations and with much better search capabilities than we’ve ever had before. Other applications such as Bible dictionaries and concordances are available too.

And it is not just the Bible. Many pastors produce podcasts of their sermons that you can listen at a time that is convenient for your schedule. Many more sermons are available to us than ever before. And of course there is more junk out there as well. As a matter of fact, two of my Facebook friends post daily scripture readings.

While the methods of communications have drastically changed, God’s word is still available and more so if we would just avail ourselves of it.

Black Is Black

The other day a friend said, “Black is black!” I have no idea what point he was trying to make since I had “tuned out” minutes before.

I took his statement literally and said to myself, “He’s wrong.” For you see I had read an article that a new standard for black had been set by a vertically aligned carbon nanotube material. A super black that is ten times “blacker” than the previous black standard.

What makes black, black? Black is black because of its ability to absorb light. The more light that is absorbed, the less is reflected and thus the darker the black. The material coated with carbon nanotubes is capable of absorbing 99.5 percent of the light striking its surface at any angle not just in the visible spectrum but also from the ultraviolet to the far infrared as well.

Think of this material being like a shag rug only so small you can only see the tubes with an electron microscope.

However if my friend was speaking metaphorically, saying that sin is black and therefore sin is sin, then I would agree with him.

Our culture would tell you that there are degrees of sin. Just as there are shades of black there are shades of sin. It would say that a lie isn’t as bad as cold blooded murder. But that’s not the way that God sees it. To Him breaking any of His commandments is breaking the whole law.

I’m here today to tell you that while there is a new standard of black, sin is still sin. We need to stop sinning and start being obedient to God.

http://phys.org/news/2011-11-super-black-material-absorbs-multiple-wavelength.html

http://phys.org/news/2010-12-nasa-blacker-black-nanotubes-video.html#nRlv

No Show, Fan or Follower

What is the difference between a no show, fan and a follower?

Where I live it is the Cardinals, Rams and Blues, that is the St. Louis sports teams.

The Blues, I’m not a fan nor a follower. Not only do I not bleed blue but I change the channel when they are on television. Its a no show for me.

I’m a fan of the Rams. I watch their games when I can. I know the big name players names. I have a Rams hat or two. I’m a fan.

However, when it comes to the Cardinals, I am a follower. I not only watch their games but TIVO the ones I miss and I watch the post game show. I know the names of the pitchers and 75% of the team members and even half of the coaches. I know how far out of first they are and where there are in the wild card standings. I have not only the hat but two T-shirts as well. I am a follower.

What about you? Are you a fan or a follower of your favorite sports team?

What about Jesus Christ? Are you a no show, a fan or a follower? Are you just there for the “big game,” Sunday morning worship service?

I  encourage you to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to know the score by knowing Him more fully. Read the Bible to know what His team mates have to say about Him. I want you to be in the Club House to pick up on the strategy of the game. Be a true follower of Jesus Christ and hit the ball out of park.

Eye Exam

My eyesight is important to me.  I get regular eye exams.  But as I get older my eyes aren't what they used to be.

My real concern it failing the motor vehicle license eye exam.  Then what happens?  Who drives my "Miss Daisey"?

I summit to you that there is another "eye" exam that we need.  It is an "I" exam.  We need to honestly examine ourselfs.

Consider asking yourself these four questions:

1.  Am I doing what I need to do for Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior?

2. Am I doing what I need to do for my family.  Am I doing what I need to do for my "Sweet Baboo"?

3. Am I doing what I need to do for my church?  They were there for me when I was in the hospital.  Am I there for them when they are sick?

4.  Am I doing what I need to do for my job.  Am I giving a good days work for my wages?

I recommend that you get an eye exam once a year but do an "I" exam more often.

What's in a name?

My mother and father were Edith and Elmer.  When I was about twelve I discovered that where my dad worked they called him Tom and that his full name was Thomas Elmer ______.  What's in a name?  He was still my dad whether he was Thomas or Tom or Elmer.  What's in a name?

You know that we pray to the Lord.  We sing praises to the Lord.  But you know that cults have lords as well.  They pray to their lord.  They may even sing the same songs to their lord.  What's in a name?  We say Lord, they say lord.  What's in a name?

But when we say Jesus Christ then we have personified the deity.  We have made a distinction and everything changes.  For you see there is power in the name of Jesus. There's power to convict, to save and to grow.

What's in a name?  If the name is Jesus Christ, it has power!

Modern Day Hermits

There are people that stay home almost all the time.  Yes, they go to work.  Yes, they go to Walmart or Target once a week.  They stop for take out on the way home.  Once they are home, they stay home.

You see, at their house they have a room with a 52 inch smart flat panel TV, a surround sound home theater system, subdued lighting, and very comfortable seating.  They have cable or direct TV and high speed Internet access.

They come home and turn on the TV, turn up the sound, and there they stay until they fall asleep then wander into the bedroom or not.

They are what I call modern day hermits.

So tell me friends, how will the church ever reach these people for Christ?  You can't go and knock on their door -- the sounds too loud for them to hear you.   Besides what church knocks on doors anymore? 

You can't call them -- their number is unlisted and/or they only have cell numbers so they aren't in the book.

The only way is to witness to them is at work.  So if you hear that your co-worker watches movies all the time, then this is the moment.  You are probably the only person who can witness to this modern day hermit.

 So take a deep breath and go for it!

Logic

Lets try some logic.

I believe that God is no respecter of persons. 

I believe that God treats everyone the same.  Rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, North or South, East or West, free or slave, liberal or conservative, black or white He treats them all the same. 

Therefore, if God treats everyone the same, why would God need to have different paths to salvation?  If God treats each people group the same then they are alike to Him and therefore He can use the same means to save them all.

I am narrow minded. I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

Unhappy

Scientist tells that we here in the Unites States aren't as happy as people in other countries.  One scientist says that it is because we have too many choices.

I want to buy a compound miter saw, sometimes referred to as a chop saw.  Which saw should I buy?

Do I want a 7 1/4 inch? a 10 inch?  a 12 inch?  Aaaaawwww!

Do I want red one?  a blue oine?  a green one?  Aaaaawwww!

Do I want one that slides or not?  Aaaaawwww!

Too many choices!  Aaaaawwww!

The native in Africa wants rice to feed his family.  He walks to town, to the store and buys rice.  There is only one brand.  He has no choices to make.  He brings the rice home and he and his family are happy for they have rice to eat.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to decide which saw to buy.

However, I am happy.  For I have Jesus Christ as my Savior.  And I know that true happiness comes from knowing Him.

Gifts

The other day, my wife picked up a small bag from my dresser.  She got mad as soon as she looked inside.

For you see inside was the Christmas presents that she and the kids had given me some eight months ago.  I hadn't done anything with them but left then sitting on top of my dresser gathering dust.

Our heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts.  Gifts for us to use for the building up for the church.

Don't do like I did with my Christmas gifts.  Use your spiritual gifts!