I figured I write a post, just so I can look back at it sometime in the future and think...
"Hey! 2012 was a leap year?!?"
Happy Leap Year Day!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
what's over our heads
An old friend of mine called me the other day to play catch-up.
As we talked and talked away, it came up in conversation that they were just recently homeless. They had been living out of their car and had been doing so for a few months. Blind-sided to say the least.
The usual questions were asked. The usual responses (on both sides) were said.
Thankfully, they have a place to stay now, but the whole situation had me all kinds of uncomfortable. After the uncomfortableness, I sympathized with the notion of their homelessness.
Just thinking out loud now. If the shoe was on the other foot, pride would have kept my mouth shut about the whole situation. I'd had done the same thing. As to what would have pushed me to ask for help? Lord knows.
The situation also brings to mind the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Our shelters, whether it be houses or tents, are only temporary. Even though my friend's lack of housing was temporary, somewhere down the line there was some shred of hope that this would end.
Sometimes, all we have is hope.
Romans 5:3-5.
As we talked and talked away, it came up in conversation that they were just recently homeless. They had been living out of their car and had been doing so for a few months. Blind-sided to say the least.
The usual questions were asked. The usual responses (on both sides) were said.
Thankfully, they have a place to stay now, but the whole situation had me all kinds of uncomfortable. After the uncomfortableness, I sympathized with the notion of their homelessness.
Just thinking out loud now. If the shoe was on the other foot, pride would have kept my mouth shut about the whole situation. I'd had done the same thing. As to what would have pushed me to ask for help? Lord knows.
The situation also brings to mind the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Our shelters, whether it be houses or tents, are only temporary. Even though my friend's lack of housing was temporary, somewhere down the line there was some shred of hope that this would end.
Sometimes, all we have is hope.
Romans 5:3-5.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
shoes?!?
(The pair shown is not the one in discussion.)The other day I had to throw out some shoes. As I took them out to the trash, I couldn't help but remember the journeys that that pair had been through.
I also couldn't help but remember that saying about shoes. The one about walking a mile in them.
It got me thinking about other shoes' journeys. What places each pair has stood in. What paths each pair has walked through. What problems each pair has ran from.
Plato is quoted to have said:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.Those thrown out shoes serves as another reminder of the compassion required in my life. Our shoes maybe new, maybe pretty, maybe cleaned, maybe borrowed, maybe counterfeit, maybe fell off the back of a truck, maybe old, maybe dirty, maybe holey, etc. etc.
Whatever the case, each shoe has seen its day and we need to remember them. If that makes any sense...
Ephesians 4:32.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
ashes to ashes...
Nothing lasts forever.
It's a familiar tune that's been played over and over. As I write this, it plays yet again.
Just recently, I found out that a school that I knew about is no more. A little over a decade ago, I visited a small day school for kindergarten aged children in the small village that my mother grew up in. She didn't attend it but a bunch of my cousins did. During my visit, in pseudo-documentary fashion (read: crappy home video), taped the school and its everyday operations.
If memory serves, it was about 10 minutes footage of a walk-through of the building with commentary provided by my cousin and random kids from the village looking into the camera and being overtly hype to be taped. Only that and nothing more.
The other day, my mother gets a phone call and tells me that it's now a shoe factory. When she told me, I felt all kinds of, for lack of a better term at present, weird. As usual the questions started to pour in...
Why did the school fail? Where are the students going now? Why do I care for a school that I didn't even attend? Why a shoe factory? Etc. etc.
In his day, Voltaire once said that Christianity would only last for another 100 years and then fade into obscurity. Plenty of Christian apologists follow that tidbit with the story that following his death, Voltaire's house was turned into a printing house for the Bible. However, no one so far has been able to prove this story. Whether it's true or not, I reference that to mention this verse from a hymn:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
We have always been told, what begins must end. We've also been told that He is The Beginning and The End.
I end with these questions: What is an eternity? What is forever? What is everlasting?
It's a familiar tune that's been played over and over. As I write this, it plays yet again.
Just recently, I found out that a school that I knew about is no more. A little over a decade ago, I visited a small day school for kindergarten aged children in the small village that my mother grew up in. She didn't attend it but a bunch of my cousins did. During my visit, in pseudo-documentary fashion (read: crappy home video), taped the school and its everyday operations.
If memory serves, it was about 10 minutes footage of a walk-through of the building with commentary provided by my cousin and random kids from the village looking into the camera and being overtly hype to be taped. Only that and nothing more.
The other day, my mother gets a phone call and tells me that it's now a shoe factory. When she told me, I felt all kinds of, for lack of a better term at present, weird. As usual the questions started to pour in...
Why did the school fail? Where are the students going now? Why do I care for a school that I didn't even attend? Why a shoe factory? Etc. etc.
In his day, Voltaire once said that Christianity would only last for another 100 years and then fade into obscurity. Plenty of Christian apologists follow that tidbit with the story that following his death, Voltaire's house was turned into a printing house for the Bible. However, no one so far has been able to prove this story. Whether it's true or not, I reference that to mention this verse from a hymn:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
We have always been told, what begins must end. We've also been told that He is The Beginning and The End.
I end with these questions: What is an eternity? What is forever? What is everlasting?
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2012?!?
What up 2012?
Here's to another year of blogging about the joyful, the courageous, the inspiring, the agonizing, the depressing, the horrifying, the frustrating, the enlightening, the hopeful, and the everything else that may happen along the way.
I pray that through each of these forthcoming events I come out better than when I came in, God willing.
Happy New Year!
Here's to another year of blogging about the joyful, the courageous, the inspiring, the agonizing, the depressing, the horrifying, the frustrating, the enlightening, the hopeful, and the everything else that may happen along the way.
I pray that through each of these forthcoming events I come out better than when I came in, God willing.
Happy New Year!
Monday, December 26, 2011
like Father, like Son
On Christmas Eve, I attended a night service at a church I've been visiting on and off.
It just so happened they were doing baptisms and boy were there plenty of folks getting dunked. Joking aside, I'm glad so many folks were turning their lives over to Him.
One baptism stuck out in particular. The pastor who was dunking folks was the youth pastor of this congregation and among the ones to be baptized was his son. Let me let that sink in.
He would be baptizing his own son.
I wonder how proud that father was to baptize his own son. How joyful he felt to know that his son has accepted Him as Christ. Like always, my mind got to turning.
Fathers generally want to be grow closer to their children. This father did just that when his son was baptized by his hands. I'm reminded that Our Father wanted to be closer to us and He did just that when He came in as a newborn.
Merry Christmas!
One baptism stuck out in particular. The pastor who was dunking folks was the youth pastor of this congregation and among the ones to be baptized was his son. Let me let that sink in.
He would be baptizing his own son.
I wonder how proud that father was to baptize his own son. How joyful he felt to know that his son has accepted Him as Christ. Like always, my mind got to turning.
Fathers generally want to be grow closer to their children. This father did just that when his son was baptized by his hands. I'm reminded that Our Father wanted to be closer to us and He did just that when He came in as a newborn.
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
not one less
The older I get, the more I realize there are some things I still CANNOT get over.
Regrets from the past. Mole hill problems that have become mountain range problems. Minor infractions from other folks that have been allowed to fester. The list goes ON.
Let me indulge you in another "a-ha moment" of mine: He meant that particular verse for EVERYBODY. Duh, right? To be honest, this realization came to me as I was deciding a title for this post.
Not one less.
Not one less who claim Him as Christ will know of His victory.
He promises that we'll be troubled, but He also promises that He has conquered it. For EVERYONE.
Hallelujah!
Regrets from the past. Mole hill problems that have become mountain range problems. Minor infractions from other folks that have been allowed to fester. The list goes ON.
John 16:33- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”Every now and then, I am reminded of this verse. I'm glad He did and still does, because the petty individual that I call myself still continues to fight the world, myself included. We all know that both of these are losing battles.
Let me indulge you in another "a-ha moment" of mine: He meant that particular verse for EVERYBODY. Duh, right? To be honest, this realization came to me as I was deciding a title for this post.
Not one less.
Not one less who claim Him as Christ will know of His victory.
He promises that we'll be troubled, but He also promises that He has conquered it. For EVERYONE.
Hallelujah!
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