Self-centeredness

I've always thought that the greatest and in fact original sin is self-centeredness. Even in very young children I see the human condition as one where we want what we want when we want it and how we want it. Babies show this desire as well as any adult. Very early in life children learn to be manipulative and will run their world if allowed. God does not want us to live this me first lifestyle.

I used to tell parents who brought their babies to be baptized that baptism was for the forgiveness of this self-centered nature and at the same time to give us the resource of the Holy Spirit. We are given the presence of God because God is love and his desire is for us to share love with others. To be a lover as God desires us to be means to always act in the best interest of others. To put their good sometimes ahead of our own. In the picture are two lovers who completely understood that reality. Marsha was a constant example to me of a giver. She would give her time, her energy, and her resources to almost anyone who crossed her path. She did it with the most genuine desire to do good. She did this not to gain the favor of the other person but just because se knew it was right. Virginia has the same heart. She called last night because she just cares so much. I met her when she wanted to give of herself to others, and she continues to be that kind of person. God wants us to be lovers who love just because it is right. That is the unconditional love that is the very nature of our God. That is the unconditional love we possess in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If we are willing to give that love away it will grow in us. Lord help us all to be lovers.

Catching The Sun

A friend of mine here in Myrtle Beach took this picture one morning. What a beautiful setting as his friend reaches up and appears to hold the sun in his hands. The beach, the waves , the sunrise, the little hazy color to the sky, you have to admire this picture. It seems like this young man has the atomic energy of the solar engine captured in his control. It looks like he could almost throw that power at any need. Light a city, drive for years, anything at all, and the energy is there.

Sometimes it feels like that when I feel the power of the Son in my life. It's not the energy of the creation but rather the energy of the creator. God promises to live in us if we remain in Him. This is not an empty promise or a meaningless reality. Scripture says that we can do more than we can ask or imagine through Christ who lives in us. I know I love those electric moments when I know the power of God because he's the energy in my engine. What a picture, each of us can capture the Son because he chooses to be the power in us.

The Road Less Traveled

This summer my son and I did some traveling in search of the mystical moose. Went down highways and byways and as you see in the picture today we found more than a few roads less traveled. I can tell you one thing for sure. Some roads less traveled are that way for a reason. One of my favorite poems is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. The impression in the poem is that the road less taken is the desirable one. Well that is not always so. It's easy to see that less than half of us go to prison for example, so the road less taken can lead to prison. Some would say that the you need to do your own thing, that it is whatever floats your boat. Others that times are changing and the old roads are obsolete, fast highways are the rule of the day not slow country roads. I'm not saying that old is good and new is bad, but how do you know which is which? Some old is to be treasured wisdom, some new is the greatest thing since sliced bread. How do you know which is which? What standards do you use to decide or is it just a decision made at a whim? Remember some roads less traveled are untraveled for a reason and some super highways have massive numbers of fatalities. Pick your road with care, that is the point of Frosts poem, once you make a choice it can be almost impossible to turn back. Gratefully in the picture after miles we found a place to turn around before the car was wrecked.

Juggling

We went to an outdoor free concert that had some bands that Dana knows who perform around the country. He loves to juggle to music which is where Marsha got the idea to have him juggle at her memorial services. Dana juggles most anything and often I just sit and gaze in amazement that he can do the things he does with moving objects. My hand eye coordination does not work that way. I have tried juggling objects in limited ways in the past and it was in limited ways because I was a complete failure. Juggling objects seems like it is making objects move in a predictable way that is ordered enough that you know where to reach for the moving object before it falls. This a unique skill.

To me juggling things in life is often the opposite of juggling objects. It is holding onto an unpredictable disorderly series of events without letting any of them become a disaster. You've heard it said that a person had too many balls in the air at once, meaning to many situations to handle without problems. I am good at this type of juggling. It is not that I don't sometimes let a ball drop. It is that I usually can be alright with a lot of things that have not been brought to closure without having a difficulty. My mind can hold onto a list of these incomplete situations for long periods of time without needing to cross them off as completed. In good time or in God's time they will rise to the surface for their turn at completion or maybe they won't. Marsha was so frustrated with this. It was fine if I didn't tell her what was on my list, but if I did then it somehow went on her list and she would worry that it wasn't complete. She needed to cross it off her list and so she would hound me to get off of mine. It has always been interesting to me the multitude of complex individuals that God has created. When we can grasp that one is not better than another just different, we begin to find value in what the others can do. We stop trying to fit everyone into our mold. I don't know about you, but I don't fit into anyones mold very well. I hope the only mold I fit into is the one God used to create me. I know that is the only right one for me.

Poverty

In the picture my grandson Forrest is standing in front of a sign in Kingston Jamaica stating that a Burger King selection costs $285 Jamaican. Inflation in Jamaica is so dramatic that purchasing almost anything in the Jamaican economy is almost impossible for Jamaicans. People live in poverty because the economy is so messed up and unemployment is over 65%. Jamaica is not even the poorest country in our part of the world and yet we saw real poverty, people who were in danger of death because of their poverty. People who have been among the poor often comment how joyful they are in the midst of their poverty.

I also remember when Mother Theresa came to the United States. She was asked what she thought about America, and her response was, "I've never seen such poor people." Can you imagine Mother Theresa whose ministry is picking up the dead and dying from the gutters of Calcutta thinking that we are among the poorest of people.

In Luke's gospel he writes blessed are the poor, while in Matthew's gospel he writes blessed are the poor in spirit. It's interesting that among the poor in goods and services joy is abundant, while where there is great wealth of possessions you find abundant discontent. In the United States you find fear and self protection except among the poor where you find great sharing.

Which is the greater poverty anyway?

God's Country

I have picked pictures today of Acadia National Park in Maine looking down from the top of the Beehive Trail, and a picture of two of my grandchildren walking on the beach at Myrtle Beach State Park.We use the phrase "This is God's country" so often. Well what isn't God's country? I have travelled in this country quite a bit. I have sat on the rim of the Grand Canyon. I have have stood by Old Faithful in Yellowstone. I have looked up and up at the giant redwood trees in Muir Woods. I've been to Niagra Falls, the Bay of Fundi, Howe's Caverns and other spectacular locations. In every case people say that it is God's country. Some people love the land they farm and call it God's country, even if others look at it as nothing but miles and miles of corn. We miss that all of it is God's country, and not just here in the good old USA. I spent a few hours on the beach again on Saturday and it never gets old. I talk to some people who moved here because of the beach and have not been there in years. I find it hard to understand how something so beautiful could lose it's attraction. How do you get bored with God's amazing handiwork.

One of the most impressive and wonderful places I would call God's country is to look at a transformed life. To look at a person who has become God's country. A person in whom who see the glimmer of that grand panorama of God's grace. I hope I can continue to grow in grace and be a place that might be called God's country. We were all created in the image of God, and when we allow that image to become visible in us we are like the rest of God's magnificent creation, we are God's country.

A Time for Everything Under Heaven

Marsha's sister Janice has been struggling with the sickness of her father-in-law. He also had lung cancer and yesterday he passed away. It has become obvious that we have reached the time I life when a time to mourn is the reality. It is hard to imagine that starting with Marsha's brother, then her mother, then Marsha herself, and now my brother-in-law's father, death has been prowling among those I love and mourning is in season again.

It is true that in life we have a season for everything under heaven. In my humble opinion nothing we do can protect us from the multiplicity of events that life can bring. Money can't insulate us from sorrow. Even good health won't turn away sorrows like divorce or the loss of financial security. Children can make poor decisions and leave us to worry or grandchildren can have health problems. A car accident can change everything in a split moment or a house fire or ...... You get the idea. We need to cope with sorrow and pain and we need to deal with happiness. We can spoil our children with too much and suffer the consequences as well. The issue is what we do with the situations that life presents. We can't prevent circumstances beyond our control but we can control our response and where we look for strength and comfort when life brings challenges. Be with us Lord as we face our sorrows.