Month: October 2011

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Nails and Big Scary Doors

You all know what today is.  Yep, it’s a day that we wait all year for.  A day full of excitement and horror.  A day full of things that are both fun and terrifying at the same time.  That’s right – it’s Reformation Day!

What?

Yes, October 31 is the day that Luther nailed his grieves to the door of the church.  That list call The 95 Theses contained a list of issues he had with the tradition of the church in his day and started the period of biblical understand that is referred to as the Reformation Period.  This led to the creation of the Protestant movement.  Notice the protest in that word!

So anyway, today on October 31, it’s a good time to be reminded of how we need to constantly be on guard to monitor the tradition of the day and the messages of culture.  We should always be stacking those up against the words of the creator of the world, and his son.

I thought these words from Romans would be good to help remind us of that.  I know I post from Romans a lot, and I use this verse a lot. I think that is because I need to be reminded of them so often.

2Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.Romans 12:2 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

oh and Happy Halloween.

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Rich Kids

Over the last month there has been huge talk about this Occupy Wall Street movement and the whole 99 percent/1 percent thing.  As you know I usually don’t right about politics, because I usually don’t know what I am talking about enough to make any written statement (oops, I guess I just did). And then there’s always the chance that I decide one day to become a politician, I wouldn’t want any blog post from the early part of the century coming back and ruining me.  🙂

Anyway, foolishness aside, I have done some research and study of this whole OWS thing, and I discover this website call the Global Rich List.  You can enter you salary and it will tell you where you are on the ‘wealthy scale’ through the entire world.  I find this site to be quite fascinated and very very humbling.  Try it for yourself.

I assume that many of you are way near the right hand side of this scale.  I probably don’t need to point out what that means.

So while you are thinking about how to rationalize all of that I think it’s a good time to read the 112th Psalm

 

 1Praise the LORD.

 Blessed are those who fear the LORD,
   who find great delight in his commands.

2 Their children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their houses,
and their righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
   who conduct their affairs with justice.

6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
they will be remembered forever.
7 They will have no fear of bad news;
their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
their righteousness endures forever;
their horn will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked will see and be vexed,
they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

 

As you end this work week and head into another great weekend.  Consider your blessings, your generosity and how freely your gifts are being scattered!

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A List for Living

 So, I was jumping around this morning looking for something interesting to share and I discovered this list of rules for living.  This is a pretty good list for how to treat others, and I thought it would be good to share.

  1. Warn those who are idle and disruptive
  2. Encourage the disheartened
  3. Help the weak
  4. Be patient with everyone
  5. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong
  6. Strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else
  7. Rejoice always
  8. Pray continually
  9. Give thanks in all circumstances
  10. Do not quench the Spirit.
  11. Test everything; hold on to what is good
  12. reject every kind of evil.

 What is really interesting about this is that it comes from 1 Thessalonians.  Yeah, really. Anyway, maybe you already live this way, if not.. consider this a pretty good set of guidelines to consider and to reconsider as you look at your days.

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Shubh Diwali

ok, so this may be another day of meaningless chatter, as the early morning hustle and bustle and the the Outlook calendar have commandeered my ‘me time’.  LOL

But seriously, I do have a few great thoughts swirling around to share with you that might actually be enjoyable to read, and hopefully I will ascertain some time at my typewriter to get those in a publishable form soon.

But in the meantime, it’s Diwali today.  That’s a great big festival celebrated by Hindu people that is called the “Festival of Lights”  It’s a time that they celebrate the victory of good over evil, the triumph of light over darkness, and the renewal of life.

I think I can spend a little time thinking about the victory of good over evil, especially since the victory has been won:

57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57  New International Version (NIV)
So, today to my friends from India I say  “Shubh Diwali!”, because the creator of the world has ultimately defeated evil and darkness for us, and has given us such a great way of renewal! 
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All Day Chin Wag

My morning was captured by an all day chin wag and that has goe\t me away from the good old internet!  It’s pretty amazing that I survived to the lunch break.  Speaking of lunch, I can’t believe that yesterday was National Bolongna Day and I didn’t write about that.  What a miss.  And today happens to be Greasy Food Day or something like that.  It definitely must be lunch time as I right this.

Anyway, I have still been thinking about that good old Samaritan and they way he impacted others.  That and a quote I read last week while I was busy doing nothing.

Love is the effort and desire to make someone else everything they were created to be.

To me that is a profound defintion of love, and one that you should stop and think about today.  This defintely would be on the mind of the samaritan as he addressed that dude on the road.  And more importantly can be very broadly applied to all of the relationships that you have.  Just think about that quote and the way you interact with you co workers, children, spouse and enemies!!!

Hm, seems like Philipians 2:

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.