It's All About Me!

A couple of years ago the youth group from my old church was raising money for a missions trip by selling t-shirts. I bought one and still have the shirt. The church's name is printed on the back and on the front, in large letters, it reads "It's Not About Me". One day, while I was wearing the t-shirt out in public, a person who was walking in my general direction took note of the shirt. She made eye contact with me and in perfect deadpan said "Yeah, it's about ME"..... I think she was joking.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.' " Matthew 16: 24 - 25

Jesus: Democrat or Republican?

I've seen bumper stickers recently that proclaim 'Jesus is a liberal'. I'm sure there are a decent number of Democrats who think that if Jesus were in the United States today He would be a Democrat. And I'm sure there are the same number of Republicans who are convinced that Jesus is a Republican.

Everybody wants Jesus on their side! But I wonder if people really knew what Jesus said, would they still want Him on their side?!

I think that what both Christians and non-Christians often forget is that Jesus was and is counter cultural!

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Part of Our Christmas Celebration

When Hannah was younger she told me that she wanted to be a 'cooker'. At first I thought that meant a chef, but after some interrogation I realized that she wanted to be a baker! (Now she wants to be a teacher.)

Here is a shot of Hannah displaying the birthday cake that she and Jennie made for Jesus on Christmas eve. Hannah decorated the cake!

The cake was part of our celebration/remembrance of Jesus leaving heaven and coming to earth as a baby for our benefit.

The Bible says that Jesus ...

'... came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name ...' (John 1: 11-12)

Lessons From Clark W. Griswold - Episode 3

In the movie, Christmas Vacation (not for the kids), Clark's extended family reunion is crashed by his obnoxious cousin. The cousin, Eddie, arrives at Clark's house in a beat up old RV with his wife and two small children. Eddie and his family will be staying at Clark's over Christmas but Clark comes to realize that due to Eddie's poor handling of finances no Christmas gifts are prepared for the children on Christmas day.

The soft hearted Clark graciously approaches Eddie for permission to purchase Christmas gifts for the kids. Eddie feigns surprise but then pulls out of his pocket a 'wish list' for his kids, having fully anticipated his cousin's generosity. To top it all off, Eddie says 'and get yourself something really niiiiccee'. The viewer can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of Eddie's proposal, panhandling a relative to purchase a Christmas gift for that relative funded by the relative but 'from' the panhandler!

I recently read a comment in a news magazine where the conservative political movement was prophetically criticised. The critic stated that the natural result of a conservative political philosophy would be selfishness. I can't help but wonder if American liberalism doesn't have the same net effect. The redistribution of wealth from the affluent to the poor isn't generosity. It's kind of like Eddie's Christmas gift to Clark, an act of liberal giving funded by someone else!

That's why the message of Christ is so powerful. Jesus came down to earth and He preached INDIVIDUAL generosity. He said 'give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you'.

He then allowed Himself to be arrested, beaten, and crucified on our behalf. Jesus lived out, by his voluntary death, what He preached, because by dying on the cross in our place, He took on the punishment that we deserve! The hound of heaven only asks that we turn our back on sin and turn our lives over to Christ.

Eating Spider Webs

Each morning my 8 year old daughter and I go out the back door, onto our deck, down the stairs to the yard, along the side yard, and into the car. I bring her to school each morning and then head into the office.

At the beginning of the school year this year I wondered why each morning, as soon as we got out onto the back deck, my daughter stepped aside and insisted that I go first. After 3 or 4 days my curiosity got the best of me so once in the car I asked her what was up.

Hannah explained to me that on the first few mornings that we had made our trek to the car, she walked through spider webs. The first time it was horrible. The second time she had definitely learned her lesson. After that I was to plow the way for her! I don't mind. I'm her dad and she's my cute little girl. We all would do anything for those we love.

Jesus also loves us sacrificially. He was willing to leave His heavenly kingdom and to thrust Himself into a horribly unpleasant and painful situation for us. The hound of heaven sent His only Son, Jesus, to take the sin punishment that we deserve. The Bible says: 'Christ died for our sins ... and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day...' (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) Jesus died for us so that we could be forgiven. What will your response be to His act of selflessness?

Choices, Choices!

My kids lead a carefree and happy-go-lucky life so I got a kick out of the amount of care and time they took in picking out pumpkins from the pumpkin patch this year.

It's amazing to me how often we adults let circumstances and pressures dictate to us how we spend our time. If we would only take as much care in deciding how we spend our time as my children spent in finding the perfect pumpkin!

We so often get distracted by unimportant things. In the Bible the writer of Luke describes a visit that Jesus made to the home of some friends. One host, Martha, frantically spent all of her time preparing the meal. The other host, Mary, soaked up Jesus' company. Luke records that Mary 'was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word'. When Martha griped to Jesus about Mary's lack of assistance Jesus, instead, praised Mary for choosing what's best.

The hound of heaven wants nothing more than to have an intimate relationship with us. We can begin that relationship by opening up our lives to Christ.

Believe or Balony? - Never Safe - Episode 2

So I've got this OTHER friend. He was raised in the church. He's a good guy and sincerely tried to do everything that he was told to do by the church. And he was fairly successful at it. He was your perfect parishioner! But his church never taught about having a right relationship with God. They never taught how a person could have assurance that he is forgiven and that he is a child of God. So in spite of my friend's noble efforts he lived a life of fear and uncertainty!

On The Table: All we can do is our best. We do the best we can to follow the teachings of the church and, in the end, hopefully our good works will outweigh our bad works and God will let us into heaven. But you never can be sure.

Baloney! The Bible says: ‘And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.’ (1 John 5: 11-13)

Life Hound Principle: In prayer ask Christ to come into your life and save you. If you do, the Hound of Heaven lovingly grants you eternal life. Then you can KNOW that you have a right standing with God and will spend eternity with Him in heaven!