Celebrate death!

   Four more days to Halloween. Wow. Can't wait! Truthfully, I can. Halloween is almost like any other day to me. I say "almost" because you have to watch for idiots throwing pumpkins or pulling some other juvenile and dangerous stunt. I don't do Halloween. I leave my porch light off, and don't decorate for it.

   When I was a kid, my parents let us kids dress up and go door to door in our small neighborhood, and then they'd take us by car to some of our relatives, and that was fun. Times have changed though and it isn't safe to let your kids go door to door. Besides, I think Halloween teaches kids wrong. It teaches them to be little beggars and that you can get something for nothing. (Sounds like Obama's followers..... Halloween must have been a Democrat idea!)

    I am not going to go out and try to do away with Halloween. What people want to do with it is their business, but I don't get the appeal. There is so much about Halloween that is associated with death, the devil, witches, ghosts.... none of the things Christians should have anything to do with anyway, but when did we start glorifying death and these creatures that are associated with evil. Take the house pictured below:

 

    What is so great about having fake tombstones in your yard?! There isn't a person on this earth that hasn't been touched by death. Death isn't funny or fun. It hurts those left behind, so why would anyone want symbols of death in their yards? When I see a house heavily decorated with that kind of stuff like the one above, I just shake my head. I've seen coffins, fake bodies... you name it. I'm serious - why celebrate death? Why put out symbols of death and evil? And you know what I've noticed..... in a lot of cases, the people who decorate heavily for Halloween don't do much, if anything, for Christmas. And no, I'm not saying you have to decorate for Christmas, but still.... its kind of weird to make so much over Halloween, a holiday associated with death and evil, and not do much for Christmas, a holiday all about life and God sending His Son into the world...... we Christians have the best holidays.

 

    I'm not going to knock people who decorate some for Halloween and send their kids out trick or treating, but I do have serious reservations about getting too much into the holiday. Death and evil aren't funny, nor are they anything to be trifled with. I believe if we could get a glimpse into the demonic world and the occult world..... if we could see what witches, goblins, ghosts, and devils really are and what they are all about - I believe we'd burn our Halloween decorations that portray them.

 

   Don't celebrate death this October 31. Celebrate life!

The best thing I ever did

     The Big Brothers/Big Sisters program is a wonderful program/organization. Some years back.....13 I think, I found out about it and decided it would be a cool and decent thing to do. I went and got interviewed, had to give references, and be submitted to a background check. Then the scary part: I met the mother. She was super nice and a Christian, which was a relief. I hadn't been sure what I was getting into.

   If you're not familiar with the program, it is for kids who don't have a positive role model in their lives. In this case, the boy, Jason, had no father. He had a "sperm donor" who walked out of the marriage when Jason's mom got pregnant and refused to get an abortion. Jason had no contact with his father or his father's family. He had been close to his grandfather on his mom's side until the grandfather's death a year or so before. The kid had no adult male in his life, other than his boy scout coach. So I signed on.

   I'll never forget the first time I met Jason. He was a quiet and shy 12 year old. Or so I thought. As I told him and his mom later, he was so quiet at the beginning, but then once he started talking to me, he never shut up.

   In the next 4 years, I grew to love the kid as if he were my brother. I took him shopping, to eat out, to see plays, play mini golf, and many other activities. I went to some of his basketball games, school concerts, boy scout events. The program is to help kids, but it helped me also. I believe one of the best things we can do is when we do something for others without expecting something in return. And I believe being a "big brother" was one of the most unselfish things I did, and was definitely the best long term thing I ever did.

    I was Jason's big brother for 4 years, and I took it hard when it ended. It was worth it, but it is also painful to have any relationship end. Jason's mom just recently told me that he has turned out to be a great man - he is 25 now. He doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, and she said I had a lot to do with the kind of man he turned out to be. I can't put into words how that made me feel, and it made me all the more glad I that I went through with being a "big brother."

   I'm only one person, but can you imagine what this world would be like if we all did something along these lines? If we got more involved in others lives. If we did something just for the reward of helping someone without entering into it wondering what we were going to get out of it.

   I did that for 4 years, but I'm not holding myself up as a paragon of virtue along these lines. It has been a while since I actively helped someone else just for the sake of doing something good. Partly because opportunities haven't crossed my path, but neither did I go looking for opportunity. There is an old song that comes to mind:

If I can help somebody, as I pass along- If I can cheer somebody-
with a word, or a song-If I can show somebody, that is travelin' wrong-
Then my living shall not be in vain.
Then my living shall not be in vain!
If I can help somebody as I pass along, then my living shall not be in vain!
If I can do my duty, as a good man ought-If I can bring back beauty, to a world
that is so lost-If I can spread love's message as the Master taught,
then my living shall not be in vain.
Then my living shall not be in vain-then my living shall not be in vain.
Then my living shall not be in vain!
If I can help somebody as I pass along- then my living shall not be in vain!
Then my living shall not be in vain!
Then my living shall not be in vain!

      Too many of us, even Christians...... especially Christians, are too involved with life. We're too busy, and often that busy is good and necessary, but we lose sight of what is important: people. That is what God is all about, what the Gospel is all about, and what the church and Christians should be about. But sadly, all too often we aren't all about people, being Jesus to people, helping those who need it.

   My self confidence levels are usually pretty low, and I find myself wondering what on earth I could do to help anyone, but then I think back to that four year period that I was a "big brother" to a great kid who needed an adult male in his life, and I realize that I can do something. I'm sure I wasn't the perfect guy for that, and many others could have done better. Guys that loved sports instead of me, who barely tolerate them...... but I was able to give love, time, and support. And yes, it cost me a little. I spent time and some money, but having his mom say that I made a difference - that makes it more than worth it.

    We can't take much to Heaven with us. In fact, there is only one thing we CAN take with us: People. So why do we waste so much time on stuff that is going to stay here and either rot away or be passed on to someone else, or be put in a garage sale? Why not spend more time on people.... and not just telling them about Jesus - that is a given, but giving them love and time. We can spend hours telling people about Jesus and even inviting them to church, but if we don't love people and just be willing to spend time with them, being their friend, paying attention to them - then why would they want our Jesus?

   Our neighborhoods and even our churches are filled with hurting and lonely people. Isn't it time we started caring?

If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girls teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is away?
There is a way

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
Jesus is the way

Being like Jesus: being real, a guest post

Another guest blog post by one of my friends, this one on being like Jesus by being real. Written by my friend Kimmy. Check out her blog, the Smug Cloud.

 

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about Jesus in terms of being "real" is a quote that I recently heard during a study that I've been attending weekly for the past several months. It goes like this:

“Do you believe that what you believe is really real? Because if you really
believe that what you believe is real, then Christians will change the world.” Del
Tackett, the Truth Project

Do I really believe that what I believe is really real? Do I?

Because if we believe that the God of the universe really created all and really sent his son, Jesus to die on the cross for us, then wow! What a difference that should make in our lives!

If we really believe that like the song says, "Jesus loves me, this I know" how would that impact our very lives?

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8:38-39

Do you really believe that Jesus came to this earth, died on a cross, suffered anguish, all because he loves you? It's true! And, if we believe that, if we are sure that what we believe is really real, then what are we doing with it? How is it impacting our lives? How is it affecting our attitude? How is it causing us to treat others? How is it affecting how we feel about ourselves?

There are times in life that we all feel lost and alone. There are moments when we feel sorry for ourselves, get angry and feel like life is unfair. We all struggle with various things. We all have temptations, trials and sins that we have to continually give over to God. We might try to pretend that life is peachy, and that our lives are perfect. We might try to make things look squeaky clean on the outside, afraid to show the world that brokenness that exists in us, that exists in all of us, but wouldn't we do better to acknowledge it? To share our struggles and our trials and our hurts with our brothers and sisters in Christ? It's not like it should come as a surprise to anyone that we have them! After all, Jesus died for a reason.

And, if we really, truly believe that he came, that he died, that he became sin for us, that he loved us that much, wouldn't we be the first ones to acknowledge and confess and share our brokenness with those around us? Instead of pretending that we are doing A-okay on our own? Isn't that in a way saying "I don't need the sacrifice on the cross. I've got it covered."

If we really believed that what we believe is really real, how would our lives reflect it?

Would we be quicker to share God's love with those who don't know him?

Would we have a smile on our face more often than not?

Would our attitude towards our lives and our circumstances be a more positive one?

His love for us is real. His death on the cross was real. Our need for a savior is real.

Our gratitude, our thankfulness, our love for him and for others should be just as real! Our lives should reflect that belief that God is real. That he really loves us and that we truly believe it. We can't do it on our own, no matter how hard we try, we need his grace. We need his sacrifice. And, we need to believe that what we believe is really real.