For Where Your Treasure Is....

I have a gentleman who has been visiting us for some time now. He never misses a Sunday or Wednesday.

Last week, his truck broke down.

He, like a lot of us, simply doesn't have the funds to get the necessary parts to repair it.

He'll repair it himself, he just needs the parts.

So what does he do to continue to get to church?

He gets this:

It's an old bike. It's his niece's bike, in fact.

Our church is about 3 minutes away from his house by truck, but about 20 minutes by bike. Each way.

He rides this bike to and from our church in 90 to 100 degree summer weather. Sundays and Wednesdays.

That got me to thinking.  I asked myself, "What would I value so highly, or need so badly, that I would do whatever it took to get there to get it?"

One could immediately get a mental picture of an addict in the midst of lying, cheating, or stealing to get the next fix, but I am talking about something much deeper than that.

What, or who, in your existence, is something or someone you need so badly in order to not just get through the day, but through life itself?

This particular gentleman comes from some rougher straits than most. He's tried the other stuff, but his current need is Church Family. People who love him for as he is.

In Luke 12:34, Jesus said "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (ESV)

We cannot escape that fact. We will treasure something. Our hearts will be focused on it, and we will do whatever it takes to obtain it.

At root, we look for those things that make us feel good or feel better. If drugs, alcohol, or sex makes us feel good, we take more to feel even better. We crave it even more when we feel bad.

Jesus invites us to crave something that only He can provide, which is not just something that makes us feel better, but some that actually makes us better.

We become better siblings. Better spouses. Better parents. Better people.

When was the last time you did whatever it took to get God in your life?  When was the last time you fought to get to church, instead of fighting the church Herself?

What would happen if Jesus became the Treasure you absolutely had to have in order to live? And live life more abundantly?

You might even borrow your niece's bike.

"Keto Breath"

I try so stay healthy, especially in light of my heart attack that I had back in 2009. I was only 41 then, but I had been working out regularly.

I firmly believe that is what saved my life. There was nearly complete blockage in the one they call the "Widowmaker".  That, and quitting smoking back in 1999.

My cardiologist said I would make a complete recovery, which I have. I also found out that I have "THOSE genes".  Its how a normally healthy 41 year old male can have the veins of an 80 year old.

All of that is to say I have to take care of myself.

I also love to eat.

For example, this entices me:

I also notice that there is a decided lack of S.O.S..

But the potatoes and biscuits, they tend to pose a problem for me. I'm great at storing them, or, at least, storing what they turn into. I get a very Hobbitish figure from them, so occasionally, I have to go Keto, or what us older folks know as the Atkins Diet.

No Carbs, or at least, low carbs.

That means no starches, including flour, or real sugar.

In the above picture, that means removing the biscuits and taters.  However, they can be replaced with more meat, eggs, cheese - or dairy of any kind, or vegetables (nothing below the ground).

It takes about a week or two for it to fully kick in, but I know when it does, as my wife lovingly informs me that she can tell because I have "Keto Breath".

It seems that a side effect of the diet is that a certain breath develops. And my highly scent-sensitive wife detects it rather immediately.

As it turns out, this is a natural reaction to all of the extra proteins and your stored fats being used to provide energy, hence the weight loss.

It also means I have to gargle mouthwash, chew sugar-free gum, and other olfactoral maintenance rituals to keep She Who Must Be Obeyed happy.

But they joy in it is that I know its working. And it keeps me around longer. I have grandkids I want to play with, I have more ministry I need to offer, and I still have, even on cust of 50, a LOT of life to live.

And in the grand scheme of God's Design, Keto Breath is a very small price to pay. 

I forgot I existed!

I completely forgot I even had this blog!

Now that I am in full time ministry, I will be able to actually contribute to whatever sundry and nebulous conversations are in vogue at the time.

My original intent was to be able to produce large and more in-depth commentary about the issues du jour. 

Since my last attempt at becoming both pundit and preacher, we have changed Presidents, two of my children have grown and left the nest, and I have even gained a daughter-in-law.

As no less a prophet than John Lennon once sang, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

Perhaps I can be a bit more productive in the area of engaging the culture from a Christian, if not necessarily churchian view on a more regular basis.

On Islam and Racism.

One of the most nerve wracking and misidentified ideas today is the idea that anything that is anything against Islam is Racist.

This is a knee-jerk conflation of two disparate forms of identification and discrimination.

The conflation is easy to do, as it stems from a commonly seen statement, especially in hiring practices. The statement usually reads as something to the effect of:

"...without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status."

 Notice how 'race' and 'religion' are treated with equal deference.

One relates to a physical characteristic obtained simply by the pairing of one's parents.  There is no input involved, nor is there anything that can be done to change it. Race is hard wired into your DNA.

The other starts as an accident of birth, but may change several times over one's lifetime. One may be born into a Christian household, and be raised as a Christian for their childhood, but might become Buddhist as adult. Or visa-versa.

In Islam, there are a large number of Arab members. But there are also a large number of Indonesian members as well.  There are Black Muslims, White Muslims, Asian Muslims, and Latino Muslims.

Are you able to discern the difference?

Now, lets go back to the non-discrimination statement.

There are exceptions, legal exceptions, to this statement. A non-profit Christian organization is completely within their rights to expect that their employees be professing Christians.  The same goes for a non-profit Islamic organization, or a non-profit Jewish organization.

There are times and situations where discrimination is legally allowed.

All of this is to point out that if you are going to make any argument for or against Islamic refugees, at least have an idea of what it is you are really arguing about.

PMV.

Spartans Never Die.

1969-2012

Thanks For Giving A Voice To The Voiceless.

The Thorns of Boiling Frogs

"8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." 1 Peter 5:6-9 ESV

There is a strange question that we like to ask occasionally down here in Texas.

Question: How do you boil a frog?

Answer: Very slowly.

Its a bit absurd, but the logic goes like this:  you can't drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, because the frog will just immediately jump out. (Yes, I know you can put a lid on the pot, but just go along with this.)

So how do you boil the frog?  

You put the frog in a pot of lukewarm water, and slowly turn up the heat.  As the heat is slowly raised, the frog gets cozy and relaxed, even sleepy.  His will and strength leave him, so by the time he figures out somethings wrong, he's already being cooked.

Its a funny concept, but there is very serious warning in it: Don't get too comfortable.

As husbands, fathers, and as godly men, its very easy to get too comfortable.  And this is Satan's best weapon against us.

Generally speaking, no one wakes up one day and says "Hey, lets ruin my life today."  Satan does not normally make someone have an affair, become an alcoholic, become entangled in pornography, or become a drug addict in one day.  Godly men are too powerful for that.

So Satan tempts VERY slowly. The picture of the very little bikini at the supermarket checkout. The occasional drink. The little extra pain killer. The co-worker who seems to understand you like no one else does.

Little by little, we feel like we can control ourselves in these situation, and since we are "in control", we can stand a little more, and since this feels good, that must mean that more will feel even better! Bikini-less women, the extra drink, the stronger pain killer, the occasional "harmless" flirt.

These lead into pornography diminishing, or even replacing marital relations, an actual affair, or needing a number of stronger drinks or medications just to get through the day.

Then, one day, you wake up in the boiling pot.  A ruined marriage, in jail with a DWI/DUI. And you have to have more of the addiction just to feel numb.

Godly men fall victim to this all of the time. Satan uses our pleasures and desires to pull us down. Pornography (the personal thorn of yours truly) and affairs appeals to the basest of manly nature: sex and power. Substances start off by either numbing pain or increasing feelings of pleasure, but ultimately numb the addict to any feelings of happiness or pleasure.

And Satan has a field day because the Church likes to treat these issues like the elephant in the living room. "Aren't we good Christians because we're not like those people." 

But the very sad fact of the matter is that these issues are affecting families in our own churches all of the time.  Right now. Even pastors. Because pastors are men too.

None of us men are immune to the temptations and desires the world likes to send our way. It takes other men and Godly wives to help resisting the snares.  Even in Genesis 2, God makes this plain when He says "It is not good that you should be alone."

Men, drop the pride, and share the darkest parts of the heart, not only with God, but with your wife, and/or a trusted brother in Christ.

What you do in secret will be brought to the light (I think I've read that somewhere), and no matter how "victimless" it seems, someone is being affected.

PMV

Heard from the boy's room this afternoon...