Tuesday, May 27, 2008

On Vacation





This is from Cadillac Mountain over looking Bar Harbor, Maine or as the the local would say Baa Habaa.

Miss everyone. Will be coming back tomorrow evening. See everyone on Sunday, unless you send me a picture of yourself by way of email then I'll see you before then.

Be blessed, be a blessing.

Love and Laugher and lots of music,
DJ GlenMC

Friday, May 16, 2008

Contemplating Simplicity

We live in a consumer driven society which thrives on stuff. Our computers become obsolete the moment we take them out of the box. Our games are ‘so yesterday.’ We are all looking for the ‘next big thing.’ One day it was the Commodore 64, then it was the Nintendo 64, then it was the Playstation, PSP, Xbox. Or it was Windows, then Windows NT, or 98, then XP, now Vista. Oh wait, my old programs don’t work with Vista, so I now have to buy an updated version of a program that was working fine before, but it won’t work now, because I bought a new computer because my old computer wasn’t good enough or fast enough or small enough.

Or my car is old and I need a new one, or it’s a gas guzzler and I need to get a more economical one.

Or my house isn’t big enough. It doesn’t have the latest gadgets.

So we go to work, to make money, to spend on newer, faster, bigger, better or convenient things. And of course, we have to buy newer, fancier clothes to impress the bosses so we can get a better job, so we can make more money to spend on more things so we can keep the consumer wheel turning.

I feel like a gerbil in a cage on an exercise wheel sometimes, running but getting no where.

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

What does “stuff” have to do with ‘simplicity that is in Christ” you may ask? I believe it has a lot to do with it. If we didn’t let our ‘stuff’ possess us, it would be so simple to ‘give our cloak to those who have none.’ We would stop worrying about somebody stealing out stuff. (This would be if everyone came to understand the simplicity that’s in Christ. Problem right now is we live in a fallen world. We must remember to be ‘Cunning as serpent, but as harmless as doves.’) Love also protects those one loves.

There are things that just seem to be necessary, paying the electric bills, buying food, clothing, rent or mortgage payments.

And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 1 Tim 6:8.


But, we aren’t content. We are consumers. We are taught (churches are included) that we are successful and we are blessed if we have bunches of stuff and not just stuff, but the “newest” or “latest and greatest” stuff. Didn’t Satan tempt Jesus with stuff. “Bow down to me and all this can be yours.” Matt 4:9. We compromise. We ‘play the game.’ We do what is ‘required’ in order to get by. But, should ‘getting by’ be our goal in life? Should our goal in life to be striving for the temporary? Or should we be looking to the eternal?

I had a thought in church the other night that, “The person fighting to keep his ‘hard earned cash’ is no better than the person who is trying to get the government to take it away to give to someone who ‘needs’ it." We are all sinners in need of the Savior.

We excuse ourselves from helping the homeless (Yes, I am guilty of this) by saying, “Well they are able bodied. Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘if you don’t work, you don’t eat’?” Or we leave the welfare up to the government. “Well, they shouldn’t have gotten into that situation. They are not my responsibility.” To really love requires getting involved in someone’s life.
Love is the simplest thing, but it’s also the most difficult. Love requires involvement. Love requires commitment.

Love doesn’t concern itself with what others are doing or have done. Love is more concerned with “what can I do to help.”

Love isn’t caught up in “it’s your own fault you’re in this situation.” Rather love is more occupied with “How can I help you out.”

Love doesn’t want to give “hand outs.” Love wants to give a “hand up.”

Love doesn’t want to just live for you. Love would die for you. As a matter of fact, Love did die for you and rose again. Jesus is God incarnate. (God in the flesh) God is Love, therefore, Jesus is Love in the flesh. Jesus is the Way. To make it simple, “Know Jesus, Know Love. No Jesus, No love.”
Love also knows there are times to stay, and there are times to walk away...'brush the dust off your feet" if you will. Love isn't about winning arguments. Love is about winning hearts.

May we truly come to know the freedom that Jesus bought for us on the cross, the freedom to love.
Blessings and Grace,
Love and Laughter,
And whole bunches of hugs.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

CS Lewis Quote

I got this quote off of the site listed below for the band Sixpence None the Richer.
Not sure if this was the quote a friend of mine was looking for, but I think it's worth sharing.

http://www.crlamppost.org/sixpence.htm

First off, many of you may be asking, "What's the deal with the name Sixpence None The Richer?" The band's name comes from this passage in C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity:


Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given to you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already. So that when we talk of a man doing anything for God or giving anything to God, I will tell you what it is really like. It is like a small child going to his father and saying, 'Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.' Of course, the father does, and he is pleased with the child's present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good on the transaction. When a man has made these two discoveries, God can really get to work. It is after this that real life begins. The man is awake now...

Blessings and Grace,
Love and Laughter,
DJ GlenMC