Friday, December 4, 2009

Ya'll come back now (not)

I write this post for any of you who have relatives that are, shall we say, above your league.
Mayve they have more money, more talent, more education, or think they have more intelligence.
Possibly, some of you have relations who think that they are more spiritual than you.
In short, they are "better than you", (they think), though never would they admit it.
How does this change of priority happen in a soul?
How can one family of siblings start out with nothing, value the eternal, and end up selling it all for a pot of gold?
Why do some people grow up valuing relationships, while others value the almighty dollar?
Some people calcualte their "net worth" by the money in their bank, etc.
When people ask me what my net worth is, do you know what I tell them?  I say "my networth is the blood of Jesus".  it's true...you never know the value of something until someone puts a price on it.
And so, today, I leave you with this thought...what is your neighbor worth?
A hundred years from now, people may not remember what you wore, what car you drove, or the wit you possessed, but they will NEVER forget the way that you made them feel.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Real Church

Why do we need to have our fannies pampered with cushy pews?
Why do we have to have fancy carpeting in our churches?
Why do preteens have to have expensive, Disney themed Vacation Bible School Curriculum?
Why do Christians who live two doors down from one another take separate fuel hogging vehicles to the place of worship?
Why do I keep letting food go bad after every meal?
Why do I feel deprived that I buy my clothes second hand?
Do I real deserve Buffet every friday? Why can't I be happy with McDonalds twice a year?
If Christmas is the birthday of our saviour, why should I complain if I get nothing?

You're no brain surgeon

It's like this...someone is laying in the road bleeding to death. There they are. I pull my car over. I dive out. First, I call for someone "qualified" . NO one comes, cause know one cares. Even though the dude is layed out on a highway by the hospital. Surgeon after surgeon drives by, and leaves him dying. (They've got a church service//er, i mean a job to get to). Finally, using superglue, staples, and duct tape, I wedge the vicitm's head back together, drive him to the hospital, and admit him. Does anyone thank me. Heck no. All i get is, "Maam, you really should have called for help" or "Do you have a degree?" or "you know, we can only hope that this raw approach doesn't lead to infection.It weirds me out how people who have never won anyone to Jesus like to critique other people's "witnessing" styles."Oh, that's just too bold....after all, you don't want to scare anyone away, do you?"or, "That technique might work with YOU, sue, but most of us like to cultivate a relationship first"That's cool. But you'd think after 20 years, they'd find that opening to share.When I lead people to Jesus, and other christians insist that my style is too "in your face", I feel like tearing my hair out.WHO CARES IF I'm confrontational. I'm saying something, and you're saying nothing. Look, if there's a buger in my nose, for crying out loud, someone tell me. I hope you say it nicely. I hope you are tactful. But still, if the only one real enough to tell me about my problem is 4 years old, then let me know, kid.


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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Those Rich Christians.

Today I had to really check myself and not join in with my friend Amber about "those rich Christians."
Obviously, my friend Amber feels snubbed and discluded from the clique-ee ness she's been sensing...
as in "we's not rich like they uns". I call it the Clampett syndrome. Those Clampetts were always being
worked on by the Drysdales to fit in. It wasn't that they were looked down upon...it's just that "those rich Christians" (er, i mean "Drysdales") were always trying to help them climb the social ladder.

I don't think that there should be any social ladders in Christianity.

What do you think?

WAKE UP!!!! YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE

i will never forget when my neighbors house was on fire.
I had never told him about Jesus.
One day, my next door neighbor was banging on my door. I had been lounging on my sofa, languidly watching the dreamy clouds that were drifting by. My, what unusual clouds, I thought. I really should get up and see why they look so unusual.
But I didn't. Instead, I just lay there dreamily.
Suddenly, May, who lived beside me, was beating the daylights out of my door.
What's her problem? I get up, and walk to the door, and as I'm walking I hear her yelling
"Suzy, get out, there's a fire".
Okay, now I'm out of dream land. I open the front door, and there she stands, terror all over her face.
I look across the way and there I see it. Al's house in on fire. Flames are ripping through the broken window, and the whole thing looks like it's ready to go.
I should have been relieved...after all, it wasn't OUR duplex...it was the house across from us.
Just one problem...I had never told Al about Jesus.
I had never had a chance, right?
Wrong. I have two lungs, two legs, and a mouth.
It didn't matter that I had had no real opportunity to tell him about Jesus...I should have at least written him an anonymous letter, or sent him a gospel tract.
I always got a creepy feeling from him...he was an older man, who walked bent over, and talked on a cb radio at dusk, out in his back yard.
If I really wanted to, I could have.
But it just never "felt right".
"I'm a single woman" I'd tell myself. "And besides, he looks at me...like in a weird, dirty old man way. Nope..." I reasoned. "That wouldn't be God.". So I said nothing.
"And now, he's dead" I thought.
"He's probably in hell, too."
Believe me, that did not make me feel good.
But as it turned out, Al was not dead...in the days to come, he returned to his burned out home to live.
Weeks later, I saw him lugging some personal things into his shell of a house.
Al had no one.
And, he was probably going to hell.
So, I raced over there one afternoon, while he was working on something in his backyard.
I asked how he was and then I told him how awful i had felt, thinking about how I had never told him about Jesus.
Then, I asked him if he'd ever asked Jesus in his heart.
As it turns out,Al was not a Christian, and how no desire to become one.
But I had peace in my heart knowing I had shared with him.
If you know someone and you don't know if they know the One that you know, why not ask them?
God will give you the way, the timing and the courage.
just ask
Finally, a Christian organization that gives 100% of its donations to the mission field (unheard of). I get absolutely no monetary compensation from displaying this book offer. The book is fantastic, and shows what the gospel should be (as in FREE)

If you are lukewarm

In Revelations, Jesus writes to the Christians and tells them that they have forgotten their first love.

They weren't hot. They weren't cold. They were just coasting. Not sinning, but not on fire. They went to church, read alittle, prayed a little, did a few good works. But they weren't passionate. They were coasting. They were lukewarm.
Sound familiar?
In short, they just tacked Sunday morning Christianity onto their everyday, busy lives.

They had lost their zeal.

So Jesus tells them how to get it back. He says
1)Remember the height from whence you've fallen.

Remember that high you felt back in the good old days when Jesus was everything?
(are you really remmembering right now?)
Take a real moment.

There it is...that sensitivity toward sin...that desire to serve God with all of your heart...that joy in your salvation....that desire to share it.

This leads into number 2
2)Do again the first works.

In marriage counseling, they say to repeat the romantic overtures with your mate that you did as a newly wed, (flowers, candy, praises)
EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL IT.
Repeat often. The feelings will come.

Go ahead. Go tell someone about Jesus. Do it again. And again. Tell at least one person today.
Tell a little old lady. The mailman. A stranger. A relative. A teenager. A preteen. Tell a child. Watch what happens.
Just pick one person every day.
I hope to hear back from you.