October

A short time ago the calendar turned another page and we slipped from September to October. October 1st means that it is just 86 days to Christmas, 92 days until 2010 comes to an end, and 1 yr, 3 mos, 6 days until I'm eligible to retire.

I'd certainly like to retire when I'm eligible. Realistically, three years of no raises has changed what I anticipated my retirement income would be based on. And the wonderful downturn in the economy has taken its toll on the retirement account. So perhaps it's time to take another look and figure out just what that income will be and how much we will need when the time comes. When it comes right down to it, the working conditions in Springfield have never been to the point of driving people away like conditions in some facilities have been. As far as working for a living goes, this is a pretty easy gig. The schedule is the most difficult part of the job and gets more so as time passes. I've made a slight change in my days off for 2011 and will be off on Sunday/Monday instead of Saturday/Sunday. With the number of young guys that are coming on and wanting to work the midshifts, I doubt that I'll continue to work two or three each week and will probably end up with a normal (for air traffic controllers) schedule of two evenings, two days and a mid each week.

At this point, I really don't know how that will affect ministry opportunities or anything else. I'll just have to see. The change in days off will also have me working with some different people for the year. I am looking forward to working more with some of the controllers that I haven't worked with much in the past few years.

I'll let you know how it all works out.

October is also going to bring a new, short term, body/mind/spirit renewal for me.

Starting today, for the next 40 days I am going to commit to dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes each day to each area: body, mind, spirit. I think that I can find the 1 1/2 hours to keep up with it.

For the body--30 minutes of exercise ... EVERY day. It can range from light--a brisk walk, to something heavier like the exercise bike, weight machine, Nordic Trac or exercise videos--as long as it's at least 30 minutes, every day. I'm also going to cut back to one main meal per day and maybe three snack sized meals--bowl of cereal, piece of fruit, salad, sandwich (not the foot long sub or Burger King Whopper size, just a normal sandwich!). It's only 40 days, right? I know that on occasion a snack might be a Jamocha shake from Arby's or a small bowl of ice cream, but all-in-all, I think that I can live with this for 40 days.

For the mind--30 minutes of non-fiction reading...EVERY day. Time wise this should be easy. I have more than enough break time at work to cover this. It will just be a matter of picking the books from a list of books that I need to read. In the past few years, my book reading has really diminished. That needs to change. Newspapers, magazines, internet news, current events--it all counts. I probably already do this most days, but I want to do it purposefully and with a plan. I'm not going to be an intellectual giant; I would just like to keep a well rounded intellect and be able to be conversant on most subjects with most people.

For the spirit--

...Wow. It's hard to put a time down when it comes to what I need for spiritual growth. Truthfully, 30 minutes every day isn't enough. The area of my spiritual life that I would really like to focus on for the next 40 days (the area that I really need to focus on) is my prayer life. Recently, I've been making notes as I read the Bible (posted some of those) and this helps me to hear God's message rather than just reading the words. I need to continue to do that but I don't want to really count that in with this 30 minutes of time for spiritual growth. I want for this 30 minutes to be time that I set aside to really focus on my God.

I want to focus on His Greatness, His Holiness, His Love. While I believe greatly in the power of intercessory prayer, I don't want this to be a time of bringing a shopping list of things that I desire for myself or for others. I want it to be a time of praise and worship. Yeah, that's it--

For the spirit--30 minutes set aside for the adoration and worship of my God...EVERY day.

Well, that's it then--forty days from now I should be a thinner, healthier, smarter person that loves and worships his God...EVERY day.

John

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What's it Worth?

Do you believe in Heaven?

I know that not everybody believes in heaven. And I know that not everybody's beliefs about heaven are the same.

So let's start by saying that if you don't believe in heaven, you can go ahead and skip this post. There isn't anything here that is going to try to convince you of heaven's existence or my idea of what it takes to get into heaven. It's more about what is heaven worth...to you?

It's kind of odd that not everybody that believes in heaven, also believes in hell. And there are some people believe that everybody gets to heaven. (I guess there's not a lot of real value in living a life worthy of heaven if everybody gets to go.)

So for the context of this post, let's assume that heaven is a place to be greatly desired and hell (where everybody that doesn't get to heaven goes) is a place to be greatly shunned. If you're just an end results kind of person, it probably doesn't matter if your motivation is to attain heaven or to avoid hell. However, your motivation may make a difference between living a life of joy or a life of fear.

The reason that I ask this question is that I was reading in Matthew, chapter 13.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he buried it again and then went and sold everything that he had and bought the field.

Wait a minute...it says in his joy he sold everything he had. I imagine him as absolutely giddy about knowing that this great treasure is soon to be his. He knew that the value of the field was equal to everything that he owned but was willing to give it all up for the value of the hidden treasure which was worth so much more. I'm sure that the only way for him to obtain the field was to sell everything he had. In doing so, he purchased the field and all that was in it (the treasure).

So what if the only way to heaven is to surrender all that we have to God? I'm not suggesting that heaven can be bought, but I'm wondering just how literal does Jesus want us to take this little example of "the kingdom of heaven is like..."?

First of all, I don't see too many modern day Christians that are willing to give everything in exchange for heaven. Secondly, I don't see them doing it joyfully. Truthfully, if this is a realistic example of what the kingdom of heaven is like (and I have no reason to believe that Jesus is kidding around about it), then I'm currently left out in the darkness. There are plenty of things that I do for myself or my family that are done without a thought of how little impact they have on eternity. Dinner out tonight, new carpeting in the upstairs bedrooms, hardwood in the living room and hallway, vinyl in the upstairs bath--all nice (not necessary) but all for us. You can say that this is good stewardship; that we are just taking good care of our home, or you can say that we have too much and give too little to the cause of expanding the kingdom.

I really think that this should be a matter of great concern for professing Christians. In Southern Baptist culture, there is this mythological belief that if you pray a certain prayer Jesus will come into your heart and save you from eternal damnation. I don't find that in the Bible. I think that we've fooled millions of people into believing that they're going to heaven and they are as condemned as any unbeliever can be.

They have given nothing of themselves to following the Jesus that they say is their Lord.

They are not disciples that give themselves to studying His life and imitating His character.

There is little difference between the life they lead and the life of the average Joe without any thoughts of heaven and hell, good and evil, God or no god.

They bear no good fruit for the glory of God.

...And they (we) keep their stuff.

As I try to work this out in my own mind (and for my own sake), I am troubled. I take comfort in knowing that my God is far greater than I can imagine and His ways are far beyond my understanding. I am grateful for the comfort I find in Jesus' words just a few chapters away. A rich young man comes to Jesus searching for eternal life. You can read the encounter here.

Okay, that part is pretty discouraging. The encouraging part is what Jesus says next:

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then, can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Are the riches of heaven enough to cause you to surrender your earthly possessions? Is the promise of eternity worth more than anything this world can offer? Have you taken too lightly the parable of the buried treasure or the encounter of the rich young ruler?

If Jesus was serious when He told this story and when He encountered the rich man, how do you stand on the question of eternal salvation?

John

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Sent into Battle

Wow. Reading through chapter 10 of Matthew isn't really the kind of stuff that a content middle-class Midwestern American boy wants to hear.

Jesus' warning to the troops as he sends them out kind of reminds me of a locker room pep talk before a big game--you know, the kind of speech the coach gives when you're the underdog and are going to get slaughtered.

Actually, it might be more like the what you may have heard as the Spartans battled at Thermopylae. The warriors knew they were greatly outnumbered and knew they would probably die in battle, but knew that their deaths would not be in vain if they could hold on and stop the advance of the Persian army. They fought with their king and for their king. They left their families behind. They were revered by their countrymen; respected and despised by their enemies. They did not fear death, but welcomed it if it came while defending their country, their king and their loved ones. In the end, they were defeated by information that was given to their enemies by a traitor.

Keep this scenario in mind as you read through chapter 10. Listen to what Jesus says about what the disciples will encounter.

They will go out among their countrymen (the Jews). They will be betrayed by their own families. They will be persecuted by the enemies of their king. They will be called on to give their lives.

Those that receive them and care for them will be blessed. Those that don't will receive harsh judgment.

Jesus warns them not to be reckless, but to be wise. He tells them to guard themselves from men that would betray them. He reminds them that there are many that hate him, so many will hate them. He tells them to tell the truth and proclaim it boldly.

He tells them not to fear persecution or death on Earth, but to fear the Father in heaven who has power over our eternal souls.

And Jesus reminds us that the truth will divide families against one another.

Yes, the truth divides. It divides families, and it divides nations. But the Bible tells us that our citizenship is not of this world. We are travelers in this life, in this world. Our home is in heaven. This is a battleground...and we are at war.

Unfortunately, this is not our mindset. Our guard is down. Our armor is on the shelf. Our enemies don't even know that they are our enemies or that we are warriors because we have been away from the battle for too long. We have made friends with the enemies of God and have become traitors to the cause of Jesus.

It seems that we all want to be diplomats and nobody wants to be a warrior. We want to talk the talk (when it won't get us in trouble) but walking the walk is for somebody else.

Jesus sends us so that others will call on God the Father. The Bible asks, "How can they call on on one they don't believe in? And how can they believe in one that they've never heard of? How can they hear if nobody tells them? And who will tell them if nobody has been sent to tell them?" (John's paraphrase of Romans 10:14-15)

Time to get dressed for the battle. Fight a good fight today.

John

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Early Morning Rant

One of the few downsides to my job as an air traffic controller is the crazy schedule that I work. I did a swap with one of my co-workers that had me working the mid shift on Friday night/Saturday morning--not a big deal but I find myself wide awake at just past midnight. I slept from 8 to 12:30 earlier today, spent a few hours at Silver Dollar City with Chris this afternoon, took a little nap when we got home--now I'm awake. After laying awake for more than 45 minutes, I just decided to go with it and get up for a while.

Lately, I've been thinking about how we do church--not just at Hopedale, but Christian churches in general.

Back in 1995, Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Church. In it, he named five purposes of the church: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry and Mission (Evangelism). These were the five keys to successfully growing a church.

One of the things that I've noticed is that we try to accomplish all of these things--at the same time on Sunday morning. Sunday morning church has become a "one stop shopping" kind of venue so that we can satisfy all of the requirements in a few hours and check all of the boxes for the entire week with a single visit to the church of our choosing. The problem is that it doesn't really work that way. By taking the time that is set aside for worship and trying to roll everything else into it, we may do all of those things--we just don't do them well.

What should be all about worshiping our great God has turned into a time of fellowshipping with one another, teaching (discipling) from the Bible, evangelizing (that is our pastor's job, right?) and ... well, let's face it, ministry isn't really our strong suit. If we can't find a way to take care of it on Sunday morning, it just isn't going to happen.

Oh yeah...and worshipping. Don't forget that. It is why we do Sunday mornings, isn't it?

What would happen if the only thing we do when we get together on Sunday mornings is to worship our God? What would happen if the pastor never made an altar call or shared the plan of salvation from the pulpit and that became our job as followers of Jesus (evangelism)? What would happen if we really started meeting each others needs and the needs of the community around us (ministry)? What would happen to the church if the people of the church became committed to learning about the Savior that we claim to be following (discipleship)? What would happen if we became a true family of believers that met with each other and shared a meal once in a while--away from church (fellowship)?

What would happen if we came to church and didn't expect to receive one little thing? What would happen if the only thing that we wanted to do, on any given Sunday morning, is to worship--truly worship--our God?

Honestly, I have to say that our church attendance would drop off dramatically.

And since butts in the pews or cars in the parking lot equates to dollars in the offering, we don't want to do anything that will keep people away. We would rather have a church full of people that are happily checking off the religion box each week (and throwing a few dollars our way) as they travel the broad road to hell than to worship God and to follow the teachings of Jesus.

It's almost 1:30 in the morning now and I doubt that many will read this before going to church on this last Sunday of summer. If you are one of the few readers that read this before church this morning, I want to encourage you to set everything else aside and just worship God. Don't ask Him for a single thing. Give to Him. Paul writes that we should be living sacrifices. That we should live for Him. Paul says it's our reasonable act of worship.

Maybe you're reading this and you don't go to church. Maybe Sunday morning is past and you missed the opportunity...for this week.

Find a way to worship God. Find a fellowship of believers that you can learn from and work with. Be purposeful in your daily walk with God. Don't wait for next week. Begin by worshipping Him now.

John

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More From Matthew

Matthew 7:13-14

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

I always wonder why we miss these two verses. Oh we see them and read them plainly enough, but why is it that we are surprised to find that we (Christians) are in the minority? How is it that we seemed shocked that the way of the majority is not The Way?

It wasn't that many verses ago that Jesus compared us to salt and light. Is salt the primary ingredient in any food? Of course not. It is just a seasoning.

If we look at an image of the universe or of Earth taken from space, is there more light or more dark? There is always much more dark.

Jesus says that the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction...and many will take the easy way. He warns us that the gate is narrow and the way is hard...but it leads to life! And few will find this way...perhaps, even fewer will take it.

As I look at humanity, I am convinced that there are many that choose to ignore God's call--not because they don't believe in Him or His Divinity, but because they just don't want to live life on the narrow way. It's too hard. We like the easy way. We like it our way.

We go through life following the masses. They can't all be wrong, can they? Besides, it's easy...and it's fun. Sure, we hear stories about the ones that are suffering for Jesus. We're even inspired by them. Maybe a little outraged at their suffering and persecution, but that's them and we aren't being called on to suffer...or are we?

Maybe there isn't any suffering on our path because it is the broad path; the easy path. Maybe we're just fooling ourselves into thinking that we're following Jesus when really He is calling to us from a narrow path that branches off of the road that we're on. It looks like a lonely path and nobody else is walking that way. It looks to be narrow and difficult with rocks to climb and obstacles to negotiate. The wide road is easier and it looks like it's going in the same general direction. After all, we desire to find God; to serve Him. Isn't that enough?

That narrow, winding path has crossed this road before. Perhaps it will cross it again. We'll think about taking it then. For now, we're enjoying the easy way and the company of our friends--our "church" friends.

A short while ago, I was thinking about all of the people that I know that smoke. I'm sure that it's a very difficult habit to break, but let's face it--people smoke because they want to smoke. In spite of all of the evidence that smoking causes cancer, heart disease, emphysema, stroke and other health conditions, people choose to smoke. It's not that they disagree with the science--they just choose to smoke anyway.

I think that we respond to God's call to walk the narrow path the same way. It's not that we don't believe Him. It's not that we really think that we can do this eternity thing on our own. It's that we are just going to choose to do it our way...for now. We'll get on the narrow path later. We'll keep our eyes open and not let it get out of sight for too long. We'll call out to Jesus often enough to know where He is. But that's all we're really committed to...for now.

It's like we're watching Jesus, but not really following Him. We'll learn about the narrow way. We'll study stories of those that have walked that path. From time to time, we'll even try it out for a few miles...but it's hard. We grow weary. We digress. We decide that the broad way is easier.

Even though we never have a real encounter with God on the broad path, we're with people that talk about God. They're good people. Maybe if we just hang around with them, their goodness will count for something.

Maybe not.

If it sounds like I'm frustrated,

I am.

I am tired of playing church.

I am tired of saying that I'm a Christian.

I'm tired of feeling like this is too easy.

And I'm afraid that I might be fooling myself and walking the wrong road.

Skip down a few verses. Here are the ones that truly trouble my soul:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

John

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The Price of Freedom

This past weekend I was doing a little channel surfing and came across the movie National Treasure. It was towards the beginning--the scene in the ice encrusted ship; the scene where they determine that they need to look at the back of the Declaration of Independence.

I watched it for a while but I had too much to do to sit for a couple of hours. However, I got to thinking about the Declaration of Independence, the men that signed it, and the principles for which they stood and for which it still stands.

There is a line that I think we should review as Americans from time to time. It's the last sentence before the fifty-six men sign their names and make their Declaration against the King of England.

It reads:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

When I read that today, I can't help but wonder if we remain as committed to our country as our forefathers were. Would we pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor to preserve our country and our freedoms for future generations?

You don't have to look very far to see that there are many men and women that take up arms and stand ready to defend our nation, our citizens, and our principles by risking their lives in our Armed Forces. And while there may be many that don't necessarily support all of the country's military actions, you'd be hard pressed to find an American that doesn't cherish the freedoms that these men and women stand guard over. For the most part, our soldiers and sailors have the respect of masses and are applauded for their service at every opportunity. My sincere apologies for the few that use their Freedom of Speech to deride our military forces when ever they get the chance.

It's the second thing that really gets me thinking.

"...our Fortunes..."

Today we are a nation that is in great debt.

According to Forbes magazine, there are 403 billionaires, with a collective net worth of $1.3 trillion dollars, living in the United States. (422 according to aneki.com. 66 billionaires living in China...2nd most)

Our 4,715,000 millionaires is nearly 4 times second place Japan's 1,230,000.

We are the nation with highest GDP (Gross Domestic Product). At $14.6 trillion we are nearly twice second place China's $7.8 trillion.

The National Debt clock shows our debt at a staggering $13.45 trillion -- $43,000 per citizen!

When you stop and think of the billions of borrowed dollars that our government has promised in corporate bailouts, it's enough to make you sick. Instead of our citizens pledging our fortunes to secure our country, our country is borrowing fortunes to bailout mismanaged corporations and CEO's are continuing to get wealthy.

In an political climate that is still screaming "tax cuts", one has to wonder what would the men that gave everything have to say about those that have used the system to secure personal wealth but forgotten the country that provided that freedom.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't think that we should penalize those that have made their fortunes in our free enterprise system. But recognizing our need and realizing their ability, I don't think that this is the time for extending tax breaks for the wealthiest. I think that it's time for taxpayers at every income level to recognize that we are burdening future generations with the debt of our irresponsibility. It's time for us to quit figuring out how to pay less in taxes and to start figuring out how we're going to reduce our debt.

If it was your household budget that was in trouble, you would begin by finding where you could reduce spending. As citizens of this country (and voters) we need to begin by getting the irresponsible spenders out of Washington. Fire them! Vote them out. I don't care what party they belong to, if they have spent our money recklessly, get rid of them.

There has been much written about the fates of those that signed the Declaration--some of it true, some not. To get the real story, go here. The reality of the Revolutionary War is that many gave their lives, fortunes and honor to pay for the freedoms that we enjoy today. The Declaration of Independence lists many reasons why the colonists wanted freedom England. Taxation without representation was only one of the many reasons that was listed. That, and all of the many other injustices were corrected when we were able to set up our own government-- the Great American Experiment. The representative form of government has suited us well until it has been hijacked by high paid lobbyists and easily corrupted representatives--both have exchanged honor for money and power.

The time has come for our representatives to set aside party agendas and fix our broken economy. The time has come for each of them (and us) to pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor to securing a free country for our kids, grandkids and generations beyond.

Midterm elections are only a few weeks away. I honestly don't know if any of the candidates would meet the Revolutionary requirement of even having honor to pledge to our country. The Congressman that has represented my district for years and is running for the Senate was named in 2005 as one of the most corrupt Congressmen in Washington. How's that for honor?

Along with many other Congressmen and Senators, he pays off contributors with favors of contracts, jobs, appropriations, legislation, etc. This has to stop. Unfortunately it's the people that are corrupted by lobbyists that are tasked to make the laws to police them--the foxes are guarding the hen house! It's time for us to hold them accountable, look at their voting records and hold them accountable--every time, every vote.

I realize that this has been quite a rant--I didn't really plan on that. I guess you could say that my ire is up!

I feel better. Now it's your turn...comments, anyone?

John

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Not Funny

Next week, on Thursday (the 23rd), NBC will air one of its new sitcoms. As you probably know, "sitcom" is short for situation comedy. The problem with this particular show is that there is nothing funny about the situation being portrayed.

The show is called Outsourced and is about a company that sends its call center to India. While I'm sure that there will be much to laugh about as we poke fun at the cultural collide that happens when American management invades a foreign country, I just don't think that this is a show that I want to watch or encourage as millions of Americans find themselves the victims of corporate downsizing/rightsizing/outsourcing or whatever else you want to call putting fellow Americans out of work for the Almighty Dollar.

Maybe I just see this as an insensitive way to interject humor into the poor economic atmosphere in which we find ourselves. Maybe it would be a good laugh and a way to lighten the spirits for an out of work or underemployed American worker. Maybe I'm letting my union background get the best of me and I'm over reacting to NBC's joking around about the situation that has caused financial ruin for so many families. Outsourcing of American jobs has caused families to lose health care benefits, homes and even...families as the divorce rates among the financially stressed are high.

With hundreds of channels to choose from (almost all of them with tasteless programming) I'm sure that we can find something else to watch on Thursday nights. Maybe you'd even consider turning the TV off and spend time conversing with your family or reading a good book (or reading The Good Book!). It would please me a great deal if NBC would have to drop this show after a few weeks because Americans decided that there is nothing funny about companies sending our jobs overseas. Maybe the people in India would find it funny and they can ship their show over there.

I don't know what companies will sponsoring Outsourced (and I won't be watching it to find out) but it may be worth letting the sponsors know if you are offended by the program.

As it stands in our grand land, NBC is free to produce this insensitive program and we are free to watch it--or not.

I choose--NOT!

How about you? Thumbs up /\, or thumbs down \/?

John

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