What is important?

I just finished watching the movie "Crash" and feel very overwhelmed and emotional. All I could think about while watching it was how much I worry about things that just do not matter and I need to enjoy life in the moment, every moment. I could not get my son out of my head and the time I have enjoyed watching him grow up and the pleasure it is to see him learn, laugh and love. I could not stop thinking about my wife and the pleasure it is to be loved, love passionately and have a best friend.
I worry about so much else that just does not matter: work, paying bills, making sure the business is growing; and so much of it I have absolutely no control over. All I can do is to enjoy the moments I have with the people I love so much. Like yesterday, holding my son in my arms while he slept so soundly. This moment will be that, only a moment and I may never get to hold him that way much longer. Sitting with my wife this evening and holding her and watching a movie is an experience that I treasure and should more often.
Do we really appreciate each other like we should? God is no respecter of persons, so why are we? What makes it so hard to see people as just that, people? We are all on the same road of life traveling and trying to enjoy and treasure what we can. I know that there are those who just do not care about others and never will. However, most of us are just trying to do our best and have our own perceptions of how the world works, why others act like they do and how we react to those things. Wouldn't it be nice if grace could change us all to love each other as we love ourselves!

Growing in Grace

It has been a while since my last post. There has not been much on my plate since the last post that would make me get thoughtful about my life, God or others. However, I may have just not been paying much attention since them. I say that because maybe the reality is that there has been way too much. I think that there may have been too much work, too much emotion and too much pressure to take time to put thought into my life. So I am writing this blog now as a way of getting back in touch with what I need to get in touch with and pay attention to.
I am constantly thinking about God and grace. The freedom it gives someone to live their life to the fullest. It does not mean that we have the luxury of doing "anything" we want with no thought to others. Grace does mean that we have the freedom to grow in relationship with God spiritually and emotionally. We do not have to worry about God pounding us when we make a mistake or leaving us when we think that he thinks we are not lovable. God would never think those things. His thoughts are higher than ours. Grace means that we can live with the freedom to make mistakes and keep moving forward instead of making mistakes and staying stuck in the mistaken belief that we must stop, grieve and repent over and over until we feel forgiven. I think that many people who call themselves "Christian" do this because of some need to feel righteous or that they have made enough "atonement" for their "sins" that they can be self righteous. We live in a world that believes and encourages that things are black and white, no grey. Many people believe that God must operate in the same manner. However, I do not believe that this is a reality. God knows that if he held every mistake against us, we would never be able to move forward in our lives and have a real relationship with God. God has opened every door possible to make this happen for us, we need to accept it and move forward. How would the world change if people could understand that this is how God loves them and would love others the same. This is one of the greatest commandments that Christ gave - "Love your neighbor as yourself." However, we need to love ourselves first, just as God loves us to fulfill this commandment.

Why Christians Do Not Accept Grace

I have this theory about Christians..... Some use their religion to have a reason not to look at themselves and their issues. They believe that life is simply black and white; there is no middle ground or grey. All too often they believe that there is just right and wrong and there is no reason to stray from the right of a rule or a circumstance. However, I read in scripture that Jesus was not so much concerned about "right" as the religious people of his time understood it, but more the condition of humanity's soul.
Several times he was confronted by the religious establishments rules, most specifically about keeping the Sabbath. Once he and his disciples were confronted about eating and picking the grain in a field and another time about healing someone on the Sabbath. In both instances, Jesus was not concerned about he letter of the rule or law, but the understanding of the condition of the human soul. It was not only the religious establishment, but also his disciples and others who thought Jesus was breaking the rules. Why do you let this woman wash your feet with her perfume? Why are you eating with that tax collector? Why are you letting an adulterous woman go away free with no condemnation? Why are you forgiving thieves that are hanging with you on a cross? Why are you forgiving Peter who denied you in front of the world? Why is David a man after your heart when he committed adultery and murder? Why did you pick Saul, who killed Christians, to become Paul and preach your gospel to the world? Aren't you concerned about making sure that people do right? Do you not condemn those that do not stick to the letter of the law and "rightness."
Could it be that Jesus came to be the embodiment of grace? He came to show the world what it was like to forgive and not be so caught up with the rules, laws and right? Could it be possible that by living this and showing this to the world, God was showing how the world could be changed? It could be changed one life at a time.
I understand that this is a hard thing for us humans to grasp. We get caught up in out selfish desires, our hurts, our pain and what we think "should" happen. We like to be in control, even when it is obvious that we have no control. We like to give ourselves the perception that if someone else did something the way we thought they ought to, or should, things would be just the way we want them. It is hard for us to give up control, to turn it over to a God that we say we believe is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving. Christian say they believe that all things work together for good to those who love God, but some have a very hard time making that belief reality. Instead they like to think that they are right and all others are wrong because things did not turn out the way they planned, and if someone would have just done what they wanted it all would be fine. There would be no hurt or pain.
This, I believe, is a wonderful way to justify ourselves and to lay the blame with someone else instead of looking at ourselves and our relationships and asking "how did I contribute to this situation and along with other's responsibilities, what are mine?" Without the acceptance and understanding of grace, Christians miss the essential message of their own faith - Grace is the key that unlocks our selfishness. It makes us realize that we are the undeserved recipient of love, forgiveness and protection beyond measure, if we would only get out of the way and let God control it instead of us.

Who Holds the "Plan" for our lives?

Here I am again watching one of those television evangelist. Why, I don't know, except I want to know what America is learning about God. This preacher was talking to a group of students at a college chapel service and asked them to repeat the prayer and said "I reject the devil and his plan for my life. I accept Jesus and his plan for my life." I started to think, "Why do people, Christians, give the devil as much power as God?" Do we really have no control over our lives and have to let some unseen entity create, impose and direct a "plan?" I do think that God has a plan that he would like to see happen for all of us. However, I also believe that God gives people the power of choice, to decide how they will run their lives and what there "plan" is for that life. I seem to remember that Jesus did not force a plan on the rich young ruler who asked him how to go to heaven. Scripture records that the man walked away sad because he was unwilling to do what Jesus had asked of him. Then scripture records that Jesus turned to his disciples and talked to them. It does not record him chasing the man down and saying, "Hey you did not understand that I have a plan and you need to choose it, because if you don't your doing the devil's plan."
So I come to question the reasoning that says you must choose one or the other and that it is really not up to us at all. This reasoning that says that we are just the creator and his adversary's chess and checker pieces. We really do not have a choice and this must be what it is like if we follow the reasoning of the afore mentioned preacher. I think that it is sad that this is used as a way to explain our relationship to God and his creation. I see it as a way that none of us have to be responsible because it is either "God's plan" or "the devil made me do it." It allows people the opportunity to absolve themselves from any responsibility and choice for their behavior. It does not appear to follow what Jesus taught and actually did - allow people to make their own choices about their own lives. So who or what really holds the "plan" for our lives?

Does God Really Work Like That?

I am sitting here right now and looking at "The Healing Hour" with Richard and Lindsay Roberts and I am asking myself the question above. Does God really wait for me to give "them" a "seed faith" of a thousand dollars so that He will bless me? It just seems so fake and full of fear to make people give their money so that God will not be "mad" at them and not bless them. Now, I am not saying that God can't do anything he wants in anyway he wants, despite the person or message that is being portrayed, because he most definitely can. However, would Jesus be on the television asking us to give money so that he can send college kids to school, finance the repairs of the buildings or make sure that home school children would get their curriculum? Can we really picture Jesus on our television saying that he would only bless you if you "release your faith" and "plant a seed" and "sow your faith."
I sure believe that faith is a requirement of any spiritual life, but do I need to show it by giving or believing that I will be well and rich for the rest of my life? Is there something wrong with me if I get sick sometimes or struggle at times to make ends meet? Do I really lack faith and therefore disappointed God? They never really say this directly, but it sure is implied all over the place, isn't it? So this brings me back to my original question - What if grace is true? Does God really work like that?

How Should We Treat Each Other?

So how should we treat our fellow brother and sister? The terrible happenings in the gulf coast should make us all think, "How does God expect us to treat those around us?" Jesus said that as we have treated he least of these so we have treated him. I also remember him teaching that there will be those who think that they will make it to heaven, but will be shocked by the reception they receive from their savior. Jesus said that many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord. However, Jesus will reply, "depart from me for I do not know you." They will ask him how that could be and he will tell them because he was naked and they did not clothe him, hungry and did not feed him and in prison and did not visit him. Still dumbfounded, they will ask, "When did we see you in these circumstances?" Jesus will tell them that how they have treated the least of these, so have they treated him.
What a shock for those who thought they were doing God's work by preaching and making this world turn to Christ! Today I believe that there are many Christians in the United States today that are in this situation. They believe that they are on their way to heaven, but would never "lower" themselves take care of the least of us. I hear people say that it is the people's fault for not leaving the city, they should have left when asked. I wonder when I hear this how many of the ones saying this would say they are "Christian?" Do they forget the story of the Good Samaritan and Jesus' own actions of reaching out to the lowest of his time? I hear them say and act out all too often that only those they deem "worthy" will make it to heaven.
Who are these worthy? Do we have to be just like them? Do we all have to learn how to "take care of ourselves," and "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps?" If you listening to Rush and many on the religious right, this is what you must do and anything less is just your fault. Now I do believe that there are those who refuse to take the appropriate advantage of the help they are offered, but they are few. To listen to many of the religious right leaders it sounds like America is just about to fall over the abyss to a terrible socialist state. Could it be that they are pushing the country there by their own refusal to follow the commandant of Christ - to love thy neighbor as thyself?

What if grace is true?

This is my first post on my own blog. I guess I will start where I am in my life at this current moment. What if God's grace is true? What does this mean for the people of the world? How should it effect, not only our lives, but the lives of those around us? Grace, to me, means that there is nothing that we can do to make God love us more and nothing that we can do to make God love us less. God has loved us before the moment we were thought of or born. I encounter so many people who seem to be unable to grasp this concept. We somehow feel that we must make ourselves perfect to have an experience of God. However, I have found God in the valley's of life, walking with me and carrying me. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for "sin" and made the way to God for everyone, not just the privileged few who do enough good. I do think that Jesus was actually talking to those who think they are the "privileged few" when he told the people that "many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord, but I will tell them depart from me for I never knew you." (not a direct quote) If grace is true I think it means that we are to give it to all just as it was given to us by God. This means that we must show love, mercy and acceptance to those who we think would not deserve it and would never be given it by God. However, we are given it so why not them?
This is where I think that if we all apply this principle to our lives, what a difference it would make. So many who claim that they know God and do not apply this principle to their own lives, much less give this gift to others. So how hard is it, and why is it so hard for us to accept the gift that God so freely gives? What is so hard to believe that the Creator made the creation and desires to redeem it all. Is it so hard to believe that God never wants to be separated from any of the creation? For those of us who have children, how do we love them? Are they loved with conditions or with a set of rules, or do we love them no matter when we are disappointed in the choices they make? Why would God love any differently? We are all loved and accepted, do we really accept it and believe it ourselves? How would it change how we live and interact with those around us? How would it change how we see others that cross our path that we would usually cast some type of judgmental statement in our thoughts? Do we realize that we are all connected and in need of love and acceptance to survive and feel that connection?