Category — Spirituality

We’ve had two Compassion International kids for over a decade, and the experience has been fantastic.  They are a great group with a real heart for children.  Their work makes a material difference in the lives of the kids.

My cute CI Kids.

I love my 2 kids!  Uwimana is from Rwanda and a sweet, sweet girl.  She has struggled in school and hardship at home, but has come a long way from when we first sponsored her.   Helio is a handsome boy from Brazil who loves soccer and art.  He lives with his Grandmother and every letter from him comes with a beautiful picture.

Emily thinks of them as being a sort of brother and sister and sometimes plays with their pictures, making them talk as if they were really with her.  She mentions them often enough to let us know that their lives and struggles have had an effect on her, even at 4.

For a few bucks a month, its a great way to make a personal difference in the lives of people who really need it.

Compassion International

I was shocked and saddened at the news about Heath Ledger.  I knew very little about the real man, but I was a big fan of his work.  He always seemed like a very nice person on screen.  After talking with a gentleman that knew him first hand, I now know that it was an accurate representation.  He was described by this person as “Very kind… A brilliant artist.”

I pray that God grant Heath’s family and friends His Peace, which transcends all understanding, at this extremely tough time…

Heath Ledger

I can get along with just about anybody.

Seriously, I’m not joking. In my entire life I can literally count on one hand the number of people that I’ve met that I didn’t like. And, if I’m honest, the number is really only one person that I just couldn’t get out from under my skin.

Its true. Only one person in over 3 decades. Isn’t that amazing? Oh, I freely admit that there are some people that I like spending time with less than others, but thats just natural. The other? Not so natural.

A very good friend of mine said to me today, “Andy, your greatest strength is that you love people very easily.”

He’s right, I really do. In fact, its easy if you know how to.

You can do it too.

Seriously! Wouldn’t you like to be able to take almost every annoying jerk in your life and somehow turn them into a New Them? A Them that you can get along with, learn to like and eventually, maybe, even one day love? Who wouldn’t want that!?

The secret is maddeningly simple when you know it.

When I start to get to know someone I simply think to myself:

What was God thinking when He made them?

I’m sure you’ve met some people that have made YOU think that too, right?! Seriously though, I really don’t mean that in a funny way. I mean it with all sincerity.

I picture the Master Craftsman sitting in His workshop with a handful of new clay, pondering the beauty of the raw material of life. As His hands start to mold the clay, all of His Love and blessing pours into the form as he works it into a shape unlike any other ever created. His thumbs mold the face, and his fingers set the nose just so. He places the eyes in the exact way that He means them to be and He knits the strands of their being in a way that make complete sense to Him. He even numbers the hair on their head, each one having its place and purpose for that which He has called them to be - for what He is creating them to be, right before my eyes! Then, when the outside shell is ready, His Word breathes life into them and makes their spirit in His image. He creates them just like Him - He the Father and they the children. He knows each challenge and fear they will face; each triumph that will make their spirit soar. In His awesome wisdom, He knows and Loves this new creation and desires nothing more than a deep relationship with it. He wants to be loved by it in return.

REVELATION!

That jerk is the object of God’s desire!

Have you ever worked with someone, or known someone that is a hard and tough person most of the time, but then you see them with their kids and a new person leaps out of their eyes? They smile, they joke, they goof around and make funny noises and for a brief moment, you can see the love that they have inside finally come out on the outside.

That’s what I’m talking about. I envision the Love that God has for that person and try to see exactly what it is that He loves about them. Is it their laugh? Their heart? Or maybe its the kind of weird way that they stick their tongue out when they are concentrating on something. How many ways does a Parent love His child? It is nearly immeasurable. All you need to find is just one. One will make a huge difference in how you see that person.

Sure, with some people it is harder than with others. Some people take a bit of effort, but the more that you do this, the easier it is. We are called to be more like Him, and He is love.

Would you like another small revelation? God Loves His children and therefore they are lovable! Isn’t that alone an amazing thought? The person that you can’t stand is LOVED by someone! Loved by God, if by no one else. If you try to see someone from His eyes, it is hard to not like them.

This attitude really can help in everything - in family life, with friends, with coworkers, with neighbors - everywhere!

I know, I know… Some of you probably think that this is a childish and stupid philosophy. That’s really OK with me. You can live your life however you would like. In fact, I believe that you have a God given right to choose to live with those jerks and hate every minute of it! The choice is really up to you. There will always be jerks in your life, but how you choose to view them can really change how you feel about them.

Me? I’m going to go spend some time with some of my other friends…

How to Like Anyone, friends, jerks, God's Love

This is beautiful…

United States Flag, Cross

After it was all over and Noah lowered the ramp of the ark for all the animals to leave, he told the animals to “go forth and multiply.”
 
All the animals left except two snakes who lay quietly in the corner of the ark.
 
“Why won’t you go forth and multiply?” demanded Noah.
 
“We can’t,” answered the snakes. “We’re adders.”

Noah, ark, snakes, joke

to those who believe differently than I do about this topic.  I’m going to rant a bit…

I was just surfing a forum for some tech information and read a post by someone whose signature said:

__________________
The meaning of life? There is no meaning. You’re just a more complex carbon chain reaction than a dog, a tree, or an amoeba.

Now, I believe that God gave us free will and that this guy is entitled to his opinion.  No problem there.  I just think that it really must suck to live that way!  I mean, thinking that you are just an accident of chemistry, that there is nothing more to life than a complex happenstance of quirky molecular attraction.  How the hell can someone live like that?  How can you live thinking that there is NO meaning??  What keeps you from acting out every tiny whim?  Why don’t people like that stab their co-workers with a pencil when they whine during staff meetings?  How come they actually pay their taxes?  Why would you bother to do anythingother than exactly what you damn well pleased to at that exact moment?  See a hot chick?  Bend her over a barrel!  Like that guy’s car?  Hit him with a brick and take it!  It doesn’t matter! There is NO MEANING TO ANYTHING!

I can hear someone saying now - “Well, stupid, you don’t do that because of the consequences!  You’d get arrested, because in a civilized society people don’t do that to each other.  And those that do, suffer the consequences…”

Ok, good point, sounds good.  But think about it a bit more.  That means that society is the ultimate authority, the ultimate judge and the ultimate standard by which everything is measured.  We live our lives by society’s standards.  Isn’t that a “meaning” to life then?  Isn’t that what a “meaning” is?  If I say, “The meaning of life is to be happy” or “The meaning of life is to serve God” or “The meaning of life is to get rich” - aren’t those all things that one then judges himself by?  Am I happy?  Am I serving God?  Am I getting rich?  Meaning is a delineation - a mark in the sand whereby other things are judged.  So, if we say life has no meaning, but yet live in society, we are making society the ultimate authority and therefore the ultimate meaning.

Don’t you see how horrible that is?!  Society is the ultimate meaning!?  Are you kidding me?  All we live for is civil obedience?  Fitting in?  Keeping up with the Jonses?  Peer pressure is REALLY the best that it gets?

Society is the ultimate meaning???

How on Earth can that be?  Are you kidding me?  People really believe that crap?  Come on! Society produced these people:

And, even

I know, I know…  Not nice of me to throw that freaky drag-queen in with the picture of Hillary…  Oh, um, well um… Never mind.  *SNICKER*  (sorry, couldn’t help that! )

Anyway, my point is that society simply cannot be the paragon of existence and the ultimate achievement of life.  And, there MUST be meaning to life, because we all judge ourselves by something.  Even if you don’t believe in God - something is the lord of your life, and therefore it has meaning.  In fact, I really feel sorry for anyone who pretends that it doesn’t.  I think they are scared of reality with meaning, because they simply haven’t quite figured out what it is yet.  And, if they are wrong, there could be serious consequences.

In fact, I almost feel more sorry for them than I do for the goat pictured above.  No, not Hillary, the other one!  Ahem.  Really, I’m sorry. I’ll stop - honest, I will.  :D