I Am NOT Just a Number

Suffering surrounds us. Heartache, pain, guilt, wrong choices, failures, and shattered dreams are words we fight to flee. What if... these are the very words... the very things we need... to open us up to change... Maybe we are still complacent, still unkind, still loveless, still angry and bitter, unforgiving, stubborn, because we haven’t been shattered.... What if we are meant to suffer... meant to shatter... meant to break... because if we don’t... we will never reach the next step to healing... What motivates us to love? What breaks down our walls so that we will let people in? Many of us have professions that allow a very thin line to let down our guard. We must all be very cognizant of our level of naitivity and openness because the world we live in is full of evil and hate. Not all of us are exposed to this on the same level and many are strong enough to drown out the "negative side effects" of a very heavy hearted society. And there is no room for failure... no time ...

In the MSN dictionary, a neighbor is considered someone who lives nearby or close to us. In smaller font, a neighbor is described as a fellow human being. This is exactly the "fine print" Jesus alluded to in Luke 10 when a Jewish "expert” lawyer asked him the question "who is our neighbor". This was in response to an old Leviticus verse stating "love thy neighbor as thyself". Here is an attorney who is asking a stupid question. Jesus, who made time even for stupid questions, dumbed it down, for this "expert" in religion and law. If you want eternal life, you must love God with all your heart, anddddd love your neighbor. Why was this so hard for a Jewish attorney to swallow...? because Jesus’ definition of neighbor didn't fall into his comfortable little box. It is not, of course, hard to love your best friend, family, or those in your "social circle"... What is hard... is loving those that are outside of your comfort zone... th...

According to the "levtitical statutes" or the "Holiness Code" back in the Old Testament day, God put the responsibility of loving other nations, on God's people. Leviticus 19:33 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt". When the expert in the law approached Jesus in the book of Luke and attempts to trip him up with a theological question "who is our neighbor", Jesus knew that this verse was studied and known by him... but that he was attempting to avoid loving certain others.... because he was ate up with prejudice. The parable of the Good Samaritan hit close to home because this lawyer, a Jew, despised Samaritans. Even in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a priest, and a Levite, both passed one of their fellow Jews... who lay wounded on the ground and di...

Kindness stops the bleeding... when we bloody our hands by healing the wounded , we can begin the richest kind of praise... (Calvin Miller)... Not the praise you sing on the dance floor of an 80's club... or the excitement you felt when the Gators lost... but a true worship experience.... Many of us were raised in the church... we went sun mornin.. sun nite.. wed nite... and various other days for retreats... and events... we went mostly because we were forced.... many were "turned off" by the hypocrisy of the church members.....because churches are very similar to political parties.... the gloves come off... the ugliness is revealed... and many could not run fast enough from the "drama".... the "guilt"... the two-faced bad examples.... so they never looked back.... When we look at the parable Jesus was teaching the Jewish lawyer in Luke 10.... he was trying to open the lawyers eyes to the truth.... the truth was this lawyer needed to STOP studying... ...

The cool thing about God is that he waits for us to "grow up". Like a parent, he understands the growing process, the growing pains, and does not "limit his love" based on our perfection. This is an encouraging thought because we are constantly in a process of growing... Thankfully he waits for us to let go of our "pacifiers" and grow out of our "diapers" so that we may follow the example he has led for us... Eph 2:4 ""But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved". The very fact that "we are loved" is amazing. I need God to love me because many times I disappear into this "zone of loneliness" or "quiet heartache" and need that nudge of inspiration to get me through the day. It’s my time in prayer, quick smile to a stranger, and glance at a child's innocent eyes... that awaken me...

Since I am finished with my devotional on kindness and am waiting for the "Love Dare" book for Christmas "hint hint" mom and dad, I will begin studying current events and applying them to a more spiritual tense... so that I am not just inundated with the world.. Without the balance of the spiritual realm... which is much more important....... Lady Gaga has plunged into the American scene with a fierceness... whether it is her weird antics or her "tea with the queen"... she has hit #1 on Itunes with her song "bad romance"... it is a very catchy song that is especially good for an alarm clock wakening "rah rah ..Ah ah ha... Roma...roma-ma"... some of you can sing along... she starts off with "I want your ugly, I want your disease... I want your everything as long as it’s free" "I want your love, love, love"" and so on... Isn’t is interesting that even the coolest of songs... basically deal with our human need for ...

We all remember the movie "The Passion of the Christ"... we sat there... awed... inspired... frozen... guilty... The movie inspired emotions of many kinds to sweep through us... We were angered and felt as if we were jurors sitting in on a trial but this time with pictures... not just words... that we scanned quickly... denying any responsibility of the death... of a King... this movie awakened us.. To the grim reality... the truth... Whether we were a believer... or a student of the Arabic language... even those who have never taken one second of their life... to listen to "the message" or watch a humble man flogged and humiliated not just in front of the Roman people so many years ago...but in front of us... in a single movie.. We were exposed to the shame and lack of justice that none of us like to see... Why??? Because we want to see the guilty punished... not the innocent... this is why for ten years we have watched a full hour of CSI, Law and Order, Monk, and ...

Many "extremists" are calling this season the "shopocolypse"... an interesting perspective... from the movie "What would Jesus buy?" it says that America was once a nation of producers that has turned into a nation of consumers.. It depicts a little girl in her room surrounded by toys and asks her if she has too many? Which of course she did... It then gives us a glimpse of holiday traffic and calls our "place of worship" in celebration of Christmas, the malls... our god? The credit card... which leads us to "eternal death"... though it sounds extreme... it does give us an interesting perspective on what Christmas has truly become... The movie states that statistically we spend under one hour a week in religious or spiritual time...but over 5 hours a week shopping... It shows stampeding crowds running over each other on black Friday... and calls us shopaholics and addicts... their key statement?? YOU DONT HAVE TO BUY A GIFT TO GIVE A GI...

Why People Die for a Lie? On Christmas day, a Nigerian man stepped on to a plane full of 300 strangers... with a plot to kill them... His explosive device hidden... in the most popular pair of underwear revealed this year across the world... His vision of doom and despair, on that cold Christmas flight to Detroit, was foiled when his explosive device failed to detonate. Northwest Airlines, I am sure breathed a short sigh of relief but our security in the air continues to be compromised... What kind of religious "hocus pocus" calls for its believers to "kill" those that aren’t followers? Why would the mission of a "God" be to have a believer load an "explosive device" in his underwear, sneak it through security, board a plane, and kill all 300 passengers (men, women, and children) because they do not belong to the same denomination? This is extremism... and is not just seen in the Muslim culture... we have extremist "Bible thumpers" who ...

The Love Dare is a book that challenges us to love...We give up so easily.... because love is work.... and we are a lazy generation... In a nation full of failing marriages where for better or for worst really means only "for the better"... relationships that were once blooming in the good times....wilt and die through the bad times... This book is a study guide that was released with the movie "Fireproof" starring Kurt Cameron as he finds himself out of love with his wife and in "two different places"... he is challenged by his father to study what love really is... This book is not just for marriages but can be applied to everyday relationships and learning to love all those we come in contact with... It gives you a different love dare (challenge) each day... In a society where we want everything done for us, fast food, valet, remotes, robot vacuums, diet pills... there are some things... we must learn to do for ourselves............ The first day of th...