PuttingTruthFirst

A couple of years ago when my little grandson was only four we would have what he called sleepovers.  He would stop at my back door and wait for me to let him in.  He had his little backpack and a box of toys in his hands.  The anticipation of sitting on the floor with him and playing with what was then his favorite toy was delightful to me.  I knew that it would not be long until a visit with Granny might not be so cool.   As a result, I am always thrilled to see him.  He immediately told me everything that he had planned to do.  We would kiss Mom or Dad goodbye, depending on who brought him over and prepare for a fun evening.  After dinner it would be time to look in the box to see what he brought.  I recognized immediately this favorite toy, it was Thomas the Train and most of his friends.  We would set up the little track on the floor while talking of our plans for making Thomas useful.  The theme throughout the stories about...

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  My Mom quoted that many times to her children as we grew up.  I tended to be the sensitive type and cruel teasing words did hurt me.  The person who can say with a straight face that words have no power is foolish indeed.  We need to only look around at what is going on in lives today to really appreciate the power of the tongue.  The case of a young man taking his own life because of scorn and ridicule is right up front to demonstrate the power of an uncontrolled mouth.  Someone once said that "The pen is mightier than the sword."  He certainly understood the power of words, written or spoken.  In junior high and high school, young people generally accept that someone will pick on them.  It is, sad to say, a rite of passage, however, today the same smallness and meanness of spirit is carried forth all the way into adulthood.  It seems that the size of ones body does...

Many people today do not realize the power of fear over their own lives.  We have people who fear just about everything spiders, germs, the end of the world, different religions, different ideas, being alone, being in a crowd, fear of losing self if they throw away a piece of paper, the list is really endless.  While serving as a minister over the years, I encountered many individuals who were literally held captive by fear.  These people struggled everyday to cope with what they imagined might happen to them.  One particular individual had a panic attack while driving one of the freeways in a very large city.  Feeling as though her heart was about to stop, she was paralyzed.  She found herself gasping for air.  She grabbed her chest and prepared to die.   The incident only lasted for a few seconds but would continue to occur each time she drove on the freeway.  Gradually, like Pavlov's dog experiment, she allowed the fear to prohibit ...

Isn't it funny that whatever we have to do takes up all of the time we have?  If it is just a brief shopping trip before we know it other things we had planned must be pushed aside.  We plan to make a few phone calls and by the time we are finished all of the day has been spent and we feel as if our time wasn't used wisely.  Such is the life of man, never really taking control just floating with the current, reacting to the events of the day.  So many demands are placed upon us and so many voices try to direct what we do.  Our boss has a goal for us, or perhaps a friend has need of us.  Maybe a spouse is demanding some of our time or a child.  Whoever or whatever sounds the loudest and has the most power over our lives tends to get their needs met the quickest.  Do you ever feel that you are racing over a cliff with no brake and no hope of stopping?  Life can feel that way sometimes.  In the scriptures we sometimes read this phrase, but...

I love these words "O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.  Fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear him lack nothing."  I can remember times when my Mom would introduce a new dish at our evening meal.  As little kids, we would look at her like she was trying to poison us.  She would say, "Just take a taste, you will like it, I promise."  Those who were adventurous would.  Those who were not so brave would not.  Gradually, Mom added fewer and fewer new dishes to our dinners because she found the six or seven meals that we liked the most and that is what she would cook.  We began to know that Monday would be spaghetti, Tuesday would be Salmon and Macaroni and Cheese, Wednesday would be meatloaf or some combination of hamburger meat, Thursday Chicken and Friday Pizza. This was for the most part the way it went.  Mom would still try occasionally to feed us a new dish but our continual rejectio...

its that time again, time to pay our taxes.  We hear so much about the demands on each of us to pay taxes.  To me the whole thing is quite simple.  This is the conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisees about taxes.  First the Pharisees used flattery.  They talked of Christ's integrity and His teaching of the way of God always in truth. They also stated that men had no sway over what Christ did and that Christ did not pay attention to them.  Sometimes I think we would be a lot better off if we didn't pay attention to some of the things going on around us.    Sorry, I must digress momentarily.  I am really amazed that anyone could call what goes on television and radio news.  It is absurd.  I think sometimes the corporately owned media has decided to spoon feed use with dribble to keep us distracted as a society.  Their motto is like Jack Nicholson's line in one of his movies: "Truth, You can't handle the truth!"  And ...

Some months ago my brother died.  I was tasked with the job of closing out his life here on this earth.  It was and still is the most difficult task I have ever had to do.  To be peering into his life in a way that I would never have felt comfortable with.  He and I shared everything with one another.  We talked about what I believed and what he believed.  My brother told me that he was an atheist.  I on the other hand am Pentecostal.  For years we had discussions and continued a relationship as close friends not only siblings.  He discussed his problems and I discussed mine.  The differences in what we believed did not inhibit our ability to accept one another.  I thought of this as I watched a portion of Meet the Press on television Sunday after church.  There were several men and one woman  discussing the right of the government to enact laws against religious beliefs.  I was confounded that these very people want...

Sometimes I find myself walking down an unfamiliar pathway.  I know that I have not stepped off of the original path but here I am looking at terrain that is different.  Trees are of a different variety, flowers are those that I have not yet observed.  My center of orientation is slightly off and for several moments I feel a bit lost.  Where am I exactly?  I don't recognize this place.  I notice the people about me are kind and loving.  They are talking about service, giving and sharing.  They arrive at the building we worship in each and every Sunday faithfully.  They freely contribute.  They are well educated and committed to God's work.  Yet something is different.  I am unsure of what it might be then I begin to realize what the differences are.  They have arrived at a point in the journey in which they must chose if they are here to continue seeking God or to just do good works and think that that will ensure their p...

Religion is man's attempt to explain God. Mankind is not capable of reaching God on their own. Only God can reach out to mankind. This has not prevented man from trying as he was born with a desire for God that can only be satisfied by coming to know Him.  Recently, I heard a story of a man who was held prisoner from the time of his birth until his escape from a communist country.  The type of government he lived under had no impact on his life since for all practical purposes he did not exist.  He was born into a prison society that existed primarily to maintain a populous to do needed work.  This man's life goal was simply to continue to survive.  He stole food from anyone including his own mother.  This meant nothing to him because the whole concept of what we typically think of as a mother meant nothing.  He displayed no innate moral compass.  Now there are those today who would say that his own inner sense of morality would take hold and th...

Will Truth Win Out and Whose Truth Will That Be? Today the world is full of people who think they have a corner on truth. Each struggles with their own particular interpretation and their own unique insight.  I have no corner on truth.  I do not claim a particular insight.  I can only proclaim what I believe to be right and true.  I base my observations on the outcome.  Truth brings about a just, right and peaceable outcome.  It generally does not come from man because our personal views are based so often on life circumstance not on teaching.  We struggle to be able to see what works for us and if that works we attempt to create a mold in which all must fit.  That is not truth.  It is our own particular system of rationalization.  We see what works and we replicate it repeatedly.  Or perhaps we are of those who seek truth and feel that we have hit the mother lode.  We glean a few ideas and from there we create an ideology th...

It is a truth that change is difficult. There are many types of change but for the purposes of this discussion we will address only two - the change that we initiate ourselves and secondly, the change that is forced upon us by outside parties, events or others out of our control. In either case, change is never easy. We love the familiarity of routine. It is hard to think of getting out of it. Our routine becomes habit and our habit is comfortable for us for the most part. I read once that routine or habit is a long grave with both sides kicked out. It is a rut. Comfortability does not necessarily mean that the routine or habit we have adopted is a good one. The truth is people enjoy and feel secure in habits even negative ones. So change of any kind is often viewed with a sense of uncertainty or even a sense of foreboding. We do not relish change. Change requires us to engage in something new or different. We recognize in our lives that we need to do some things. We realiz...

It is a very windy day again in Central Texas.  The wind could bring us the rain we still desperately need or it could be just hot and empty signifying nothing.  We seem to have a lot of hot air blowing these days with people accustomed to sound bites there is a whole lot of hot and empty springing forth.  Would that we could learn to be less about talking and more about listening.  Listeners are hard to find.  It seems that most people consider a conversation to be an act of allowing them to vent on the subjects they find important without the boredom of having to listen to the poor individual they are venting too.  The bags of hot air walk about and spew their anger and maliciousness to all they say and listen to no one.  How can truth ever win out under such circumstances?  How can we ever learn to think differently?  It can seem impossible to most of us.  We stand amazed at the condition of our world, the bullying of one another or ...