Hitch Hiking

 

"No Servant can serve two masters.

Either he will hate the one and love the other,

or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money."

(Luke 16 vs. 13 and Matthew 6 vs. 24)

 

            In the 1950s, as teenagers, hitchhiking was one of our primary means of transportation. We hitched to the ball field, to the next town, the beach; wherever busses did not go we hitched. When mom would give me a nickel for the bus,  we would stand there with my thumb out hoping to save the nickel to buy candy! There were a lot of fond memories generated by the people met and the rides shared. 

            H. Norman Wright in his book All My Strength writes about hitchhikers. Below are his thoughts:

“But consider the hitchhiker for a moment. He wants a free ride. He has no responsibility at all for the vehicle. He doesn't have to buy a car, pay insurance, upkeep or gas. Have you ever had a hitchhiker who volunteered to pay for gas? Not likely. He wants a free ride, a comfortable ride, a safe ride, and sometimes imposes upon you to take him out of your way. It's as though he expects you to do this for him.  

There are a lot of spiritual hitchhikers today. They know the Lord, but they want a free ride. They want all the benefits of being a Christian but none of the responsibilities or the costs. No accountability, no commitment, no willingness to serve, and if it begins to cost, they bailout. 

    The decision to serve God or serve ONES self is a big one. We can't serve both. We can hitchhike in our faith or we can serve our God. The ride is better with Him. 

Thought for Today: Let us think about the hitchhiker and the driver. The driver is a willing giver. The hitchhiker has a need and thus is a taker. That describes Christians very well and it is OK to be a taker. We do need to decide which we are, which we will be rather than what we want to be. This season let us take a step forward and up. Let us pursue a better ride.

 

 

Straight to our Heart

“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the LORD^[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.”

(Isaiah 40 vs. 3) 

            When driving in the UK where the roads are windy and twisty, occasionally we come to a long straight road that goes on for miles. My wife, a Brit, explained to me that those are ancient Roman roads laid out 2000 years ago. I found that impressive. 

            In ancient times leaders built roads for their armies to move. They are long and straight and efficient so they could move quickly. The valleys are filled by pushing the tops of the hills. They facilitated the need. In New England where I grew up, there are very few straight roads. They paved the cow paths and horse trails which tended to follow the river beds. It is tough for strangers to find their way. 

            The message today is that we need to be sure of our road to the lord; that it needs to straight. There needs to be a straight connection between God and our hearts. We need to allow the simplest two way travel possible in our complex world; straight to our heart. 

Thought for Today: Today let’s think about where our road takes us; where are we going. Perhaps we can take a few bends out and travel straight. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we live in a complex world and are surrounded by too much activity and are overcommitted. Today we thank you for being with us and pray that we may keep our hearts open to you and stay on a straight and holy path.

Amen

 

Winning

  Winning

 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of

compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so

that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have

received from God."

 (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) 

            Who in our lives are the winners? Some say the one with the most toys wins. That is a materialistic one-liner that gives me goosebumps. However, in our society today, we pursue "things" instead of happiness and peace. So who are the real winners and how do they win? 

God placed us here to be his stewards with our priority to be sharing the gifts we received from Him with others. That seems to be a very tall order. However, we always feel great when we have reached out and helped a friend or stranger. Is that not when we feel the best? 

God gives us resources in many different forms. We have money that we earn and the knowledge that we have learned. We graciously share these things with our families and children and that makes us feel good. Many people also reach out beyond their family units and share. There are ways to share and sow the seeds that God has given us to plant, and we are real winners when we reach out and share our gifts.

Thought for Today: Let us look for an opportunity to help someone; perhaps someone who is sick, someone hurting or someone lonely. If we fail in finding someone, let’s share some extra with our Church. Sharing a bit will make us feel better. 

Prayer for Today:  Heavenly Father, we are living in a troubled world. Civil unrest, road rage, families in strife, and other tragic incidences. Today we pray for an opportunity to help and share with someone, an opportunity to demonstrate your Grace through our actions.

Amen.

Who's Macro?

Who’s Macro?

"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David.

But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. ⁸

Your servant is here among the people you have chosen,

a great people, too numerous to count or number. ⁹

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.

 For who can govern these great people of yours?"

(1 Kings 3vs 7-10) 

            Please do not take this as a political piece but it seems like my life is out of control. Not the daily issues but in computer terms, it seems my Macro needs to be reset. Where is the land of milk and honey, the golden years or to live happily ever after? We are trained to look for that in all those books our mom read to us when we were growing up. 

            Well, another old-time expression is “life begins at 40”. It may not seem like that as you approach that milestone but at over eighty looking back seems that way. It is all a matter of perspective. Believe it or not, age 50 through 70 are most often the best years of our lives; enjoy them. 

Macro Issues

“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

³gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law

….Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

 Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.

(Galatians 5 vs. 22 & 24) 

            My macro issues are with the new world economy and what is happening in the world. It is like “we the people” do not get our say in the issues. We all want to have income, end war, reduce taxes, and live happily ever after. That is the challenge. 

            The solution is that we need to focus on the correct Macro; the spirit of our Christian Faith as opposed to the Government macro. Over the years, politics around the world changed things. The new world economy seems more autocratic with less supply and demand. The new normal created by a pandemic even altered lifestyles. They have not impacted the words of the Lord- The real Macro was written by Paul. 

Thought for Today: We need to focus on our daily lives for survival, there is no truer fact. With that said, today let’s do what we need to do to survive but keep Paul’s letters and the word of our Lord in our daily lives. It will fit in if we let it. 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, today we pray for our world and country. We pray that we can find a way back to Jesus's word and Paul’s macro.

Amen

 

Difference

 Here is a sad story from the early 50s that we have not solved yet. I used to take the bus from the end of my street in Saugus Mass to the YMCA in Lynn, the next town. My classmate and good friend , Richie Gibbs, was frequently on the same bus. He would get of at one end of Market Street and I the other. We were both going to swim practice, him at the JCC and me at the YMCA, How sad it that.

Differences

"...let us stop passing judgment on one another.

Instead, make up our minds not to put an obstacle in our brothers' way."

(Romans 14:13)

Growing up in Boston in the 1940s and 1950s my family was very strict on who was acceptable and who was not; prejudicial to the max. I have come to believe that the types of things that existed were from the fear of competition within our society. Fear that the Italian and Irish immigrants would become equals to the old-time New Englanders; the blacks, Catholics, and the WASPish list went on. (I made up that word WASPish.)

There was a definite trend to block the social development of certain sections of society. It was the end of the era when some factories' help wanted signs stated “Irish need not apply.” It was a sad time.

The good news is that I was blessed to be a YMCA brat growing up and they were leaders in treating people as equals. I mixed with all factions and never saw any difference so it was hard for me to buy into my family's ideas. At one point I was advised by my grandmother that my Italian friends were not welcome at her house.

At the YMCA, our director, Jim Goodwin, was a leader in educating us in equality (in the 1950s). Paige, his daughter daughter tells me that he spent time reaching out to the JCC (Jewish Community Center) and scheduling joint events. Jim was special and well before his time.

My senior year of high school was at Huntington Prep in downtown Boston. It was my first exposure to a truly mixed nationality and race community. We all had a shared goal, get into a good college. We studied together, trained together, and were fond of each other. It was a confusing time because they were great guys and my family had a true WASish background.

My story has a point somehow I was blessed by being exposed to worldly people and was blind to the differences. My friends were varied. the moral is clear, love your neighbor and do not be afraid to show it.

Thought for Today: Today we will interact with people of all kinds; recognize them as equals and the blessings of our differences. Love them all unconditionally.

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and Father somehow America, home of the free, still harbors prejudices within our society. Today we pray that we can learn to accept others as St. Paul suggested.

Amen

Letting Go

Letting Go 

"So if anyone is in Christ,

there is a new creation:

 everything old has passed away..." 

(2 Corinthians 5:17). 

        With God's help, we can release the past and live in the now. By accepting God's presence in our life, we can release the past rather than reliving it. Holding on to hurtful memories takes us down roads that lead nowhere. With God's help, we can choose new directions and turn from a nowhere destination to live in the here and now.

 

            There is a piece of all of us that seems to need to live in the negative past. Divorced people can hold resentments for years; accident victims often recent the other driver; workers frequently hold grudges against their managers in the workplace, and it goes on. It is easy to do, but in the scope of Christianity, it does not fit. 

Forgiveness is what leads to peace and happiness.     

 Today is a new day in which we can discard the baggage of old habits that limit us. Start anew with God and through divine guidance, take control of our lives and be receptive to all the goodness that God has to offer.           

Yes, today is the first day of the rest of our life. 

Thought for Today:  Today think about what wears us down. When it is a historical issue, deal with it. If you can adjust to the situation, do it. If you can switch to something positive, do it. If you can not resolve the negativity, pray about it. 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and Father, we need you in our lives more than ever. There are so many negative issues it is often difficult to focus on your goodness. We give thanks for the many blessings that you bring to our lives; the great friends that we need; the world that surrounds us with beauty and our families that bless our lives. We thank you as our creator for our many blessings.

Amen

 

Forgive and Love

 Forgive and Love

 

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—
 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s."
(Psalm 103: 2-5)

 

            Grace means that we are forgiven. We all have, in our history, reasons to be forgiven and memories of being forgiven. I pray that all readers find the previous statements true and ask that we think about the many times in our lives when we were down and out, possibly guilt-ridden. Within a family or social structure growing together spiritually so that faults are forgiven creates great landmarks in our lives.

 

            Children often misbehave. Fight over toys, sneak a treat before dinner; the simple things. We almost always forgive them after a consequence. That is a great example of our love. As teens, some behaviors are  more extreme, but we again forgive the behavior and show our love.

 

            When we were growing up, we often had disagreements with our siblings, friends, and neighbors. Most of the time, we forgave each other and grew from the experience.  That's just life. However, each time we forgave someone or were forgiven ourselves, we created a landmark in our lives.

 

            Forgiveness and love are what create family and social landmarks in our lives. They create memories that make us what we are. To be a positive and happy person it is important to be aware of the many times that God's will has generated forgiveness in our lives and be grateful. We have all experienced His grace through these landmark events.

Thought for Today: Realize that God forgives us for our sins. We pass forgiveness to others who have wronged us. Through the act of forgiving others, we receive the reward of "good feelings" and a growing relationship. Let us focus on being tolerant and forgiving of other’s unique qualities and behaviors.

Prayer for Today: Dear Loving God, often we find ourselves offended by the behaviors of others. We have noisy neighbors, careless drivers, inconsiderate fellow employees, and many other factors in our lives. Sometimes it is difficult to be a good Christian when dealing with irritants. This week we pray that we can behave as Christ would behave when tested by our society. We pray that we may display tolerance and love for all. Amen