Pride

Whenever I was away from the house for a bit and then came home, I always asked the kids if Ed McMahon had called when I was gone. Of course they always said no, and until I explained it to them one day, they never had a clue who Ed was or why he should call. They and their generation are way too young to have known Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon and the Tonight Show. They never really knew about his spokesman role for Publishers Clearing House and the prize patrol. Audrey sent me a text the day the news broke about Ed McMahon passing away. She said, well, he won’t be calling now for sure.

As I thought about this week’s topic, and how I was going to approach it, I started thinking about the role Ed played on the tonight show. I wondered how I could somehow use that in some kind of analogy of our lives as Christians. I know, I stretch the limits of my brain into often uncharted territory, but that’s me and how I do things.

Of course Mr. McMahon had his personal life, his hobbies, his goals, and his family, but on the Tonight show, his entire function and goal was to never draw attention to himself but to always make Johnny look good. He wasn’t to be in the spotlight, he was to always keep the audience and the focus on the Host. There was never room for personal pride or boasting as the sidekick. He introduced people to Johnny in his patent intro, Heeeerrrrrrrrrreesss Johnny! And then Carson ran the show.

Isn’t that what we should do as Christians, bring the attention of others to focus on the real leader? When people of our generation thought of Ed McMahon, they automatically thought of Johnny Carson. My point is, when people think of us, shouldn’t they automatically think of the Lord? Our lives should point them in that direction. Do people think of Christ, or what a Christian is, by our not taking pride in our selves but rather exuding who the Lord is in our lives?

1 John 2:16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

There is a Home Improvement chain here in the north that Mary and our California friends probably haven’t heard of, called Ziggys. They have a jingle in their advertisements on TV and Radio that is impossible to not sing along with when it comes on. You just do, you can’t help it. Ziggy’s Ya Ziggy’s. And how many of us have never emulated Mr. McMahon’s intro of Johnny. We just did, it was just one of those things.

Pride would be, drawing attention to ourselves and our deeds and thinking that it's all about us. We don’t have a jingle or catch phrase to introduce people to the Lord. What we have is our lives. We are the front man. Will people automatically think Christian, in a good way, by your introduction?

Thoughts on Matthew 24

Like many people, I buy a lot of things on-line. I get books and music, and many other things. There is a hot sauce company in Arizona that, to me, makes the best hot sauce ever. I buy it by the case, usually twice a year. Sometimes though I purchase things that are more important both in cost and what they mean to me. All the major shippers now have on-line tracking. Once you place an order you are given a tracking number and all you have to do is log on and see where your package is every step of the way. Maybe it’s in St. Louis on Tuesday, and Denver on Wednesday and the scheduled delivery date to you is Friday. The thing is, all you have to do is look where you are told to look and interpret what they are telling you, and it’s easy to see what’s happening and what you can expect next.

In Matthew 24, the disciples are pressing Jesus to tell them how they will know when he will be returning and what they need to look for. He tells them many things and signs that will signal his coming. There has always been, and until his actual return, will always be much conjecture about the exact time of Christ’s return. Matt: 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

We can’t know, but we can be ready. We have the Word and we have prayer and we can see the things happening in our world. We are charged with living our lives in certain ways. Pick up the Word, log on, and expect to be delivered on time, His time.

Hold on to Your Dreams

Dreaming and setting goals is always laudable, it's always good to do. When I mentor the kids at the high school its one of the first things we talk about; goal setting and planning. We also talk about failing at our goals. So if there is a chance that we will fail, should we then not set the goal? Those who truly fail are the ones who never begin. So you fail, so what. Pick yourself up, set a new goal and keep going. The growth comes from the process, not the end result.

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothing
One storm can come and blow it all away

Build it anyway

You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way

Dream it anyway

God is great, but sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray..it don't always turn out like I think it should

I do it anyway, I do it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart, for all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away

Love them anyway

You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in
That tommorow they'll forget you ever sang

sing it anyway

I'll sing, I'll dream, I'll love
anyway

(from Martina Mcbride, anyway)

How Do I Find Peace in My Life

The topic for this week asks the question; how do I find peace in my life? As I thought about this I began to ask myself; why don’t I have peace in my life in the first place? Why do I need to seek peace? I think that for the most part I get caught up in my own life, my own agenda, my own way, and forget to seek, or listen to the Lord.
Often, I have discovered that when I seek the Lord’s will and direction in my life, and spend time in prayer in that matter, He is faithful to give me that direction and his will. When I then know what it is I should be doing and choose another path I lose the peace that comes from being in the Lord’s will.
I’m not sure if what I am doing is placing the Lord in a superannuated position, acting as if He doesn’t know what’s best for me, or not, but it would seem that way. Only when I begin to follow the leading, and continue to seek Him and pray, do I then begin to experience that peace again.
It’s a thin line I walk many times. My humanness and sinful nature constantly battle for my will. It’s who we are as humans. We have to choose to find that peace, even when the easiest path serves our nature and is more appealing.
I struggle, I fail, I get back up again, I grow.