What Team Are You On?

What Team Are You On?

With Christmas quickly approaching we find ourselves in the season of giving. At a time when the fields are empty and the weather cold we find ourselves in midst of a holiday where we are supposed to come together and give to one another from our abundance. It is the time of year that I often wish we could sustain throughout the whole year. Opening our hearts and giving is what God calls for. He wants us to love and give. He wants us to have compassion and forgiveness. God gives us life, this world, talents, love, wisdom, free will, intellect and most of all his only son and through him he gave us himself. However at this time in the world we find life pulling us in an opposite direction. The world tells us that we should serve ourselves. It encourages us to keep our eyes focused on little portable video screens at all time so that we can be entertained. Millions of pictures and sound bites compete for our attention every day which makes me wonder if we are so focused on screens and ourselves are we aware what is going on right in front of us. I always find that the best place to start working with compassion is right in front of my face, void of a video screen. When I have done all I can do there I move outward. I am no great man. I am a sinner in fact but I know that God believes in me and you that we can each become so much more, so much better and help so many in need. As God is there for us every day I encourage you to be there for him every day. I encourage you to love God and everyone you meet everyday. For the gifts and the happiness that I have found loving God and loving others far surpasses anything that I have ever attained for myself. God wants us to truly find heaven here on earth and we can build it if we can start to love each other every day. The only question that remains for me to you is, are you on the team of ME or WE?

Matthew 15:29-37
29And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there. 30And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" 34And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

All In or All Out, That is the Question?

How much does it stink to be in need and not have any help. Once I walked home 15 miles because my car broke down and no one wanted to stop and pick me up. It was especially disheartening to see people I knew drive by without pause. Like it or not there will be times in all of our lives when we need help. Some of us are lucky and our time of need is not that dire. For others their distress can be life shattering. God knows that this world works best when everyone goes “all in”. I cannot count the times when people in this great land have come together and overcome great obstacles. God sent his son Jesus to show us how to love and taught us to love “all in”. Jesus the man himself even let himself be arrested, beat, mocked, spit on, nailed to a cross and left to die for us because Jesus loved “all in”. There is so much need in the world and it can all be tended to with love. I need, you need people all over this world need wether they know it or not. God didn’t make us all the same. He didn’t make each one of us a self contained self sufficient person. He created us each with needs and everyone with complimenting gifts so that we could learn to love. Love each other and take care of each other. To look beyond our own selfish flesh driven desires and become something more. I truly believe that if we all worked as hard at giving as we now do at getting that we would destroy famine, poverty, and sickness, but to do that we all need to go “all in”. We need to hold nothing back. I know that many right now may be shaking their heads thinking, “Yeah, thats great but it will never happen”, and with that attitude it won’t. Many are probably thinking that the problem is so impossibly large that it can never be conquered. It is true that we will not end poverty, sickness and famine today. However if we BEGIN today we can get there. If you want to get somewhere else the first thing you have to do is walk out the door. Unfortunately many stay inside and just lament that they are not where they want to be. It all begins by putting more love in the world than we are taking out RIGHT NOW, TODAY. Your part in this journey can be as easy as taking each day and smiling as much as possible. It’s amazing how you can see people transform right in front of you if you lock eyes with a smile. Whenever I feel lost on ideas of how I can give I look to Jesus. I open my Bible and look at his teachings. He loves you and is waiting to help and spend time with you. The question though is, Are you ready to go “all in”?

Luke 21:1-4

1He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; 2and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. 3And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."

Was I Going To Fall On My Face?

Have you ever felt so exhausted that you thought you might just collapse? I try and get up every morning and right now I have a cold, not the flu but a cold and it was working against me this morning. “Give up, give up”, my body kept telling me. All I wanted to do was go back home and curl up in bed. Problem is, life isn’t about me. I have 4 wonderful children and they all depend on me. I have a wonderful wife and she depends on me. I want to be healthy and have a long life so that I can provide for them until my children can be on their own. I want a long and healthy life because I love my wife and I do not want her to feel the abandon of an untimely death. Life is not about me. Seems like right now we live in a time wherever we turn everything is saying, “Take care of #1!” In America we live in a culture that encourages us to consume as much as we can, and if we don’t then we aren’t cool, we a big fat loser. God wants you to look outside of yourself. He knows what happens when everyone searches to only feed their own desires. We become self-centered and concieted. Those in need continue in need because those with extra do not care for their fellow person. God doesn’t want us to give our money in taxes to the government so that we they can care for the poor. God wants you to care for the poor. He wants you to see the humanity there. He wants you to see their faces. He wants you to help PERSONALLY. When we help each other we humble ourselves. Through that humility we can build relationships on love and understanding. Through love and understand we can find true peace and happiness. Happiness is not eating as many cheeseburgers possible, trust me I have tried. Happiness isn’t the nice car or the oversized home. Happiness is love and caring for each other. God doesn’t like clicks, he wants us to be one Church following his son Jesus Christ. God is very wise and I consult him everyday. I beg for his help and for him to share his wisdom. I read the teachings of Jesus and learn how to love. I ask for help from the Holy Spirit in times of trial and to help me stay or the path of righteousness. I am no one special. It is not about me. For me, it is about God and it is about YOU. The happiness and peace I find is unending. I encourage you to come into the fold as well. God loves you and is waiting. He wants to share because for God it’s not about him it’s about YOU. Who are YOU living for?

Luke 14:12-14

12He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."