Life Truths

We’re all friends here on this anonymous rollercoaster in the dark called the internet, right?  Can we be honest?  If you’re like me then there are purchases that you are enthusiastic about and then there are those purchases that cause you to sweat and your hand muscles to cramp as you hand over the cash or swipe the card.  Here are some examples in my life:

• Writing a check for girl scout cookies – enthusiasm!
• Writing a check to the IRS – not so much.
• Purchasing a large pizza and a dozen spicy wings – enthusiasm!
• Purchasing my wife’s low-fat rice cakes - not so much.
• Paying to go into Epcot or the Magic Kingdom – much enthusiasm!
• Paying to go into the dentist office – not so much.
• Purchasing a new part to get my hot tub working again – enthusiasm!
• Purchasing a new part to get my mower running again – not so much.

God also realizes that there might be things that we undertake in life with the wrong attitude.  Perhaps it’s a job or a responsibility and we go out it with that “not so much” attitude.  I was reminded that I need to keep my attitude in check by Paul in the Bible when he said  “He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.” Titus 2:14 (GW)

I guess that he wants us to all be enthusiastic about the good things we do since we carry His grace with us wherever we go.  In the 80’s we used to refer to people who don’t live life like this as “downers”.  I’ve known downers and I tend to feel revitalized when I hang out with the enthusiastic types.  Treat your work like girl scout cookies!!

I’m not that old, but it sure seems like the Winter Olympics have changed since I first remember watching as a ten year-old. In 1984 the Sarejevo Olympic games includes the hard-as-nails men’s figure skating with Scott Hamilton. It included the men’s bobsled which the American’s politely lost over and over again. I even remember watching the ski jump which made me jump off of the couch time and again until I thought I could fly.
Now I don’t mind change once in a while. I change my mind quite often. I change the towels in the bathroom. I even change underwear from time to time. But the change in the Olympics has taken some getting used to. The short-track speed skating is interesting with it’s bumping, and shoving and passing and speed. The snowboard and ski cross has been fun with its speed and danger. The curling has taken some getting used to. It is entertaining in the way that corn-hole or horseshoes is entertaining but I’m missing the Olympian aspect to it. Let’s be honest…these aren’t the same kind of people who participate in the cross-country skiing or the Nordic combined. These people push a stone across the ice. Actually horseshoes requires more athletic prowess.
This brings me back to change. In Exodus God told Moses, “I Am” when asked to identify Himself. (Ex. 3:14). What is so important about this is that God doesn’t change. He’s everything we need and everything we ever will need. That can give you confidence to really fly in life.

It’s snowing again. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not have a personal problem with snow. I’m down with the whole political correctness thing with regard to weather systems. Sunny and 80 is no more important than snowy and 20. Week-long rains are just as appealing as warm breezes and crickets on my back deck. Equal opportunity weather, right? WHATEVER!!
The joy of the first snow is watching my son pretend to be Shaun White blasting down the back hill on his sled while I get a nice workout shoveling the driveway. During the second big snow it’s the joy of seeing him try and loose his little sister in the three foot drifts while I overcome my aches and pains to get yet another good workout shoveling the driveway.
By the time you hit the third big snow something begins to change (read “snap”) inside of you. Now the joy is replaced with inner bitterness towards groundhogs and “those stupid snowplow drivers” who keep burying your mailbox. Your children have lost numerous toys in the snow and whine because they can’t shoot basketball outside due to the fact that you haven’t shoveled the driveway yet.
Some are saying that all the cold and snow this year indicates that global warming is a joke. Other geniuses say that all the snow and cold is a result of global warming (snicker). I’m just fascinated how one year can be so dramatically different from the other. A complete 180! At least, with regards to God, He always stays the same. The Hebrew word for God’s love is chesed and it denotes His unchanging love. Unchanging! I like that. Kind of like San Diego weather. Sunny and 70.

I recently sat in a coffee shop and as I was quietly minding my own business and doing my work as a young fellow lounged on the couch across from me and sneezed and hacked his way through the better part of 90 minutes. Each time he coughed he looked at me as if to say, “Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be here because I’m probably making you sick.” With every type of flu going around this winter from swine flu to seasonal flu I was frustrated. (By the way, if we’re going to have a pandemic flu why can’t it have a cool name like Creeping Panther Flu or Mako Shark Flu?)
This guy caused me to think about how I still can’t get the flu shot because it’s not available due to shortages. Unfortunately there is one type of innoculation that I see that a lot of people have received over their lifetime. They have received the “Jesus Shot” which means they are now calloused and innoculated to the effects of the Savior.
These are the people that grimmace when you start talking about Jesus or quickly cut you off to tell you that they go to church on Christmas and Easter.
Just like the flu, I’ve found that a person who is truly infected by Christ runs a raging fever for Him that never stops and they don’t ever get over it. But unlike the regular flu illness, this flu gets better with time and heals us in the end.
Don’t be afraid when someone with the Jesus “bug” coughs on you because you need that kind of infection. And don’t settle for the innoculation of a little bit of Jesus because what we all need is a good raging fever!
Hachoo!!