What Does Life Have To Do With It ???

Looking back on 2007, brings to mind the extraordinary number of deaths of family members and friends, unlike any single year that I can remember previously. This has caused me to think more deeply of life and death and the purpose for each of our lives, which must eventually end.

I believe that God is the author of all life that is conceived, and He alone determines who is actually born and who is not. So He allows some lives to be born, and others to be aborted or miscarried as He sees fit. The issues of being 'pro-life' or 'pro-choice' are really moot points, when you consider that God holds the final trump cards concerning all lives and deaths. I believe that man cannot do anything that God does not actively or passively permit, and this includes the ending of lives. Being all knowing, all powerful, and perfectly just, is what defines and distinguishes God from man.

What is really important though, is the purpose that God has for each life that He permits to be born. Whether born with disabilities, deformities or no handicaps at all, each birth has a reason and a purpose, known only to God and sometimes made clear to man, as his life progresses. This explains how lives that would normally be written off like Ludwig Van Beethoven, Stephen Hawking, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and many others, could be so purposeful and fruitful, in spite of the seriousness of what we would call their handicaps.

So as I look forward to 2008 and away from the sad events of 2007, I can rest assured that God had a purpose for each of those loved ones that passed from the scene. During their lifetimes, they surely fulfilled their purpose as directed and controlled by God, and when that purpose was completed, they left this life, some willingly, and some, probably unwillingly.

...Hug Thy Neighbor??

I don't know about you, and maybe I'm getting too crotchety and critical in my old age, but I'm a little tired of,..no, very tired of, the popular device the mega-preachers of mega-churches are now using while preaching their mega-sermons. What I'm talking about is the frequent exhortation to "touch your neighbor and tell him...", or "give your neighbor a high-five and tell him...", or hug your neighbor and tell him...." What is this all about??? Why does this directive have to be sprinkled in, upwards of a dozen times in a 50 minute sermon? Why do I have to tell my neighbor something - isn't that the job of the preacher? Is it a new attempt at interactive sermonizing that preachers are employing to hopefully evoke a favorable response from their congregants? Others speculate that it might be a controlling and manipulative mechanism that feeds the ego of the preacher, as congregants dutifully and sometimes gleefully, scramble to obey. Whatever the purpose, I wish they would stop it! I go to church primarily to hear the Word, enjoy the singing and music, and worship in my own way. And I would bet that my neighbor came to church with mostly this same objective also. And I really don't want to touch, slap, feel, hug, poke or rub my neighbor (no matter how attractive), or for that matter, anyone else around me. In my mega-church, my neighbors are most likely to be strangers, and I don't want to encroach on their private spaces or on their persons, anymore than they want to encroach on mine. At the end of the service, and if mutually desired, why can't just a handshake and a few words of greeting with my neighbors be sufficient?
Okay there,..I said it, and I feel sooo much better!

Why My Prayer Wasn't Answered

Almost ten years ago, I along with hundreds of others, prayed fervently for a close friend of mine, who was stricken with, and was dying of cancer. He did not want to die, and we certainly did not want him to die. Yet, it seemed that he got worse and worse in spite of our prayers. Finally he passed on, and it took me several years to come to grips with the finality of his passing. Part of it was asking why my prayers had not been answered. It took me a long time to realize, that God's will SUPERSEDES and trumps all our prayers and desires. Matt. 6, says, .."Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven..." When I came to understand this, then I understood how important is the part that God plays in our lives, whether we acknowledge it or not. As I get closer to the end of my own life in this world, I am also coming to realize more and more, that everything starts and stops with God, and without Him there is nothing but emptiness and despair. With Him is the hope for this life, and more importantly, my hope for the next life.

"....Thy Kingdom Come....."

It is so difficult to pray for those who I feel have lied to us, and are yet actively raining down death and destruction on hundreds of thousands of others in countries that have never attacked us. All this is being done in the name of 'spreading freedom', and 'bringing democracy'. This evil is addressed by Paul in Eph. 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Even though it is difficult, we should continue to pray for those who are our leaders, and for those who have the rule over us.

This is my prayer; 'Father God, You know all things, and You know the truths of our domestic and foreign policies, and how they are impacting us at home, and others abroad. Because You are all powerful, I ask you to restrain, contain and eliminate the evil that is being done in my name. You know my heart, and you know I don't support imperial conquests by our military, spreading democracy by the sword, tax cuts for the rich and cuts in services for the poor, and all manner of other evils that are being done by our leadership. I ask that Your kingdom will spread, and that Your will may continue to be done on earth, as it is in heaven. We are told to pray without ceasing, so please give me the strength and the courage to do so, and always to resist evil and to seek justice for all. I ask all these things in the matchless name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen!'