From Christmas to Genesis

Well I have survived the first of the holidays and seem to be regrouping well for the next one. I mentioned in an earlier post that there was the question posed to me about why we celebrate Christmas in the middle of winter rather than in the spring which would be more in line with the scriptures.
In response to this, I am not really clear but when you think of the whole story, the entire life and walk of Christ it begins to make some sense in my mind. First we have to take into consideration what the celebrations of the church mean.
Christmas is the beginning of the life, the start of the whole Messiah walk. The birth of Christ is the start-up of what is to come. If it represents a hope of new life, then the middle of winter where there are already festivals and celebrations (pagan) that represented this to the people. It became a simple task to attach the "birth of a new hope" onto the already hopefull celebration. In winter we also have "hope" of spring when life will renew itself and the hope will be fulfilled. Change will have happened and we will get the gift of new life.
The move into Epiphinay (sp), the realization of what we have. The day is when finally, it all becomes clear. I would liken it in a way to Luke 2.25 and following verses. My eyes have seen and I have held the Savior of the world.
There are other days that lift up particular events in the life of the church but the next one to really add to why Christmas would be in the middle of winter, (only in the northern hemishpere) would be that breaking forth in the spring. When the new plants emerge and life begins from the cold, frozen, dark winter. Easter!!!!!, the resurrection and new life. The real answer to the question posed at Christmas. "Is there really hope?" Yes is the answer and it comes as a blast of trumpets and death is conquered for all time.
All of this is easily misinterpreted and we begin to wonder why there is death to begin with. This comes to us from Genesis. The second question, who did the sons of Adam marry?
This one is about the same as the first, there is no easy answer without looking at the whole picture. It begins in a garden of completeness, a garden of bliss, one filled with God's presence and his peace.
Enter God's creation, human kind, and soon the whole thing falls apart. There is sin and the sin leads to getting kicked out and the introduction of pain and suffering. It continues in the murder of a brother, again a kicking out and more suffering and strife.
I will attack some things I found but the answer seems to be mathmatical at best. There are many years and lots of off-spring. Marriage is not limited to those not blood related as the purity of genes allows it to be okay biologically. So it is likely the only answer is yes, there were families created from the marriage of brothers and sisters.
It is later in scripture forbidden to marry close relatives. I hope this will create a curiosity to get us digging deeper into the big picture. I caution many who seek simple answers that there are none. The cure is simple, give your life over to Jesus. He is obviously seeking you if you have these questions.
Be careful that you don't try to make God to small so you can hold him and make him what you want. This life in Christ is a messy thing but one that is exciting and freeing.
Sue (sp) I hope this answers some of your questions and I will be calling to check in. There are those reading this who are much wiser than I so ask if you are in question and maybe someone can clear up some confusion that I created.
I can't remember where I found these but did a Google search. Like all the scriptures I struggle with there isn't much info.
Cain and his descendants.
1. (16-17) Cain moves away and marries.
Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son; Enoch.
a. And Cain knew his wife: We don’t know where did Cain got his wife. Genesis 5:4 says Adam had several sons and daughters. Cain obviously married his sister. Though marrying a sister was against the law of God according to Leviticus 18:9, 18:11, 20:17, and Deuteronomy 27:22 (which even prohibits the marrying of a half-sister), this was long before God spoke that law to Moses and the world.
i. Here, necessity demanded that Adam’s sons marry his daughters. And at this point, the “gene pool” of humanity was pure enough to allow close marriage without harm of inbreeding. But as a stream can get more polluted the further it gets from the source, there came a time when God decreed there no longer be marriage between close relatives because of the danger of inbreeding.
ii. Even Abraham married his half-sister Sarah (Genesis 20:12). God did not prohibit such marriages until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18:9). Marrying a brother or sister was not forbidden until God forbade it.
Commentary by David Guzik

Dr. Shuckford farther observes that the Hebrew word tya oth, which we translate a mark, signifies a sign or token. Thus, chap. ix. 13, the bow was to be tyal leoth, for a sign or token that the world should not be destroyed; therefore the words, And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, should be translated, And the Lord appointed to Cain a token or sign, to convince him that no person should be permitted to slay him. To have marked him would have been the most likely way to have brought all the evils he dreaded upon him; therefore the Lord gave him some miraculous sign or token that he should not be slain, to the end that he should not despair, but, having time to repent, might return to a gracious God and find mercy. Notwithstanding the allusion which I suppose St. Paul to have made to the punishment of Cain, some think that he did repent and find mercy. I can only say this was possible. Most people who read this account wonder why Cain should dread being killed, when it does not appear to them that there were any inhabitants on the earth at that time besides himself and his parents. To correct this mistake, let it be observed that the death of Hebel took place in the one hundred and twenty-eighth or one hundred and twenty-ninth year of the world. Now, "supposing Adam and Eve to have had no other sons than Cain and Hebel in the year of the world one hundred and twenty-eight, yet as they had daughters married to these sons, their descendants would make a considerable figure on the earth. Supposing them to have been married in the nineteenth year of the world, they might easily have had each eight children, some males and some females, in the twenty-fifth year. In the fiftieth year there might proceed from them in a direct line sixty-four persons; in the seventy-fourth year there would be five hundred and twelve; in the ninety-eighth year, four thousand and ninety- six; in the one hundred and twenty-second they would amount to thirty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight: if to these we add the other children descended from Cain and Hebel, their children, and their children's children, we shall have, in the aforesaid one hundred and twenty-eight years four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-four men capable of generation, without reckoning the women either old or young, or such as are under the age of seventeen." See Dodd.
But this calculation may be disputed, because there is no evidence that the antediluvian patriarchs began to have children before they were sixty-five years of age. Now, supposing that Adam at one hundred and thirty years of age had one hundred and thirty children, which is quite possible, and each of these a child at sixty-five years of age, and one in each successive year, the whole, in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the world, would amount to one thousand two hundred and nineteen persons; a number sufficient to found several villages, and to excite the apprehensions under which Cain appeared at this time to labour.
Adam Clarke’s commentary on Genes

Happy reading. Will be back after the new year begins. Pastor WaynO

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all. It is a wonderful time to stop the busy rush of shopping and planning and all the hasle of the season and for just a moment catch our breath. I know I will enjoy just sitting doing very little and enjoying my family.
As you celebrate the day think about what the day really stands for. We celebrate the time in a rythm that moves through the life and works of Christ each and every year. This marks the begining so prepare for the middle as we get into the real excitement of being Christ's followers.
Go enjoy and know that you are loved by the Savior of the world, Jeus Christ. Put your faith in him and learn to let him lead your life.
Pastor WaynO

The Real Christmas

Well it is that time of year and I just had a question posed to me, "why is Christmas celebrated in the middle of winter rather than during the spring, which is the time the scriptures would lead us to believe?"
At this point I am asking all of you who are reading to let us know what you think/know about the time of the celebration.
I have some web info I am posting but feel it may get us further if we all put some thought into it and ask the real hard questions.
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1290 and go to the "The Real Story of Christmas" in the left column.
Then I went to the Wikipedea and did a search for Christmas.
As for the real reason, I am not sure how to answer that at this moment.
Next week, after Christmas we will jump to the other end of the Bible and take a look at Cain and Able and the beginning of the human story.
Keep sharing and learning Pastor WaynO

Studying the Bible

I wanted to have this blog be a great place to begin a discussion for a study. I had some great ideas. I had a direction. Then life hit me in the face and I lost most of what I had in my mind. It has occured to me however that we do need to study the Bible and I will begin a study after the Christmas season is behind me
From the Stewardship study that prompted this blog I have been moved to some new thoughts about living the Christian life. I would like to study some about developing a personal mission statement. Taking our life in Christ to a new level of committment. Deciding if our lives are lived as fundraising lives or stewardship lives and what that might mean as we move along day to day.
I will hopefully be posting here as a study and leave the political, religious, and other such distractions to the newpreachin blog. I posted about the Golden Compass movie and what surrounds it and believe some of this is what we develop as personal theology.
If anyone has comment or direction for any of the above discussion let me know and it will hopefully be included also.
Have a merry Christmas if I don't hear from you before. Pastor WaynO

Not sure how to begin the thought process but as we study the Bible things from the world jump in and can mess things up a bit or at least add a whole new dynamic. One such thing is the movie the Golden Compass. As I have stated before I don't like the whole concept of boycotting and e-bashing or using the internet and email as a ground to throw things at someone or something. This movie is no different than so much other stuff and I happened to notice that Harry Potter is the new up and coming Christmas movie thon. I would be interested to hear thoughts and especially info on the new one the Golden Compass.
I found on the PCUSA site a statement about the movie and some of its bias' and theology. I would encourage you to check out the site at http://www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship/goldencompass.htm
If there are other somewhat open minded sites for info I would be interested in them also. Lets get some sharing going on here.
Pastor WaynO

I am not sure where to go at the moment but feel we need to find a place to study. I wonder how many of you out there worship with the RCL. If you do then you can find the scrupture for the coming week easily through your denom. If not I would suggest this, check out the PCUSA site, (if I am correct this should take you where you need to be http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi).
We can then start by moving through each day with reflection and response to the scrupture listed. If anyone has another idea we can easily move where we can all get something out of this blog.
I would choose Jude 17-25 today as it seems to speak of the season we are in. Reaching out and caring without indifference to those who seem so lost. I have some fear of the OT text from Amos, I myself might fall into that group of detestible and refused worshipers. In Matt. I think we have had enough of an emphasis on stewardship but can always be reminded of what is ours to use and what should be used in a different manner.
Open to your comments! WaynO

Thought you would all enjoy this little tidbit. Maybe I should reframe this a bit. I get so many protest this and protest that emails that I want to scream sometimes. I have wondered how many just forward them and then assume they have made a good mark for themselves in the book of life. Quit now Wayne or you will say to much. Enjoy and think about what is here. WaynO

The task AHEAD of you is never as great as the POWER behind you. Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Ephesians 6:10

Dear Children,
It has come to my attention that many of you are upsetthat folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybeyou've forgotten that I wasn't actually born duringthis time of the year and that it was some of yourpredecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday onwhat was actually a time of pagan festival. Although Ido appreciate being remembered anytime.
How I personally feel about this celebration canprobably be most easily understood by those of you whohave been blessed with children of your own. I don'tcare what you call the day. If you want to celebrateMy birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers youthat the town in which you live doesn't allow a scenedepicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple ofSantas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity sceneon your own front lawn. If all My followers did thatthere wouldn't be any need for such a scene on thetown square because there would be many of them allaround town.
Stop worrying about the fact that people are callingthe tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree.It was I who made all trees. You can remember Meanytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if youwish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching,explaining who I am in relation to you and what eachof our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one,look up John 15: 1 - 8.
If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of Mybirth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:
1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to theway My birthday is being celebrated, write letters oflove and hope to soldiers away from home. They areterribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know,they tell Me all the time.
2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have toknow them personally. They just need to know thatsomeone cares about them.
3. Instead of writing George complaining about thewording on the cards his staff sent out this year, whydon't you write and tell him that you'll be prayingfor him and his family this year. Then followup. It will be nice hearing from you again.
4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts youcan't afford and they don't need, spend time withthem. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I cameto live with you down here. Hold them in your arms andremind them that I love them.
5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past andforgive him or her.
6. Did you know that someone in your town will attemptto take their own life this season because they feelso alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who thatperson is, try giving everyone you meet a warmsmile; it could make the difference.
7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer inyour town calls the holiday, be patient with thepeople who work there. Give them a warm smile and akind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a"Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishingthem one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If thestore didn't make so much money on that day they'dclose and let their employees spend the day at homewith their families.
8. If you really want to make a difference, support amissionary--especially one who takes My love and GoodNews to those who have never heard My name.
9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and wholefamilies in your town who not only will have no"Christmas" tree, but neither will they have anypresents to give or receive. If you don't know them,buy some food and a few gifts and give them to theSalvation Army or some other charity which believes inMe and they will make the delivery for you.10. Finally, if you want to make a statement aboutyour belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like aChristian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn'tdo in My presence. Let people know by your actionsthat you are one of mine.
Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself.Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'lltake care of all the rest. Check out the list aboveand get to work; time is short. I'll help you, butthe ball is now in your court. And do have a mostblessed Christmas with all those whom you love andremember : I LOVE YOU,
JESUS

Copying from one blog to another may get me in trouble but the new link I put up may get me out of some trouble with studying. And I know I said I would be off for a while but I just can't help it when I find stuff that seems to open some new questions and maybe even give a few answers. This is a site I found from nosing around another blog http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com/ that caught my eye a while back. I don't how I get these except if I must put blame it is the Holy Spirit.Well with that heresy I better quit before lightening strikes.Pastor WaynO

Just can't stay away. It seems there is so much to tell, so much to say to the world that I can't get said. I am not even sure what I have to say but pray the Spirit will descramble it for me. I am preaching in the morning, Advent 1 and it is the time again when I struggle with the Christmas stuff. I researched and have discovered that Christmas in all it's forms has faded in and out of glory within the confines of the church. The Puritans punished celebrants for it, the early colonies opposed it because it was an English tradition. Most of what the Christian world holds near and dear about it has been dreamed up out of fairy tales, pagan celebrations, and pieces of old tradition here and there both Christian and non Christian.I hear so much hype from Christians and then see so little action from them, it leaves me curious what it really is this being a Christian??????Pastor WaynO

Just a note to let everyone know I am having some medical stuff taken care of so will probably be out of commission for a few more days. Hopefully and prayerfully it won't be long. Pastor WaynO

Well here it is the post I have been waiting for. The last of the series and the one that calls on us to give 100% of who we are, what we have, and that is all Jesus wants. Think about what is here and then come back as I have a whole new thought for us to study on. Enjoy Pastor WaynO
Unselfish Love Is Enough!
The point of the widow's two copper coins is better understood when we notice what comes immediately before it in Mark's Gospel. A scribe has just asked Jesus the question. "What is the most important commandment in the law?" And Jesus has answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). The widow is quite obviously doing that—loving God with her whole life, seeking to put God first among all her priorities, seeking God's kingdom first before all other kingdoms.
As the offering was being taken one Sunday morning, the great preacher John A. Broadus came down and stood in the aisle beside one of the ushers. Broadus moved beside the usher as he went from pew to pew. watching every coin and bill that was given by his parishioners. Some of them were angered at this action. Some were confused and ashamed. Others were amazed. All were surprised. After the offering was completed. Broadus want to the pulpit to begin his sermon, which was based on the story of the widow's mite. He concluded the sermon by saying. "If you take it to heart that I have seen your offerings this day and know just what sacrifice you have made—and what sacrifice you have not made—remember that your Savior goes up the aisle with even usher even' Sunday and sees every cent contributed by his people. He knows more than what we give: he sees through to the heart. He also knows exactly what remains in our wallet or purse—the amount we keep for ourselves. That statement, like Jesus's statement about the widow's mite, helps us to see that the bottom-line answer to the question. "How much is enough?" is more than a figure or a formula.
A laywoman once asked the pastor to come to her office to talk about her stewardship. She had just joined the church after a significant conversion experience in which her life had been changed radically. She wanted to know how much money she ought to give to the church each week. The pastor carefully outlined the annual budget, then gave her a general idea of the average amount church members usually gave. The new member sat back and looked at him in astonishment. "You and I are not thinking in the same terms at all." she said. "Joining the church was one of the greatest decisions of my life, and it means I'm going to make some big changes in the way I relate to God at every point in my affairs." She then named the sum she intended to give each week, an amount so substantial that it staggered the pastor's imagination.
Pledging campaigns can sometimes unintentionally cause church members to think in terms of minimum amounts instead of sacrificial amounts. How much do other people give? How much should I raise my pledge above last year? How much would be fair? Now, let's see... inflation went up 3 percent this year, and that would be.... For most people, such figuring can lead to a phony kind of stewardship, one in which we never ask the real questions: "What percentage of my income does God expect me to give? What does God call me to do as a reasonable offering of my life?"
A certain man and his wife were going along the street one day when she stopped in front of a jewelry store to admire a ring in the window. "I wish I could have a ring like that some day," she said. The couple lived on a very low income, so there seemed little likelihood that this would ever happen—they had no money to spend on such extravagances. But the man loved his wife very much. He had always felt badly that he had not been able to buy for her the things he really wanted to during the many years of their marriage. They were constantly struggling with expenses that seemed greater than income, but that day he made a vow to himself—he was going to do something special for her next Christmas. He started saving every dollar he could and keeping it hidden. Sometimes, he would eat a small lunch or no lunch at all and set the money aside. Finally, as early December came, he began to shop for the kind of ring she had so admired in the window. He spent many lunch hours looking in various jewelry stores—comparing prices—trying to be sure he got the best possible ring for the amount of money he had saved. At last he found it. He bought it. had it wrapped, and waited in anticipation for Christmas Day.
Another man—a very wealthy man with an enormous annual income—realized that Christmas was only a week away. During the past year he had been so preoccupied with business, golf, and an extramarital affair with a pretty young woman who worked in his office that he had hardly realized that his wife existed. But it was Christmas, and he needed to "do the right thing." He sent his secretary down to a jewelry store to buy his wife a Christmas present. She selected something nice, and it was very expensive—several thousand dollars. He was proud when he gave it to her on Christmas morning. Even though he had not even see the diamond-studded bracelet until his wife unwrapped it, he had done the right thing.
Which of these two men gave the greater gift?
If you can answer that question, you understand how Jesus answered the question, "How much is enough?"

I don't believe I put this info up for you this week. As I re read the information it still seems to me that the 10% is a dangerous thing. Not only does it seem impossible for some to ever attain it leaves others an ending offering. I feel that the statement, "I give $10 and myself. Mary I. McClellan." is much closer to the real offering Jesus is seeking.
If you have thoughts about 10% I would like to hear them. Pastor WaynO

1. Luke 18:9-14 (parable of the Pharisee and the Publican)
2. Mark 12:38-44 (story of the widow's mite)
3. Matthew 5:23-24 (be reconciled to persons from whom you are alienated before you give your offering)
4. Matthew 6:2-4 (give in secret)

Discovery Questions for Group Study
1. What is your personal conviction regarding the practice of tithing (giving 10 percent of your income before taxes to God's work)? Why?
2. Do you agree or disagree with this chapter's interpretation of Matthew 23:23-24; namely, that Jesus said we should tithe?

Now we are getting to the real stuff. Everything before was simply a lead into what we actually need to do. I send this to you on Thanksgiving day and pray you are all enjoying this day of feasting and rest. Have a happy day. Pastor WaynO

How Much Is Enough?
What amount of money is an appropriate expression of my relationship with God and with my desire to help other people? For most Christians, that question inevitably leads to another question: Is tithing enough? Strong opinions run in both directions on this subject. Research indicates that 27 percent of laity in the U.S. think the tithe is a minimum standard of giving. Other serious Christians feel that 10 percent is an arbitrary figure extracted from Old Testament legalisms.
Gilbert Davis, who for many years served as director of church relations for Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Texas, likes to tell this story. When he was a seminary student at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, he was stopped in the hallway one day by an elderly gentleman. Gilbert had never met the man, so he was surprised when the old gentleman asked, "Young man, are you studying to be a minister?"
Gilbert replied that he was, and the man asked if he might talk with him a few minutes. Not sure what he was getting into, Gilbert consented. It was not until some weeks later that he discovered who Arthur A. Everetts was. He owned what was at that time the largest jewelry store west of the Mississippi. Everetts led Gilbert into an empty classroom, where he asked him whether he preached tithing in the student church he served on weekends. Before Gilbert could reply, Everetts began giving him a lengthy and forceful set or arguments in favor of tithing, indicating that this was essential for any young pastor who ever hoped to amount to anything for Jesus Christ. At the end of his several-minute sermon, Everetts issued an altar call for Gilbert to make a decision to become a timer.
Finally getting a chance to speak, Gilbert drew himself up to his full theological stature at that youthful age, and said, "But, sir, we are Christians now. We are New Testament people; not Old Testament. We are not under the Law, we are under Grace."
To which Everetts replied. "Young man, if you can show me anywhere in the New Testament where it says that less is expected of a Christian under Grace than of a Jew under the Law. I will be glad to subscribe to your position."
This experience was a turning point in Gilbert's understanding of the spiritual qualities of money. His use of that story in many years of stewardship ministry among congregations in the Southwest has been a turning point for many others. The New Testament clearly says that we must avoid a legalistic approach to God's Old Testament laws. We tithe, not because it is the "religious" thing to do, or in order to show our "righteousness" to others. We tithe because we believe God's promise to bring us to wholeness and health as we learn to rely on and to obey God. The gospel is primarily good news, not good rules. So, we give our money because we want to give it—as an act of worship and as a way of seeing Christ's kingdom first—not because we feel that we must give it in order to fulfill a religious legalism. Yet, since we Christians base our beliefs on the authority of Scripture, we must remember that in the only New Testament verse where Jesus mentions the tithe, he tells the Pharisees, "These you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others"—referring to the practice of tithing earlier in that conversation (Matthew 23:23). If Jesus says the tithe is important in the worship of God, does it seem wise for me to decide it is not?
Tithing is clearly the form of stewardship taught in both the Old and the New Testaments. When Jesus discussed proper stewardship of money and resources with the most religious people of his culture (the Pharisees), this was the form he took for granted that they were using—the giving of one-tenth of their income before taxes to God's work. In ancient Hebrew society, the tithe was like an income tax payable to the "Department of Eternal Revenue." If faithful Jews wanted to make additional offerings to God beyond the tithe, then they might call themselves philanthropists, but to tithe was to perform their basic duty. They assumed that the first 10 percent belonged to God already. So, when Jesus spoke to his generation about giving, he was not talking about a variable amount; he took for granted their convictions about the tithe.
Yet, there is another sense in which the tithe is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus answers the question of "How much is enough?" by saying that this is not the question! As Jesus does in all his teachings, what he says about giving goes far beyond any legalistic use of the Old Testament. Jesus teaches that our giving to God cannot be reduced to a 10 percent formula. Our most basic stewardship is to give our whole heart to God"s work (God's spiritual kingdom). Our gift of money is a symbol of that total self-giving, but money itself can never be classified as our ultimate stewardship; that is always a matter of the heart. The Pharisees tended to "materialize their spiritual relationship with God" into rituals and offerings. Jesus did the opposite: He "spiritualized the material" into an expression of loving relationship with God and unselfish giving to help the less fortunate. In so doing. Jesus was recovering the heart of the Old Testament tradition itself.
More than 150 years ago, a young schoolteacher went to the little Pearl River Methodist Church and was moved by the missionary sermon. When the offering basket reached her pew, she put in a $10 bill and a note that said, "I give $10 and myself, Mary I. McClellan." Ten dollars was a great deal of money 150 years ago, but over the years the gift of "herself' was far greater. Soon after this, she married a Methodist pastor, James W. Lambuth. and went with him to China in 1853. From there, she organized several strong institutions: a famous orphanage for homeless children, a famous school for girls, the Women's Methodist Foreign Missionary Society, and eventually Lambuth Bible School. With the gift of herself, she laid much of the foundation that carried Christianity through the last few turbulent decades in Red China.
You and I have only two things available to give God; ourselves and what we own. When the widow put two copper coins in the treasury, she was obviously giving both her money and her whole self. When some of the rich people passed by the treasury chest, what they gave was more like tipping the waiter at a good restaurant. That was Jesus's point, and that is still the major issue: Are we giving just our money? Or, is the money we give a symbol of our determination to give our whole selves? A young woman struggling with the question of how much she should give asked her pastor, "Will God love me less if I don't tithe" He answered. "Is that really the question? Isn't the real question. 'Will I love God less if I don't tithe?'" That pastor's observation was close to what Jesus said about giving. For Jesus, giving expresses our side of our spiritual relationship with God. Genuine giving does not come from God's demand but from our desire.
For some people, a tithe is an appropriate expression of unselfishly loving God and caring about other people. For others, a tithe may not accomplish that. Approximately one person out of every 350 people in the United States is a millionaire. For every forty giving units in a church, one of these units is capable of making a one-time gift equal to the church's annual budget. For those persons, does the tithe reflect an attitude of the heart that has overcome self-centeredness? Or, is that degree of wealth too great for a tithe to mean more than a camouflaged form of selfishness? It is said that the great earth-moving equipment manufacturer. LeTourneau, had an annual income so huge that he gave 90 percent of it to God's work. He said that, for him, this was the only Christian thing to do.
A couple of years before cell phones were in use, an airline pilot walking through the passenger waiting area decided to call home. The line was busy. While waiting for his wife to get off the phone, he began working on his flight plan paperwork at a nearby counter. After he realized that the passing travelers were staring at him, he noticed that he was standing at the flight insurance counter. Some people seem to treat their giving as a form of eternal flight insurance. This is not what Jesus taught. That kind of giving does not touch the heart of the matter.
The evidence indicates that another kind of incentive for giving—tax deductions—may play a greater role in our giving than we wish to admit. One example: The 1986 tax reforms adversely affected giving patterns in the United States. Before the tax overhaul, per capita giving increased by 8.7 percent between 1985 and 1986. The rate of increase dropped to 1.4 percent in 1987 and 3.2 percent in 1988. In the struggle between our basic selfishness and the desire to give ourselves to God's purposes, our best motives sometimes lose.
Inflation and rising incomes thrust us into another temptation. During 2005, the median household income in the United States was $46,326. In 1965, adjusted for inflation, that figure was $35,379.46 Unless we keep on raising the question, "How much is enough?" an amount that once involved the giving of our whole hearts can become, over the span of five or ten years, a minor percentage of our life's resources. Paul says that we should give as we have prospered (1 Corinthians 16:2). Due to inflation and increasing annual income, we can easily and unknowingly slip into a pattern of giving that violates that injunction.
A certain man became a millionaire through successful business dealings. One day several friends were discussing his progress. Said one. "Getting rich hasn't changed old George a bit."
"No," agreed the other, "He used to put a dollar in the collection plate, and he still does." That happens when a Christian falls into the rut of failing to reexamine his or her spiritual commitments. Growth toward God gets sidetracked by growth toward selfishness.
Whatever our personal temptation in this matter, Jesus's teachings still speak with power to the question, "How much is enough?" by responding, "That is not the question!" God wants us to give money, because it is one of the major ways we express our personality. But God wants more than money, God wants justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23-24). God wants love: "If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). God wants willing, ungrudging giving: "Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me" (Exodus 25:2). God wants humility, because humility defines a right attitude of heart—an attitude that contrasts with the self-righteous, self-sufficient mind of the Pharisee whose public prayer Jesus described in a parable. Humility illustrates our sense of dependence on God rather than on ourselves. Humility means that we see God as God, while pride and self-righteousness are ways of pretending that we are our own god.
Several years ago, Bishop Fulton Sheen was interviewing Jackie Gleason on a television program. Sheen asked him. "When you come to meet Jesus, what will you say?"
Gleason immediately replied, "All I could say would be thanks."
That statement reflects something of the humility of the heart that is found in genuine stewardship. It is money, but it is more than money.

I am not sure I am up to this blogging. Seems like I forget to post new info. Oh, well here is what I have. It is quite interesting so dig in and lets get a discussion going. WaynO
VI. The Heart of the Matter
Roman Catholics give an average of 1 percent of their incomes to charity. United Methodists give an average of 1.3 percent. Jews 1.4 percent, Lutherans and Baptists 1.6 percent, and Presbyterians 2.2 percent. Other Protestants average 2.5 percent. Does this mean that Presbyterians are more Christian than Roman Catholics?
In a recent year, members of United Methodist congregations averaged per capita annual gifts of $635.39. while members of the Wesleyan Church averaged $2.065.36. Does this mean that one of these denominations is more Christian than the other?
During each year of the last two decades, citizens of Connecticut enjoyed an average per capita income slightly more than twice that of people in Mississippi. Does this mean that people in Connecticut are, on the average, more Christian than those in Mississippi?
The biblical answer to those three questions is found in two news items from Jesus's life that the Gospel of Mark reports back-to-back. The first item is a parable Jesus told about a Pharisee and a publican who where praying. The second item is Mark's report of what Jesus said after seeing a poor widow give two copper coins to support the temple (Mark 12:38-44). Both the parable and the incident at the temple treasury say that we cannot answer those three questions with a simple "yes" or "no." The real answer is. "It depends."
The amount of money people give to God to some extent reflects the attitude of their hearts, but not completely. Giving can also be driven by other motivations. Pride, a desire to look good in the public eye, and the habit of conforming to the traditions of our religious group can also influence our giving patterns. The Pharisee in Jesus's story tithed all his income, but Jesus said that he had not given the contribution that God appreciated even more—humility. The widow in Jesus's story gave only a fraction of a cent (a denarius—or penny—was a day's wages, so her two small coins were equivalent to a little more than one hour of earnings). Yet, this small gift was Jesus's model of excellence in giving.
The key word here is not giving; it is unselfish giving. As we saw in Chapter 4, money is a spiritual matter because it is one of the major ways by which we relate to God. Chapter 5 reminded us that giving is a way of helping ourselves. Now, Chapter 6 puts us in touch with Jesus's teaching that unless giving is unselfish, the gift is null and void in the eyes of God. "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you. as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others." Jesus said (Matthew 6:2). "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret: and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:3-4).
The question Jesus poses so perfectly in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican—and then confirms by observing the line of givers at the temple—is one that all of us ask and answer every day of our lives: Will I act as if the giving of money is all God expects, or will I act as if the attitude of my heart is of equal importance to the amount 1 give? Each of us tends both to believe and to resist believing what Jesus indicated was the appropriate answer to that question. On one hand, we see that Jesus is right. God wants more from us than money. God also wants justice, mercy, faith, love, humility, and unselfishness. If we give God our money without giving God our hearts, we miss the mark. We move closer to God (grow spiritually), not because we are good in our giving but because our hearts are open to God's Spirit. Word, and will. God can do more with an open, receptive heart than with a person whose only commitment is to religious ritual.
On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus missed the turn on this issue. Living by religious rules brings a sense of security and ego stroking that can blind us to the need to look deeper than the amount of our gifts. A few years ago, Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders (at that time said to be the highest-paid running back in the history of football) received a cash bonus of $2.1 million for signing a $9.3 million contract. The first thing he did was give $210.000 to his church (10 percent). That sounds meritorious, and it is. Yet, Jesus's teachings are once again radical rather than merely rational. According to Jesus, that is a right action, but the amount and the compliance with the tithing rule is not the heart of the matter.

Sorry about that, I thought I posted yesterday. and just discovered that when I think it is dangerous. It would be great to hear from someone, lonesome here in this computer. I was thinking again about the Holy Spirit and the energy of the Web. Both are free flowing around us continually, the air is full of this energy that is filled with incredible information. Both have the ability to change our lives for the better. One little problem, still unique to both, you need a way to decode, receive, use, work with, all the stuff that is on the web is of no use without a way to access it.
We use a computer and it becomes the interface between us and the energy, the existence of the stream flowing out into the world. With this interface you have the ability to use and injoy all that stuff out there. Without the enterface you only hear about it, you only imagine what it can do.
It is the same with the HS, you need access to it and there is a way to do that also. All you need is a little faith that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of your life, a little time to pray (you will make it) and wala! there it is. The HS is coursing through you, you become the interface, the receiver the way to apply it to the world. All of that energy and all of that power, it fills you and flows out into everyone and everything that gets close to you.
Gotta quit this I will go on and bore all of you before you get to the study. Lots to think about in this post. Enjoy.

The Reward of Joy
The card catalog in the library reveals an incredible number of books whose titles begin with "The Joy of...." Along with The Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort, there is an avalanche of books on other kinds of joy:
The Joy of Beauty The Joy ofCBs The Joy of Cheesecake
The Joy of Chocolate The Joy of Cocktails The Joy of Competition
The Joy of Creative Cuisine The Joy of Chinese Cooking The Joy of Ice Cream
The Joy of French Food The Joy of Gardening The Joy of Cooking
The Joy of Living Salt-Free The Joy of Money The Joy of Pasta
The Joy of Photography The Joy of Quitting Smoking The Joy of Reading
The Joy of Stress The Joy of Snow The Joy of Working
Interesting, is it not, that we do not find the title "The Joy of Giving"? Perhaps that should not surprise us. We already have such a book, the Bible. And if you interview people who live this book, you discover that they all find great satisfaction in the experience. The joy of giving is more than a possibility; it is a certainty.
A man describing the hectic traffic during a trip he and his wife made to Yellowstone National Park one summer said, "The cars were bumper to bumper and going so slow that it was like being in a funeral procession." In one respect, he was accurate. Our entire life is a funeral procession. It may take more than seventy years to tour the park, but the final destination is always the same part of town. Why, then, would we not want to spend our energy and resources on something important while we are seeing the park? As John Claypool said. "All your gifts will be given away at the end of your life. Why not get in on the joy of giving them away before that?" A French criminologist of fifty years ago, Emile Locard, came up with something he called "Locard's Exchange Principle." It says that even if a person is only passing through a room, he or she will leave something and take something away. Robert Fulghum says that this principle extends to our passage through life. Much of this leaving and taking cannot be seen, heard, or counted in a census. Money is one of those ways that we leave something that makes a difference, and God rewards that with joy. Jesus was right. When we give something, we take joy away with us.
One night at dusk, a young Robert Louis Stevenson was standing at a window looking into the street. When his nurse called him for dinner, he did not move. His eyes were fixed on a lamplighter who was going down the street from one gaslight post to the next. Stevenson called to the nurse. "There's a man out there punching holes in the darkness." God calls each of us to be lamplighters, punching holes in the world's darkness of pain, hunger, and strife. Failing to answer that call steals much of life's joy away from us.
Investing Wisely?
An old story tells of the wealthy man, getting on in years, who called in a faithful employee who had been with him a long time. He gave the trusted employee some surprising instructions. "I am going on a world tour. I'll be gone for a year. While I'm gone, I want you to build me a house. I have already purchased the lot. Here is a check that will cover the entire cost. I want you to take this money and build a nice house. Draw up the plans yourself, and do it extremely well. I'll see you when I get back.
The old man departed and the employee went to work. With shrewd purchasing, he cut corners at several points in the construction process. He used inferior materials at every opportunity, especially at places where they would not be easily noticed. Finally, the house was completed. He had produced a beautiful exterior "shell" that covered a shoddy piece of workmanship. He had lined his own bank account with the several thousand dollars he had saved by cutting corners. After all, the old man would never know the difference, and he would never miss the money. So what if the house was not well constructed? The old man would not need it long anyway!
The first day back from his trip, the old man wanted to see the house, so they drove out to look at it. "You may have wondered why I wanted you to build this house," the old man said. "After all. I already have a nice house."
"Yes, I did," the employee admitted.
"Well," said the old man, beaming with pride, "You have been my faithful assistant for all these years, so I wanted to find a way to show you my appreciation. Here are the keys. The house is yours."
What kind of spiritual house are you building with the money God has entrusted to you?


Wow what a story, imagine what you might have done with the money given to build a house for the master. What do you think the moral of the story is??? We were set up from the beginning to give an answer that would mean something, think about it.
Pastor WaynO

The wind was quite excited today, makes me homesick a bit. You know out in Wyoming the wind blows like that quite a bit. It isn't even a warning until about 55 or 60 mph. Brings some real memories back.
Enough of that I really appreciate Deb's responses and to hear her excitement is not only good but it can be infectious. Get on with us and lets hear from all of you out there. Catch the Spirit and let it fly, life will be beyond your wildest imagination.
Here is the lesson for today:

The Rewards of a Rich Live
In Victor Hugo's great novel Les Miserables. Jean Valjean is befriended and given lodging by the bishop, then steals his candlesticks. After the bishop reports the theft to the police, the magistrate questions Jean Valjean in the bishop's presence. When it begins to appear that Valjean is headed for jail, the bishop retracts his charges and offers a plausible reason for why the candlesticks are missing. Jean Valjean is amazed. When he and the bishop are alone, he asks, "Why did you do that? You know I am guilty."
The bishop replies. "Life is for giving."
The bishop was saying the same thing Jesus said throughout his life. A review of everything he said in the Gospel records reveals that Jesus's teachings regarding the secrets to meaningful living come down to one word—give. Give God your attention. Give people your love. Give the world your service. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35) Contemporary research reveals through scientific study what Jesus knew through spiritual instinct. The six greatest needs of every human being are meaning and purpose, self-esteem, loving relationship, spiritual connection with God, security, and a sense of immortality. Why did Jesus talk so much about money? Why do so many of his parables discuss the appropriate or inappropriate use of money? Because money has the power to help or hinder people from meeting these six basic needs that determine the quality of our daily living. "Money cannot buy happiness," we say repeatedly. True! But the way we use money directly influences how happy we are. Its use or misuse influences our ability to find value in life and spiritual growth in our relationship with God.
Leon Kass said to Bill Moyers, "Most of the human beings whose lives have stirred us and whom we admire are people who dedicated themselves not to the elementary pleasures, but to something noble, something fine, something that reaches beyond."
Haddon Robinson said that it is little wonder that God loves a cheerful giver, because so do we. Being generous does something for our spirit. "Which word would you like to have applied to you?" Robinson asked, "Tight-fisted or generous''"
Bill Easum, the author of a book about growing churches, says that 20 percent of the Christians he has known get 80 percent of the enjoyment out of being a Christian. They live fulfilled lives because they have discovered, in good times and bad, that they are healthiest when they reach out to others. All of them, he says, are good stewards. "I've never known a tither who did not know how to live. Pastors do people an injustice when they fail to preach about the stewardship of money. So one of the best things a pastor can do for the members is to separate them from some of the money that stands between them and God.
A waitress helped a customer select a breakfast special. "Get that instead of a combination breakfast with a side order." she said. "It's the same thing and saves you eighty-nine cents." After he thanked her, she added. "You learn that when you raise four kids." The primary things that most of our parents tried to teach us about money were how to save it and how to spend it. These are valuable skills. However, Jesus's teachings were primarily directed toward telling us how to give money. Knowing how to save and spend are orientations that appeal to the hoarding instinct and the materialism instinct. Knowing how to give balances those negative instincts with something positive that benefits us in deep spiritual ways.
A Korean legend tells of a noble warrior who died. When he arrived at the heavenly portals, he asked to see what hell looked like before entering the celestial area. He was amazed to be shown a magnificent chamber. A huge table was heaped with bountiful foods, but all the people in the room were cursing and screaming in anger. The guide explained the problem. They were all trying to eat with chopsticks three feet long. They had learned how to pick up their food, but the length of the chopsticks prevented them from getting the food to their mouths. When the warrior got back to heaven, he saw the same kind of room and the same kind of table. Here, however, there was laughter and joy. What made the difference? Here, the people had learned to feed each other. In giving, they received.

Wow, I just love what this study is doing to me. I have been inspired to many other things that have so little to do with money. I pose this question, "What in life do you hold onto so tight you are unwilling to let it exist?"
Pastor WaynO

What a great time, posting and reading and finding out there are others interested in reading the blog. If you read the blog, please sign in and give us some thoughts.
Today the wind is blowing and it is a bit cloudy but the Spirit still moves. I discovered that the blog can be put on a feed. This is a way to make it easier to share with all of you out there. If anyone is interested in that let me know and I will try to help you set it up. Also if you have stories or stewardship info you think would be good for everyone, by all means post it in a comment or email it to me and we will get it posted.
Well that is enough good stuff for now lets get back to the study. I find as we go along here that some of the new stuff reaches back to the older posts and comments. Look through it and see what you think.

The question for today is: Share one instance in which you felt joyful in giving money to God's work in the church or in the community.

Today's post:

The Reward of Sufficiency
A pastor, remembering his youth, recalls attending the last worship service in his home congregation before returning to college from summer vacation. The young man who was with him had become a Christian during the summer and wanted to attend the same Christian college, but his total resources amounted to only forty dollars. He needed a financial miracle. When the offering plate went by. the pastor was shocked to see his friend put in twenty dollars. When asked why he did that, he said, "Everything I have came from God. Why shouldn't I give half of it back? God knows what I need."
That action, though radical when viewed from a rational perspective, seems consistent with several statements of Jesus and Paul from the New Testament:
• "Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38)
• "Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful given. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:7-8)
• "You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity..." (2 Corinthians 9:11)
The result of that college student's radical act of giving twenty dollars is also consistent with the experiences of countless Christians. "Anytime I give God fifty cents, God gives me back a dollar," a woman said. "Give 10 percent of your gross income to God," a man said. "Save 10 percent for your family's future, and you will never have a financial problem you cannot solve." Ann of Austria once said to Cardinal Mazarin, "My lord Cardinal, God does not pay at the end of every week: nevertheless, he pays."
The impoverishment of our lives does not always start with poor income: sometimes it starts with poor outgo. We do not receive because we do not give. Martin Luther said that he had held many things in his hands but he had lost them all. The only things he still had were those he had placed in God's hands. A rich king instructed that his body be displayed at his funeral with open, out-stretched fingers, palms up. In death, he still wanted to express his conviction that all we have is what God gives us and what we give away to others. If we think we ever really hold anything in our hands, we are kidding ourselves. They are always empty. Yet, as we give unselfishly to help others, God gives us sufficiency: "Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38)

Pator WaynO

I am back and in one piece. My son shot his deer a 2.5 yr old 2 point with one shot. (typical of him) It is hanging in the garage waiting to be made into edible stuff, mostly summer sausage and jerky. Had a great time sitting around the fire telling stories and wondering about the world. Used to call it swappin lies, not sure what it would be now, blogging?????
Sitting there one of the guys said, "now all we need is to get satelite TV without getting a dish." He then got out his GPS and hooked it to his computer and sure enough we found where we were at. It occured to me that the web like the Holy Spirit is around us all the time. The signal and the pulses are flowing around us like we were setting in water. Strange feeling when I thought about that out in the middle of no where.

Anyway this is the next to last week of the stewardship stuff so hope you will review it and respond to it and find ways to implement it into your lives.

At least one person has been affected by the study, Debra has a new blog so congrats are in order and support for her stepping up to talk about Jesus and how her life and yours might be changed. I am not sure if the friends and neighbors part of my blog is showing up so just in case here is the URL to get you to her blog: http://www.faith-debra.blogspot.com
big, big step to do what is new. that is what most Christians fail at, stepping out when called adn letting God be our safety net.
Congratulations you just entered the feared world of the web.
Pastor WaynO

The next study I am hoping to have is one on the changing role of the church or maybe better put "our perception of the church". It is a giant step for many old mainliners to step into the world of missional thinking but we will have to if the kingdom of God is to stay alive and viable in the coming century. Oh, maybe I should refrase that, the "kingdom of God" will stay and it will be viable, what may be lost is some of us. Think about that as you move through the last of the stewardship lessons as I believe they will walk alongside each other. Pastor WaynO

I almost forgot the readings: Bible Study/Discussion Possibilities
1. Luke 6:27-38 (give, and it will be given you)
2. Luke 14:12-14 (when you give a banquet, invite the poor)

V. Money Is a Rewarding Investment
A seasoned businessman sat beside a younger man on a flight from Dallas to Atlanta. A talkative fellow, the businessman was in the mood to tell his life story. As the conversation unfurled, it became clear that he was a man of wealth whose business caused him to travel widely throughout the world. Several of his personal acquaintances held important government positions, and he conferred with them on matters of national and international concern. Toward the end of the flight, the businessman outlined his philosophy of life. "My brother-in-law who lives in Tulsa is a good example of how not to do it. He has never done any good financially, and he is always trying to sponge off his relatives. Finally. I told him off one day. I said, "Do you know why you are still a pauper, even though you have had every opportunity to do well financially? The reason you are still a pauper is because you have never learned how to give. If you don't give, you can't receive.'"
Is that true? Does giving increase receiving? Once again, we hear Jesus answering this question in a radical rather than in a purely "rational" way. The writer of Acts, stressing the importance of helping the weak, reminds his readers of Jesus's words: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). The Gospel record of Jesus's life echoes that quote in numerous places:
• "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:38).
• "But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed..." (Luke 14:13-14).
With these paradoxical teachings, Jesus makes giving to help the less fortunate something more than giving. This kind of giving becomes receiving. Thus, caring about the less fortunate becomes more than just a way of relating to God, as we saw in the last chapter. It becomes a way of caring for our own best interests.
In a cartoon, a clergy man said. "I would like to remind you that what you are about to give is tax deductible, cannot be taken with you, and is considered by some to be the root of all evil." But according to Jesus there is a much more positive reason for giving. John Wesley said that if you have poor giving habits, you are robbing God. Jesus went beyond that. He said that if you have poor giving habits, you rob yourself. A young intern came into a hospital nursing station one evening shaking his head. "There's an old man in the lobby by the vending machines." he said, "and he's putting dollar bills into the money changer. Even, time he gets his quarters, he yells "Jackpot!' and dances around." A few hours later, the nurses, on their way to a coffee break, saw a repairman fixing a vending machine. When they asked why he was working so late, he said, "I have to get this money changer fixed. It's been giving $1.50 in quarters every time someone puts in a dollar bill.""' According to Jesus, this is what happens when we give money to help the less fortunate. We do more than help them; we help ourselves.
Jesus's paradoxical statements about giving pose a question that all of us ask and in some way answer every day of our lives: Will I act as if God will reward me for unselfishly giving money to help other people, or will I act as if God does not care whether I help the less fortunate? In answering that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus indicated was the truth in this matter. On one hand, we want to feel and behave as if Jesus is right. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if he is wrong.
Many of us participate enthusiastically in a new cult: the religion of the mall. The illusion that spending for something new can make you into something new is not a new idea; but it has never been this elaborately organized before. Deep down, we know that, just as taking our mind to a worship service once a week puts the rest of life into proper perspective, giving a percentage of our money to help others does the same thing for the rest of our bank account. Yet, how hard it is when we stroll in the mall to resist the powerful gods that call for our adoration there. Deep down, we know that unselfish giving is one of the best ways to live in a world of "things" without being controlled by them. Deep down, we know the value of the spiritual disciplines—prayer, worship, Bible study, stewardship. If we give God the first hour of the day, the first day of the week, and the first tenth of our income, God will bless the rest. But when our eyes contemplate the gods of the mall, how easily we become confused and forget what Jesus so clearly said: "It is more blessed to give then to receive (Acts 20:35)."

Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation of Jesus' teachings given in this chapter: that we are rewarded financially for giving to help the less fortunate? Why, or why not?

Not to many words for everyone today. I am struck by much of what is here and this entire study is having a profound effect on my life. I am moved to reconsider much of what I have been doing and what I do. I suppose some of it is the Holy Spirit moving inside me but I truly believe I need to change.
I pray that the words shared here are changing a life some place else also. As you move into the next day take to heart what is written here. Read the scriptures referred to and then add your life up with the formula Herb Miller is laying out before you.
I will be up in north central Nebraska sleeping on the ground (well air mattress under me) rising early before the sun, trudging up and down steep hills, eating high calorie, hi fat food, looking all the time for the perfect chance to bag a deer.
In these days of life I seldom shoot at anything other than paper and seldom catch a fish. I have however learned that one needs to get outside, away from the routine and get some fresh air. I have learned that it is not about shooting an animal nor is it about catching a fish, it is all about going fishing and hunting. Shalom WaynO
The Good Neighbor Road to Wealth
Someone said. "If you want to feel close to God. spend one day each week working among the poor." That person had learned the truth that the rich man in Jesus's parable missed. In reaching out to die less fortunate, we draw closer to God's presence and creative power, and to eternal life. When we fail to care about the poor and needy, we distance ourselves from God.
Deep down, we all know this truth. Even advertisers know it. A roadside billboard in Indianapolis read. "WRTV 6—six people making a difference." It featured a picture of six people who were obviously key communicators with that TV station. Is that not what we all want, to make a difference in the lives of other people? Do we not all know that commitment to helping people does not diminish our lives; it enlarges and enriches our lives? Do we not all know that it
is the people who do not care about others who live lonely, meaningless lives? Do we not know that the rich man at his full table got the table but nothing else? Yet the pressure from the "it" myth can sometimes keep us from choosing this road to real wealth.
During August 1988. the national news media repeatedly publicized the messages of "miracles and healings" that three parishioners had received from the Virgin Mary over a six-month period at St. John Neumann Roman Catholic Church in Lubbock, Texas. At the height of this exciting period, approximately 6.000 people gathered from across the country for a special service. Several people with handicapping conditions were in the crowd. One of them reported later that, as she was praying, a woman she did not know came through the croud handing out prayer books. "I took one and kept on praying," she said. "Later, when I got home. I looked through it and found a $100 bill. Some of the other people with handicaps tell me they got the same kind of book, each with a $100 bill."
Deep down, all of us know that kind of caring is the way to live. Yet do we always respond to that inner urge? Part of our failure to live as Jesus suggested comes from our tendency to overestimate the length of our lives. We often expect to become more caring persons at some point in the future, when we have more time. A woman was shocked to read her name in the obituaries one morning. The age was fifty, the same as hers. The notice even said that the deceased had a son in Midland. Texas, as she did. She told a friend what a sobering experience that was. She wondered if she should phone someone to find out if she was still alive. Someday each of our names will appear in the obituary section of the morning paper. When that happens and our friends look back over our expenditure of the years, what will seem important—what we got, or what we gave? At that point, will it not seem that helping others in ways that count will be more significant than the dollar amount in our bank accounts?
J. Wallace Hamilton reminds us that not only do we overestimate the length of our lives; we also underestimate their length. He points out that the people are wrong who say. "A hundred years from now, what's the difference? We'll all be dead." Actually, a hundred years from now we will all be alive, somewhere. And what we have been and done will make a difference. It will go on having meaning."
Texas Highway 82 runs east out of Lorenzo. Texas, past a country cemetery. A passing traveler was struck by the obvious parable in the landscape. For about fifty yards the old rock wall of the cemetery laps over the ditch and right-of-way and comes within a few feet of the white line at the right edge of the asphalt. Looking at those gravestones standing so close to the old wall, the passerby realized that the cemetery managers must not have wanted to move the graves at the north end of the cemetery when the highway widened from two lanes to four lanes. How difficult it is for us to remember how close the cemeteries of life lie to the busy daily highways of life, he thought. How we would like to forget that we are all one heartbeat away from that cemetery! Perhaps there should be more cemeteries built close to busy highways. Perhaps that would help us keep our priorities straight about how we use our lives, how we function in our relationships, and how we spend our money. Viewed from the perspective of the country cemetery east of Lorenzo, Texas, what is more important than giving our money for a worthwhile cause while we still can? There are no checkbooks in the cemetery.
In the most sober moments of our lives, we believe that what Jesus said in his parable about the rich man and the beggar is accurate. Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, made a fortune by inventing powerful explosives and licensing the formula to governments for manufacturing weapons. When Nobel's brother died, one newspaper accidentally printed an obituary for Alfred instead. It described him as the man who had made a fortune by enabling armies to achieve new-levels of mass destruction. Alfred Nobel, sobered by how his life seemed to be adding up, decided to use his fortune to establish awards for great accomplishments in various fields that benefit humanity. We therefore remember him for the Nobel Prizes, not for his invention of explosives. Like Nobel, there are moments in life when we see the value of this principle that Jesus is trying to teach. As Leon R. Kass put it in an interview with Bill Moyers. "Where people
really give their lives for others, our hearts go out to them precisely because they have paid in coin of their future for something fine.' And yet, how difficult it is to maintain a grip on that truth as we move through the distractions of daily living.
A pastor from the U.S. was in northern Canada on a speaking engagement. He wanted to write a letter to his wife, but he did not have any stamps. So, he walked down to the post office to buy some. When he put his money on the counter at the post office window, the clerk would not take it. "That is U.S. money." the postal clerk said. "We only take Canadian money." The traveler could not buy even a single postage stamp with the $100 in his pocket. He had not exchanged his money at the border, and now it was useless to him. That is exactly what Jesus said in the parable of the rich man and the beggar. You and I will eventually move to a new country. The only way we can take our money with us is to exchange it for something worthwhile before we leave. What are you trading your money for these days? Are you buying something worthwhile, something that will last?

Well I think there were some good points made thus far so here is the next brain engager. this is one of the most interesting stories so far (at least in my mind). It tends to make one think a bit about what they are giving and what they are holding onto.
I also enjoy the story of IT, as it makes me think of the E-Bay commercial that tells us what ever IT is you can get IT here. I couldn't help but think of people wearing IT, driving IT, living in IT, cooking with IT. The list goes on so put it into your situation.
I hope that there are some lurkers out there reading and not participating and I also hope those who are will share some thoughts with the rest of us. A conversation is only as exciting (no offense Deb) as the participants. So far we only have a couple of perspectives and that leaves a lot out. Join us, we are on journey and wish many to come with us.
Grace and Peace Pastor WaynO

The Selfishness Blockade
Leonard Griffith retells a classic story by Dostoevski about a woman who died and was consigned to eternal torment. In her agony she cried out for mercy. After much time had passed, an angel answered, "I can help you if you can remember one altogether unselfish thing you did while on earth." It seemed easy, but when she began to recite her good deeds, she realized that every one of them had been done from a motive of self-interest. Finally, at the point of despair, she remembered a carrot she had once given to a beggar. She feared to mention it. because it had been a poor withered carrot that she would never have used in the stew she was preparing anyway.
But the angel consulted the record, and the record showed that the act had been prompted by unselfishness—not a great unselfishness, or it would have been a better gift, but it did qualify as unselfishness. The carrot was lowered on a slender string down through the space between heaven and hell. Could this weak thing bear her weight? Desperation made her try. When she grasped the withered carrot, she found herself slowly rising. Then, she felt a weight dragging at her. She looked down and saw other tormented souls clinging to her, hoping to escape with her. "Let go! Let go!" she cried. "The carrot won't hold us all!" But grimly, desperately, they held on. Again, she cried. "Let go! This is my carrot, I tell you. It's mine." At that point, the string broke. Still clutching the carrot she had reclaimed for herself, the woman fell back into the torment of hell.
Dostoievsky's story is an illustration of Jesus's parable of the rich man and the beggar. Both stories sum up the fate of people who live by the philosophy, "What's mine is mine!"—on this side of death and on the other side. Yes, if you wish to extend your personality in that way. you will get the carrot, but that is all you will get.

When Jesus tells the story of the rich man and the beggar, he is once again connecting with Old Testament teachings that his listeners knew well but were not practicing: "Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him" (Proverbs 14:31). "Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them" (Proverbs 22:22-23). To those classic texts, Jesus adds new illustrative force: "Give to everyone who begs from you. and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42). "If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" (Luke 16:11).

The Yaguey tree in Cuba is a living parable of the story that Jesus told about the rich man and the beggar. The Yaguey tree begins its life when a bird or the wind deposits its seed in the moist crevice on the trunk of another tree. The seed takes root and begins to grow. Its thick string-like roots go down the tree and eventually find the earth. Then, the Yaguey begins to grow upward. New roots form, gradually creating a net encasing the host tree. Slowly, the outer tree strangles the inner tree, and the parasite that arrived as a guest becomes the only tree remaining alive. That is what Jesus says happens to us if we do not unselfishly practice the giving of our money to help the less fortunate. The guest in our pocket becomes commander in chief. What we got gets us— and brings eternal consequences.
We tend to think of mythology as something that existed only in the ancient past. But we. too, have our myths. One of the most prevalent of these is the mythical "it." The advertising world and countless other kinds of manipulative attempts to control our behavior pump hundreds of images into our minds even' day. Many of those images, either implicitly or explicitly, are directed toward helping us get the mythical "it." Lift the surface of conversation with others (and even your own thought patterns) and you can hear this powerful myth, saying things like. "I don't have much now, but when I get that job. I'll have it made." Again and again, we get and store the signal that a positive response to an advertising plea means "When you get it, you will be happy."
Few people recognize that the culture they live in is mentally and spiritually wiring them for a lifetime of chasing the "it" myth. Fewer still, even if they see this trap, have the courage to call it what it is and pursue other priorities. For even Mother Teresa, a million others buy the myth that money makes you wealthy. There really is an "it" that can make us wealthy beyond imagination, but "it" is not what we think it is. Jesus called this real "it" the kingdom of God. He said that entering this kingdom of spiritual reality empowers us to focus on caring about the less fortunate rather than caring only about ourselves. When we enter this "it," we see what Jesus saw: Focusing on money as the highest goal in life blocks our connection with God's presence and creative power—and eternal life. Focusing on money as a means to help the less fortunate, however, strengthens that connection. Money cannot bring us into the kingdom; but money, used by people who have entered the kingdom, can bring us the wealth that money cannot buy.
Paul was saying the same thing when, later in the New Testament, he advised young Timothy. We often hear people quote a small part of Paul's advice to Timothy:
Money is the root of all evil. Because most of us have memorized only that phrase,
we tend to miss Paul's real meaning:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil; and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you. man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness (1 Timothy 6:10-11).
When Jesus and Paul speak about money, they do not see it as evil—unless you allow it to distract you from connecting with God and from helping the less fortunate. A man in Houston tells about a time when the government reissued $2 bills. Thinking they might someday be quite valuable, he bought a hundred of them at the bank. He gave the bills to his mother, suggesting that she keep them in a safe place. Months later, he asked her where she was storing the bills. She replied that she had deposited them in the bank the day after he gave them to her. Accumulating money is a good habit, but if that is your only way of using money, it becomes as meaningless as depositing $2 bills in the bank in order to keep them. Our attitude about money is eternal. If our only goal is to make it and keep it. we lose it

So if what I heard Debra say, it is true that what we store up tends to get lost and the stuff we give away stays. Interesting concept. As you look at this post see if you can find ways to relate even more that giving keeps and keeping loses. WaynO

Giving is Eternal
Again and again. Jesus links the way we use our money with our ability to build a meaningful life; but in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus goes far beyond that teaching. He asserts that the way we use our money not only enriches and adds meaning to our present lives—it has eternal dimensions in our relationship with God. In Tennessee Williams' play. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. "Big Daddy" says. "Yes. sir. boy—the human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be everlasting!—which it never can be." That line sounds accurate, but according to Jesus, it is not. Jesus said the opposite. While he recognized the shallowness of self-seeking financial pursuits, he said that you can make everlasting purchases with your money: "Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out. an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." (Luke 12:33).
A news item described a funeral procession that was crossing a busy city intersection just as an armored truck pulled up from the side street. Not realizing that the procession of cars was a funeral, the driver of the armored truck joined it. An onlooker, impressed by the spectacle of the armored truck in the center of a funeral cortege, said to a friend. "What do you know: you can take it with you!
In one respect, he was right. The people who always say. "You can't take it with you" are dead wrong. Jesus told us that you can take it with you: "...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:20). How do you do that? You can take it with you if you trade it in. If you bus something worthwhile with it. you can take it with you. J.C. Penney died a few years ago. This man not only tithed his money; he gave far more than 10 percent of it to God. Did he take his money with him? Of course he did. He used his money to enrich and enlarge his life. He bought something with it that mattered. He laid up treasure in heaven, and when he got there, it was waiting for him. He took it with him in the deep pockets of his soul.
Because the main character in Jesus's story of the rich man and the beggar is a wealthy person, people with average incomes sometimes fail to see that this great truth applies to them too. The question Jesus pictures so dramatically in this story is one that each of us asks every day of our lives, regardless of our income level: Will I make money my highest goal in life, or will I making helping other people my highest goal? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus indicated was the only rational choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus was right, and we want to go his way with our money. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus missed the turn on this issue.
Sometimes we are able to see the opportunity for an eternal investment. During a severe recession, when many of the church members were unemployed and broke, a pastor put $100 in small bills in a wicker basket. Telling the congregation that the money came from the church's benevolent fund, she asked the ushers to pass the basket along the pews. "Take what you need to help you through the week." she said. "We want to be a good neighbor to you, and this is the only way we know how to do it." Several did take money from the basket, but when the basket came back to the church's altar it contained $65 more than when it started. Deep within each of us runs the urge to help others with our money.
At other times our vision of eternal values is sadly blurred. A pastor in Arkansas announced that he was going to preach a sermon on stewardship next week. The following Sunday the sanctuary was "comfortably filled"—meaning that each worshiper would have had room to lie down in the pew and take a nap! Upon ascending the pulpit stairs, the preacher announced that he had changed his mind. He preached on the importance of prayer.
Six months later, when Easter Sunday came, the sanctuary was filled to capacity. He rose to speak and said. "Brothers and sisters. I have changed my mind with regard to the sermon topic." He then delivered a strong message on tithing. "The risen Christ who gave himself for us calls us to act like good Samaritans toward people who are hurting—by giving our money through the benevolent arms of the church," he said. The Easter crowd was less than enthusiastic about his choice of sermon topic.
Yes, we believe in giving to help the less fortunate, but that conviction is not as deep and consistent as it was in Jesus's mind. We believe, but we find ourselves pulled in the opposite direction too.

Well the week has begun again and we continue. I was at a church conference last week (reason for large single post) and found some very interesting things. Stewardship is essential to everything else in ministry. If you are not being a strong steward of gifts then there is a blank spot in your ministry. The other thing I found unrelenting with each presentation was the fact that we are to be out there, out there in the world where real minsitry and mission happen. We often short ourselves as we try to keep hold of everything or at best some things of our life. As Herb Miller points out in this session we must begin to give it up, pass it out, share it around. Keeping it for ourselves only adds to our worry and limited life.
I won't keep you any longer so as you read through this lets skip the questions and just see where we are led. The scripture in embedded in the reading and is Luke 16.19-31.
Look forward to hearing from more people. Pastor WaynO


IV. Money Can Become a Barrier to Wealth
Growing up, one of the things a farm boy enjoyed each summer was the week the carnival came to town. How exciting it was to walk through the lanes of floating ducks and ring tosses and shooting galleries, dreaming about all the wonderful things he might win there. It was also at this time of year—just before he left to go to the carnival on Saturday night—that his father always gave his standard lecture about not wasting money on foolish things like carnivals. "Son, don't waste your money on that stuff." he said. "If you're going to buy something, buy something worthwhile—something that will last."
The boy could never quite understand what his father had against carnivals. Finally, when he got a little older, his dad told him why he had such strong feelings. As a young man, his father took the girl he was dating to a carnival. While there, he got interested in a ring toss game and was determined to win a giant Kewpie doll for his girlfriend. He kept throwing until he won the doll, but it took more money than he had anticipated. Consumed by the excitement of the moment, he threw away $30 of hard-earned cash (which in the 1920s had taken him six months to save).
It took the boy some time to learn that lesson about carnivals. He had to learn it himself, the hard way, just like his father did. As the years of life unrolled, the boy discovered that his father's words applied to many other things. "If you're going to buy something, buy something worthwhile—something that will last." You can tack that advice up over a great many potential purchases. How easy it is to throw away your time, your money, and even your whole life on Kewpie dolls that count small in the long haul.
Jesus made that point in his parable about the rich man and the beggar (Luke 16:19-3 1). The rich man could have decided to use his wealth as an interstate highway to God's creative power and eternal life. Instead, he decided to use his wealth in a way that created a barrier to his connection with God—and the price he paid for buying the wrong thing totaled much more than $30. In this parable Jesus does not say that money is a bad thing. He is not telling us we will be happy if we are poor and sad if we are rich—nor is he telling us that it is wrong to be rich and right to be poor. Rather, he is saying that if you have money, buys something that matters. Otherwise, you will wake up one day with a life full of money but empty of value.
In our consumer-driven society, we are pressured to operate on the same premise as the rich man in Jesus's parable: that money has ultimate value. "Give me money." we think. Give me a new house, a new car. and plenty of cash, and I'll be happy. Give me a boat and a cabin and some spare time and I will be happy. But that is never true, is it? After a little experience, most of us learn that spending our money to get the things money can buy subjects us to the danger of missing what money will not buy. If we are lucky. we learn sooner than the rich man in Jesus's story that life with meaning must be a life, not just of getting and using, but of giving and helping. You cannot live like a self-centered vegetable without beginning to feel like a vegetable. If you do not live for something beyond your small package of self, you end up with many things around you but with nothing inside you.
Chinese farmers once operated on the theory that they should eat all their big potatoes and keep the small potatoes for seed. This they did for countless years. Eventually, however, they realized that the laws of genetics were reducing their potatoes to the size of marbles. Keeping the best potatoes for yourself and using the leftovers for seed will destroy your future. The Bible says the same thing—what you sow. you will eventually reap (2 Corinthians 9:6). What you give to help others you never lose. What you keep for yourself is gone forever.
Giving is Eternal

I put all the questions left in this session here because I will be out of town for the rest of the week. Hope all will make sense to you. Deb I am enjoying your comments. they really make me think.
I wonder if anyone else is reading and not posting or if you and I are the only ones reading? Oh well, happy studying. WaynO

3. Is it not possible to achieve meaning, purpose, and peace through two avenues at the same time—accumulating wealth and serving God? Why, or why not?
4. Do you know people who seem to have found the meaning and purpose the rich young ruler who talked to Jesus was seeking? If so. describe their thinking and behavior patterns.
5. In what ways do churches offer opportunities for finding meaning and purpose? Do some congregations offer more of these opportunities than others? If so. what makes the difference?
6. Are there sections in this chapter with which you strongly disagree? Why?
7. Did one of the ideas in this chapter grab your attention as an important insight for you to consider in your own spiritual growth journey?

The Proteus Pressure
The Greeks, not having the benefit of modern psychology, explained many of life's complexities through mythology. Among their many gods was one named Proteus, who could change himself into any shape to meet any situation. If you could hang on to him. he would grant you any wish. But one moment he was a raging bull and the next a flame of fire, so he was not a reliable God. On our way to find meaning and purpose, we all meet Proteus. He offers us a turnoff that looks like an interstate highway but leads into a meaningless marsh. Paul, like Jesus. warned us about Proteus: "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity" (Romans 12:2. J.B. Phillips).
When the empire he had built on fraud was starting to collapse. Billy Sol Estes told a friend that he had made a deal with God at the start of his business career. He had promised to do everything for God's glory, but he had broken his part of the deal and his world was falling apart.16 Shortly. Estes went to prison for life. For most of us. however, the Proteus temptation is not that obvious. Our choices are seldom between extreme good and extreme evil. Few of us are tempted to rob a bank or commit computer larceny. Rather, we are tempted to settle for a good thing instead of the best thing. We are tempted to become good money managers rather than good life managers.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy said that the great heresy of our time is the belief that getting can substitute for being. He noted that our heroes are not philosophers but manipulators who help us believe that if we can get enough "stuff together, we can do without character.' When that procedure fails, as it always does, we try to arrest our long fall into the pit of despair with a net of alcohol, or cocaine, or Xanax. or work. Defining our major problem as stress—pain coming from outside ourselves—can be an unconscious way of denying that we have a spiritual thirst that money cannot assuage.
The friend of a pastor scoffed at the pastor's stupidity in deciding to spend his life serving others. Years later, someone heard the friend, who became quite wealthy through his business successes, say at the pastor's funeral. "Oh. God. I have worked for the wrong world! I wish I had seen it sooner!" The British wit Oscar Wilde was expressing the same truth when he noted that two tragedies can befall us—not to get what we want, or to get it.
Proteus helps us get what we want. But if what we want ends up being the wrong thing. Proteus cannot help us fix it.
We often think that if we could get out of debt and have enough security to face the future without fear, we would feel that we "have it made." But would we?
C. William Nichols suggests that most of us need to take a warning from the rich young ruler, whose estate was enormous but who one day found himself "running after a penniless vagabond preacher, confessing that his life was empty." In our sober moments, between the frequent times when we are preoccupied with responding to pressures from Proteus, many of us know that feeling.
The Yearning to Be Free
Despite the temptation to make ourselves number one, rather than God, the evidence indicates that we know there is a better way. The rich young ruler's instinct is still alive among us. Studies by the Gallup Poll and other research institutions during the past several years indicate an intensified search for meaning in life. Materialism, while still a god, has been tested by many and found to be an insufficient God. Volunteerism is on the increase among Americans. We are finding better ways to express our personalities than through accumulating money. The fact that a method of stewardship called "Miracle Sunday" has during recent years raised more than a million dollars on one Sunday for renovation projects in large churches across the country and more than one hundred thousand dollars on one Sunday for renovation projects in several smalltown congregations across the country tells us that people want to give their lives to something besides a bank account.""
Deep within us all is the growing recognition that we are spiritual beings whose hunger for spiritual realities defies all efforts to crush it or feed it with houses, cars, gadgets, or trinkets. A lot of people have seen the bluebird of happiness up close. They enjoy a swimming pool, an expensive car. and the other amenities of a high standard of living. But after the new car smell wears off. life goes on. with the same emptiness as before. They see that a love affair with consumerism is not enough to fill the void. A religion of the mall is not the answer. And they ask themselves. "What is?
Breaking Out of the Proteus Prison
Jesus said an amazing thing on his way to Easter Sunday: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
This is a hard saying, isn't it'? What can Jesus possibly mean? He made this statement just a few days before Palm Sunday. At the height of his career, the multitudes were following him everywhere, hanging on his every word. He was a famous man, drawing the kinds of crowds that world leaders do today. Everything was going right for him. But Jesus, who seems to have been seated at that moment at a dinner table where he had been invited by a wealthy Pharisee, said to his followers that if they wanted to be his disciples, they would have to hate the members of their family. How could Christ, a compassionate, loving man, be telling us not to love our family?
A story from several years ago pictures two little boys standing on the shore of a lake watching the first water skier they had ever seen. As the man sped across the lake behind the boat. Bobby said to the other boy. "Why does that boat go so fast?" His companion gave a logical answer: "I guess the man on the rope is chasin' him." What kind of relationship does a water skier have to the boat he or she follows? A good water skier gives total attention to the boat. Any distraction preventing the skier from seeing where the boat is going and following it must be rejected and hated. This is not because the distractions are bad in and of themselves—but because they could make the skier fall. If the skier waves too long at a friend on the beach, then looks around to see that the boat turned right a long way back, the skier could end up face-to-face with a cedar tree on a sandbar. That is surely what Jesus was getting at with his amazing remark. He was saying that if you let important responsibilities like family and work and money become the center of your attention instead of God—if you concentrate on them too much and too long—you will soon lose your ability to relate to God, and life will become meaningless.
This is surely one of the biggest problems Christians have today—not the temptation to reject Christ altogether, but the temptation to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, then promptly substitute something else as the matter of first importance in their lives. Our problem is not that of the Jewish religious leaders, who rejected Jesus outright and tried to kill him. Our problem is that of the "almost disciples" who followed him gladly at the height of his career. They listened eagerly to his seashore sermons and after-dinner speeches, but promptly had other things to do when he asked them to become real disciples.
When Jesus walked out of the tomb on Easter morning, he brought into our lives a whole new set of possibilities. He brought us the opportunity to live a life that transcends death, but also the possibility of living a life that transcends life as we know it. A pastor says that in younger years he always preached Easter sermons that tried to prove Jesus really is alive. In more recent years he has realized that this is not the question. Enough people have met Jesus face to face in the quiet Emmaus roads of their own lives that we know he is alive. The real question is? "How do I find that newness of life in my life that he made possible by his life?" "Follow me?" he said (Matthew 4:19). Will I? "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's," he said (Luke 20:25). Will I?