Thursday; December 27

          On November 18, 1978 over 900 people took part in what was called a “Revolutionary Suicide” in the jungles of Guyana.  For those of us who were young adults during this time, the images are still very real.  People – many of whom were our age – had followed Jim Jones to South America where they had set up a communal lifestyle only to become victims of Jones’ selfish power.  As the images of the suicides and murders began to come back to the United States one of the most pressing questions was “Why?” ... “Why would people follow him and why would they voluntarily drink a poisoned soft drink just because they were told to do so?”  Today, we know a lot more about what happened four decades ago – but, the question remains, “Why?”.
          As I thought about the power of Jim Jones I began to think that it may be a lot more common than we can imagine.  Sure, very few people take their own lives in a mass suicide, but how many people fall under the spell of sin and evil?  People wreck their lives because they follow the god of greed.  People ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol because they are lured into believing that if they can just escape their problems life would be easier to live.  People destroy their families (and the individuals closest to them) for the promises made by careers, sex or abusive violence.  As we take a step back and analyze the damage done by these and so many false hopes we are led back to that same question – “Why?”.
          Let’s be careful who or what we allow to lead us off to a promise of some type of better life.  Yes, there is a way to achieve peace, happiness and contentment; but, there are also many temptations that are merely baseless promises.  We must be wise enough to know the difference!
          Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more