Think About It

In his book, “Christians In The Age Of Outrage”, Ed Stetzer considers the influence Christians have in the world by taking a look at how Christians live their lives.  As a part of the book, Stetzer sets out to describe various types of “Christians” in the modern world.  Among his categories of Christians are: 1.  Cultural Christians – Some people self-identify as Christians because were born in a historically Christian country and they really don’t fit in any of the other major religious groups. 2.  Congregational Christians – These people may not have a vibrant faith, but they retain some connection to a congregation (a Christian home church).  They typically attend this church during the more “religious” times of year or for the occasional wedding or funeral. 3.  Convictional Christians – These folks readily identify as Christians and are decidedly more religious than the other sub-categories.  They are more likely to go to church regularly...

          If there ever was a friend of the service personnel of the United States military, it was probably Bob Hope.   For decades the comedian entertained American troops by taking his star-studded shows out to the world’s battlefields.   When I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to watch his Christmas shows from places like Vietnam, but as excited as I was to see him, I can’t imagine what it meant to those troops on the frontlines.   The other day I came across a quote from Hope’s book, “I Never Left Home” that noted, “I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate, and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny.”             As I thought about Bob Hope’s description of the Amer...

What is the right thing to do?   Are we doing it?   The reason I bring up these questions is that I have found it awful easy to excuse my inaction.   Oh, I am very familiar with “right things”, but I am also very comfortable explaining away why I don’t do them.   Sure, when the right thing is something I want to do, it is every easy to do it.   Yet, when it is something I don’t really want to do I can find a myriad of excuses for why I can’t (or even why I shouldn’t do it).   I am very willing to go out of my way to help people I want to help or do things I enjoy doing (even if they inconvenience me), but the real test of godliness is doing the right things that I don’t want to do for people I don’t want to help.   One of the most difficult spiritual philosophies for me to live up to is the concept of knowing the right thing to do and do it (James 4:17).   However, I also realize that not only is doing the right thing something God expects fr...

Fall finally made an appearance in our area last weekend.  I am not going to say that it turned cold in southern Maryland, but I do know that it doesn’t take me nearly as long to walk out to my car in my shorts and T-shirt as it did a few weeks ago.  While different places have different degrees of coldness, one thing that is certain is that the falling temperatures have an adverse impact on the homeless populations in our community.  As the old TV show used to say, “there are thousands of stories in the big city”, there are that many reasons that people are homeless.  Some of their stories are sad, others are infuriating – but, the fact remains that we have neighbors who don’t have a place to call their own in the wintertime. When I think about homelessness, I can’t help but hear Jesus’ comments, “ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world....

          When I was a youngster I was fascinated by space travel.  Our family lived on the east coast of Florida during the 1960s and 1970s and even had some friends and distant relations that worked in and around “the Cape”.  I recall the excitement of watching successful space launches and landings; then feeling the pain of the failures – especially those that resulted in the loss of life.  It was great time to be an American kid.  It was inspirational to imagine just how far we could go and what could be discovered out there somewhere.  The visionaries of that day made some incredible leaps through thought and dedication.  Over the last few decades our emphasis on space exploration has decreased.  I’m not sure what happened – was it the influence of those who question the validity of our history or the lack of people who saw it as important – but, we rarely hear about what is going on in outer space.    ...

If you have ever had to communicate with someone who speaks a different language you realize how difficult it is to have an understanding of what is being said.  Isn’t it great that when we come across those who speak “our language” because we have a general belief that they will be able to understand each other.  The problem is that even though we have a common language we may or may not define similar words in similar ways.  Some words may sound the same but have different meanings.  To take this a step further, some words may have a similar meaning, but are open to individual interpretation.  Take, for example, the word “humble”.  To some, this word has the negative connotation of being meek to the point of being downtrodden, but not everyone shares that understanding.  To many of us, humility is the ability to truly understand ourselves in light of our physical and spiritual environment.  It isn’t about being “milk toast”, it is about being m...

          Since I wasn’t at the original meetings of the revolutionists in the 18 th Century I can only imagine what they discussed.   Being dissatisfied with the systems in place from the royal monarchy, I am sure they envisioned a government run by the people for the people.   It wouldn’t surprise me if they thought of a nation governed by their friends and neighbors.   Someone that looked (and thought) like them making laws that represented them.   They were unimpressed by a ruling class thousands of miles away from them – they wanted someone who understood their day-to-day challenges and philosophies.           The reason I bring this up is not to tout the Great American Experiment, rather it is to remind us of another way we are represented by someone who understands us.   When the early Christian church sought assurance of their place at the throne of God they we...