Lead me into the desert....

When I first got out on my own life was pretty good.   I was working a job at minimum wage.  I had my own place.  My own car.  I had a phone, internet, and food in the fridge.  Then I got a job making twenty five dollars a day driving a bus going to college.   The bills were getting paid.   I was eating well and had many friends.   The summer after I got my Associates degree I decided to get a job as an electrician.   I started making quite a bit more money.   I soon forgot how good life was at the start and began to live at this new level of 'wealth.'

It wasn't long until the bills weren't getting paid.  I had a lot more stuff for sure.   I ate more, partied more, had even more friends.   My relationships were getting more shallow though as I sought more and more enjoyment.  I was making more money than I had ever had.   I had a new car, well new to me.  I had plenty of books, a top of the line gaming computer, high speed internet, and on and on.   I was unhappy though.  Relationships started to fall apart.   Bills stopped being paid.  After a break up with a girl I thought was the 'one,' I took a job with a travelling electrical company and began to go on the road.  I went back to simplicity.   Life was starting to look pretty good again, and it kept getting better. 

The first reading reminds me of that journey.   The Israelites met God in the desert of all places.   In a land where they had to count on Him for food and drink.   They had a relationship and journeyed together.   Then He took them into a land of abundance and immediately they began to put more and more into their lives.  They turned from the one who would give them living water and instead tried to find that fulfillment in things. Just as I had done in my years as a young adult, and just as we tend to do today, we constantly look for that thing which will make us happy.  Sitting around day dreaming about what we would do if we won the lottery instead of looking for the gift that is already there... God himself in the Sacraments. 

The thing about the Gospel to me is that every person heard the same parable, every person encountered the same Jesus.  The Disciples, though, sat at His feet.   They didn't just encounter on a superficial level.   They wanted to be closer, to learn more.   They asked questions.  They journeyed with Him.   That's what relationships are about.  Time spent together.   That is why that little verse from Hosea is so powerful: "So I will allure her, I will lead her into the desert." (Hosea 2:16) This isn't God trying to pull you into the sparse desert to die.. it's a lover wanting to take you back to the simple times.. to where we met... to the beginning of our relationships.. to the way things used to be.  It's God calling to us to have an authentic encounter.  To remove all those things from our hearts that stand in the way of receiving the one thing that fits, the one thing that matters.   To get rid of all these empty, meaningless things... and encounter Him: in the Sacraments, in Sacred silence, and in His most distressing of disguises... the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sick, the prisoner, the refugee, the sinner and the saint. 

His servant and yours, 

Brian 

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the daily Mass readings for Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time: June 21, 2016.  Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13; Psalm 36; The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew 13:10-17

Let Him Ask Again

There are so many things we try to do to get good health.  One doctor tells you to eat high fat, another high protein, another no fat, low protein.  One high carb, another low carb.  This one tells you to use aromatherapy.   Another to take this pill and that.  Yet another tells you to avoid pills and simply stick needles into certain places of your body.  All of them claim to have the answer.  It becomes quite confusing to the average person to try and figure out exactly what they should do and eat, what they should put in their bodies, what they should avoid... Yet we find people going to great lengths, eating extreme diets, concocting various potions and chemicals, all in the search of adding a few years to their life.

How many times in the movies have we seen people take upon themselves these massive quests to find a cure, or to save the one they love.  Indiana Jones risked his life navigating the maze of death to get the holy grail that he might save his father who had been shot with a bullet.  He was willing to risk his life for just the chance that he might save his dad.  In other movies we see people seeking rare flowers in the heights of the trees in the jungle, seeking out estranged guru's hidden from sight in order to find the secret to their condition, or even like Eddie Murphy, climbing the highest peaks of some strange country to find a temple to retrieve a scroll that will save many lives.

We do that still in our own lives sometimes don't we?  We look for the right herbal treatment, or the right natural remedy.  We ask doctors for medicine to cover up our symptoms that we might live a semi-normal life.  If someone told you today that you should load up your family and head to some other continent because the cure for cancer was in a plant in the middle of the desert, would you pack up that loved one and head out?  Many of us would.  If my daughter were dying and I were told I had to climb the highest mountain to pick a blooming rose on the 3rd of december at midnight, I'd likely be willing to do it...

The thing is though, it's Divine Mercy Sunday.  It's a reminder to us that God's mercy is infinite, it's an ocean waiting to be poured out on us.. all we have to do is accept it.  When I was a Protestant I did find God's grace.   God's grace is available to all people.   I'd feel the Holy Spirit at a prayer service, while listening to some preacher on the radio, while praying with some friends at work... yes, his grace was there.   It was though like I was searching in the desert looking for those moments.  Looking up to the dry, blistering sky I would occasionally find relief from the arid world around me. A drop here.. a drop there... just a moment of relief...

Then I found the Church... I found Him.. I found that river of life that Jesus told the woman at the well about.  Instead of a drop here or there... there was enough of God's grace to pour over me, around me, and through me... all of it right there in the Eucharist.  How much of that grace has God offered to the world and the world refused?  In the Divine Mercy Chaplet we pray about the fount of life, unfathomable divine mercy.. An ocean of mercy so deep it can never be sounded.  An ocean of mercy that is beyond comprehension, God himself, descending into a piece of bread... something defenseless... to allow me to receive Him into my body... to place that Mercy into me.. to consume it.. to let it flood through my body and change me.. to help me to grow into Him.. to be more like my savior and my Lord..

We seek concoctions, potions, spells and incantations to cure things which are temporal....... To ease the symptoms of a much less serious illness than that of apathy, that of spiritual sloth.  Do we realize how important Mass is?  How important it is to receive Jesus Christ; body, soul and divinity; into our own body to help us become what he intended us to be?  It's not enough to just receive that Mercy.. it's not enough to just tap into this ocean and consume enough for our own needs... No.. you see, you are a conduit.. The Eucharist fills you up, just like a cup... if you are full?  There's no more room.  God didn't design us to be just a cup.. He designed us to be little Christ's.... to pour ourselves out, like Christ did on the cross.. to take this living water and turn it into a transforming flood to mold the world into the image of His kingdom.

Are you ready for that?  To go out into the world and give away what you have been given?  To hand the mercy and forgiveness you have experienced through God's abundant grace and love to those who need it most?   The widow, the orphan, the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed.. and yes, to your enemies.. to those you like the least.. to those who are most unlike yourself... That's what God is calling you to.  He is coming before you in the Eucharist and saying to you, as he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  Now it's up to us.. to say back to Him... to look up at the Mercy of God himself, to look up at Jesus in the Eucharist, and to say with Mary, the Mother of God, and all the Angels and Saints in Heaven, "My Lord and my God!”

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Baby, something is happening here

It’s been a rough few days.  I haven’t really felt like doing much of anything so I ask for forgiveness in not having written on my blog.  My daughter and I both have had some sort of fever with aches and pains.  She’s had the rougher part of it, not desiring to eat or do much of anything.  Today is a bit better.  She is goofing off some, eating a little, and even giggling.  How often we take those little things for granted don’t we?  Our giggling kids, the pranks they play, their constant noise.   “Keep it down!”  “Don’t do that in the house!”  “Go outside if you’re gonna make all that noise!”   It is when they are struck with a sickness, absent, or missing that we begin to realize how much we cherish those gifts.

In Sunday’s reading Isaiah is calling out to the Israelites to remember their first date!  How often we think of the desert as a punishment, as a time when the Israelites were being beaten and trained like we do to our marines!  Toughen up!  

Hosea says it a little differently, he says: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.”  Let us go back to our first date!  When our relationship was fresh, when we were alone and it was just you and I! Even creation calls out in appreciation for the miracles that God had performed for his chosen people.  This was a time for them to get to know each.  A time of butterflies and giggles, of new experiences and understandings.  In this desert wandering the Israelites were learning what it means to be in a relationship.  Just like when we first fall in love we begin to ask what does she like?  What doesn't she like?  When I am with her how should I act?  Should I text her now? Wait till tomorrow? Is it too soon to call?  God was wooing his people.. Offering them the freshest of water, the finest of foods…

As we draw toward Easter the Church has chosen these readings from Isaiah to point to what God has done for us.. ‘Behold I am doing something new!”

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.   (Jeremiah 31:31-33 RSV-CE)

Saint Paul in the second reading talks about what that means for us, the new Church, the gentiles and the Jew united as one body of Christ.  God has wooed us again.  He wants us to have that relationship with him so strongly that he came down as a man, to suffer and die for us.  Saint Paul talks about suffering with Christ!  We aren’t perfect, Paul is clear on the fact that he does not see himself as perfect either… but we can grow.  That’s what our desert in Lent is all about… about learning to be in relationship with God… taking a moment to look back and say when was our first date?  Do I still feel that way?  Do I still get butterflies in my stomach when I am confronted with the Lord of the Universe in the Eucharist? Do I rush to the confessional to see him on my lunch break in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Do I miss him with fondness of heart and aching soul when I am unable to visit?  Do I still long to be next to Him?  Is Jesus still the love of our life?  Or is he going to the back burner?  We should yearn to be able to say with Paul:

I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession.Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Then we come to this amazingly beautiful story in the Gospels where Jesus sets the example of forgiveness.  This woman is the epitome of one who has left behind her first love.. One who has abandoned what it means to walk with God.  She is living a life of adultery.  Her partner in crime is conspicuously absent.  They throw her at the feet of the Master and demand to know, what should we do?  Do you stand with Moses? Or with Rome?  Either way Jesus would lose.. But what does Jesus do?  He writes in the sand.  What did he write?  We don’t know.  What we do know is whatever it was… made the men condemning her turn and walk away.. Then he restored her relationship with God.. he looked her in the eyes and said “Neither do I condemn you, go forth and sin no more.”  Come back to me in the desert… read the words I have written in the sands of your heart and let me woo you again.. I love you that much.. To forgive you, to remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

Jesus is offering each and every one of us that opportunity in our own desert of Lent.  He is making a way in our desert, offering us living water.   He is writing in the sand something so powerful, a word so strong, that the enemy who seeks to make us feel distant from him will have to turn and flee.. And then offering us the same thing he offered her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”  Are you ready to take his hand in the desert, to walk with God as his people?  Is your life changed in such a way from that personal relationship with God himself and his family that people can see it at work in you?  What does it look like?  

Every person is living in the desert of this world… from the poor, to the widow, to the refugee.. All of us are living in the world.. But we are destined for greater than that.. We are destined for walking hand in hand with our creator… to be lifted back to the dignity he created us for..  You and I with our words are writing in the sand of this world… we are writing a word for others to see… as you bend down before the world, speaking forth words that should bring life and dignity.. Words that should show you to be the people whom God formed for himself… ask yourself this one question: What words are you writing in the sand?  Do your words bring forgiveness?  Do your words turn away the mob seeking to stone and condemn? Whose child do people see you as?

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

How much is enough?

When I first moved out on my own life was pretty good.  I worked several jobs to keep up with what few bills I had.  I drove this old beat up Dodge Daytona that had literally half a million miles on it.  It was so old that you had to be careful where you parked it.  If you parked facing downhill it was a turtle on it’s back.  No amount of friendship could repay the times my buddies had to push me out so that I could get into first gear and actually move the car.  Life was grand, wasn’t it?  I had internet.  Water… Power… I was getting a college education.   Had friends, family, and no one could ever accuse me at any time in my life of looking like I was starving.   I was working three jobs and putting a little money in the bank. It wasn’t enough.

That summer I got a job working as an electrician.  I intended to go back to college and get another degree after the summer... I started making what I thought was really good money.  My beloved cousin Becky and her husband Denver helped me to get a Geo Tracker.  I upgraded to faster internet, got a new computer, bought tools and clothes.  I still lived in the same run down house, and yes.. I was still very bad at managing my money so I never had any.. but life was good.  I had food.  I had a roof over my head.  Had people who loved me.  I was learning about God and going to services when I could.  I worked more and more, further and further away.  Overtime was better money so if I only got three hours of sleep a night that just meant more to spend!  And spend it we did.  It wasn’t enough.

I never went back to college. I got used to making more and more. Life was good. I didn’t realize how great those days were really, until one winter when I didn’t have anything.  As I said above, I’ve never been good at managing my money.  I spend it.  I give it away.  I buy things and give that away.  I consume it.  I like my food.  I like my trinkets and gadgets.  So as I stood over an old rusted out wood stove in the basement of my home, looking around at the walls that were only twigs and ground up dust, I was beginning to hit rock bottom.  I had always been comfortable.  Always had food.  In fact, if I hadn’t been so proud that winter I could have eaten at my mom and dad’s house.. they would have fed me… but there I stood cooking beans inside the tin can they came in.   Eating them with a pocket knife.  They were the best beans I’d ever had.   Hunger has a way of doing that to you doesn’t it?  No power.  No water.  No heat.  No insulation. Middle of winter.   My car was gone, long story that one.  I had my work truck though.  I had my per diem so I could eat during the day.   What I didn’t have was money to keep those comforts I had taken for granted.  

Then God led me to Illinois.  I met a woman who I cherish everyday of my life, and she gave me a family.  My life became affluent, rich, wealthy.    I’m still broke.   That’s the funny part.  I still am horrible with money.  I still spend it.  I still give it away.  I still want those gadgets and trinkets.  What God showed me though is that there is more to this world than just comforts, though I must admit having heat in the northern winter is a very nice thing.  He showed me that love, that relationship, that communion.. that’s enough.  Anything else is extra.

The Israelites were travelling the desert for forty years being led and provided for by God himself.  He poured out mana from heaven to nourish them.  He made water flow from the rock to give them drink.   When they began to complain it wasn’t enough?  He sent quail into their camps until they had eaten enough that it ‘ran out of their nose and they began to loath it.’  (Numbers 11:20)  He poured out his love on them.  Then offered them the promised land, all they had to do was trust.  It wasn’t enough.   God wasn’t enough.  They fled from the task.

So He led them around until they were ready. Prepared them to go into the promised land under the lead of Joshua.  They had been complaining about the monotony of their food source, of the mana itself… so he gave them fresh grain and bread from the new land.  He delivered the city of Jericho into their hand by miraculously making the walls to fall to the ground.  He had just given them this new land, promised them all of it, showed them the abundance of fruit and grain, and promised to be with them.  It wasn’t enough.  

Seven days they were in the promised land.  Seven days they marched around Jericho.  In seven days they had become successful and been shown that God was definitely with them!  For Achan though?  It wasn’t enough.  He wanted the silver and gold of the men of Jericho, so he took it against God’s commands.   Why are we like that?  God gives us more than enough.  When I first got out of highschool and moved out on my own?  I made $25 dollars a day.  I had everything I needed.  No debt.  A car.  Friends. Food.   A house.  Later I was making $50, then $100 a day, then $200… the more I made, the less I had.. the less time.. the less things.. the less friends.. less.   The more material my life became.. the less I had.

I was less thankful for all those things I had when I had them, you know?   I think that was the problem with the Israelites.. they weren’t thankful for what they had.  They had God himself!  He was feeding them, giving them to drink.. and it wasn’t enough.  Adam and Eve made the same mistake didn’t they?  They walked face to face with God in the Garden.  They weren’t happy with that.. it wasn’t enough.  Joshua led them into the promised land!  They were restored completely from slavery, out of the desert and back in right relationship with God! Things were back to normal, back to the way they should have been! It wasn’t enough.

I think we often forget that when we go to Mass.  When we hear this parable of the prodigal son we think, Yeah I know.. the sinner returns.. the brother gets mad.  Guess what though? I think we often have more in common with the older brother than those who are just coming to dinner for the first time.  Have you ever noticed how excited a convert is the moment he gets to receive Christ?  For that moment, if not for the rest of his life, God is enough!  How about for us as we go for our hundredth? thousandth? or even multiple thousandth communion?  Are we happy with it? Do we still cherish it?

In the Gospel the older brother complained because his father hadn’t cut up a fatted calf for him and his friends.  He takes for granted all the mercies and benefits he has had bestowed on him by his father over these years.  His brother has been lost, has not been present to receive dinner every night.  The older brother has.. he’s been fed every day, been given drink every day, been loved every day.  He has had the Father all to himself.. Yet here he is jealous the moment his brother comes home, and refuses to come in.  All of a sudden, it’s not enough!

God feeds us with the true bread, manna from heaven.  Are we being completely aware of what it means to receive that?  Are we taking it for granted that the grace is there every single day? That God is providing for us every day?  True bread, true drink, Jesus Christ himself; body, soul and divinity? Oh that we might never take it for granted, that we might never grumble of those things we think we need more of.. that like Saint Francis of Assisi we are satisfied with the least of all things.. with Christ himself.  

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote his Summa Theologica.  After finishing it he took it and placed it before the crucifix of God as if to say, God? Is it good enough?  He began to pray and listen for an answer.  He heard the crucifix speak to him and say, “You have done well.  What would you like as a reward?”  Saint Thomas replied, “Only you Lord, Only you.”  He is enough.

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

Be Holy, As I am Holy

As we journey through Lent, one of the professors for our Diaconate class asked us: What does it mean to be holy?  I find this sort of reflection invaluable at this particular time as we struggle with temptation in our own deserts in preparation for our own Easter. 

Growing up as a Protestant gave me a different view on what it means to be Holy than I have now, though I believe it still influences me in that respect. My primary example of what I believed was a Holy Man would have to be, and still is in many ways, my grandfather. My grandfather was an old regular Baptist preacher and truly tried to live his life for Christ. He didn't allow many things in his home, from Biology books to “playing cards.” His way of life revolved around Sacred Scripture. He truly tried to set himself apart from the ways of the world.

I think that that in and of itself is a beautiful thing. The word itself, Holy, has roots that point to being set apart, being different. The Old Testament is filled with an example of how that God truly wanted his people to stand out, to be different than those around them. Holiness then rightfully boils down to one statement, though it is not limited to only it in anyway. I will take you as my own people, and you shall have me as your God. (Exodus 6:7) That is how I understand those 613 commandments presented in the Tanakh, as an example of how that the ancient Israelites understood they should behave in that relationship.

The Jubilee years, the Sabbath, the great Jubilee.. all intimate a way for us to do just that. Not only to reflect the extremely personal relationship that they were in with their deity, but also to allow them to do so in a way that reflected who He was. In sharing in His merciful outpouring of grace and forgiveness, they were able to be more like Him. That to me speaks volumes. That God, who did not need rest, allowed us to be able to not only take a rest when we frail humans needed one, but also be able to be more divine in our actions by doing so.

Then the Father took this even further by sending his Son to take on human flesh. By God becoming man he sanctified a way of life. Then speaking in His own words from the sermon on the mount he portrayed to us that propriety in a fullness that expresses what it means to be fully human. God has given us a path through the Beatitudes that exemplifies a paradigm that would change the world if embraced by all people. A paradigm that is best expressed by Jesus himself on the cross. Saint Thomas Aquinas in his eloquent method of speaking expounded on the four spheres of influence that tend to lead to sin. Power, Wealth, Pleasure, and Honor. He surmised that all sin is rooted in one or more of these temptations. Jesus gave us the Beatitudes as a perfect antidote to those spheres, then he lived them out on the cross. As a man on the cross he had no power, he was nailed in place. He had no wealth as they gambled for his clothing on the ground below. He had not pleasure but pain and discomfort. He had no honor but rather the death reserved for the most heinous of all criminals.

In today's society it seems that to be holy is seen as someone who simply attends church regularly, is a 'good' person, and doesn't judge others. To me, being holy has become something even more profound, that is to be more like Christ himself. We should be different, we should be a peculiar and a particular people. Not because we want to be, but because Christ calls us to a radical separation from the world in our manor and behavior. He calls us to Sainthood and a level of perfection that is only possible through releasing control of ourselves to the Holy Spirit. My Grandfather had a powerful idea of how to express that in his conduct and activity, but I disagree with some of his methods. That's truly the crux of the issue. To be holy means to be configured to Christ in our actions and our lives. That might look very different than how the ancient Israelites did it, and in fact it might look different based on our different vocations and stations of life, but it is a calling that every single Christian is called to. It does not mean that we will be perfect or immaculate, but will actualize perfection via a Sacramental life.

Food for the Journey

Tomorrow's Gospel reading is a familiar scene to most anyone who is familiar with Christ and Christianity.  It is the story of Jesus feeding a massive crowd with just a few loaves and fish. It reminds me of the journey through the desert.  When the Israelites left Egypt they came with just a small bit of food.   They had no idea where to turn for sustenance.  Even though God had just parted the red sea for them, it never occurred to them that God would provide.  They began to grumble about how they left a land where they at least had food every day, even if slaves.   Then, though they did not deserve it, God provided them manna from heaven.   These miraculous flakes of food appeared in the morning and all they had to do was reach out and collect them.

Here in the Gospel we see again crowds of men and women gathered together.  They had been around him seeking healing, seeking miracles, seeking answers.  For three days now they had not eaten food and Jesus was moved with pity on them.  Even though Jesus had just healed the sick, made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and had previously performed a similar miracle of feeding a huge crowd with very small amounts of food, his very own disciples still question where they are going to find food.  Just like the Israelites in the desert, it never occurred to them that God would provide. Just like in the desert, even though these people did not deserve it, God provided them with food for the journey.

John Chapter 6 gives us a glimpse into who Jesus truly is.  We as Catholics view this as the great Eucharistic discourse.  Unlike the Israelites in the desert who were fed with a bread from heaven, and the people gathered around this mountain who were also fed with a miraculous bread, Jesus tells us in the discourse that He is the true bread from Heaven.  He is the food that we must consume.  His wording here is strong and cannot be confused.  So strong in fact that people began to ask who this man was asking them to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  He did not say, "Oh I mean it figuratively.  Don't be silly."  No, rather he reaffirms it and tells them "You must gnaw on my flesh or you have no life in you."  Many of his disciples departed.  Instead of chasing after them informing them they misunderstood, he looked at the Apostles and said "You going with them?"

Peter's response is so telling.  "To who else would we go, you have the words of eternal life."  Indeed.  Here we are on our own journey.  Advent is a reminder of what the world was like before the Messiah was born.  It is also a reminder that we too must examine ourselves daily to make sure we are bringing about God's kingdom, that like the Blessed Mother, we try to bring Christ into the world.  We do this through our actions.  We do this through our faith. We do this through the way we live and breath.  Every moment can be a prayer delivered to God.  Jesus Christ is the bread that feeds us on this journey.  In the Eucharist we receive everything we need.  We receive Christ himself, a food so powerful that we do not consume it, it begins to instead transform us.  Even though we do not deserve it, God is daily providing us with food for our journey.

When you are at Mass, picture yourself on the mountain with Christ lifting up the loaf to bless it.  As the Host is elevated by the Priest, think of what this truly means.  You are about to be fed by Christ himself, with Christ himself.  Does it occur to you that all he asks of you is possible?  That these trials and tribulations you are going through right now are nothing compared to the gift you have received?  He asks the disciples how they will feed a couple thousand people, and it does not occur to them that He can do anything.  How much more so do we fail to think in our most dire times that He can do anything?  When he asks us, "How do you think we can do this?"  Do we respond, "God there is no way it can happen, we don't have enough bread."  "We don't have enough money."  "We don't have enough faith."  "We don't have enough time."   Or do we say, "Lord I don't know you are going to manage this, but I know I will be taken care of."

Then at that moment, the first reading becomes real and God's Kingdom is made present to us:

On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

His servant and yours,
Brian

How important are your things?

We've all heard the "you are on a desert Island and can only take" stories, but I want to really think about that for a few minutes. Let's try a different scenario that is much more likely to happen in our world. But first let's address the real problem, we in our society live with our 'needs' and 'wants' all mixed up. We think we need so much, when they are really wants.. and those things we really need, we often don't even notice. We have homes stuffed with many things. Multiple pairs of this or that, four and five televisions, computers in many of our rooms etc.

How much do those mean to us? Are we really living the gospel? Now there is room in our life for nice things, but at the same time... if we have more than we ever use... then someone out there is going without. What do I mean by that? Well if I have a television sitting in my garage... doing nothing... then someone out there who has no television, can't afford one, and wants one... is doing without one.. or better yet, someone out there who needs food.. is going without the food that they could have had, if I never bought it in the first place, and instead bought food and donated it.

So, what would you save in a fire? If you could only take 4 things out of your house (besides your children and animals), what would they be? Then, while standing outside watching what you own burn to the ground... what would you miss? If you had no insurance at all, what would you mourn having lost in your home?

His servant and yours;
Brian