A goodbye to my Mom

“Your mom has cancer!” These are devastating words to hear. And these were the words I heard over the phone just about a month ago. The doctors didn’t give her very long either. Two weeks was what I heard. They found cancer in her lungs, Breast, Bone and Brain. They started treatment and she was upbeat and she told me that she was “looking forward to watching Gabriel (My one year old son) dance at his wedding.” She was determined to fight this thing. But as the treatments went on they proved to be too taxing, too grueling for her to continue and she made the choice to stop treatment. I am devastated once again. I feel as if my heart is shattering into little tiny pieces which no one can put back together again. It hurts more than I can express. But, I want to tell you about my mom. She wasn’t perfect. No she wasn’t but she was human. And she taught me what it is like to be human. She wasn’t rich. We never had a lot of money but she did help me to see all the things we did have. She wasn’t famous. To be honest there are a lot of people who are going to be totally unmoved at her passing. BUT she was famous to me. She was MOM and if there is any name in the world that is more famous than that one I dare you to tell me what it is. She made her mistakes, and I loved her! Sometimes because of those very mistakes! As I said before, She was Human. She loved, she hurt. Much the same as all of us. And through that process she taught me how to go on even when those things happen to us. It was my mom who loved me unconditionally. She taught me to love the things she loved, Animals, Reading, Theatre, Music… I love these things. She taught me how to. There is a special bond between a mother and her child. I will miss that bond! I will miss the chance to call her and ask for her help in making sense of life, I will miss the times when I could call to tell her about the newest thing my kids are doing , I will miss the times I would call her to cry over a hurt or heartbreak. When I was growing up sometimes it seemed as if all we ever had was each other. But we were able to persevere because we knew that whatever else happened, whatever else we faced we DID have each other. We knew there was always someone else standing in our corner and backing us up. I will miss that. She did her best to raise me, and she thought, as do I, that she did a pretty good job of that. I am lucky that I found a wife as wonderful as she is. I will probably be able to go on because if that. Sure she made mistakes, we all do. But she also did A lot right! I still love her and she will always have a special place in my heart and in the hearts of her grandchildren. What I think I am most thankful for right now is that she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, which means I can see her again someday. And when that day comes I want to run into her arms and tell her how much I love her and give her a great big “Bear Hug”. Like I always used to do. I love you MOM. And I will miss you. Love Steve.

Coal or diamonds

People get really down on Christianity by comparing Christians to what they are talking about. Here is the problem, first not all those who claim to be Christian are, and second, Christians are only human. The Bible tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Even Christians are sinners. It is in our nature. The difference is that Real Christians are being transformed. It is a process and sometimes there are falls or backsliding, but they are working on being more like Jesus. So you see, the real problem here is that you are comparing coal to a diamond. Let me explain. Diamonds and coal have the same basic structure, in fact people can MAKE diamonds From Coal through massive amounts of pressure. The thing is that while a diamond is a beautiful desirable multi-faceted gem, coal is a dirty, smelly, rock that burns. Coal miners would develop Black lung from breathing in coal dust, London was a sooty city until they cleaned up the coal they were burning and still today overexposure to raw coal dust can cause emphysema and lung cancer. There are all kinds of filters and restrictions placed on the power plants that still burn the stuff, and it is useful and cleaner today than it was but it still is dirty stuff in the raw form. Sounds kinda nasty huh? Well guess what THAT is people. ALL people are like coal. HOWEVER Jesus is like a diamond. He shines, he is beautiful, he is something worth having in your life. Trying to see Jesus in the lumps of coal called Christians is to get an unclear picture. Sometimes only God can see the potential in that person. Even through the filter of God’s love and work we still can get kinda ugly! Also it ought to be noted that even though we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we still make mistakes! But God is working on those who are truly his and some of them are starting to shine with the beauty that comes form that transformation. So the real point there is do you want to stay a lump of coal or do you want to start the process that will make you into something greater. Because, in the end, there are only really two choices. 1. Stay a lump of coal and end up burning in the eternal fires, or 2. Allow Jesus to work in you and in your life, accept him as your Lord and Savior, and start the process of transforming into a beautiful gem that will last forever. Well there you go… that is a nice simile I hope that it helps you to understand. Have a great day.

Depression or Christ?

I was lately thinking on this life and what it means to me as a Christian. The funny thing was that I realized that there are a lot of things that are different when You are a Christian. For example In this particular instance I was kinda tired and I felt a little depressed. So it is little surprise that my thoughts, when I realized my emotional state, went to thinking about people who suffer from depression. See we all get a little down sometimes. For some of us it is just the S.A.D.D. (Seasonal Affective Depression Disorder) or some other kind, like when we get to thinking about loved ones who have died or moved away. Sometimes that makes us feel a little alone or even lost. Other people suffer from true Clinical depression. I remember a while ago a report of a state police officer near where I live who killed himself one night. He just drove out to the middle of nowhere and then pulled out his gun and shot himself at the side of the highway. It was near Christmas time when this happened and Some people, I know, were asking what could lead a person to this kind of thing. I also think about the recent reports about suicide amongst the members of our military, how they are in such despair that this is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions. Many people out there are afraid of dying. Those people are asking how anyone could do this kind of thing. I remember when I was a teenager I fell into a period of depression where I felt like the only thing I wanted was for the pain to stop. I got past it and one of the ways that I got past it and keep away from it is through the grace of God. I decided at some point that it is God’s choice as to when I ought to die. Sometimes life gets tough and it is hard to face. Knowing God helped me, maybe it is helping others. I realized that I am not afraid of death, for me that is when I can go home, and I wondered how I could compare it so that I could share it with others. This is what I thought of, When you go hiking or camping, sometimes you get scratched up by bushes, you get dirty and you get tired and whatever. Sometimes, depending on the activity, you work muscles that you forgot you even had. Think about those times, or when you went out on a long trip or did some hard work. Or whatever, You might have felt good that you accomplished something, or you might have felt good about the memories you made or the time you spent out with friends, but now you are tired and sore. Then you got home. You ate some freshly cooked food, you took a hot shower or bath, you put salve on sore muscles, you put medicine on bug bites, and you bandaged your scratches and “wounds”. How good did that feel? Then you got dressed in your clean fresh pajamas or whatever and got into your soft, warm, inviting bed and slipped between the clean sheets. That is what it is to go home. That is what Christians can look forward to. That is why I want to wait on God’s choice. Maybe for others they just want the pain to stop. But here is the problem with that… do you know Christ? Without him we have no assurance of heaven and if you go to hell then that pain will never stop. If you do know him then if you are pain or suffering you ought to talk with him about where you are. He may be able to help you like he did me. Reach out to your Christian friends who can tell you about this faith that we have. All of us have been through pain and suffering, we may not know exactly where you are or how it figures in your life but we have found peace in him. And if you are currently facing death anyway, maybe it’s a diagnosis of cancer or heart disease or something. If that is where you are and you are afraid. Talk to God about it. Accept Jesus as your Lord and savior. You do not have to be afraid of death. Because it can be, just as I said, going home to a warm fire in the fireplace or clean sheets and a renewed self. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you who read this Blog. I hope that you find the peace of God in your own lives.

Creation Museum

Now as a Christian I already believe the theory of Creation is how we all came to be. That is to say, I believe in the Bible as the word of God. The WHOLE word of God. Since I believe that, I take it to mean what it says when It tells me that God created the heavens and the earth and everything else to the farthest reaches of space, In SIX days. So I found this trip to be a very refreshing break from the Evolutionary theory that is pushed at me every day by PBS and every other secular media as well as by the schools and “scientists”. “Why”, you might ask, “would you choose to believe in the theory of creation?” Well it is really simple. There are two theories. One is the theory of Creation. The other is the theory of Evolution. So let me take the facts and look at them and apply the real scientific method and see which fits. Fact one. The favorite way to explain the time scale is showing the “bands” of strata that are in the earth and saying this level is from such and such a time etc… BUT what is going on in those bands? There are tree trunks in the bands that run up and down through those bands. How could they exist if this was something that happened over a long period of time? Fact two, the method for dating is radio carbon dating which has been proven to be accurate only back about five to ten thousand years. Fact three, the “science of evolution” requires either sudden drastic mutations which had to be (a) viable for life and (b) widespread. Or it requires that things slowly changed and evolved over a long period of time which means there has to be hundreds or even thousands of intermediate fossils. To date scientists have only found four “examples” of intermediate forms. Three of those were PROVEN false and the fourth (Lucy aka Australopithicene Afarensis.) is a partial skeleton that was found scattered over two miles of riverbed and is so small a sampling that it could be just about anything you wanted it to be with enough imagination. Meantime there are hundreds of critters and examples out there of species’ who could Never exist if Evolution were the reason for life. Some examples are the Red crested Woodpecker. (that’s right Woody the woodpecker would NOT exist if it were up to evolution.) There is also Bombardier Beetles, Bumble bees, Platypuses/i, even our eyeballs have little reason to exist in the evolutionary system. But in Creation? Not only can these things exist but also anything that you could think of might be out there. With creation the only limit is the creator’s imagination. Time after time the Bible has been challenged as an accurate historical document. Time after time it has proven itself to be correct. While time after time there are still points that elude evolution and it has yet to really prove itself at all, no matter what the proponents of it might say. To me that means I can trust the veracity of the Bible a lot more than a bunch of guys who have gone to so much work to fool me. Yes I said they tried to fool me, you too for that matter. They tell us that they have all the answers, but if you ask them about how the Bombardier beetle came to be they splutter and hem and haw until they can change the direction of the conversation. And the same is true for MOST of the points that I mentioned and more. Don’t believe me? Ask them why there are still oceans! Why haven’t they all become salt flats yet since at the rate they are gaining salt they would be solid blocks of the stuff by now (if their time estimates are real). Ask them why the Moon is still in orbit around the earth. Measurements show that the moon is moving away from the earth. If everything was formed even just millions of years ago, instead of the billions they claim, then the moon would no longer be in our orbit. Ask them to explain the woodpecker or the platypus or where they found petrified dinosaur foot prints and human foot prints overlapping one another or … well you get the idea. A word of warning, they will try to deny these things and they will hide it and obfuscate. They will even threaten, cajole and yell at you. But the truth is out there If you will really research this stuff you too will see this. But too long now have the people of our society been told that the ONLY viable choice is evolution because “we cannot believe in Creation because that would imply a God and that would be against separation of church and state.” Or “we have to accept Evolution because to believe in a creator is to take the easy way out.” Because don’t you know “religion is the opiate of the masses.” They feel they have to throw out the creation theory solely because it follows a religious view point and that is totally unacceptable for some reason. My point is, there is more evidence to support creation then there is to support evolution. “Scientists” throw out creation because they cannot have any explanation that presupposes a force, person or deity that might have caused things to be. So the only option they have left is to place their faith, yes I said it F-A-I-T-H!, on a model that cannot be proven. (and so often is disproved.) Think about it.

an OT or a NT problem?

I keep hearing people misrepresenting the bible. That is to say they will take it out of context and they will use only the parts that suit their needs. For example, the other day I got into a discussion with a family member. Not a close one but still family. She claims to be Christian. I do not really know where her faith really lies but her actions and beliefs run counter to what the bible teaches in MANY areas. The Bible tells us that we should protect and help people who are weaker and less capable, people like children or widows. It also indicates that we are a life from the moment of conception. (You knew me when I was in my mother’s womb… Job) That means that abortion should be a big Christian no no. But she supports abortion. The bible tells us in the new and old testaments both that sexual immorality must be avoided (any union between anyone other than a marital relationship between one man and one woman being the standard.) But she supports (or has no problem with) teenage sex, Gay sex, Gay marriage, Divorce, premarital sex, and for all I can tell extra marital sex and promiscuity of all other types. In our argument she basically seemed to be trying to say that all things are allowable… but, I fear her reasoning was faulty. Her viewpoint was that we do not punish people like it says in the Old Testament anymore so those laws do not hold us anymore. So I tried to explain to her the problem with that view. But she cut me, and the conversation, off. I suspect she did that about when I started making sense to her. She could not be reasoned with because she holds her viewpoint and nothing must interfere with it. So here is my point. The Old Testament contains all of the rules by which God expects us to live. (Deut 5) If we fail to follow his laws we are sinners. But no one was, or is, able to follow all of those. Indeed the book of Romans says, in Chapter 3 verse 23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The bible tells us that God is the same forever. He is unchanging, always the same. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Revelation 1:8 “‘I am the alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” The real issue here is do we still have to follow the old rules? The answer is not a simple yes or no… the thing is that Jesus said he came not to replace the law and the prophets but to fulfil them. That is the law still applies BUT the penalty has been paid. SO we need to try to be good followers of God and that means being obedient. Then the law becomes, not so much a law as a guide for how to live it lets us know how bad we are so we know how much we need his saving grace. Romans 3:20 “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. But no one can follow all of the laws in part because of our sin nature. So the price of sin (Death) is paid. But it is more than that. As a Christian I know and accept that there are going to be people who do not want to follow my God. And that is fine. I will not hurt them or threaten them or anything. I do know they live in sin, and I will warn them against their sin. But that is as far as I go. If they choose to go without accepting my Savior that is their option. It is part of the free will that we all have. BUT if you claim to be a Christian then you ought to be following some certain guidelines. Romans 1: 19 – 20, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Obvious huh? God has made it plain for all of us to know and we have no excuse (that goes for both saved and sinner I think) BUT… Romans 1:21-27 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God or gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” But HERE is the real kicker to this… “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Hmm there it is! The best argument I can think of for how God feels about sexual Immorality IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Not the Old Testament. So why is this a real problem? Well the thing is we have to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior or eventually the penalty of our sins WILL come to us, Romans 2:5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew And then for the Gentile; but glory honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.” And again Romans 3:23 FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished –“ You see? The penalty of our sins are withheld for a time… but why ought this to be? What does Romans 3 say next? 26 “he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” God loves us and we can either accept it or reject it. God already made his position plain. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The question is, now that you know all this what do you intend to do with it? If you claim to be a Christian and support the idea that Homosexuality is something to be encouraged then you need to get before God and have a serious talk. Read your Bible and KNOW the truth. If you are not a Christian but you want to feel God’s acceptance then become a Christian. If you want nothing to do with Christians, God or Christ then simply ignore us all and keep going the way you are. But if you are going to try debating Christians about their faith then you need to stop taking the bible out of context and you need to read up on what you are going to debate. Finally, if you are a totally for Christ 100 % HooRah Christian, you need to read God’s Word, learn it, memorize it and then, when people try to mislead you, you can point to the scripture and verse and say Nope this is what God REALLY has to say about it.

How does Christianity fit Homosexuality?

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about businesses who support gay marriage and businesses that don't. A lot of people say that Christians are hateful because of their view points. I see the Homosexual community insisting that everyone else HAS to be tolerant of them and if you do not accept them or their views, if you do not pander to them, then you have to be a bigoted hateful jerk. But I would disagree. What does the Bible say? God is the same forever and ever. He loves his people but he hates sin and Any sex that exists out of the realms of marriage, one man and one woman, is sinful. David suffered for sexual sin and he was "a man after god's own heart". Samson suffered for his sexual escapades. And Sodom and Gomorrah also paid the price for their sinfulness in sex. Here is an interesting point... ALL of those examples are in the old testament. So does that mean that it all changed when Jesus came around? No. Sin still is punished and these acts are still sinful. BUT Jesus pays the price for our sin nature. he paid the price for me and you and everyone else who accepts him as Lord and Savior. But Christians ought to be trying to tell others about Christ and the gospel. The interesting dilemma is that many people will scream out that what I just said here is hate speech. I ask you what about this is hateful? Think about it. I just said that "Jesus paid the price for our sins if we accept him as Lord and savior". How is that hateful? "you do not have to hurt because the hurt that was due has been done already." I said that sin leads to pain. Is that hateful? I think not it seems to me to be just basic truth. Akin to saying if you whack yourself in the forehead with a 2x4 it will hurt. The reason why they want to say it is hate speech is simple. It is because I am basically saying, if you want to feel better about yourself if you want to have hope, if you want to feel the love of God, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE. And these people do not like that idea. "what makes you better than me?" they yell "how dare you judge me!" they scream. But that is just it. I am not better and I am not the judge, Jesus/God is. If you want to ask what validity my faith has, well that is a separate subject and I will be happy to talk with you about that later.

Who did Jesus come for?

This is a blog that I want to post regarding Christmas. Hope you enjoy. In the story of the Events around Christmas we hear about angels, kings, wise men, shepherds and so on. But the central characters are three people. A girl maybe as old as 16, with no money or status. A carpenter, a young man, also with very little to his earthly ”value”. And the baby Jesus. Who is born in a stable and sleeps in a feed trough. All of these are poor people. (Financially speaking) And Let’s think about who this baby was sent to reach. Who, for example were the first people who were told about the savior? Shepherds! The poorest of the poor, the despised, the downtrodden. And Where were they? At work, even though it is the middle of the night. And what gifts did they bring? The bible does not tell us of a single thing they brought! Just that they came to see the baby. Two years later the rich wise men show up with expensive gifts. Here’s the thing… what is more important? I have to admit, one of my favorite Christmas songs is “the little drummer boy”. A great song all about a kid who comes to see the baby Jesus, he is told to bring a gift fit for a king. But when he gets there all he has is his music. So he gets permission from Mary (“may I play for you … on my drum? Mary Nodded… the ox and lamb kept time… I played my drum for him… I played my best for him… then he smiled at me, me and my drum.”) Jesus accepts the little gifts especially when the heart that gives them is doing the giving rightly. Similarly… One of my favorite stories at Christmas is about the bells in a town church where… Let me tell it to you actually. The story is a special one for Christmas. It is ''Why the Chimes Rang''. It was written by Raymond MacDonald Alden. In a faraway country where few people have ever traveled, there was once a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in a great city. Every Sunday and on holidays like Christmas, thousands of people climbed the hill to the church. The main room of the church was so long that if you stood at one end, you almost could not see the other end. In the farthest corner was an organ. This organ could play music very loud. Sometimes when the organ is played, people from miles around would close their windows and prepare for a thunderstorm. No such church as this was ever seen before. It was especially wonderful when it was lighted with burning candles for a holiday and filled with young and old people. But the most wonderful and most unusual thing about the huge church was the sound of its bells. Connected to the church was a huge stone tower. Everyone who built the church had been dead for hundreds of years. No one could remember how high the tower reached. It rose so far into the sky that no one could see the top, except when the weather was very clear. Even then a person could not be sure that the top was in sight. All the people knew that at the top of the tower was a group of bells, Christmas bells. They had hung there ever since the church had been built. Their sound was very special. Some thought their sound was so special, because a great musician had made them and put them in place; others said it was because of their great height. They said the air was so clear and pure high up where the bells rang. Everyone who had heard the bells said their sound was the sweetest in the world. Some said they sounded like the singing of God's angles; others said they sounded like wind singing through the trees. But the sad fact was that no one had heard them for years and years. There was an old man living not far from the church who said that his mother had told him of hearing the bells when she was a little girl. But he was the only one who knew even that much. The bells were Christmas bells. They were not meant to be played by the organist, nor were they meant to be heard on common days. It was the custom on the night before Christmas, Christmas Eve, for all the people to bring their gifts to the Baby Jesus to the church. When the greatest and best gift was given, the music of the Christmas bells would be heard. It came from far up in the tower. Some said the wind rang the bells, others said God's angels set the bells moving. But for many long years, the bells did not ring. Some said that people were less careful of their gifts for the Baby Jesus, others said that no gift was great enough to earn the music of the bells. Every Christmas Eve, rich people tried to give better gifts than anyone else, yet the rich people did not give anything they wanted for themselves. Each year there were many gifts, each year the religious service was good, but the bells in the stone tower did not ring. Far away from the city in a country village lived a boy named Pedro and his younger brother. They knew very little about the Christmas bells, but they had heard about the religious service in the church on Christmas Eve. They made a secret plan that they often discussed--they would travel to see the beautiful service. Pedro would say, "Nobody can guess, Little Brother, all the good things there are to hear and see. I have even heard it said the Baby Jesus comes to bless the service. Would if not be wonderful if we could see him?” The day before Christmas was very cold, there was snow in the air, the ground was hard and white with ice. Pedro and Little Brother slipped quietly away in the early afternoon. Walking was very hard in the icy air. But before night they had walked far enough to see light from the big city ahead of them. They were about to enter the city when they saw something dark in the snow near their path. They stepped aside to look at it. It was a poor woman who had fallen just outside the city. She was too sick and too tired to keep going. The soft snow made a kind of bed for her. Soon she would be so sound asleep that no one would ever wake her again. Pedro knelt beside her and tried to wake her. He pulled her arm a little as though he would try to carry her. He turned her face toward him so that he could rub the snow on it. Then he looked at her silently. "It is no use, Little Brother, " he said. "You will have to go on alone. " "Alone? " said Little Brother. "And you will not see the Christmas service? " "No", said Pedro. He could not hold back a sad sound in his throat. "See this poor woman. Her face looks like the face of the mother of Jesus in the church window. She will freeze to death if nobody cares for her. Everyone has gone to church. But when you come back you can bring someone to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing and maybe I can get her to eat the bread that is in my pocket. " "I cannot leave you and go on alone. " said Little Brother. "Both of us need not miss the service." said Pedro. "You can find your way to the church. You must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother. Once for you and once for me. I am sure the Baby Jesus must know how I should love to come with you and pray to him and if you get a chance, Little Brother, give the Baby Jesus this small silver coin I brought. Give it when no one is looking and do not get in anyone's way. Remember where you left me. " In this way, Pedro hurried Little Brother to the city. He closed his eyes to keep back tears as he heard his brother's footsteps moving further and further away. It was so hard to miss the music and the beauty of the Christmas service. Instead, he was here in the cold and snow. The great church was beautiful that night. Everyone said it had never looked so bright and beautiful. When the organ played and the thousands of people sang, the walls shook with the sound. Young Pedro, outside the city wall, felt the earth shake around him. At the end of the service came the moment to bring gifts to the Baby Jesus. Rich men, important men gave their gifts. Some brought jewels. A great writer gave a book he had been writing for years and years. Last of all, came the king of the country. He was hoping as everyone hoped to win for himself the music of the bells. People in the seats spoke quietly to each other as they saw the king take his jeweled crown from his head and offered it as his gift. "Surely," everyone said, "we shall hear the bells now. Nothing like this has ever happened before." But all they heard was the cold wind in the tower. The people shook their heads. Some of them said as they had said before that they never really believed to the story of the bells. They said they did not believe the bells ever rang at all. The giving of gifts was over and the singers began the closing song. Suddenly the man playing the organ stopped playing as if he had been shocked. Everyone looked at the old priest. He was standing at the front of the church holding up his hand for silence. Not a sound could be heard from anyone in the church. But as all the people listened, there came softly but clearly through the air, the sound of the bells in the tower. The music was so far away and yet so clear. It was much sweeter than anything that had ever been heard before. The music seemed to rise and fall in the sky. People in the church sat still as though something held their shoulders. Then they stood up together. They looked at the front of the church to see what great gift had caused the bells to ring. All that those in front saw was a child. Little Brother had moved silently to the front of church when no one was looking. He had given the Baby Jesus Pedro's small piece of silver. The point here is that the gift isn’t the important thing it is the heart of the giver. But how often do we get wrapped up in the minutiae of things. How often do we focus on giving the bigger or better gift. How often do we focus on what gift we are getting? I have seen too many times in my life people get hurt because the gift they gave wasn’t “good” enough. Or “expensive” enough or whatever. How many times have we hurt others by looking down at the gift they offer and tsk tsk at them? When Faith was a little girl about to celebrate her first birthday. A friend of ours decided to make a gift for her. He took an empty oatmeal canister. Cut out the bottom of it and wrapped the remaining tube in aluminum foil. For months that was the only toy that Faith wanted to play with. She loved it. How many of us have ruined Christmas for others by trying to outdo one another in the gifts given? I think this is something we ought to think on year round. Maybe we ought to focus on the good points and try to lift people up instead of bring them down. Maybe the next time you see someone struggling to make ends meet while holding down a “menial” job, instead of pointing out how they ought to find a “better” (in your opinion) job. Maybe you should instead congratulate them on the fact that they HAVE a job and that they are trying to provide for their family instead of choosing to live on other taxpayer’s money. For that matter when you see someone who is out of work, especially in this economy, try helping them out a little. Don’t sit there and point out how you are so much richer or better off than they are. In fact let me help you out a little. If you feel like saying something like… “What a cheapskate.” “How lazy s/he is.” “Why do these lazy so and so’s keep stealing my tax dollars?” Then you would be in the wrong! What you ought to say (and think) instead is “wow that poor family is having some trouble making it… maybe I ought to see if there is something I can do to help”. Maybe the people you are looking down on would love to improve their position. But they cannot afford to go to school, or there are no jobs locally that they qualify for. Maybe you can be someone who steps up and says “what can I do to help?” Don’t come storming in saying things like “oh hey here is a great job in another state. Here is a way that you can make an extra buck.” How do you know? How do you know what they might need or want if you haven’t either asked them or been in their shoes? Do you think it is appropriate to offer a job as a stockbroker to a guy who is clueless about what stocks are? Do you think he ought to be an accountant… why? Did you know that he is incapable of doing math? Maybe he has a math learning disability. Some people do you know. Or you think she ought to be a librarian… after all she is good with books and loves to read. Just because she loves to read does not mean the library is a suitable place for her. Also, too many people judge others, because those others don’t have the same motivations in life. My wife once encountered that. She was a high schooler at the time, and she was talking with someone who asked, “so what do you want to go to college to learn?” her response was almost automatic. “I want to study to become a teacher.” This was her dream, her lifelong goal! She KNEW what she wanted and had since she was a little girl. So her response was an automatic one. But the response she got in return was… well… “oh you won’t be able to make much money doing that.” How hurtful! To have her lifelong dream simply dismissed just because it did not measure up to someone else’s ideal. (making money) As I told Christina, “the response you got, that is the response of someone who knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.” Think about oh Michael Jackson or Brittany Spears… does it seem to you that their lives are/were all light and roses? Did Michael Jackson really feel happiness? Is that why he went through all the plastic surgery? How about Kurt Cobain, who killed himself. Is that the act of a happy man? But hey he was RICH Loaded. Or as I once heard a comedian put it… loooooaaaaaadddeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you think, looking at Brittany Spears’ life, that she is truly happy? How about Lindsay Lohan? How about the long run? What good do you think all that money is doing for people like Christopher Reeves, Farah Fawcett, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, James Doohan, J.D. Rockefeller… all of these people were well off or “wealthy” by earth’s standards. How many of them took their money with them? N O N E!!!!!!! were they happy? What difference did Helen Keller’s teacher make? We may not always remember her name (Anne Sullivan) but she inspires us still today. How about Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Saint Nicholas, Emperor Constantine, the apostle Paul… Still today they all continue to make a huge difference… and yet none of those listed in the second list sought fame or riches. (Constantine started out rich). Speaking of Helen Keller, she had a great quote… “there is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.” So how about you? Are you going to do the same thing and hurt people just because they don’t want to go to the places you want to go to? Do you want to bring the big expensive gift that cost a lot but means nothing? Or would you rather be the kind of person that realizes the value of things that sometimes may not have much earthly worth? These are standards that mean a lot to some people. Maybe next New Year, you ought to make the resolution that you will seek out ways to help out. Start a scholarship so that working stiffs can still get an education. Or find one you can contribute to. Volunteer some time to help other people know about the options out there. Not in a “hey you ought to.” Way but in a “hey what do you want, and how can I help?” way. If you can do that people will love to have you around. Otherwise you are more likely to cause hurt and pain instead of helping out. Or even better don't wait, start it now. never too soon to do good things.