When I die, will I leave a hole...

or will I just be filling a hole? Patrick Mead asks how committed we are to the kingdom. Handle with care, because this essay has some sharp edges. :-) I think it also demonstrates how challenging it can be to balance the need to encourage people's involvement in the kingdom with the need of holding them accountable.

The determining criteria....

of those who follow Christ is that we love each other. One of the most persistent and harshest observations against the bride of Christ tends to involve the word "hypocrite." I have always had the view that since we are all sinners then we are all, to a certain extent, hypocrites. Here of late, my view or definition of the term "hypocrite" has taken a different turn. Jesus states very clearly in Matthew 18, how His Father will treat us if we are not prone to forgive our brothers and sisters from the heart. Knowing how serious Jesus is about making good on His Word, it makes me reason how compelling our attitude of forgiveness, having compassion, patience, and sympathy as followers of Christ would be toward one another. When this is not the case, hypocrisy reigns. When people come into the midst of the body of Christ the determining criteria is decidedly not an attitude that clearly reflects how my sins are a speck, but my brother's sins are a plank. Now I see hypocrisy represented by a double standard for sins. There is the one standard for my sins and another standard for the sins of my brother. Guess which one is higher? Guess how attractive this message is to a lost world?

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I almost won $100,000...

the other day. I was opening a package of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies or a brand very similar and I noticed that on the outside in big font was the words, "Win $100,000 instantly." All I had to do was look for "Charlie," the crazy cookie with the colored chocolate chips, and I would win. Normally I do not take the entire tray out when I open cookies, but I just couldn't stand the possibility of dimissing my chances only to see one of my children later with the partially eaten "crazy" cookie in their hands. I took out the whole tray and after quickly scanning the cookies it was obvious that all of the cookies had the dark brown traditional chocolate chips.

Why didn't I win? I think the answer comes from 1 Cor. 10.13 where God promises us He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. So apparently I cannot handle the temptations that winning $100,000 would bring into my life . :-)

I think it is comforting to realize just how involved in each of our lives God has to be just to make good on that ONE promise.

Obligation v. Opportunity

Do I view my service in the Kingdom of God as a burden of responsibility and obligation? If I do, how does my attitude impact the effectiveness of my service? This past Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a St. Louis Cardinals' game in the new stadium. I know I didn't feel like my attending was a burden. I looked forward to it with anticipation. I did not schedule anything that would interfere. I was parked and walking toward the stadium with better than 45 minutes til the first pitch. I stayed until the final out. I went down as close to the field allowed afterwards and had my son's and my picture taken together with my camera by one of the ushers. Traffic was a nightmare and with the construction I got turned around and had to backtrack to get to the interstate before making the almost hour long trip home. My attitude is, "I can't wait to get to attend the next game." I look forward to the OPPORTUNITY.