Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6
Friends are like bananas, when they come in bunches, they quickly go bad. Like “love”; friend is a word that is overused. True friends don’t come in bunches, in fact if you find one or two sincere friends in this life you are entirely blessed.
As a young man I wore my heart on my sleeve and “fell in love” with nearly every girl I ever had any kind of a relationship with. I was usually certain by the second date that we would eventually be married. This behavior started long before I was in school and continued until I found my true love in my wife.
As a man, I have made the same fatal error with acquaintances. I always assume that each acquaintance is going to be my sincere friend for life; that our friendship is unconditional and a sacred trust. I have spent most of my adult life being repeatedly hurt by people whom I have cared about more than they care about me.
An honest friend speaks the truth in love to you; an honest friend doesn’t tell you how wonderful you are, when you’re not, but an honest friend is equally committed to being a part of your life for the remainder of their lives. A sincere friend, like a sincere love, cares for you even when they don’t care for how you are being. What a rare gift it is to find people who will allow you to invest in their lives and in return are willing to invest in yours.
We would all do well to remember the words of Jesus, “ Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.” Luke 6:26
Empty kisses leave behind broken hearts. When I think of my friends, my sincere friends; the ones who go back years and years, I don’t think of their kind words or their flattery or their praise; what I know, even when we don’t see one another for months or years is that when we do, we pick-up right where we left off. In as much as NOTHING can separate us from the Love of God, there is Nothing that destroys a real friendship.
Just as the desire for love may leave you with a broken heart, the desire for sincere friendship will do the same, but in both cases, the treasure you find is worth all the pain endured in seeking.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
DO YOU WANT TO LOOK CLEAN OR BE CLEAN?
DO YOU WANT TO LOOK CLEAN OR BE CLEAN?
As I was preparing my oats this morning I dropped a few on the kitchen floor. As I was picking up each tiny piece I questioned myself; “Why are you picking-up each oat fragment?” “So that there is nothing left to attract bugs or mice; to be clean”. As an after thought I added, “And I wouldn’t want anyone to come in and see oats spilled on the floor”.
I then thought of the TV program “Hoaders”. Hoaders is a show about people who fill their houses to overflowing with “stuff” and trash, often until the house is no longer fit to be lived in. The question often arises, “How did the house get like this?” The reply is always the same; “It wasn’t always like this, it just started out little and got worse and worse as time went on.”
Another common thread is that the people who live in these houses do not allow the “outside world” into their home in order to continue to prevent others from knowing how they actually live.
Seems to me that the same can be said and is a fair description of sin; “It wasn’t always like this, it just started out little and got worse and worse as time went on.” It is also true that most of us have been taught to hide our “dirt” rather than addressing it before it consumes our lives.
The hoarders are missing something within them that encourages them to be clean and yet they know enough to want to look clean.
Like the hoarders the institutional church and many ‘believers” seem to be much more concerned about looking clean than actually being clean; Mr. Brown may be cheating on his wife, but as long as Mr. Brown the Attorney is faithful in his attendance and his giving, Mr. Brown; the sinner is unlikely to be confronted by Mr. Brown’s pastor. Mrs. Sims may be agoraphobic and lonely, but unless Mrs. Sims somehow comes to us, we aren’t going to bother going to her. John Jones may look disheveled and may be vocal about his temptations and weaknesses; well, a lot of churches will wish him well in his efforts to find another church to worship in, while telling themselves, “He really just doesn’t fit in with us”.
Jesus said, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.”
So the question for us all to consider; do we address the dirt in our lives in order to be clean and free from the disease of sin or do we keep others pushed out of our real lives so that we will continue to appear clean? Think about it.
As I was preparing my oats this morning I dropped a few on the kitchen floor. As I was picking up each tiny piece I questioned myself; “Why are you picking-up each oat fragment?” “So that there is nothing left to attract bugs or mice; to be clean”. As an after thought I added, “And I wouldn’t want anyone to come in and see oats spilled on the floor”.
I then thought of the TV program “Hoaders”. Hoaders is a show about people who fill their houses to overflowing with “stuff” and trash, often until the house is no longer fit to be lived in. The question often arises, “How did the house get like this?” The reply is always the same; “It wasn’t always like this, it just started out little and got worse and worse as time went on.”
Another common thread is that the people who live in these houses do not allow the “outside world” into their home in order to continue to prevent others from knowing how they actually live.
Seems to me that the same can be said and is a fair description of sin; “It wasn’t always like this, it just started out little and got worse and worse as time went on.” It is also true that most of us have been taught to hide our “dirt” rather than addressing it before it consumes our lives.
The hoarders are missing something within them that encourages them to be clean and yet they know enough to want to look clean.
Like the hoarders the institutional church and many ‘believers” seem to be much more concerned about looking clean than actually being clean; Mr. Brown may be cheating on his wife, but as long as Mr. Brown the Attorney is faithful in his attendance and his giving, Mr. Brown; the sinner is unlikely to be confronted by Mr. Brown’s pastor. Mrs. Sims may be agoraphobic and lonely, but unless Mrs. Sims somehow comes to us, we aren’t going to bother going to her. John Jones may look disheveled and may be vocal about his temptations and weaknesses; well, a lot of churches will wish him well in his efforts to find another church to worship in, while telling themselves, “He really just doesn’t fit in with us”.
Jesus said, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.”
So the question for us all to consider; do we address the dirt in our lives in order to be clean and free from the disease of sin or do we keep others pushed out of our real lives so that we will continue to appear clean? Think about it.
Friday, February 12, 2010
For My Valentine
The Man In Me by Bob Dylan
The man in me will do nearly any task,
And as for compensation, there's little he would ask.
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
Storm clouds are raging all around my door,
I think to myself I might not take it any more.
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me.
But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Just to know that you are near,
Sets my a heart a-reeling
From my toes up to my ears.
The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen,
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine.
Took a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
The man in me will do nearly any task,
And as for compensation, there's little he would ask.
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
Storm clouds are raging all around my door,
I think to myself I might not take it any more.
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me.
But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Just to know that you are near,
Sets my a heart a-reeling
From my toes up to my ears.
The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen,
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine.
Took a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
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