If you feel inclined toward Christian service, you have a choice. You can follow Christ and care about people, or you can be a legalist and fight sin and immorality. Choose one. Distinguishing the sin from the sinner is a tall order and most of us never achieve it.

Hold tight to your faith. Through our darkest hour our brightest hope is faith. Faith burns most brightly when all other hopes are spent.

Be open to affection but wary of unwholesome pleasures

Regardless of what part of this pale blue orb we call home, we all have much in common.  No one chooses where, when, or under what circumstances we’re born.  We walk the path we’re given in the light we’re given. That’s why it’s never productive to judge others.  Some have a brightly lit and easy path, and others struggle all their life in darkness. Despite my being poor as a church mouse, much of my life has been marvelously bright and blessed.  With that in mind, and for what if anything its worth, I’ll share a few thoughts on living a satisfying life.

First of all, set aside a bright roomy section of your mind and fill it with all your best memories.  Visit it often and be careful not to soil it. Keep it immaculate and it will serve you well. Share it with your Deity whatever you perceive him to be.

Sharpen your awareness of the natural wonders that surround us and encourage it’s appreciation in others. Be cognizant of life’s cycles, appreciating each new season in turn, while realizing fully that despite our best efforts, time is resolute and with time each season will pass. Embrace each new season with hope and optimism while retaining all that’s best of seasons past.

There are those among us who stubbornly deny reality and cling to the past. I sympathize and share your tendency.  That being said, science is the observation and classification of provable facts, and denying facts is foolish and expensive. While knowledge of the past is admirable, a bright future depends on science and technology. Some foresee a bright and prosperous future through the fervent pursuit of knowledge, while others stubbornly insist that the world is flat. I myself am a reasoning person of faith. Cherish your faith, but not at the expense of reason. Never diminish the future in deference to the past. 

Do not be drawn into meaningless, futile, debilitating debates with loud, obnoxious people. Just consider the source and when possible avoid their venting. Their noise is a noxious vapor and repulsed silence is often the appropriate response. I have good news.  Your loudmouth neighbor, your obnoxious in-law and the blowhard in your Sunday school class, all have one thing in common; they don’t know squat!  They’re just noisy.  Relax and ignore them and don’t encourage their clamor.  Be mindful of your example to others; it’s your most effective testimony.  Value truth and consider the cost of deceit. 

Cherish and reverently exercise your right to vote and keep this country free. Many people have given their lives in order to secure the freedoms you enjoy today.  Honor their sacrifice.  Honor our veterans and all those who choose a life of service. Honor individuality, revere tolerance and exhort all those who lift up the cause of freedom. Confront ignorance, and be diligent in the advancement of knowledge.  Ignorance and intolerance are almost inseparable and despite what some will tell you, neither one is a virtue. Positive outcomes are never achieved through negative actions. Respond to others as you’d have them respond to you. 

Be open to affection but wary of unwholesome pleasures. And do not be deceived. Deceit is ephemeral; lies and indiscretions will eventually come to light. Every action has a consequence.  When considering any action, before proceeding, think the scenario through to its logical conclusion.  You can never undo a thoughtless deed and carelessly sewn seeds produce a ponderous harvest.

Anything that you are unable to do in good conscience and moderation, do not do.  Eat nutritiously and judiciously, consistently burning more calories than you consume, until you’ve achieved your ideal weight and you will be healthier, more industrious, more prosperous, more popular, profoundly gratified and gut wrenchingly contented.  It’s what all the ages have striven for.

In all things, promote liberty for all and justice tempered with mercy.  In this country, everyone has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Celebrate ethnicity; take pride in your heritage, but value the traditions of others.  Our country’s greatest strength is diversity; honor diversity and keep America strong. While I am generally conservative in my own actions, I am passionately liberal in defense of the choices of others. Personal choices, that’s what freedom is. Remember always that you are as good as any and better than none. Be just, merciful, humble and be happy. SC

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

SC

WHO DID CHRIST DIE FOR?

It won’t surprise anyone to hear that there are sinners in the world today. What is surprising, and undoubtedly hurtful to Christ, is the fact that more than two thousand years after Christ gave His life for them; there are still those who believe they’re serving Christ by hating them.  SC

Liberty and Justice prevail and Freedom endures

Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

I read the Preamble over and over and suggest you do the same.  The Preamble is an essential cornerstone to everything upon which our country is built.  It is a vital element in the foundation of our greatness, the goal for which true Americans strive, and succinctly establishes the purposes for a government of, by, and for we the people; a government that maintains our Union, upholds our Constitution, and defends us against the anarchy, abuse and rebellion that would surely ensue without a strong federal government and those who defend and preserve it. There are now and have always been those who consider themselves above, exempt from, or fully capable of evading the law, and who denounce and oppose those who uphold our nation’s values and strive ever onward toward a society dedicated to the concept of freedom and justice for all. Many people are well intentioned but mislead and misinformed, manipulated by those who serve money, unconstrained greed, and the corruption in which it inevitably results. As always, history will validate those who honor and uphold justice. Achieving the goals of the Preamble has been a long and uphill struggle, and progress is slow, but liberty and justice prevail and freedom endures. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. summed it up quite nicely, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. SC

Creation & Evolution

I am not sufficiently foolhardy to share this little parable in Sunday school, but this is my own personal blog, and I’m at liberty to share it here. I know there are those who feel compelled to believe that two colossal callused hands descended from the heavens and in a matter of moments formed a living, breathing, fully evolved human being from a ball of mud. I know many feel it to be a denial of their faith to believe otherwise. While a person of faith myself, I’m confident that the biblical account of creation is an oversimplification of biblical proportions. To my mind, there is absolutely nothing unreasonable or irreverent in believing that the spirit of God was behind a long complicated process of creation which many refer to as evolution, or that the early chapters of the book of Geneses are a biblical account of the creation and evolution of life on this planet, by an awesome, incomprehensible force which some call God. In this age of faith, science, and reason, there is absolutely nothing theoretical about evolution, any more than gravity or any other long established law of nature is considered theory. Believe what you want, but making evolution a stumbling block for a world which is hungry for hope is counterproductive and certainly no service to Christ.  SC