Playing Christian

When my brother and I were younger, and when I say younger, I mean 20-25 years ago....we loved to get our toy trucks and tractors out and farm in the yard. We were too small to be out in the fields during haying season with the men, but there in the yard, we were all business! I'm not sure how many bare spots we made in the yard by pulling our "hay" up by the roots....that just provided us a spot for tilling later on. We had a perfect stump that was hollow where all the hay went. It was a nice setup. It's a shame it took the men so long in the fields. We could put up a whole stump full of hay in less than an hour. It usually took much less than an hour because something would easily distract us and we'd be off in another direction. Those were the good ol days. The pretend tractors, the "realistic" machine noises, the hand that suddenly turned into a grappling hook to unload a whole wagon of hay, the mach-10 speed of the vehicles, it was all real in our eyes. The imagination of a child knows little boundaries, does it? It's what we expect of our children, to play these pretend games. What adult would come and chastize us for such foolishness?

How many adults today are still playing those pretend games? As we grow older, we become quite adept at concealing our foolish actions. Just the other week, my 7 year-old and I were playing cops and robbers....I promise I was doing it just because he begged me to! What loving dad wouldn't? As an adult, I was getting absolutely no enjoyment out of it. OK, so I'll admit those nerf guns are still fun to shoot at a moving target even though I'm 30. No, the adult games I'm talking about are of a different sort. Adults are pretty polished in pretending to be something that may not represent who they really are, or for that matter, something that is not a reflection of the choices daily made. I worry that more and more "Christians" today are playing pretend. I see it in myself. When have I listened to someone and pretended to care, but was really wanting to get on with whatever I was doing? When have I told a lie and then found a reason to justify it? When did I lose control of my anger, but first made sure no one was around to see it? Widening the scope, there are Christians that attend church on Sunday, but justify a night of drinking..... that put a Scripture verse on their facebook page, but do not have one conversation with God in a given week.....that tithe regularly, and thus believe they can spend money on whatever indulgences they wish. In reality, none of these duties make us a Christian. It is the relationship with the Almighty God that defines us as a Christian. And it is the fruits of that relationship that will hopefully be evident in the life of a Christian. What fruits? God is patient, therefore I'm to be patient. God doesn't lose self-control, so I keep my mouth shut when the eldery person is going 25 in a 35 mph zone. God is faithful, so then I am faithful (jobs, spouses, loved ones, and of course to God). God is forgiving, so I, as well, am to be forgiving. Too many Christians want the benefits of Christianity without sacrificing the "stuff" of this world! They want to be saved and assured of Heaven, yet find that participating in the aforementioned "stuff" to be either of little consequence to their faith or of little consequence to others.
We are to be set apart, a holy people. Though we could choose to live as the rest of the world, we choose not to....we choose what is better. We shouldn't want to pretend, we should want to play the part for real! My brother and I could still get out those tractors, trucks, and wagons and "play" farm. Would look a little strange.... Anyways, we could. Or we could do that which is much more fulfilling and worthwhile. We could actually go out and farm! Drive a real tractor, put up real hay! Don't just play the part of a Christian....go out and really live it out! That's when life really gets to be fun. That's when life really becomes worthwhile. Well, that's when life becomes real.
God bless!

Removing All Doubt

As I ponder the multiple thoughts concerning speech and the freedom thereof, I question whether one more voice in the mix amounts to a hill of beans. Perhaps its like when you were in Elementary School and you were trying to make new colors with your crayons. After about 5 or 6 different colors, they all start to have that ugly brown look. Not exactly inspiring. So amongst the multitude of voices crying out from the radio, the internet, the newspapers (I guess a few people still read em) , and the celebrity that finds their popularity an avenue for spouting political views (gag)....do the tumult of voices really amount to anything other than a shouting match? Working with kids, I find it hilarious when a group of them try to get each other to be quiet. A room full of 20 kids all shhhing each other is just as bad as 20 kids running around pell-mell.


So I'm at odds about putting one more voice in the mix, one more blog that won't waste a tree(going green, right?), but might possibly waste time. I don't want to be one more person telling everyone else how quiet they need to be! Hopefully my blogs will be inspired not by my muted brown crayon creations, but as a Christian, inspired by truth. Truth is what we seek. Truth is what we need today. As we look about, is truth evident? Are we able to discern amongst the cacophony of voices that which is right? Do you find yourself wondering what you should do....how you should live.....why some things are wrong, but sometimes they seem right? Why evil exists, and seems to triumph? To all of these, truth is a champion. To all of these, if we follow the course of honest living and seeking truth, God will bless our efforts. He will, because God is truth. I am also mindful that the truth can hurt. Most assuredly, the truth can hurt. The truth can damage. The truth can condemn. Therefore, I must be cognizant of the fact that exposing the truth will not make people make the right decisions. In fact, Oscar Wilde put it this way: "if you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh. Otherwise, they'll kill you." Hilarious, because it's half-true, I still believe that truth given in love is what the doctor ordered. Truth needs to always be voiced, seasoned with care, flavored with good will. If truth is voiced, nay, if truth is exposed, then no one needs to worry about being heard. Truth speaks for itself. The voice of truth is always a welcome sound, a friend's bidding, a pleasant greeting. Mark Twain once said "tis better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt." There's a lot of voices out there that are "removing all doubt". Are you able to pick out what's worthwhile, what's needed, what's good, what's.....true?

Here we go....

Well, I face the problem of what to discuss in my first blog....hmmm, something that I think will be important, but something that probably no one will read. Come on, Sam, face the facts....as much as I'd like to think people want to know what I'm thinking, it's an act of futility...and of vanity. To be quite honest, I think I'm setting this up for one, possibly two reasons. The main one being I feel I need to keep up with the Joneses. Joneses: "Hey man, did you read my blog on the need to have a blog?" Me: "uh, no....what's a blog?" Secondly, and the reason I'll tell anyone that asks me, is to have a blog for my work. Sounds like a good reason....right?
So I'll be trying to weekly post some thoughts on God, on life.... on whatever crosses this scattered collection of brain cells confined to my cranium.
And I love polls. I love people's thoughts, and what causes them to think the way they think. Hope you can take the time below to scratch my proverbial itch...or is it "itch my proverbial scratch?". Either way, you know what I mean.