Welcome! Sit back, rest awhile, and enjoy some more thoughts about your favorite topic. Please email me if your favorite category or topic is missing. What inspires you and helps you to think for yourself without merely "taking the word of the experts?" What is your favorite THINKABLE?

Mountains out of Molehills

We can easily spot when someone is making a "mountain out of a molehill," can't we? You know, they just blow everything out of proportion, or get everything out of perspective, like straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. They need a new paradigm, or to get their head on straight, or to focus and keep the main thing, the main thing! Maybe if they just stood on their head and inverted everything, they could "straighten up and fly right."

Does this sound like the way parents and teenagers often view each other? Or maybe it applies sometimes to bosses and employees, or to those holding different political or religious views? Aren't we all rather quick to spot people and their characteristics that are different from us?

Jesus' disciples were just like this. Their Master really bugged them by spending a lot of time with folks that everyone else ignored, put down, or thumbed their nose at. For example, how many of your friends work for the IRS or your county tax assessor/collector? How many are prostitutes? How many have been kicked out of the church? The disciples had great plans, agendas, and expectations for Jesus. Instead of listening to their advice, He just keep annoying them with His insensitivity to the reputations of those He treated as "best friends." The old movie"Guess who's coming to dinner?" couldn't hold a candle in shock value to the horror Jesus' disciples expressed when He wrote someone new onto His social calendar.

But if we could let this same inverted spot light shine on us for a minute, we might well ask, "what in the world do you think Jesus sees in me?" Surely there's nothing attractive enough or special enough to warrant God's own Son leaving all the glories of Heaven, to become vulnerable to all the tests and trials I face each day, is there? Or to finally submit Himself to the cruelties and self-centeredness of ambitious "leaders" as they beat, tried, and sentenced to a tortuous death, the creator-God of the universe.

But if we truly invert our views for a moment, we can get much closer to God's view of us. You see we indeed make mountains out of the "spec-sized" molehill faults we constantly spot in others, while ignoring major flaws in our own lives. We tend to condemn those whose interests, traditions, and life-styles differ from our own, remaining blinded to what might exist deep in the recesses of our own heart. Only God knows who is really wrestling and struggling to draw close to Him and become lost in His love and grace. We turn style, interest, and external differences into mountains. And we overlook what our own actions and choices demonstrate that we really believe about God. In contrast, God sees us all on a level playing field. Once we were all equally dead men, marching in synchronized lockstep to the cadence of the super salesman "god of this world." We all have expressed varying degrees of ignoring, disobeying, and disbelieving the only true and wise God, Who sees our individual rebellions as equally serious, stemming from similar spiritually lethal heart disease. Our spiritual highs and lows must appear to God a lot like the flat surface of a table, with only the redeeming presence of Jesus creating an infinitely high spike in the middle, for those who invited Him in to be their savior, friend, and Lord.

How about letting Him turn the mountains of your judgments of others into molehills, and turn your own spiritual molehills into infinitely high mountains which each week reflect the glory of Jesus, your savior and Lord, to those who come in contact with you?

Lookin' For Love In All The Wrong Places

The Urban Cowboy movie put a lot of gripping music, feelings, and memories into the phrase " Lookin' For Love In All The Wrong Places." But of course John Trivolta has no monopoly on this subject, because in real life there are more heart-rending accounts of relationships and love gone awry, than of "happily ever afterward" situations. Although the landslide of unhappy endings to well intentioned romances includes all kinds of failure factors, perhaps we can find some common patterns and maybe even find some warnings or prevention, to stem this tide of dissatisfaction, disillusionment, and heartbreak.

For example, let's begin from the vantage point of a well-worn cliché, "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence." You can just picture a cow illustrating this attitude, with it's head caught straining across a barbed wire fence. But humans also tend toward that "don't fence me in" syndrome. What others have, or what we don't have, seems strangely more attractive than what we do have. Accordingly, in romantic matters, quite often the pursued one retreats in response to the other person's advances, making them even more desirable. But ironically as the pursuing one abates, often the formerly reticent one becomes the pursuer, and vice-versa. It's very interesting how that often works. But a number of wise men have understood this well enough to avoid scaring off their current mates, by using cautious, sensitive, patience during their courting days.

Now it's time to burst a bubble or two by using a couple of questions, or maybe "break a piñata" to see if some goodies will fall out. How does love begin? What are its essential ingredients? And does it really have some persistent, enduring properties?

To rephrase the chicken and egg question, "which come first, love feelings, or love actions? Westerners tend to answer, love feelings," because that's what our movies and storybooks teach us. But much of the rest of the world is willing to trust the wisdom, experience, and many years of "shopping" of their parents, to identify marriage partners that are likely to successfully "go the distance" together. That amounts to saying that they put most of their eggs in the basket of observing character and behavior over a lifetime, rather than trust excited feelings that two inexperienced young people choose to call love.

This answer of emphasizing love actions, not only seems to provide longer lasting and better marriage relationships than those based on "falling in love," but it is also aligned with God's design and descriptions of His kind of love. Of course he is not only love's designer, but actually "He is love." He didn't merely declare His love for us in spoken or written words, but while we were still His enemies, ignoring Him, rebelling against Him, and cursing Him, He demonstrated His love for us in the fleshly form of His Son, the man called Jesus. His was not a comfortable, remote, aloof, uninvolved, "arm-chair love." Rather it took the form of blood, sweat, and tears. His love caused tears to flow for rebels who rejected Him and sought to kill Him. His redemptive love mission, to save us from the consequences of our sins, caused Him to sweat drops of blood as He wrestled in lonely prayer to God the Father, to see if there were any alternative to His tortuous death on a Roman cross. He actually became sin (yet without sinning Himself) to experience God's wrath in our place. "Greater love has no man than that He lay down His life for His friends."

As we consider life's stability, supported by the 3-legged stool of Faith, Hope, and Love, the greatest of these three, hands down, is God's love. His love gives, serves, and supports, and its' recipients know without any doubt that the giver puts them first. His love goes the distance. His love never fails, because His name is Jesus, and "Jesus never fails."

Now we know how to "look for love in all the right places" and when we look by faith at Jesus, we find His loving smile aimed right at us! "For God so loved the world, that He gave (love actions) His only begotten Son (His very best), that WHOEVER (you included) believes in Him should not perish (from His presence) but have ever lasting (unending) life!"

My Real Job

They say you can learn a lot about a person by observing how they spend their spare time, since that tends to indicate what is really important to them. Similarly we measure our integrity by observing our behavior "when no one is looking." Since these "special times" often reveal "different than usual" behavior, could this mean we all are Thespians, actors who play to an audience at times? Maybe that's why retreats often produce life changing experiences, by providing an escape from the pressures, busyness, and artificiality of the "daily grind." In the movie, remember how the "City Slickers" sought just such a solace and change of pace on their cattle drive experience in the middle of "nowhere?"

So how has your perspective changed on those rare occasions when you also escaped the "cares of this world?" Did it make you feel like "lingering longer" or like returning early so you could "get back to the office?" Generally such an experience tends to replace the "urgency of the office" with the importance of other things. Authors of many books will gladly tell you how they learned to slow down and smell the roses, fragrance and all.

But great as such times of retreat and reflection are, what is the most important INSIGHT that has changed your life so far? Did it come during such a retreat, or did it pop out of a textbook, or was it a by-product of deep pain and difficulty in your life? No matter where it came from, how long do you think it will last? Until your next job? Or 'til death do us part? Or through all eternity?

Before I became a Christian in college, I vividly remember a little old lady on my paper route who would invite me in to warm up while she went to get her money for her newspaper bill. Above her fireplace mantle were the words, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past; Only what's done for Christ will last!" Could it be that this simple warning can give our life direction, focus, meaning, and motivation?

Yes indeed! My new life, based on new life in Christ through faith in Him, has turned my life around. Though I've continued to study and apply physics and math, I am now motivated to please Jesus who held back nothing in His sacrifice on the cross for me. I am now motivated by an attitude of gratitude to Him. Encouraging others to slow down and smell the fragrance of His may love demonstrations for us, is my heart's desire, and my real job. Honk (or e-mail) if you too love Jesus.

Helping the Helpless

One of the best books I've read on " Helping the Helpless" is a NavPress book by William Fletcher called "The Second Greatest Commandment." It has a lot of wisdom and even has appendices with great "how to" guidance for how to effectively help the jobless, elderly, sick, and dying. I was even impressed enough with this book to teach it a couple of times in a Sunday School class. But the best way to teach it is to live it. I believe this subject is worthy of as much attention as one can give it. But today's subject has a different twist to this title. Today we are thinking together about the difficulties and roadblocks we can encounter when we attempt to extend help and experience to someone who is really not open to receiving any new ideas or resources (i.e. someone who I am calling "helpless" - not able to be helped at this time).

Who do you think of that tends to resist help. How about males? Would you dare to offer them directions or mid-course corrections? One time my work partner drove way up the seacoast north of Boston rather than stop and ask directions around the 128 loop. Males are trained to be independent, macho, and that "real men help others but don't ask for help and don't ask directions." No wonder so many of us go around like Mr. Magoo, lost and in a fog. But males don't have a monopoly on this deficit. Type A people in general have the great characteristics of driving toward a goal, achieving much, and getting a lot done for themselves and others. But it is very hard for them to even consider letting go of the reigns and letting a friend take care of them for awhile, even during periods of sickness, stress, or family problems. It is a strange paradox, isn't it, that such strong assets as independence and initiative can at times be debilitating liabilities.

So how does God feel about us being independent, macho, and thinking that "real people help others but don't ask for help and don't ask directions?" Surely "God helps those who help themselves", right? This is a good example of the claim that if you repeat something long enough people will believe it. Not only is that often the case with this popular saying, but many quote is as scripture, but of course they never give it's Bible reference since it can't be found there. Actually just there opposite is found there. We don't fool God. He knows that we are rebels against Him at heart, believing lies in place of trusting Him, from Adam and Eve to the very present day. He knows we are in desperate need of being restored to fellowship with Himself, but that requires heart surgery and cleaning, that in turn requires us to receive help so powerful that only God can supply it. And He did supply it in the human form of His Son Jesus, who willingly spilled His blood on the cross so all our sins could be cleansed forever. He knew that most ("helpless people") would reject His help, some for reasons we have been thinking about. But why would any reasonable person refuse the only help that can solve their otherwise unsolvable problem?

So when you are tempted to continue in your tradition of feeling independent, macho, and that "real people help others but don't ask for help and don't ask directions," remember that this works even worse with God than it does with your peers. Humility, openness, lowered defense mechanisms, listening instead of proclaiming your rights and responsibilities, admitting you could be wrong at times, and actually speaking the words, "I need help" are characteristics so unlike many of us that their absence blocks out the help we so desperately need. So how about you? Are you in step and feeling secure with the majority who continue to "do it my way" and miss the pattern God provided us at great expense? Or have you found the Pattern, whom to follow is to have eternal life? Jesus is our pattern who submitted His will to the will of His Father. Once you become courageous enough to open yourself up to asking for and welcoming help you will find some experienced people who can really help, and you will find your new life in fellowship with Christ to be way beyond what you could ever ask or think. He longs to hear this prayer on your heart; "…help of the helpless, O abide with me."

Surprise Trap

What you don't know won't hurt you. At least not for awhile. Most of us have been blindsighted before, where someone's agenda was quietly at work, unknown to us. Then suddenly WHAM, it struck like lightening and got its intended purpose before we knew what hit us. We've talked about surprises before, and to recap, often they are surprises we don't like, although sometimes they are surprises that we do like. But some of the unwelcome kind are like a double-barreled shotgun. Not only are we unpleasantly surprised by the unannounced agenda, but also they come with motives and judgments that also catch us by surprise. It's something like being caught in a mousetrap after which we read the sign, "guilty until proven innocent," and we wonder if we'll ever get out of the trap.

This is just the opposite of having someone in our corner, encouraging, supporting, helping, and cheering us onward. Folks who accuse us, judge us, and are anxious to show how superior they are to us, would likely find it hard to get behind any program we are endorsing or supporting. Again, they work quietly behind the scenes, until the steel trap springs shut, and we are caught in the well-planned agenda they secretly published long ago.

We are advised to not fret our pretty little head over such folks who plot to do us in, because after while we will look around and be unable to find them. But right now that's hard to imagine, as we see wicked and conniving folks prosper, while we struggle and are pushed to the side as we try to do what is right.

But not only should CEOs and directors take the long range view in order to successfully stay in business over the long haul, but God promises that He and His way of right and justice will eventually prevail. Meanwhile if we see jerks promoted and righteous men trodden under foot, it's hard to patiently endure without whining "poor me" or even joining with others who impatiently criticize God.

But what is the "rest of the story?" Who gets caught in the ultimate trap? Actually it's the "trap-setter" that gets caught in his own trap. For example, Queen Esther risked her life as she sought against impossible odds to extricate her people (the Hebrews) from the murderous plotting of Haman. Even her uncle Mordecai was only a word away from the king's orders to hang him on gallows built by his enemy to humiliate and kill him. But God took both deliverance (of His people the Hebrews) and revenge (against this enemy) into His own hands, and He caught enemy Haman in his own trap. Haman's gallows-trap snapped shut on him, as God turned the tables on those who tried to exterminate His people.

Misperceptions about how to get "My Way"

How did you feel when your parents or some group you belong to laid a whole lot of rules on you? Like the neighbor down the street with the big sign, "Keep Off the Grass!" Did that almost seem like a challenge, beckoning you to ride your bike on a detour right across his yard? Human nature is that way, isn't it? We are just independent enough that we tend to resent folks who try to "tell the cow how to eat the cabbage." That illustrates the case where someone wants to exercise control of us by prohibiting and limiting our behavior.

But what about the case where someone tries to "improve" the behavior of others by controlling what is allowed and legal via legislation which applies to all in that group. This introduces the fine line of trying to balance conflicting goals of encouraging improvement of behavior while protecting rights for everyone. What is some of the typical backlash to such rule-making attempts?

The committee or group which produces the proposed legislation comes under attack with familiar accusations like:

You are a special interest group, hand-picked to produce a pre-determined result

You are not appropriately appreciative of the tradition and heritage behind the document or legislation you are trying to change.

You are trying to subvert and harm what was intended by the original group who prepared the current document or legislation.

You are trying to pour us into your own mold.

The people with an opposing point of view try to push documents or legislation, which supports their agenda, thus adding fuel to the fire.

Such opposing attempts tend to escalate into increased polarization, opposition, and conflict, which tends to undermine members of either "side" from providing sustained creativity and energy to work on positive alternative helpful solutions.

If the above approaches to promote and encourage improvement have so many potential hazards, what then can be done? Here are a few things that have a good track record of favorable time tested results.

Seek first to understand the viewpoints of the "other side;" i.e. walk awhile in their moccasins, before seeking to be understood yourself. At the very least, make sure you can state the main points and rationale behind those with whom you disagree.

Get involved in providing positive support and alternatives so that you are convincingly part of the solution, not merely one who escalates the problem and "throws gas on the fire."

Make sure that your motives, style, actions, and words stem from respect and love for those with whom you disagree. Never talk down to them, nor try to coerce or pressure them to change. Rather treat them as you would like them to treat you, independent of how they treat you.

Formulate a rationale of how and why you came to your conclusions so others who wish to can walk down your path to understand your position. Such consideration for "the opposition" can even allow you to remain friends and maintain mutual respect with your opposition.

Keep the number of rules to the fewest possible, sticking only to essentials. Remember the goal is to encourage others to freely choose improvement, rather than to try to force, coerce, demand, or legislate it.

So you guessed it. How does Jesus demonstrate for us to treat our opposition? I see His style as extremely patient, gracious, and instructive with those who were willing to maintain a dialog with Him. But for those committed to fight (and kill) Him, He spoke very directly, calling a spade a spade. He showed us how to serve others, to patiently and graciously educate others, and to respect and love even our enemies.

As we stand in awe under the shade of His example, we see that even our most revered Christian leaders still have a long way to go before anyone mistakes their behavior for that of Jesus. But thankfully many unknown and unheralded servants of Jesus do focus primarily on Him, which accounts for wonder examples of taking criticism, persecution, and even death, and returning respect, love, forgiveness, and prayers.

Choose Wisely

By now many of you have heard about the 60-year-old couple that were celebrating their 40^th wedding anniversary, when a Genie showed up. You've done such a good job with your marriage she announced, that you each have one wish that I will grant immediately. The wife knew just what that was, two tickets for a celebration trip around the world. With a wave of the wand the Genie produced two such tickets. And what is your wish sir? Well, uh, I was just thinking I'd like a wife 30 years younger than me. Granted, said the Genie, and with another wave of her wand she announced, You're 90! Don't you just love Genies? Some things are just too good to keep in a bottle.

But surely we are wiser than that with our choices, right? Or stated another way, what is it in your life that you would like to re-wind and make a different choice? This is like my mother repeated so often, if only I could do that over again. Others of us spend enough time wondering how to make the proper choice that life and certain opportunities seem to pass us by. What would you say if I told you that you can choose even more wisely than Solomon? Remember how God granted him a choice, and instead of wealth he chose wisdom to know how to properly lead Israel as he inherited that role from his father David. That was such a wise choice that God threw in wealth on top of wisdom, just for good measure.

Just how valuable is our capability to make choices. For many, options for choice are severely limited. For example, those living under a repressive government have far less choice in matters such as travel, speech, press, voting, jobs, and worship. Sometimes we must lose something before we quit taking it for granted and learn to really appreciate it. Our founding fathers came from backgrounds of severe restrictions, which fueled their passion for doing their best to ensure that our citizens could enjoy many freedoms, including choice, which their fathers never knew.

But even the man sentenced to life in prison has many choices. Under the most restrictive and torturous prison conditions, prisoners have chosen ways to maintain their sanity, their dignity, their priorities, and their purpose. Others who tend to take such things for granted can live in relative freedom while they squander the most important choices by default (failing to make them) each day!

So where does the basic ability and opportunity to make choices come from, anyway? Why from the very source of our life and all our attributes, God Himself. He created us in His image, which includes choosing to do things in accordance with the "good pleasure of His will." Some people like the sign "God don't make no junk." I have yet to see the sign, "God don't make no robots." But it is equally true. He neither forces nor coerces any of us to choose Him or His ways. His design does include severe consequences when we make bad choices, and great rewards when we make good choices. But like the father in the story of the prodigal son, God patiently waits for each of us to have our fill of poor, self-centered choices and their consequences. Then when we get our fill of rebellious "My Way" choices and come to our senses, He lovingly, mercifully, and graciously welcomes us home and throws a heavenly party!

Why wouldn't you want to make Jesus and a squadron of angels joyful by making a "wiser than Solomon choice? I don't want to make you mad, but I do want to shoot straight in case you miss your best choice. We all do start out as robots, marching lockstep with the purposes of the "god of this world," Satan, "taken captive by him at his will." But he is so subtle and powerful, and our blind spots are so significant, that we don't even realize it. Only by catching a glimpse of the beauty and majesty of Jesus, and His magnificent love and commitment for us, and responding by choosing Him as our Lord and savior, can we be transformed from unsuspecting robots to persons with all the potential, dignity, and bright future God intends for us. Some say a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Others say we only show our appreciation of freedom when we care enough to vote. I say that to exercise your opportunity to choose Jesus is to choose even wiser than Solomon, but to fail to do so is a failure you will regret throughout eternity. No one else can make that choice for you!

Who or What is in the Driver's Seat?

We've talked about "back-seat drivers" before, but today we consider who is in the main driver's seat. Many of us are defined and refined by our jobs and our tasks. For example instead of sleeping in or calling our own shots, we typically march to the drummer of our alarm clocks, work hours, and assignments. How else do you explain all those early morning traffic jams and the rush hour congestion? Actually our commitments are in the driver's seat, because without commitment we will soon be identified with a new job, having lost our prior one.

Especially for the male, our job also tends to define our identity. Why else does our introductory conversation include, "and what do you do for a living?" If I am wrong, then please tell me how you want to be known, or what you are most proud of. You have to admit though that it is a rare tombstone that bears the inscription, "Wish I had spent more time at the office!" So it is an irony that we often take our identity from our job, but still admire those who work for themselves, or those who are retired. Several folks told me they would like to exchange places when I retired, and I can remember having similar longings myself, before I retired this year.

Surely our likes, interests, spare time activities, priorities, and commitments describe us better than our job title. A good way to think about this is how would you like to be remembered? Or what do you want inscribed on your tombstone? But there is a much bigger, but related irony than the source of our identity. That is the amazing fact of just how closely and deeply Jesus identifies with all those who choose to trust Him as savior from sin and "driver" of their life, entrusting themselves into His care and keeping, those who form an intimate relationship by faith with Him whom they have never seen physically. A great example of this is the account of Saul of Tarsus. We can see how closely Jesus identifies with His believing "passengers" (Christians) as we observe how He spoke to Saul (whom He transformed into Paul) in a blinding light, as Saul went to Damascus to imprison and persecute early Christians. Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME?" Not only does He identify Himself with us so very closely, but also He anticipates eating a meal with us so much, that said He would wait until we get to heaven with Him to share that meal.

Jesus does not demand to be the driver of our life, but He has the car all clean and gassed up, ready to drive us down the road He has planned for our good, as soon as we are ready to get. But as we said awhile back, once we get in, things go a lot better if we refrain from "back seat driving" (trying to grab the steering wheel away from Him). With Jesus in control we have no problem realizing all of our worthwhile identity is completely tied up in Him, who He is, and what He has done for us! So here is a final irony. We have the opportunity to be defined, not by our job (or lack of one), but by whom we choose to work for, that is, God or man. That is because this closest of relationships (with God Himself) speaks the loudest about our identity, who we really are, how important we are to Him, and what is most important to us. Will the real you, the one He intended you to be, please stand up, by moving over and inviting Him to drive?

Shame & Blame

When is the last time you wound up with "egg on your face?" You blew it and the degree of your embarrassment was indicated by the shade of pink-to-red on your face. Blundering into the wrong restroom door would be a mild case of this. Leaving your wife waiting for a long time, even with an excuse, registers MUCH higher on this scale. Since we all have blind spots, here's another approach to identifying with this topic. Think back over the past month. Who got really upset with you and why? Could it be that you treated them in a shameful way, or they felt that way, even though you might not have intended it that way?

The next topic of blame is much easier to identify with. I feel sure you could construct a long list of folks you could blame for shameful acts toward you, or maybe failing to act in accordance with what they promised you. Let's face it, we are all pretty adept and practiced at blaming others, sometimes known as "passing the buck." How did we get so good at this? Well, it's built in, and it starts being perfected about the time we can speak, especially if there is another sibling to blame around the house. After all, why should we get punished when our brother or sister seems such a likely target? It's also inherited, since our initial ancestors perfected it. Adam blamed Eve (and God with the phrase "the woman you gave me"). Eve blamed the slick serpent, and the serpent (Satan) has been blaming God all along with his distortions and deceptions, even though his goal was to "be like God." He sure missed the mark, and so do we when we get distracted into shame and blame games.

Now for the really good news. God's ways and plans for us do NOT include either shame or blame! For example He tells us that He planned even before He created the earth for us all to be holy and without blame. Again, our ancestors and ourselves blew that idea by rebelling against God and involving ourselves actively into the shame and blame game. So has God's plan gone awry? Well we did de-rail it, but Jesus put it back on track by His death, burial and resurrection. He took all our sin and the blame it deserves on Himself as He hung on the cruel and torturous cross in our place. So all who accept His payment for our sin have diverted God's wrath against sin to our scapegoat, His only Son Jesus. Satan can try to blame us, but God turns a deaf ear when He sees the sacrificial blood of His Son.

And having become free from blame, we need no longer experience shame. This is obviously not to say that believers in Christ live without times of sin and displeasure to God. But we have the conviction of His Holy Spirit and His written Word to correct us and work repentance and restoration in our heart. Our fellowship is restored when we recognize, admit, and confess our sin to Him, so that we walk in accordance with the forgiveness He so freely provides. Shame is Satan's game! Christians have no business dabbling in that. To do so is to degrade the payment Jesus made for ALL our sin. But we need to be men and women enough to truly allow the Son to make us free, and to live like it, admitting when we fail our forgiving Father.

Your Pet Peeves

What are your top three pet peeves? How about some of these? Someone dashes around your car and cuts you off on the expressway, almost causing a wreck? You have a "one-way" judgmental conversation where you are presumed guilty and your responses are neither solicited, heard, nor deemed applicable (you know, the attitude "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up"). It seems that the harder you try to please Mr. or Ms. X, they continue to find fault with what you haven't done yet, and find flaws in what you have done. You make repeated phone calls to arrange a service appointment, and three weeks later you seem farther from your original objective, than when you started, in spite of repeated promises that "our service organization will call you today." You go out on a limb for someone, risking reputation, money, and investment of time, but later on there is no evidence of appreciation. It's just like it never happened. I'm sure you can top these with some of your experiences of injustice. Whoever said this world is fair. But upon closer examination, I'll bet there have also been occasions where we have been on the offending side of the fence. It may even be that we were so insensitive as to not even be aware how intensely we offended someone else, and got on their pet peeve list.

Now lets move to a higher perspective on this subject of pet peeves. How do you suppose God might feel about how mankind, the pinnacle of His creation, has responded to His love-based initiatives in our behalf, and treated Him in return? Our track record is pathetic! Our ancestors started the pet peeve ball rolling by trusting an impostor, a liar, a charlatan; someone steeped in denial, deception, and death, instead of trusting God. They spurned the sure and certain promises of God, and "bet it all" on the lies of a slick super salesman. Those consequences ushered in physical and spiritual death for all of mankind. Soon man's behavior began to mimic that of the super salesman, with brother killing brother, resulting from anger because God established a specific blood payment to atone for their sins.

Repeated and worsening rebellion against God resulted in a worldwide flood to rid the earth of mankind who had progressed into continually and habitually doing wicked things out of a heart of evil, like their original deceiver. Fast forward this downhill slide, and we find God making a final valiant attempt to find a way to restore a world, bent on continuing to go its own way, independent of God. In the fullness of time, he sent His own Son to suffer a continuation of injustices and anger against God, which resulted in a fickle angry mob shouting for crucifixion of God's only Son who had taken on our human nature. Finally the world's biggest injustice occurred as Jesus willingly forgave His murderers, died without help from God the Father, and voluntarily paid His perfect life for all of our sins as He took our sins upon Himself. Once again, the majority of those He came to buy back rejected Him, scorned Him, and even today become angry at the mention of His name, except as an expression of their own anger and profanity. So does God have any reason to be "peeved" or angry with us? You bet He does! But it is for our own good that His anger is revealed against our insensitive and offensive choices and behavior. Anger can serve as a wake-up call before it is too late.

So next time someone offends you, makes you angry, and gets on your "pet peeve" list, please look in the mirror and let that remind you of how severely you and I have offended God in our independent rebellion against His repeated initiatives to treat us in the very best way. Once you invite Jesus to be your Lord and savior you will never be quite as upset about others offending you, since you will be reminded that its not a drop in the bucket compared to how you treated God when He went all out on a limb for you!

Stuff It

There are lots of ways to "stuff it" aren't there? One way is like the bumper sticker says, "Get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on!" Sometimes we consider ourselves rather pious when we "stuff it" rather than dump or explode back at someone who upset us. But if we "shut up" for too long it eventually comes out all at once in a loud surprise, and most of us don't like that kind of surprise.

And then there was that famous song line, "Take this job and shove it." Most can relate to this sentiment after being treated poorly by a boss or company. The irony is however that many of us may have treated others or our employer equally poorly at one time or another.

Some also adhere to the Lane Bryant line that "Big is Beautiful." Calvin must have understood this as shown by his special treatment of Hobbs in the following comic stripl

And finally there is the famous excuse, "A cluttered office is the sign of an organized mind," under the false premise that "I'm so busy working that I don't have time to put things away and do a proper daily filing job. I've managed to straighten up my desk top once or twice after a move, but just a few engrossing tasks later, I amaze folks if and when I can find something I "filed" amid the clutter.

Listen to what the Lord showed the Psalmist about peace (with anger, stuffing, and clutter missing):

Just a few terse verses from God and we see that He has the enduring solution to problems we face, like anger, stuffing, and clutter, when we demand to be in charge. His ways include speaking the truth in love instead of stuffing, not letting the sun go down on unresolved anger, and the paradox of wonderful simplicity "in Christ" which is so profound that those who bow to Him in this life will get to explore His multi-dimensions throughout eternity.

So let Calvin (the Holy Spirit) fill (stuff) you (Hobbs) FULL of the "riches in Christ Jesus" today. Today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow which may never come for some of us.

The Fast Track to Long Range Satisfaction!

Have you ever just rolled over and slept in, like on a weekend? Or even more likely, have you ever FELT like just rolling over and sleeping in? Or how about taking shortcuts in your business "to save time or effort?" Or have you ever known someone who settled for a short-range goal at the expense of long range consequences? Our current generation has been repeatedly trained to grab whatever is in sight right now, with little thought to alternatives that require a longer-range perspective, patience, and willingness to put off "instant gratification."

A couple of decades ago, an entrepreneur named Arthur Collins tried to use his success in communication computers to take on the fledgling computer industry in the domains of computation and process control. He did also have a little success in automated control of satellite antennas, but I can remember testing a FORTRAN compiler, whose execution not only ran a LONG time, but also failed to produce the benchmark numbers required for its verification. In a time of business downturn around 1970 his cash outlay from taking on all competitors in all computer markets forced him to first lay off good engineers to try to rescue his cash flow position. When that measure became inadequate, Collins Radio was finally taken over by Rockwell International. They sent in one of those "short term heroes" named Robert Wilson. Within his one year tenure his claim to fame was to sell off acres and acres of antenna range and other facilities around Richardson, TX which later became the gold mine of real estate known as Telecom Corridor. His next one-year tenure was at Memorex where he pulled off another short-term coup before moving on again. We all are tempted to similarly make decisions that appear to benefit ourselves in the short term, with little consideration of the long-term effects on others.

That is one of many reasons why it is such a refreshing contrast to read about God's LONG range plans in our behalf, and His faithful execution of those plans, exactly as planned. As much as mankind disappointed God by throwing away perfect intimacy with the creator of the universe, man has never surprised God who knows the end from the beginning. We read that before He ever laid the earth's foundations, He planned for us to be holy and blameless before Him in love. But when our forefathers bought Satan's lies about God holding out on us, He began to unfold His plan to restore us back to our former position of trust, obedience, intimacy, and faith. This costly plan which was pictured in Abraham's willingness to obey God and sacrifice Isaac, the son of his old age, came to fruition as God the Father told His only son Jesus to become a sin offering on a tortuous Roman cross, to pay a debt we could not pay, a debt He did not owe. Jesus' resurrection from the dead provides objective evidence that His payment of our sin debt satisfied God's holiness, and was successful in restoring an intimate relationship by faith with all who humbly reach out and take His free gift of eternal life with Him.

One irony is that God's long range plan enables all who hunger and thirst for eternal life and intimacy with Him to reach out by faith and immediately begin to experience a foretaste of heaven. At that point the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit take up residence in us to lead, guide and direct us, blessing us and making us a blessing to others. At the same time, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, beginning to perceive things with "the mind of Christ." Old things are passed away, and behold ALL things appear in a new light. Its as though "Jack Frost" painted everything we see with the color "new," and we see clearly that ALL things are of God - He is in control of everything. Such intimacy with God is certainly the best opportunity of the ages. So why aren't more folks experiencing it? It has to do with "that other salesman" blinding our eyes to what our original ancestors lost, and what we can actually have back right now! Sometimes we fear what we might have to give up to get that intimacy, but it is precisely the giving up of our greed, our grabbing, our proud independence, and our demands to be a rebel and do things ""my way" that makes it possible for us to navigate the narrow passageway from spiritual death to spiritual life! Bon Voyage!

Highs & Lows

"Some mornings I wake up grumpy! But then other mornings I just let him sleep." It's safe to laugh at poor old grumpy because he is someone else's problem. But other mornings we look in the mirror and as Pogo so wisely said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!"

We've talked before about the staggering paradox of mankind's great achievements in so many arenas, like walking on the moon "before the next decade," cracking the human genome codes, and learning how to successfully transplant a human heart. Of course if you step way back and look at this you may see a little resemblance to your son being VERY innovative with the new tinker toy set you gave him. But the flip side includes scapegoating and murdering over 6 million Jews, and imprisoning or killing those who would dare to shelter them. Tortures, intimidation, burning at the stake, etc. has frequently been man's way of dealing with perceived threats to man's power and control.

You and I too have had our highs and lows. Neither as high nor as low as those above. But certainly we've accomplished some things so remarkable that now we even wonder how we pulled it off. For example how would you like to try to raise your kids all over again, especially in today's environment? And of course there are other things we'd like to forget.

But just as it looked impossible to stop Hitler as he invaded Europe and turned English cities into blazing infernos, we actually face an even more desperate need for help today. We all face the certainty of death, with only one witness who has actually experienced death and still lives today to talk about it.

Only a few of us are super heroes like Sergeant York in World War 1 who took no thought of his personal safety as he risked his life to capture or wipe out all the local German machine gunners who were slaughtering his buddies. Impossible odds, but his compulsion to save lives on both sides and save his otherwise helpless buddies saw him through to victory.

Man can only vaguely comprehend his helpless condition as he faces a perfectly pure and holy God. And if he can't stand in His presence after death, where is he to go? Someone infinitely braver than Sergeant York saw our helpless human plight, and not only risked, but sacrificed, His own life to rescue us from our hopeless, impossible condition. Jesus not only paid His life's blood for the sins of every human, but He clothed us all in His own perfect Righteousness - all that is, who welcome Him into their lives, accepting the Lordship of their Creator, and the redemptive price paid by their Savior.

Would Sergeant York's buddies ever dream of saying, "we don't want your help, just let us die?" Would Jews who escaped Hitler's extermination camps say they are sorry they were hidden and saved by Gentiles? Finally, what help then is there for us if we ignore or reject such great salvation from such a brave, compassionate, heroic savior, Jesus Christ? The answer is simple, "NONE!" You don't really want to spend endless eternity in self-contempt for calling God a liar (concerning what He said about His Son) and rejecting Him, do you? To avoid or ignore such strong demonstration of God's love for us is to confirm Pogo's wisdom. That would certainly make us our own worst enemy.

Intimacy

Women may think of intimacy first in terms of companionship, open sharing, and deepening friendship and trust, while men may think of physical intimacy as a barometer of their core relationship. In both cases commitment for your lifetime deepens the relationship, builds bonds and trust that can endure storms and circumstances, and removes barriers to growing together and meeting needs. But during our lifetime we must "take time" to be with our friend to solidly build our relationship. As we actively and consciously avoid taking them for granted, they will feel our appreciation of them. Should they be taken first, in our loneliness, we will never regret precious times spent together. God said, "It is not good for man to dwell alone," and our designer knew what He was talking about.

A few years ago we had a series of THINKABLES that included the simple concept of making deposits and withdrawals in and out of the love bank of our spouse. Consistent deposits build interest. But conversely, withdrawals promote withdrawing. Just couldn't resist those two puns. Or in terms of my unpublished book title on my favorite topic, "Real Relationships Require Respect," we all know a lot about respect and use it a lot, but we're never wise enough to use it to its full potential in our horizontal and vertical relationships. Who do you know, including Rodney Dangerfield, that ever got too much respect?

Did you ever notice that intimacy and relationships tend to travel up and down like a roller coaster? In other words we don't just maintain the status quo. We either move closer and warmer, or more distant and colder. That is partly due to the fact that no one likes to be taken for granted, and "no change" or "status quo" can feel like you are being taken for granted. Does that help you understand what Jesus said to the church of the Laodiceans? "I want you to be either hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth." How could the God of the universe desire a growing and increasingly intimate relationship with someone like me? We won't answer that one even when we leave time and travel into eternity. But what we do know about our human intimacy and relationships can help us marvel, if not understand, at God's deep desire for us to be more open, honest, and intimate with Him. For example He tells Christians that husbands are to treat their wives with ultimate respect, dignity, and love (independent of their looks, behavior, attitude, and treatment of them), BECAUSE this is a picture to onlookers of the husband's comprehension of how Christ loved His body (the church) and gave Himself for us, unconditionally. Paul succinctly says, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In other words, while we were on our worst behavior, God gave us His very best gift! Talk about ultimate respect, love, and intimacy initiative, that's the highest example and pattern there is!

So, to average Joe or Josephine reader, how often do you set a priority to read about and ponder what strong, serious, steps of commitment and sacrifice Christ took for you? Notice I did not mention what others told you ABOUT Christ or others, nor what excuses you may have used in the past to avoid looking at the gift of Himself, squarely in the eye. You may pride yourself as more fair, considerate, and respectful of others, than some of your Christian friends. Indeed I'm sure this is often the case. But rest assured that if you continue to ignore exploring God's very best gift to you, you are cheating yourself much worse than

by burning a winning lottery ticket, or slamming the door in the face of Ed McMahon, trying to make you a sweepstakes winner. Would you ignore, reject, or slam the door in this guy's face? Don't slam the door in God's face either, because God cared enough to send you the very best (Himself), wrapped in the flesh of His only Son Jesus, and if you do you are calling Him a liar about what He said concerning His Son.

And to average Christian reader, how often do you set a priority to read about and ponder what strong, serious, steps of commitment and sacrifice Christ took for you? We have an advantage because Jesus taught us to jog our weak memories by pondering His death and resurrection as we eat and drink the Lord's Supper. But a big danger we face is taking Him for granted, perpetuating the status quo, and becoming so lukewarm that it nauseates God and those who look to us to reflect some of the majestic grandeur of "Christ in us, the hope of glory." So would you please pray about spending more private time with God so He can deepen your relationship with Him? You'll never be sorry or feel that time could have been better spent.

Who Really Believes In You?

Who Really Believes In You? Think back for a moment to yesteryear when you knew for sure that someone believed in you. They turned to you to solve a problem, to show some leadership, or to just plain help out. They knew you could do it, and you knew they trusted you and had confidence in you. Chances are if you worked at a place like that, you would return there today, at the drop of a hat if a comparable job opened up. That's because such environments, where we really feel wanted and appreciated, are few and far between. It's somewhat akin to the ratio of times someone catches us doing something wrong, compared to the number of times someone catches us doing something right. Most of us are a lot more experienced at negative criticism and fault finding, than at reinforcing, encouraging, and showing appreciation. Isn't it strange how slow we are to learn to treat others as we wish they would treat us? It's doubly destructive when we go the next step and criticize those who go against the flow and demonstrate their belief in "losers" whom the rest of the world has discarded.

But that is precisely the kind of person Jesus is. One who risked and endured criticism from His closest friends to seek out, affirm, and demonstrate His faith and trust in persons who were discarded, downtrodden, and despised by most everyone else. It was His initiative in seeking them out, demonstrating His love and trust of them, and seeing their future potential, that fueled their turnaround, new life, and transformed behavior, that so far exceeded that of their accusers and critics.

Which is harder, to criticize, or to trust and affirm? For instance, ponder for a moment the tremendous difference that affirmation and trust make, compared to criticism, fault finding, and judgment. The effects on our motivation, self esteem, and behavior under these two extremes of treatment couldn't be more different.

Jesus has the advantage of seeing outside of our time dimension what people will yet become and do, as a result of His belief in them. When we see someone respond and place their belief and trust in Jesus, we know they are merely responding to the great love, forgiveness, trust, and belief He already showed to them. What do you suppose would be the result in our family, our neighborhood, community, workplace, and organizations, if we began to consistently treat others as He treats us?

Open and Shut Case

Today we are contrasting two common life experiences that can help us chart our course for the future. By starting with the down side, that will set the stage for us to appreciate the corresponding positive side of the coin.

First, stop for just a moment and recall someone whom you depended on, but they let you down, disappointed you, and hurt you. Unless you deliberately dealt with that, it most likely is still very painful even today. Many of us find it difficult to become open enough to identify, face, and resolve our hurts by forgiving those who have hurt us. It takes deliberate effort to take the initiative to patch things up, and replace the broken relationship with openness, especially when you are the offended party.

The positive side of openness can result from such a restoration of relationship, but regardless of how it occurs, being open and receptive to someone produces enjoyment and pleasure for them. We have four grown children who were generally cooperative. But one of them sometimes said he wasn't going to do what we asked. Yet typically when we got up next morning we found he had chosen to do as asked. This is a good example of DELAYED openness that takes a little longer to produce an enjoyable outcome.

In summary, being open does not come naturally for most of us. But whether it comes sooner or later, when it does arrive, it always produces enjoyment and pleasure. We should not be surprised then to find that our openness with God also produces enjoyment and pleasure for Him! That is truly mind boggling that our choices and attitudes can "make God's day!"

We may typically think of God as self-sufficient and in need of nothing. For example, if we fail to pass on the good news about Christ's payment for our sins, we can be replaced by another messenger, or He can even cause the rocks to proclaim His glory. With God nothing is impossible. Although God can certainly manage without us, yet we are the beneficiaries and inheritors of His choice to use us.

But the flip side of that coin is that we are His inheritance. This message is sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, and is repeated as the second of Paul's three petition prayer…"that you might know what is (1) the hope of His calling, (2) the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (believers in and followers of, Christ), and (3) the power of His resurrection."

Those who are married, know by experience, the delights and pleasures a wife who is open brings to her husband. Once believers in Christ die to the law, we are married to Christ. As His bride our openness to Him truly brings Him pleasure. That is why He so looks forward to when we shall be like Him (transformed) and see Him as He is in all His beauty and glory, and share our "first supper" in open, unhindered fellowship with Him!

True Love

A recent THINKABLE explored a "search for love in all the wrong places." Today we move along another similar trail. "What the world needs now is love, sweet love," used to be one of our favorite songs. Even today, we wouldn’t argue that we don’t need this remedy, it's just that we don’t know how to get there from here. But even more basic is the fact that different folks have different ideas about what love really is, and just how powerful it really is. For example, for some love is a warm fuzzy feeling that just comes over you and takes over. Like a dust devil whirlwind that appears suddenly out of nowhere, creates a spectacular sight, and then is gone before you know it. Such a person might say, "we just fell in love." Others might dig a little deeper and describe love as a bond of closeness that sustains friendship across space and time, enduring separation in distance and decades. An example is the autobiography which includes a family bond which experienced a loving reunion of a father thought dead in Siberia, who was allowed to travel to the U.S. to briefly visit his family that he never expected to survive World War II. But a much rarer form of love is all about selfless action, chosen to be given to another, solely for their benefit, independent of personal gain. Usually such love costs a lot to the giver, sometimes even death. It also can be greatly appreciated, but sometimes is spurned or even ignored.

In the first example of love, its about as easy to "fall out of love" as it is to "fall in love," since it is based on feelings which move up and down, come and go, like the rhythm of the stock market. The second kind of love has the staying power of a mother’s love for her child. It can even produce selfless acts, such as laying down the mother’s life to save her child. But the consistent daily choice of love actions which places the welfare of another ahead of our own convenience, needs, and desires, is surely a gift from God. This should not surprise us since "God is Love." This special kind of love so strongly desires the very best for its beneficiary, that it motivates selfless sacrifice, even unto death. In other words, it is so strong as to motivate and empower the actions of a hero to save another, except it operates and endures day in and day out through all the tests of disappointment, unrequited expectations, misunderstandings, denial, desertion, and even rejection.

This is why Jesus had descriptions of demonstrating this kind of love here on earth written about Him so very long before He ever came here. For example Isaiah called Him a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," describing His inward feelings which were never obvious, even to His disciples who experienced His love each day. Their disbelief, misunderstanding, hard hearts, and denial of Him certainly contributed to His inward grief, but this never diminished His love for them. His great compassion and love feelings caused Him to weep over Jerusalem as His heart longed to gather them under His wing as a mother hen gathers her chicks for protection. Such feelings fueled His choice to "learn obedience through the things He suffered," and to "become obedient (to the mission planned by God the Father) unto death, even the death of the cross." He came to "seek and save that which was lost," even though the majority of us remain in denial that we ever needed His sacrifice for us. And He had no delusions about the fact that the majority of mankind would ignore or reject His love actions, since He fully knew what is in each man’s heart. He came "in the fullness of time" at mankind’s darkest hour of need. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Such love is very serious, since He has written us so many love letters in His word. If we deny these records that God has given us about His son, then we are clearly calling Him a liar. I would not want to be in a position of the clay calling the potter a liar. Nor would I want to reject such a powerful and consistent demonstration of God’s love for me, would you? The crowd you run with, and even your mate, will let you down. But "Jesus never fails." "This is a faithful saying:

For if we died with Him,

We shall also live with Him.

12If we endure,

We shall also reign with Him.

If we deny Him,

He also will deny us.

13If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself."

Unconditional Love

Unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, who needs them anyway? That's easy to answer - we all do. Because we all at times are so inconsiderate and insensitive to others that if others treated us the way we treat them, we'd soon be hollering for help.

So how can I get unconditional love, and how can I pass it on to others? A lot of this has to do with expectations. For example, what are your expectations of your spouse, or of a good friend? Although you've learned to get along, you likely experience some occasional disappointments and letdowns too. That's because you expect one thing and sometimes you get something quite different. But what if you gave up and released your friend or spouse from all your expectations? I know, you're wondering who would then hold them accountable? But can you just imagine how that would free you up from your vulnerability to get hurt or disappointed? Next, suppose you were to place all those expectations for your spouse or friend on Jesus, who NEVER fails. Now your spouse or friend is free to be themselves without hurting you or incurring your judgment or correction, and Jesus can get proper credit for supplying your deepest needs, in His way, and in accordance with His schedule. Doesn't that sound like a win-win decision? You guessed it. That takes all the fun out of fighting and all the fighting out of fun together. Isn't it better to have our expectations placed on Someone who NEVER fails? Then we can treat others like He treats us, with unconditional love.

Depending on an undependable person is worse than pinning all your hopes on winning the lottery with a single ticket - it's unrealistic. The resultant disillusionment can create unresolved anger in you, which can in turn lead to crawling into a bottomless pit with such steep sides that you feel no hope of ever getting out alive.

But no matter how deep the pit, when you turn your spiritual eyes upon Jesus by faith, you see the One who planned and made preparations before He created this world, for you to be holy and without any blame, dwelling with Him in Heaven, and experiencing His unconditional love, forever "accepted just as God the Father accepts His Son Jesus." Now that's real unconditional love and unconditional acceptance! Once you've tasted it for yourself, He empowers you to pass it on to others! Go for it; the world is sure in need of it!

Here Doggie-Doggie; Nice Doggie

Some of you have likely heard about a young married couple who each had very high expectations for their partner to be the answer to their needs so they could live happily ever after. Their focus on what they expected from their mate seemed to blind them to what they could supply in the marriage. This is called "the 2 ticks and no dog" syndrome.

As you see, this week we're looking at problems we cause, and we'll see this against a backdrop of things that work very well. For example, our own human body can certainly get sick and disabled at times, but generally speaking the members of the human body are amazingly well coordinated, functioning together with remarkable unity. It's a great picture of each member quietly performing its own function very well for the good of all the members. No single member tries to mimic another member's function, and it selflessly operates to benefit others, rather than showing any sign of competition, a power struggle, or an inflated view of its own importance. A person as a whole may make choices so adverse with respect to another person that we can describe it as "cutting off our nose to spite our face," but individual body members never operate like that. On the contrary, when one member is hurt, sick, or not able to operate at full steam, the other members quickly pitch in to compensate and to carry an extra part of the weak member's load. Such unity, dedicated behavior, and support of the other members are all the more refreshing against a backdrop of our society's self-centered "me-now" generation. But all too often this contrast carries over to some groups of people "called Christians" who are not only known for divisions, disputes, and a lack of unity and love, but also for "shooting their own wounded." Our marriages can become like that too, can't they?

As parents we inform our kids that they will become like those they hang out with, good or bad. Only close encounters with the supernatural One can influence our behavior in a supernatural way, to achieve results similar to the highly effective functioning of our body members. Of course characteristics like those observed among individual body members are supernatural because of the supernatural One Who designed and created them. Only as we get in step with Him and His ways can we experience His results.

But He promises to live in us and change our behavior from the inside out, for all who will welcome Him and yield control of themselves to Him. That's why you've also met real Christians who are very giving, loving, contented, and focused on serving others. That's because God who lives in them, is the source of the fruit that comes out of their lives. The Head director and motivator of such folks is their Lord, Who demonstrated His love in His ultimate sacrifice for our sins on the cross. When He becomes our Lord, He turns us into lovers, not fighters; givers, not takers; and persons so liberated that we become free to truly serve Him and others with thankfulness. He stimulates appreciation, not duty, obligation, nor trying to earn His favor. You could say that a marriage union of such Christian partners is more like "2 dogs and no ticks," rather than "2 ticks and no dog." But married or single, our greatest opportunity is to be married to Christ Himself, becoming His bride, and experiencing union and unity with Him under the control of the dowry of His Holy Spirit. Is it time for your trip to the altar?

Actions Which Can Be Ignored, But Cannot Be Denied

"Flattery will get you everywhere," some women believe, and some demonstrate. Most of us like to feel special, which can make us suckers for flattery. And on the flip side, some girls build up so much desire to get free from their past painful home life, that they romantically picture the first boy to verbalize his love for them, as their one and only "knight" in shining armor.

Once we step back a little from such circumstances which can harmfully control us, we see more clearly and can sometimes look beyond flattery and your "saying what I want to hear" to detect selfish manipulation and ulterior motives. I am not setting up a case for judging each other's motives, but I am suggesting that we often could benefit by setting aside our rose colored glasses, distinguishing between flattery and genuine concern for our well-being, and recognizing genuine selfless love feelings.

Especially as we apply the test of time, true love, like cream, rises unmistakably to the top. Listen for a moment to God's 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. 6 It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Love will last forever. (You may substitute Jesus for Love, re-read this passage aloud, and you will better understand how wonderful He is, and why we love Him so!)

As we said earlier, words are one thing, but actions are the proof of the pudding.

In contrast, note how shallow are the alternative attractions of this world, wrapped in cheap, temporary TINSEL. Promises of Fame, Fortune, "Freedom," Knowledge, Possessions, and finally, Power. But none of these can pass the test of satisfaction or permanence after even a couple of decades of time. Faded, fraudulent deception is the long-term assessment of those who take such BAIT!

So what, in contrast, has God said and done about His love for us? He said that His love is so unfathomably great for us that He gave each of us the life of His only Son, in sacrificial death to pay for all our sins, taking our place, so we would never have to die spiritually, or to experience separation from God's supportive care. But most important, what He said, and what He promised, He performed, exactly in accordance with the myriad of detailed forecasts about exactly how this would happen.

There is no way all these predictions could jointly come to pass exactly as God's prophets said they would, except under the plan and performance of the almighty, sovereign, loving, forgiving God, ruler of our universe.

He does not want anyone to perish by failing to trust Him. But He won't force anyone to even acknowledge Him either, because He places such great importance upon our free choice of Him. "Greater love has no one than to lay down their life for another." But that same love respects the free choice His creativity gave us. Our forefathers failed the test of trusting Him, but He is the God of 2^nd chances to all who reach out by faith to grasp the free gift of sins forgiven, and eternal life with God in Heaven for all who trust the redeeming love action of His death and resurrection for us.

Straddling

Today we'll get some insight from Albert Einstein. Some of you may know these things, but they should help us all with some additional insight. In physics I learned some equations that included e=mc². When we consider that c, the 3 x 10⁸ meters per second speed of light, squared is 9 x 10¹⁶, we are astounded at the huge amount of energy e, bound tightly in just a kilogram mass, m, of uranium. As I said, I studied that in physics, but where did Einstein learn that? And where did he get the unconventional idea that time is relative to speed. For example in a wonderful book that provides a simplified understanding of physics principles, "Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland," by George Gamov, a man goes to a physics lecture and then has a separate dream about each topic. To illustrate relativistic time he dreams about a man that speeds off in space travel at nearly the speed of light and returns to earth to find that his twin sister is a white-haired old lady using a cane, while he is still young. So maybe Cortez looked in the wrong spot for the fountain of youth? According to Einstein, time doesn't pass as quickly as you approach c, the speed of light. He may have had trouble in school with conventional subjects like his abc's, but he hit a home run when he finally got to "c," the speed of light which he held to be constant (invariant). You have to admit he certainly got a lot more out of "c" than most of us. I think his willingness to look more closely at ultimate questions is why he saw so much more than "the average student." The following quote captures his attitude well. "I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details." -- Albert Einstein

Listen to his slow start. After his family moved to Milan, Italy, still without having completed secondary school, Einstein failed an examination that would have allowed him to pursue a course of study leading to a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He spent the next year at a secondary school, where he enjoyed excellent teachers and first-rate facilities in physics. Einstein returned in 1896 to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he graduated, in 1900 as a secondary school teacher of mathematics and physics. Then he began to take off like a rocket in physics prestige.

After two years he obtained a post at the Swiss patent office in Bern. The patent-office work required Einstein's careful attention, but while employed there (1902-09), he completed an astonishing range of publications in theoretical physics. For the most part these texts were written in his spare time and without the benefit of close contact with either the scientific literature or theoretician colleagues. Einstein submitted one of his scientific papers to the University of Zurich to obtain a Ph.D. degree in 1905. In 1908 he sent a second paper to the University of Bern and became a lecturer there. The next year Einstein received a regular appointment as associate professor of physics at the University of Zurich. By 1909, Einstein was recognized throughout German-speaking Europe as a leading scientific thinker. In quick succession he held professorships at the German University of Prague and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In 1914 he advanced to the most prestigious and best-paying post that a theoretical physicist could hold in central Europe, professor at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft in Berlin. Later Einstein even wrote a very instructive letter to U.S. President Roosevelt that included a heads up on the atomic bomb potential inside uranium, a warning, and some recommended action plan steps. But his thoughts also came with a certain distraction at times. For example when staying at the Waldolf Astoria Hotel in New York he would walk around the block and have great difficulty remembering what hotel he was staying at.

Einstein's thoughts on relativistic time triggered the following quantum leap thoughts for me. Jesus is both THE constant light of the world Who lights (inspires) every human being, those who recognize Him and those who don't. Jesus is part of the Godhead who created all we know about in the universe, "in the beginning." So He existed as God before our concept of beginning, "from everlasting to everlasting" as the psalmist David wrote. But we humans live in time while we only guess at eternity, which we have not yet experienced. That must mean that when Jesus chose to leave heaven to become a personal human sacrifice to pay for our sins, He had one foot still in eternity as God, and one foot in time as man, thereby straddling time and eternity. Since God cared enough to "send the very best," why would you not pay the utmost attention and respect to His promises about eternity, since He is the authority on eternity, and we have not yet experienced eternity? Many physicists have chosen to run experiments to show Einstein's relativistic theory is valid. Is there any reason that you should not ask Jesus to be your own savior from sin now, to show that you trust Him with your eternity? Who is better than Jesus to entrust your eternity to?

Geometry Revisited

Some of you may have bumped into geometric conic figures like the ellipse, parabola, circle, and hyperbola in school. If so, you may recall that the distinguishing factor is the value of the figures' eccentricity. For example eccentricity ratio values of e<1, e=0, e=1, e>1, correspond to the ellipse, circle, parabola, and hyperbola, respectively. The common factor is that each of these has a focus (focal point) but each figure surrounds that focus in a unique pattern, governed by the eccentricity. Some of you may have been like me in school and asked, what good is geometry and what is it used for? I don't recall much of an answer to those questions in school, but when I worked as an engineer I revisited these geometric figures plus additional physics and geometry as I progressed in one of my specialty areas, satellite orbit determination. A short course on that subject plus mathematical estimation theory at U.C.L.A. in the 1960's gave me a jump-start in subjects I used throughout my engineering career. For those who missed out on the intricacies of such subjects, you may only identify with this by considering folks that delve into these things as "eccentric" themselves. By the way, at that class I also learned the answer to "what do you see when the smog lifts in L.A.?" Answer, "U.C.L.A."

But the use of such general terms is of interest to us in today's discussion, as you will see. If it doesn't make sense you can call it an elliptical subject, merely skirting or orbiting your real interests. If it seems over your head, or too theoretical, you can just write it off that I am speaking in hyperbole. Or maybe you can catch me making a circular argument. But today's subject is about communicating in parables. Why would Jesus choose that way of story telling so very often, instead of just coming right out with it? You may recall that Jesus told the Jewish leader Nicodemus that he might be a leader and understand many things, but that he was "pre-kindergarten" spiritually since he didn't have any equipment to understand spiritual things, since he had never been born spiritually. So Jesus explained that parables enabled those willing to become involved in a personal, deep, meaningful relationship with Him to experience Him in ways that surpass mere human understanding. The same parable will leave in the dark, those who are unwilling to participate in such a relationship. Parables either shine new light and insight or they are dismissed as "interfering" at best. Parables are intended to stimulate questions that provide more light and insight. Parables are drawn from everyday common life experiences.

Similarly THINKABLES move from understanding and agreement on from everyday common life experiences to give a peep under the cover of similar or analogous spiritual realities that may have previously been shrouded in an impenetrable cloud. People often ask me how I get ideas for THINKABLES. Certainly it is a gift from God. But you can also mine the wealth of helpful observations all around you too if you are not too distracted by your own problems and self interests to observe them. The second requirement is to be obedient and quick to write down His thoughts when He gives them, so you can expand them later. Some people call that journaling, but it's more like a scribe that's ready to write when God impresses His thoughts on you. "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17)

The world is full of parables and THINKABLES that surround us every day. Why not commit to take time to smell the roses, start becoming aware of your own daily parables and THINKABLES, and see where your understanding of them can lead you? It's exciting, fresh, and richer than any novel you could read, or movie you could watch! It's the Lord Himself who lifts the fog to illumine your understanding. He does this after your spiritual birth that occurs once you invite Him to be your savior. If that seems foreign to you, you can read about a Jewish leader who needed help getting his spiritual fog to lift too, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3.

The Root Cause

Raytheon Six Sigma (R6s) is a continuous process improvement cultural attitude and set of tools that can be used to empower workers to improve their work processes. For example here are the R6s basic six steps, applied at a high level to Raytheon's Integrated Capability Maturity Model (CMMI) best practices business modeling.

1. Visualize - an organization or group attaining a higher level of CMMI
2. Commit to organizational goals and supporting improvement "infrastructure"
3. Prioritize a roadmap to improve a sequence of Process Area maturity to fulfill the vision
4. Characterize current status via an Organizational Assessment
5. Improve by making the needed changes
6. Achieve by measuring and assessing the impact and effectiveness of the improvements

Suppose that during the step 4 assessment, major cultural attitude roadblocks were discovered. This would be a good place to apply one of the many R6s tools like Root Cause Analysis. One of those simple but effective tools is the "6 Whys." For example let's imagine the problem discovered during the assessment is that macho managers attitudes resist organizational improvements, and insist on making decisions "by the seat of their pants. Then by using the "6 Whys" approach we continue to ask, "Why is that?" until a root cause is discovered. For example the first why response might be "we've always done it that way". The next why response might be "we don't know any different way." The final why response might uncover the root cause response, "we've never been trained any different, or shown a new way that really works."

We've talked about blind spots before. Usually we are blind to our full potential and to the root causes that are keeping us from realizing that potential. Many R6s tools can help achieve improvement results much better than skeptics might imagine.

For the Christian, the Holy Spirit shines His light into our blind spots so we can respond and eventually see that we look just as beautiful to God the Father as our beautiful savior Jesus does. That's because He sees us through the sacrificial blood of Jesus, washed white as snow from all our past, present, and future sin. Not only that, but He sees wonderful righteousness in our life because Jesus Himself is our "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." Jesus can be your "root cause" also, but ONLY when you invite Him to be. And then He will become the SOURCE of your "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" too.

I know you chemistry buffs thought it stood for magnesium. But today we're thinking about myasthenia gravis. The distinctive feature of MG is fluctuating weakness of muscles, made worse by use of those muscles and improved at least partially by rest of the same muscles. The "gravis" or seriousness of myasthenia is particularly noticeable when muscles we use in breathing are affected. Ocular myasthenia involves the eye muscles and eyelids. MG remains confined to the eye muscles in about 15% of patients who initially present with only ocular myasthenia. Within the first year after onset about half of the ocular MG patients will go on to experience involvement of other muscles, and another 30% do so during the next two years.

However, the vast majority of MG cases are autoimmune, in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys special proteins located on the muscle surface where the nerve attaches to the muscle. These proteins respond to the chemical acetylcholine that is released by the stimulated nerve, and this response starts the process, which causes the muscle to contract. These special proteins are called acetylcholine receptors. No one knows what sets off the autoimmune reaction, but if some acetylcholine receptors are missing because of it, the response of the muscle to nerve impulses is poor and weakness may occur. Neurotransmitter chemicals make the connections across each nerve-muscle junction. Improper functioning of these neurotransmitter chemicals is what causes my friend to have ocular myasthenia, resulting in episodes of "double vision." Just imagine the frustration and disabling experience of not knowing when, and how intense, your next bout with double vision might be. Note also that such episodes of double vision are both real (sensed by the brain) and debilitating to my friend, while those around him experience none of his perceptions, and we only know what he experiences when he tells us.

The physical mechanisms behind MG are very similar to those that result in mental illnesses. As an example, schizophrenia can cause someone to hear voices, smell "formaldehyde," or have thoughts like the TV is controlling my mind, or that the man next to me really works for the CIA and he is trying to kill me. This is due to improper functioning of neurotransmitter chemicals like dopamine across nerve-to-nerve junctions. Too much dopamine causes a "real" perception of "extra information" that is NOT observable or confirmable by anyone else. Medicines like "dopamine blockers" are used to keep receptors from receiving too much dopamine and stimulating sensing inside the brain which does not correspond to any stimulus outside the brain.

To summarize, both MG and schizophrenia are physical illnesses, related to similar mis-functioning of neurotransmitter brain chemicals. Medicines try to restore normal brain chemistry balance. But a major difference is that MG is accepted as a physical illness, with no STIGMA, while schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are often mis-understood and erroneously viewed as a fault of the sick person or their family. Hopefully this brief description and comparison will help increase understanding and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

Now to extend our understanding for the rest of us "NORMAL" people. Have you ever sat outside the closed office of your boss and felt your boss was talking about you in a derogatory way with his visitor? Or have you ever become confused, frustrated, or irritated, by multiple concurrent interruptions, such as trying to visit with a friend while bombarded by the TV, someone knocking at the door, and the telephone demanding attention at the same time? This might provide some insight, understanding, and compassion for persons with mental illness who "hear voices," or who can't concentrate due to confused and interrupted thoughts.

Now let's consider what goes on in the "Invisible War" that Donald Gray Barnhouse wrote about, being waged for control of our minds every day. First we must understand the hierarchy of power. Satan is stronger than I am, and Jesus is stronger than Satan is. For example, the Bible says that for the Christian, "greater is He that is in you (Jesus), than he that is in the world (Satan)." If you have not invited Jesus into your life as your savior and given him authority to control your thinking and resultant behavior, then Satan will often let you alone to your own devices, since you are no threat to him. But if Jesus lives inside you (only by your invitation) He wants to renew your mind to think Godly thoughts each day, and Satan wants to confuse, disrupt, and distort your thinking to keep you away from reality and spiritual thinking. So now we see that a non-Christian is deceived and doesn't even know it. And a Christian must deliberately depend on Jesus to have a mind open to thoughts that produce spiritual growth, gravitate to helping others, and that are open to ways to spread God's good news. This includes planting and watering seeds of thoughts in others so they can see how really, fully, and beautifully Jesus loves us - enough to die in our place to pay for our sins and provide re-connection with God, thus re-balancing our spiritual brain chemistry.

When was your last visit to the eye doctor?

My last week of work before retirement, I taught four DOORS classes in Indianapolis, Indiana. "What's that?" Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System (a requirements management tool). You may still feel like repeating, "What's that?" Or maybe you feel sorry you ever asked. But speaking of doors, we've all experienced a variety of feelings as we encountered both open and closed doors. It can be discouraging to have a door slammed in your face. And an invitation to "come on in" can really make our day! But have you ever stopped to ponder what words and actions tend to open and close doors?

For example, it's good to have a clear purpose, objectives, and approach to getting things accomplished. But often our approaches and styles are so different they even shut the "door" on relationships. Willingness to admit that I am prejudiced toward MY way of doing things, to the point of expecting and even directing others to do thing "my way" has the potential to cause a previously shut door to open up. Lectures, telling others what is right, and expecting conformance, is a pretty sure prescription for shutting a relationship down and maybe even causing it to be padlocked. VHAT (vulnerability, honesty, availability, and teachability) on the other hand can be refreshing enough to cause a previously slammed door to open up a crack.

Next time you gear up for a lecture, to tell someone else how to behave, use this as a red light signal to stop. Then step back and take a deep breath. Then instead of teaching, preaching, commanding, or demanding, turn the tables and tell the other person an example of how you have blown it by exhibiting the same characteristics you were about to "correct" them for. You may be pleasantly surprised how freeing, helpful, and motivating this is to the other person. I was.

James summarizes this by encouraging us to "confess our (own) faults to each other, and pray for each other, so we can be healed." Jesus similarly instructs us to first extract the BEAM from our own eye as a prerequisite to effectively helping our buddy get the "spec" out of their eye. More frequent trips to "eye Dr. Jesus" would sure help correct our myopic condition and help us avoid masquerading as Eye Doctors trying to correct everyone's vision but our own.

Healing is in the Eye of the Beholder

Who could imagine that a tiny atom could leverage a release of energy proportional to the speed of light squared (i.e. 300,000,000 x 300,000,000 = 90,000,000,000,000,000 {meters/sec}²) times its mass, if its particle binding energy could be released. As we now know, Albert Einstein could imagine this, and enough decision makers also believed it was possible (or at least feared the consequences if our enemies believed it and proved it first), to fund the Manhattan Project and test the first atomic bomb. Instead of splitting matter to release energy, others later took a clue from our sun (and other stars) where almost unfathomable energy is released through hydrogen fusion, by combining matter.

More often than not, when something outside our current belief/unbelief system or our comfort zone comes along, we deny its possibility, try to ignore it, or attack it as heretical or dangerous. Such departures from the norm often are dangerous to those who are experiencing something new or "outside the box." But precisely because we're often like the guy who went wading in a river in Egypt, doesn't make us right, or let us get away clean. Why? Because that means we are in "De Nile" (pronounced "denial"). Hopefully this will help us laugh at ourselves and open us up to admit that even we can on occasions be dead wrong.

Jesus put it this way to the religious leaders of His day, who tried so hard to deny that He had just given a man who was blind all his life, the wonderful gift of sight. Instead of celebrating with the man and his parents, they ruthlessly grilled them all, essentially demanding that they deny the fact of this healing (that only God could do) so they wouldn't have to change their belief system and admit the obvious, that before them stood "God in the flesh." So Jesus finally had to tell them that "IF they could admit (come out of denial) they were blind (spiritually), then they would be able to also be healed and see (spiritually). But since they kept on stubbornly extolling their perfect vision, He told them they would remain blind (spiritually) and still in their sinful condition. In so much of our human experience, real healing starts only after admitting we have been wrong and have been in denial. Jesus never goes where He has to overpower someone who remains in denial and stubbornly rejects Him. But words can not adequately describe the love, joy, peace and forgiveness experienced by those He heals from their sins at their request!

Topsy Turvey Measuring Tools

What's all this hype about faith, miracles, and emotional feelings, which are supposed to "prove God?" Just give me the reality of things I can see and measure, and I'll be content!

Oh really? Have you ever spent even a brief period reflecting on how much you know vs. how much you don't know? Or how much you can really measure vs. how much you can not really measure? As scientists and researchers explore progressive details in any physical discipline, they soon reach limits to their understanding of how and why things work as observed. Even their ability to observe reaches fundamental limitations, as noted long ago in the Heissenburg Principle. At that point honest people become humbled at the imbalance of how very much greater is that which we don't know, compared to that which we do know. For example, with the exponential growth of "new information," why do we seem to be getting farther, rather than closer, to a full and complete set of universal knowledge? And why do our parents seem to increase in wisdom as we grow older? Surely if seeing and measuring are going to be our panacea, then our current space telescopes and our atomic clocks should be closing in on our universe, shouldn't they? If so, why do the boundaries of our universe seem to keep moving beyond our ability to see or measure them? Could that be a clue to our limitations?

So much for mankind's sophisticated attempts at self-discovery of answers to ultimate questions. But in contrast, even a young child can understand, accept, and have his life transformed, by forming a relationship by trust and faith in the promises and performance of the creator-redeemer God of our entire unfathomable universe.

Faith is the substance of things man hopes for, and the spiritual evidence of things not seen, for those who believe God and honor Him by taking Him at His word (trusting Him). So whereas man's physical instruments have failed to plumb God's universe and to produce any ultimately satisfying answers, God's simple gifts of trust, faith, and obedience, have unlocked the secrets of His spiritual universe to disclose spiritual treasures beyond our wildest dreams. Spiritual feelings follow faith, and perception of timeless truth and spiritual reality come from our wise choices to respect, honor, love, and worship God who is Himself Truth indeed. With such a God, ALL things are possible, so the word "miracle" is found chiefly among those who don't really know God or His power personally.

If you want something temporary, take a Physics degree (like I did originally), then close your books and study Physics no more for the rest of your life. By the time you die, most of the things you were taught as fact will be overtaken by new ideas, principles, and theories, and the number of unanswered questions will have increased. But the young man who commits his life to Christ and faithfully follows Him, will increase in wisdom, favor, satisfaction, and spiritual insight. It's not too late to trade in tattered, prideful, physical tools of understanding, for spiritual spades from which grow sparkling surprises - God's rewards that result from personally experiencing His grace, forgiveness, mercy, love, and Presence. Who could want anything more?

Is the camel coming or going in your tent?

At Colonial Williamsburg this week I had the privilege to listen to Rev. James Wadell, a boys tutor and itinerant minister who lived around 1774. The Virginia surveying he taught was only required by law to be accurate to 5 acres in 100, which was a big improvement in accuracy, intended to avoid land disputes. Just give me some steel pins, a "reverse direction" sighting compass, steel chain, pole and a Tally man equipped with pencil and field notebook and I might cause a land dispute myself.

Rev. Wadell is a licensed dissenter (convenient label for all but Church of England ministers), so it is legal for him to preach at any pulpit where he is invited. At the age of 7 he became aware of his own sin and of God's remedy. So after talking with mom and his pastor, he asked Jesus to be his savior. After completing his training to be a boys tutor his pastor said he should preach the gospel, so he studied under another pastor while also tutoring boys. At one point he wept bitterly, as he felt totally inadequate to minister like his mentor did to the sick, hurting, and dying. But at that very point he found that Jesus' strength, allowed to minister through James' weakness, was entirely sufficient for such tasks.

Thus God's grace that had protected and carried him to that point, now became a filling, satisfying, and central facet of his life. James had spoken briefly on occasion with Patrick Henry, but had not shared spiritual discussions with him, even though Patrick Henry's mother was a Presbyterian.

But we did get to talk with Patrick Henry under a very large Oak tree behind the Governor's Palace. Mr. Henry was the 8^th Governor of Virginia, between Lord Dunsmore of England, and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Henry spoke with passionate and persuasive arguments and warnings against complacency (as freedoms eroded) and dependence on comforts from Britain. He warned that the entrance of a camel's nose into their tent (unless driven out) would proceed until the camel is entirely in the tent, with the Virginian's entirely outside the tent. He said that a union of the colonies is essential to their survival. He felt that God was leading him to help the Virginians escape slavery very similarly to the way Moses led the Israelites out from Pharaoh's hardened heart and the cruel slavery that Pharaoh imposed. These convictions, passions, warnings, legislative actions, and his courage were fueled by Mr. Henry's daily reading of the Bible, one hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening, and by his desire to serve Jesus Christ.

Obviously there was great debate, division, and differing opinions regarding the dangers and liabilities of being labeled as a law-breaker in association with those who brewed more than tea on the Boston Harbor. But wise men in Williamsburg called for a day of fasting, humility, and prayer at Bruton Parish Church, and thereby became united. Within 2 months the First Virginia Convention at Williamsburg elected their representatives to the First Continental Congress. So there is a lot of history, inspiration, and obedience to God behind the UNITED States.

When You Experience a Servant, You Won't Want Them to Leave

When is the last time you benefited from someone with a servant's heart? You know, someone who puts your interests ahead of their own. Someone who identifies and meets needs on their own initiative, while others are oblivious, ignoring, or avoiding the need. When you hear what they have done for others it brings tears to your eyes. And when you are around them you don't want them to leave. While others are so busy seeking their own interests that no one can even see the struggles that an "outsider" is having, a person with a servant's heart and the gift of mercy will become their advocate.

All of us need someone "in our corner," someone like the following. Paul knew that Timothy had such a servant's heart. Philippians 2:19-21 (Amplified Bible)
¹⁹But I hope and trust in the Lord Jesus soon to send Timothy to you, so that I may also be encouraged and cheered by learning news of you. ²⁰For I have no one like him [no one of so kindred a spirit] who will be so genuinely interested in your welfare and devoted to your interests. ²¹For the others all seek [to advance] their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
Luke 7 ²¹In that very hour Jesus was healing many [people] of sicknesses and distressing bodily plagues and evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave [a free, gracious, joy-giving gift of] sight. ²²So He replied to them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news (the Gospel) preached to them. ²³And blessed (happy-- with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, apart from outward conditions--and to be envied) is he who takes no offense in Me and who is not hurt or resentful or annoyed or repelled or made to stumble [whatever may occur].

Despite strong criticism and misunderstanding, Jesus deliberately sought out the "outcasts" of His day and showed them caring, understanding, compassion, healing, forgiveness, and a brand new life in the kingdom of God, something that many who looked down on them were unwilling to admit their own need of, and receive it for themselves.
Luke 7 ³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat. ³⁷