Wouldn't it be nice if you always knew that everyone that you ever came into contact with was having a great day? Wouldn't it be awesome to know that everyone who was having a great day would have one great day after another for the rest of their lives? Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone always succeeded, always deserved the best, always got the best, and continually were able to praise the Lord for the fact that they were never, ever in any pain or discomfort? Sounds like heaven to me. Perhaps that is what heaven will be like. However, it is certainly not how it is on this planet, at this time, in this universes, in our lives. There is pain all around us and you don't have to look far.
I just purchased a new computer as the one we had before was over ten year old. It could no longer handle the challenges of the anti-virus programs much less some of the new operating systems and updated application software. We were becoming vulnerable to viruses and hackers, so, to the recycling plant it went. This new one is a "screamer" by comparison, though I know that it will be slow in another two or three years as the computer industry routinely obsolesces one model after another keeping us on this vicious treadmill of technological one-up-man-ship. It must be nice to create the very need you are equipped to meet. Such a deal! Such a pain in the pocket book.
On this computer I have high speed Internet access and by pushing one button I can have at my fingertips the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, L.A. Times, MSN News, AOL News, Reuters, and more. Within a few seconds I can scan the world and see if there is any pain going on in people's lives. Needless to say...there is perhaps more pain than not, more agony that happiness, more abuse than caring, more selfishness than love. It sometimes amazes me that people have children at all considering the consequences. Yet, for some reason, God gave us this desire to live, to multiply, to survive despite what we might be facing.
Actually, it is more common that people are nice to each other, or tolerate each other regularly. When you think of population of the United States being somewhere in excess of three hundred million people, if cooperation wasn't the norm then we would all be beat up, or broke, or dead. I think that in large part it is the nature of the new media to make things seem that they are worse than they actually are. However, there is plenty of pain out there.
"I will pray for you." You know, that is so easy to say. Yet, my guess is that most of us who say that sometimes don't actually do the praying. It is what I like to call "Christian Chatter" or our "Religious Code" that we use. It makes us feel real good about ourselves...if we don't think about it too much. At the same time we "believe" that it makes others feel better, more loved, that someone actually cares about them. But, it is pretty easy to say. So often things that are easy aren't worth much.
Don't get me wrong! Prayer is by all measures vastly important for the believer. There is nothing wrong with telling someone that you are praying for them. BUT, I THINK YOU'D BETTER BE DOING IT. Saying that you are praying for someone and not praying for them is in fact, not praying for them. In fact it is fraud. Christ takes some pretty hard shots at the "Super Spiritual" types who pray in public and put on a good show. To Christ their prayers are hollow, simply sounding brass. He encourages the private prayer. The closet prayer. The prayer from the heart that is between each of His children and Him alone. If you pray for someone, pray with deep compassion and love and sincerity, and if He answers your prayer for another because of His relationship with you, to glorify himself...why boast? Oh, to know that God answered your prayer for another because He loves you! You can't tell that to someone else...all you can do is bask in the sweetness of it.
So, pray. But, don't just say. And then, after we have prayed what shall we do? Hey...we thought about someone, we prayed in faith about someone, now let's act on someone's behalf. Let's act. "Thoughts and Faith and Action" baby. That is what this web page is all about. Let's take some concrete actions. That Samaritan of old had no monopoly on "doing" the right thing. Think about doing right things for those in pain and need. Think about it, but do something. In action you will be fulfilling the desire of God's heart. You will be the hands and feet of Jesus.
I just purchased a new computer as the one we had before was over ten year old. It could no longer handle the challenges of the anti-virus programs much less some of the new operating systems and updated application software. We were becoming vulnerable to viruses and hackers, so, to the recycling plant it went. This new one is a "screamer" by comparison, though I know that it will be slow in another two or three years as the computer industry routinely obsolesces one model after another keeping us on this vicious treadmill of technological one-up-man-ship. It must be nice to create the very need you are equipped to meet. Such a deal! Such a pain in the pocket book.
On this computer I have high speed Internet access and by pushing one button I can have at my fingertips the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, L.A. Times, MSN News, AOL News, Reuters, and more. Within a few seconds I can scan the world and see if there is any pain going on in people's lives. Needless to say...there is perhaps more pain than not, more agony that happiness, more abuse than caring, more selfishness than love. It sometimes amazes me that people have children at all considering the consequences. Yet, for some reason, God gave us this desire to live, to multiply, to survive despite what we might be facing.
Actually, it is more common that people are nice to each other, or tolerate each other regularly. When you think of population of the United States being somewhere in excess of three hundred million people, if cooperation wasn't the norm then we would all be beat up, or broke, or dead. I think that in large part it is the nature of the new media to make things seem that they are worse than they actually are. However, there is plenty of pain out there.
"I will pray for you." You know, that is so easy to say. Yet, my guess is that most of us who say that sometimes don't actually do the praying. It is what I like to call "Christian Chatter" or our "Religious Code" that we use. It makes us feel real good about ourselves...if we don't think about it too much. At the same time we "believe" that it makes others feel better, more loved, that someone actually cares about them. But, it is pretty easy to say. So often things that are easy aren't worth much.
Don't get me wrong! Prayer is by all measures vastly important for the believer. There is nothing wrong with telling someone that you are praying for them. BUT, I THINK YOU'D BETTER BE DOING IT. Saying that you are praying for someone and not praying for them is in fact, not praying for them. In fact it is fraud. Christ takes some pretty hard shots at the "Super Spiritual" types who pray in public and put on a good show. To Christ their prayers are hollow, simply sounding brass. He encourages the private prayer. The closet prayer. The prayer from the heart that is between each of His children and Him alone. If you pray for someone, pray with deep compassion and love and sincerity, and if He answers your prayer for another because of His relationship with you, to glorify himself...why boast? Oh, to know that God answered your prayer for another because He loves you! You can't tell that to someone else...all you can do is bask in the sweetness of it.
So, pray. But, don't just say. And then, after we have prayed what shall we do? Hey...we thought about someone, we prayed in faith about someone, now let's act on someone's behalf. Let's act. "Thoughts and Faith and Action" baby. That is what this web page is all about. Let's take some concrete actions. That Samaritan of old had no monopoly on "doing" the right thing. Think about doing right things for those in pain and need. Think about it, but do something. In action you will be fulfilling the desire of God's heart. You will be the hands and feet of Jesus.
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