Dogs are of God, part 3

Okay, in case you haven't ready Dogs are of God, parts 1 and 2, they are somewhere in this month's post. Read'em if you wanna, forget'em if you wanna. These are merely random things I like about dogs. I almost could call this, 'why I like dogs better than people'. But I am trying to be polite.

If you haven't seen the movie Marley and Me, I recommend it. It is a little bit of a tear jerker, so if you want a happy, fun dog movie, don't go. If you want a lively, crazy dog movie packed with some emotion, then go. In the ending the main actor says some pretty cool stuff about dogs, and I wished I had written it down. So, if you go, take your note pad and write what he says down. Way cool, and way true. And email it to me, please.

There was a point in the movie where I told Kelley, 'They need to get rid of that dog. He's too wild.' If they had gotten rid of Marley, then the movie would have been very short, about one hour or less. And the whole getting rid of dogs idea is a bad one. Even if it is a semi out of control dog, like Marley.

One other reason I like dogs is they wag their tail if they like you, they stick out their tongue, in a good way, and they remember if you have given them a treat. And they are always up for a good scratching, given you are their pal. They are high touch, not high tech. Hum, maybe we could learn from them...

Okay, that's it. If you are a dog lover, you get it. A wagging dog tail and tongue stuck out is all I have to say. If you don't get it, you must like cats, or just haven't had a good dog yet. Sorry, dogs are of God.

Church...love, leave it, or just put up with it

Some days I love the church. Some days I could leave it and not come back. Some days I just put up with it. I know, this sounds kind of not so religious doesn't it. Well, I'm not so religious some days. Hear me out before you call me a heretic or a loser or any other names.

Sometimes I really get tired of the abuse of power, the struggle for power, the politics, etc. of the church. Sometimes I wonder if this organism called the church looks anything like what God intended it to be. Sometimes I wonder if we are doing it right or anywhere near what Jesus wants it to be done. Sometimes I look in the Bible and I see what the church is in the New Testament and think, "Huh?"

I have been involved with the organized church for over 45 years, my mom thought I should start early. She brought me to church when I was only a few weeks old. I have seen a lot of good things happen in the Body. I have seen some things that mad me cry with tears of joy or shout with an Amen, however, I shouted inside so no one would hear since I am in a conservative church. I have some of the best memories of my life in the church, baptizing both my kids at a small church called Bethany. I even remember a concrete block falling on my foot when I baptized my daughter. She was too short to stand in the baptistry so she stood on this block, until she kicked it on top of my foot, and I had no shoes on. Good times!

The last few years I have seen more of the fleshly nature in the church than the spiritual nature. And I don't like it. Not sure what God thinks, maybe one day we will find out. I know anytime you have people you have problems. Kenny C taught me that. I understand that we are all sinners and but by the grace of God we would stay in that sin mode all our lives. It just seems the church is over run by sin and lacking in people who are doing their best to walk in obedience to what Christ taught.

I am not perfect, ask my wife, my son, my daughter, oh anyone that knows me. I do not ever expect I will be. But I think maybe just maybe Christ wants me to make a serious attempt at living the words in the New Testament. Now I'm not talking legalism. Been there, done that. Left it behind. But when we will stop making excuses and start living Christ's way.

What does that mean? Love your neighbor as yourself. Do for others what you would have them do for you. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Bear one another's burdens.

Ha! Maybe you thought this was going to be a list of all the don't do's of the New Testament. Nope. There are so many things we are called to do if we would just do the do's we would not have time to worry about doing the don'ts. Go into all the world. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Do everything without grumbling or complaining. You get the point.

I talked to two great guys today, one who happens to be a missionary and the other a missionary recruit. They both get this, praise God! I love hanging out with these two guys. They make me love the church and see a hope for the church!

Jesus said something else, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

cold is relative

I am from Georgia. When it snowed one inch we cancelled school, for two days. Now that I live in Matamoros, we cancel preschool when it is in the low 40s. For real, no lie. However, not many people have heat, at least not central heat and we all live in concrete houses, not very well insulated. So 45 degrees in a cold concrete building makes for some popsicle kids.

When we first moved here and I found out the public schools cancel for weather in the low 40s, I laughed. Today, I´m not laughing, I´m freezing. I´m used to the heat here, but even a little cold and I am freezing.

So I say, cold is all relative. 40 for me and my friends here in matamoros is chilly. For my friends in Minnesota, 30 below is cold.

Enjoy your relative cold weather today!

faith or lunacy

When is faith faith and when is faith lunacy, I mean just plain crazy? I wrestle with this balance. And maybe I fall on the crazy side too often.

Here's one example. Back in the fall of 1997 I took a trip to Mexico City with my 8 year old daugther and a college student to do some light duty mission work, okay, not so light, we taught kids and I preached in a number of churches, by default, if you believe in coincidences. The pastor who defaulted was a pastor I knew and who had broken his leg the week before we got there. Crazy.

Well, here's the faith or lunacy part. I had very little contact with the missionary before we flew to Mexico City. We had mailed letters back and forth to setup the trip. However, here's the lunacy, I never received word that the dates and times I had asked were available. I also never received word that the missionary had gotten my flight info and times. So, I didn't know if we were going to have a ride. Add to this, I had no phone number, just an address. I almost forgot, we were arriving late in the evening, not good planning on my part.

So, there we were in the Mexico City airport, my 8 year old, a student and myself, praying that our ride would show. I never told the two of them of our situation. Why? Finally after about 30 or 40 minutes I saw our chofer, Hermano Gil eating a taco and looking for us. Boy, was I happy!

When I got home I found a piece of mail addressed to me that had arrived after I left for Mexico City, maybe 2 or 3 days after. Guess who it was from? My missionary buddy, Hermano Gil, saying he would pick us up. Crazy or faith?

You decide. I already decided when I got on the airplane in December of 97.

Raw Leaders, authentic and real

Some days I get surprised by God. Some days I just am not looking for something and it just happens in front of me. Wham! Surprise! Wakes me from my sleep.

Today I got surprised, at church of all places, during a communion thought too. How does that happen? Usually I am almost in sleep mode about this time, sorry, but I'm being honest.

One of our leaders shared some very vulnerable words of struggle he had experienced in the life of one of his young daughters about 18 months ago. A time when she was in the hospital dealing with intense pain. He shared how he wished to take her pain away and perhaps even take it onto himself if possible. But it just doesn't work that way.

He used this heart rending experience from his real life to share how Christ has taken our pain and sin by way of the Cross. He could do that, Christ. He did do that, took on our pain and our sins.

I was struck most by Roy's realness and authentic nature up there in front of the whole church. He had to stop talking, more than once, being overcome by emotion. I hurt for him. I think maybe others did as well. But I identified with him. I remembered times of great pain and heartache in my kids' lives when all I wanted to do was to take away the pain and hurt in their bodies and souls. But I couldn't, all I could do was be there and listen. And pray.

If you are enduring a time of pain or your child is or your friend is, Christ knows where you are. He has been there and is not afraid to go there again, to the pain of a heart that is broken and dashed on the jagged rocks of life. He is a real leader who weeps like my friend Roy and aches for his kids, us. Christ is merely a cry away, a prayer. No text message needed, just cry out. If you are dealing with sin issues in your life, the same applies, Christ is available to you. He is familiar with sin, having lived on earth and seen sin up close in the lives of humans like you and I.

Thanks, Roy, for showing us the raw side of leadership! Thanks, Christ for enduring our pain and taking our sin upon yourself...then and now and in the future.

Who´s following who?

This past week one of our former students, Carlos, who is now proud to proclaim he is in First Grade, was hanging out in front of the school with his brother. I was busy doing this and that and the other and noticed that Carlos was following me around, kind of like a puppy, but he didn´t wag his tail.

Normally when we have preschool going on we don´t allow kids who aren´t enrolled in preschool to come in, but I was feeling like the softy that I can be, sometimes. So, on this day I just let Carlos hang out with me. He wanted to know what he could do to help. I scratched my head, I didn´t know. For one thing Carlos´ speech is so garbled that you can hardly understand him, even if you are in his family. For another thing I didn´t really have any jobs for 6 year olds at the moment. So, I just let him follow.

But he found jobs. He grabbed the plastic bin I was lifting off the bodega floor and helped me, struggling all the way. He wrestled with all his might to accompany me with the plastic bin.

Later I picked up garbage and bits of trash around the grounds. Since Carlos doesn´t pick up garbage much he just watched me and followed me.

I wonder sometimes who´s following me and who´s watching me. After all, I am an American, bald guy living in a neighborhood as the only white guy. I work in yet another neighborhood where I am the only white guy. I guess you could say, I stick out like a sore thumb.

Who´s watching you? Who sees you doing the little daily things? What sort of a grade would they give you? What kind of a leader would they call you? Are you too busy to be followed?

A River divides two worlds

You never really appreciate what you have, the liberties, luxuries, basic utilities and nice roads until you don´t have them so much. Or in limited supplies. I never thought much about how cool it is to be able to drive 55 or 60 mph on a smooth road until I moved to Mexico and have to drive much slower on slightly bumpy roads.

Being able to understand every word of a conversation is something I take for granted when I cross the Rio Grande River. When I go in to Mexico I wonder if I can understand what someone is saying to me.

There´s other things that we have in the US, but not so much in Mexico, or you have to pay for. Free Education is one of the myths, or lies of Mexico. It isn´t free, even if someone swears on their life it is. You have to pay to preregister your child in a school in the city where we live. Sometimes you pay for drinking water so your child can get a drink of water. I know, I have bought water once for a classroom. The quality also is not near what you have in the US. I thought the public school system in Carroll County, GA needed some help, until I learned how far behind a 7 year old or a 15 year old kid here is compared to one in Carroll County. Literacy rates are extremely low. Don´t believe any of the statistics you hear about literacy rates in Mexico. We live in a large city of 500,000 and have modern schools. Once you go out in the rural areas literacy rates plummet even further. We won´t discuss dropout rates.

Funny how one river divides two worlds, United States of America and Los Estados de Mexico. The roads are different, the lanuguage is not the same and the educational opportunities are not even close to the same standards.

Value your liberties and opportunities if you live in the US. Pray for more for our kids in Mexico.

Forced to eat

This summer I had the opportunity to go back to El Salvador and visit with some friends, Sam and Julie. They are pretty cool people in my book, I guess because before they ever met me they took the word of a friend that I was an okay guy. And they let me stay in their house for free; food and running water too.

I recently reread my journal entry from that weekend I spent there in El Salvador with them. My daugther and her friend Andrea had gone along as well and my daughter was in charge of feeding one of the little babies there, named Angelica. She, like all the kids there, was suffering from severe malnutrition when she arrived at the nutritional center. Angelica was a little fussy this day while Carrie was trying to feed her. She just didn't want to eat and Carrie didn't want to force her to eat. Carrie was a little nerve racked to say the least. Why wouldn't this kid eat?

Later that day as Carrie explained her battle with Angelica over eating, Julie said something that I will never forget, "Some of these babies you simply have to force to eat. You just have to. It's a matter of life and death."

For babies suffering from malnutrition, eating is a matter of life and death. I found out this summer that often times they just don't want to eat, but they must eat in order to survive and to grow and not become sick and die.

Balance this with the amount of overeating we do in the US. Okay, I'm sorry, it doesn't balance itself out. It just doesn't.

Maybe there's a way we could balance it out. Maybe we could set an amount of money aside each month, or each week to give to someone like Sam and Julie in the work they do in El Salvador or Compassion International or to our work in Mexico. We feed hungry families too. But I'm not writing this to raise money for us.

I'm writing to raise awareness and to get Americans to quit stuffing themselves to the point of sickness and start thinking about little ones like Angelica in El Salvador and begin coming up with creative ways to help starving children.

I remember my mom encouraging me to eat all my food on my plate as a child. Maybe she said something like this, I don't remember, "Eat all your food, because there are starving children in other countries."

Maybe we could change that method and put a jar, a can, a box, whatever on the dinner table. And each day, maybe once a meal, place money in it, a quarter, two dimes, a dollar. Then we could take that money at the end of each month and send it to some organization that feeds hungry children. Maybe you've got a better idea. Just try something.

Maybe when we go out to eat we can order one meal to be shared by two people, since they give you so much anyway. Then take the price of another meal we would have ordered and write it down. At the end of the month take all those amounts and send a check to a group to feed hungry people. Hey, it's better than taking home leftovers that get thrown out.

That's all for now. Eat well, think about others as you eat, pray for Angelica.

Trust me

Trust is a small word that packs a great deal of power. We have a new president and it would seem that he wants us to trust him. It would also seem that from the showing yesterday and from the media coverage that a certain percentage of people in the US do actually trust and have faith in President Obama. Yes, I said have faith in.

Funny, how trust works. Back in 2001, after Sept. 11th the American people had a great deal of trust in former President George Bush. That trust grew as our nation began a plan to fight back against terrorism. Somewhere along the line, the same trust and confidence had a great fall, just like Humpty Dumpty.

I was talking today with Martin and Juan about our new prez. They asked me a lot of questions, finally, I told them that the honeymoon is over. Now it's time for the marriage to begin, the daily life of president of the most powerful nation on earth, at least for now. They understood completely. They have had presidents in Mexico named Fox and Calderon who promise to change all of Mexico in their short term. How did they fare? Ask someone from Mexico and you will find out. Calderon, however, is still acting as president. His fate is yet to be decided, but it ain't looking so hot. Lots of violence going on in Mexico these days. As much as a war torn country.

You may think I am the typical Christian who is anti Obama. That is not the case, however, I am also not an Obama lover. I will admit I listened to a lot of what he said, of what he wrote in his book, and what others had said about him. I was entrigued by the man, but I came to a point where I realized he is merely a man, like me, like King Saul, like Pres. Bush, like the apostle Peter. I realized too that I need to pray for this man, our new president. And pray I have, more for him than any other president.

I realized that my trust must rely in faith in something bigger than one man. Because one man can go from hero to villain in the matter of a few weeks, a few months, or even a day. A single man can perform the most courageous act, like the pilot named Sully who saved the day last week by landing a plane in the Hudson Bay, and a single man can do the most evil acts known to man, like A. Hitler. A man is limited by his passions, his ambitions, his pride, his sinful nature.

Jehovah God, however, is not limited in such ways. He has one limit, His love.

I think it's safe to say that the United States of American is once again at a crucial point in history, in a time of change in which we will be judged by all the world for years to come. How will we respond? Who will we trust?

I think I will trust God with all my heart, soul and mind. And I will pray for our new president, Barack Obama more than I have prayed for any other in my lifetime.

Obama, history, movers, shakers

Whatever your opinion of President Obama, one thing is true. We are seeing history happen right in front of our eyes. You can say good things about our current President or you can curse him, but you cannot deny that the world as we know it is changing in a way we could not have possible envisioned over a year ago.

Then again, hasn't this generation seen more changes in the world than any other? The Cold War, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe, the rise of this crazy thing called the internet, a world economy so tightly knit that one country´s crash affects the entire globe in a matter of days, the positioning of China in the past 20 years. I forgot one, the VCR and microwave. Important ones. The world has become much smaller these days with technology and travel.

As Christians we have the opportunity once again to be in the midst of the change or we can remain on the sidelines, like some football fans, yelling, screaming and protesting. Honestly, in my opinion we have allowed several changes in US history to pass us by because we didn´t have the heart to get in the game and be on the front lines. Takes courage to step out of our nice suburban homes and hit the city streets or travel to the lesser blessed nations in the world. And it costs you something, actually costs you much.

A good friend and I were talking about the costs Christ asks us to pay to follow Him. We chatted and wondered why so many never got this part of Christianity. So often we get the blessing part, but the commitment and cost part never quite makes it to our brain and heart.

Another friend of mine who heads a mission organiztion is constantly asking young people and adults to live a radical Christian life among a nation of comfort. A lot of people hear his message and chase after this lifestyle, many more, I can only guess, think he is a lunatic. Maybe he is. Paul says something about that in one of his letters.

President Obama wasn´t the first one to come up with the idea of ´change´as a slogan. There´s someone called Jesus who came and asked a group of 12 to give up their lifestyles and take on something totally, radically, insanely different. They impacted more change than the world has even known.

What impact will the changes in your life hold for the future?

Dogs are of God, part 2

Being a dog lover I have to admit I don't understand them sometimes. They do some rather odd things at times. In fact, to be so smart sometimes they are so dumb. The couch is not a proper place to use the potty, but for some reason our former pup, Sasha, thought sometimes the couch was a proper potty place. Crazy dog. It always made me so mad when she would take a leak on the couch. She was a smart dog, she knew better.

So after yelling at her and all that she would hop down from the couch and hide or go to another room in the house. Ten minutes later she was back out, tail wagging. The odd thing was she always got over it, meaning she forgot and forgave me yelling and screaming at her about a new pet stain on the couch. Dogs have short memories in that sort of stuff.

I had an old dog back when I was growing up, Pancho. There were times when he did a dumb thing and I yelled at him. Five minutes later he would come back over, wagging his tail, tongue out, all was forgotten.

Dogs don't hold grudges, as far as I've seen and they seem to let stuff go, like screaming fits, fairly quickly. If only people could be more like dogs and have shorter memories of wrongs done and tantrums pitched by owners.

Call it unconditional love or whatever you want. I call it cool...

A can of food, a box of granola bars and some juice

The post below refers to a little girl named Juanita. Her family goes hungry often. We assist their family with food through our ministry. Her dad works off and on and so he provides some food as well. Too bad his work isn't more on, than off.

The day after I wrote the previous post Juanita and her younger brother Rodolfo came by asking for baby diapers. We searched high and low and found a bag of them. My wife hides everything from me, that's why I had to search. In the last room we looked I noticed some food items we had, not much, but something, some canned food, a box of granola bars and a can of juice. It seemed like too little, but it was all we had at the time. I sent them on their way with it.

The following day, today, I went shopping for more food for Juanita's family and three others in our area. Each family was very grateful and said, "Gracias", more than once. I told one mother that it wasn't much, just a box of food, but she insisted that it was a great deal to her and her family. She was the most gracious of all.

It's easy to give a box of food away or a pack of granola bars when the recipient says, "Gracias". It's kind of fun, yes, fun. If you've never done it, you should try it. You may not know anyone who is really poor, at least not in your neighborhood. Gotta tell you, there are people who go without food all around you. Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. You just have to search, kind of like me and the diapers I had to look for.

People in need of food or clothes aren't going to jump out at you, unless you work in Atlanta or Chicago or D.C. But they are there. The question is, "Will you search for those in need?" Will you search and then do something to help them?

I ended my last blog saying, "Tomorrow, maybe I will..." Tomorrow is around the corner. How will you complete the statment, "Tomorrow, maybe I will..."???

Are you really hungry?

Sometimes I catch myself when I say something really dumb like, ¨I´m starving.¨ I don´t think I have ever really been to that point, or near it. I remember once a bunch of years ago when some West Georgia CCFers fasted with Kelley and me for about 4 or 5 days. Now, then I was really hungry. But starving? I don´t think so.

Today I drove a family of seven, only one was missing, to an interview with a director of a Christian school in Texas. The kids were all very skinny. Why? Exercise, proper dietary habits, or just metabolism? Nope, they simply don´t eat three meals a day, some days they just get one. Some days it´s just a snack or some cookies or chips that they eat.

I would apologize to anyone reading this, especially if you are about to eat or just have eaten. Sorry, I am not going to apologize, because we Americans consume far more food and waste far more food than is necessary. And, too many children like Carlos, Rodolpho, and Juanita don´t eat well at all. This is one reason we hope to enroll Juanita in the private school, so she can eat three meals a day.

But thinking about this today I wondered if she would at times struggle with knowing she would eat at night while her brothers and one baby sister might not. Wow, that makes my mind hurt, heart too. I wonder if there will be days when she will eat a candy bar after lunch in Texas and wonder if her brother Carlos will eat anything at all that day. My guess is, yes, she will, because she loves her brothers deeply, even though they pick on her quite a bit.

Tonight I ate two bowls of chili and prayed for Juanita and her brothers. Tomorrow maybe I will....

heaven - numero 1

We don't talk much about heaven anymore and I don't know why, but I wish we would. Guess cause I'm still like a kid, I have a wild imagination and when I think of heaven and the possibilities, my mind races. More on that in another blog.

Getting back home to Mexico is kind of strange. We used to call Georgia home, but now we call Mexico home. After 4 1/2 years Mexico seems more familar than Georgia. Maybe cause the roads change and so many buildings are built that I can't find anything. Maybe GPS is a good idea for me. Nah!

Just yesterday we got back from a month visit with family and friends in Georgia and Alabama. It was nice to see everyone and see what's up. I even caught up with a buddy, Ralph T, who I had not seen in 6 years, because he called Costa Rica home for a couple years and Colombia before that. It was really cool to hang out with him for our 3 hour breakfast. Very cool to hear what is going on with him and where his life path is heading. I like old Ralph, maybe because we think alike, except the black clothes.

When we got back home to Mexico I was, okay, a little giddy, very excited. I missed our friends and the kids here. One of the first places we went was to Martin's house. He was gone but his kids were home so we played and laughed and cut up, until Martin got back. Then we acted right.

Next as we drove up the road from his house we saw Valeria's mom selling roasted corn. She greeted us and went to fetch Valeria, who is about 2 years old, from the house. She smiled a huge smile when she saw us. We did too. As we got ready to leave her mom said to give us a kiss, or maybe Kelley asked for one. I thought I would get one of those cute kid blown kisses. You know, you kiss your hand and blow it to the person you would kiss. Nope, she gave me the sloppiest, wettest kiss on the cheek. Wow! I was in heaven!

So, heaven is going to be about sloppy, wet kisses from little ones like Valeria, or maybe Jesus. Wow! I can't wait.....

Goats and Billy

Never really liked goats that much til I moved to Mexico. My uncle Billy had a goat and it was not the nicest animal on the farm. Mean, I'd say. Gave me a love tap a time or two. Made me mad as heck. So, I guess that old, mean goat made me not like them so well.



But then we went to Mexico and we housesat for some friends. They had a goat, a sheep and some ducks. Honestly, the goat was the smartest and friendliest of the bunch. By far. The ducks just waddled into the house at times, unannouced quacking all the way. And doing other things as well. The sheep would always get tangled up in his rope and knock over his water bucket. He would run from me too. What a crazy animal.



But the goat would always talk to me, okay, in animal langauge. So I have no idea what his baaas meant. He would let me rub his head and he would come to me. He was a friendly fellow.



Now this Christmas, John, a good friend of mine who works in Ghana, told me I should buy a goat. I thought, "John, you have lost your mind," but then he explained what he meant. He told me that for only $35 I could purchase a goat in Ghana, Africa for a family in need and it would be a means of having milk, cheese, and yogurt. And if we could buy three, two females and one male, then a family could have baby goats as well. A way to make a living and feed their children.



What a great idea! I had to have one, no two, no three! Finally, when all was said and done our family had bought four goats.



Now, I know everyone doesn't like goats. Well, you can get a chicken, or a cow, or a llama. Yes, you can find someone like John, or go online to an organization like World Vision and you can buy an animal and help a family in need in a place like Ghana or Haiti.



I can't wait to get a photo of my goats!

Real needs or feeding the poor?

I heard a statistic just recently on hunger and starving people. I've heard these stats before, and sometimes they move me, cause pain in my heart, and sometimes this type info does not. Why? Usually it depends on where I am spiritually, where I am geographically, and what I am doing physically to alleviate the needs of the poor.

If I am spiritually in a state of decline often I just pass off the numbers of people I here in Africa, India, or wherever who are suffering and dying daily of starvation. Simply put, satan tells me lies like, "What can you do? You live on another continent. You don't know anyone who is that poor. You are a good enough Christian. Let someone else do it." When I am in a sorry state of spirituality I listen to lies like these and more.

If I am in Mexico in one of the areas we serve as workers I can't pass the numbers off, because I know kids who get maybe one meal a day, maybe only one meal every couple days. Or if I am in El Salvador visiting two missionary friends they share pictures with me of babies who are dying of starvation, all emaciated and with sunken eyes. You can't see those photos and not be affected. I remember the first time I went onto their website. I honestly can say I cried and had to turn away the first time I saw the photos of babies suffering from malnutrition on their website. Why? My heart hurt. I couldn't handle seeing what I saw.

My wife says I shouldn't get so overwhelmed by these type things, she sometimes says I am too emotional. She's right and she's wrong. Don't you love it when someone tells you that? Well, you are both right and wrong at the same time. How can that be?

I shouldn't let it get to me emotionally when I hear the number of children who will die in Africa or El Salvador because of lack of food, but I do.

Something else gets too me emotionally as well. This one you might not like and you might want to stop reading. That's okay. We are all wired differently and have different soft spots, so to say.

The other thing, (okay, there are many things that get to me, this is just one of many) often that perturbs me is how much money we Christians spend on useless, trivial items which we think we need. Again, I will mention, if you don't like what is written from this point forward, click a button and forget about this post.

Often what we think we need in the physical isn't at all what we need. We know that, but we buy stuff anyway. I know I should eat a salad or turkey sandwich for lunch, but a hamburger from BK sounds so much better. I know I don't need to buy a book for full price right after it comes out, better to wait a few months and get it used and for much cheaper, right?

The rub comes when our perception of physical needs hurts others. Yes, when what we must buy, must have affects others. There are a myriad of ways our purchases affect others in poor regions of the world. Books have been written on this by much wiser men and women than me. I am thinking of only one. Here it is.

When I spend $20 on an item that I think that I need, I must have that money is gone from my wallet. I can't respend that $20, or recycle it, or wish it back. It is gone. My wallet's total amount of dinero has been deducted by a whopping -20. If I had $60 before my purchase I know have $40. Simple math, right?

Let's say that same day I am sitting at home and a children's organization places one of those tv ads during a break of my favorite college football game and I see the commercial. You know the ones. There is a sweet child from a third world country in a incredibly poor village, a skinny child of course. Then there is the plea for help,"For only $20, this child, Keyla, can have food to eat and clean water to drink. For only $20...." (Oh, I should have mentioned that people die all across the globe as well because they don't have access to clean drinking water. No Dasani in poor countries.)

So, there you have it. Your $20 bill is gone, been used for a small purchase. No way to regain it and send it off to that children's organization. Sure, you can send another $20, however, the 20 that has been spent is no longer yours, it belongs to someone else, possibly Wal-Mart, Burger King, or the Academy sports store.

Now maybe this is not a conflict for most people, doesn't even phase you. Fine, but for some people this sort of stuff just hits you right in the gut, giving you a sense of, "What should I do? How can I help?"

Research, open your eyes, find an organization that is feeding the poor(or providing clean drinking water) to people in another country outside the US. Pray. Stop spending so much on you and things you think you need, but you really....what's the word....uh.....my brain has frozen....don't need.

Hey, I said you may not like what you read here. I was being honest. Oh, what's that statistic on how many children will die today of starvation that I mentioned at the beginning? It doesn't matter. It matters that even one should die today, the day you read this. One child matters, especially if it is yours.

Dogs are of God, part 1

I like dogs and always have. We always had dogs when I was a kid, so it was only natural that we had dogs in our house when my kids were growing up. I can't remember all the names of all the dogs we had, but I can remember little glimpses of those old hound dogs. I do remember Pancho, a black, big dog that my brother-in-law donated to us when he moved back to Texas. I loved that old big, black dog cause he would follow me wherever I went, like a good friend. He just wanted to hang out with me. Wagging his tail, tongue always sticking out, panting, he followed me.

I think one of the cool qualities about dogs is they like your company. Most of my dogs just liked hanging out with me, being by my side, walking, running, etc. That presence of a good ole four legged friend cannot be matched. A good dog will lay there beside you when you are fishing and just listen. Yes, listen. And they don't interrupt or talk back. Which is good and bad, but mostly good.

Being there, by your side, that is a pretty good quality I think.

Cold words...life giving words

Never really thought about Jesus' words being 'cold' until I met a man in Guatemala once he used that very adjective. I can almost hear his words echoing in my brain this morning, "I don't know if I can handle things that Jesus' said. He said some cold things. " My new friend went onto share some of the sayings of Jesus and explain his point. I ain't gonna lie, I agreed with him then and I agree with him now, but I would add the adjective 'hard' or maybe 'tough'.

Sometimes I read the Bible and admit, "How on earth am I supposed to live that out? That's too hard, too tough, or as my buddy would say, 'cold'. If we are all honest we might say the same thing when we read a specific passage and it just hits us right in the face,"Man, this is too hard. I don't know how to do that, or even what it looks like." Maybe we don't even want to try and follow obediently in what we've read from Jesus because it's just doesn't make sense. It's just plain crazy.

Like today, I came across Luke 6 and a ton of 'cold' sayings of Jesus. For instance, "Do not judge and you will not be judged," right. I flunk this one more than I pass it. And there's, "Forgive, and you will be forgiven," okay, I like the part about being forgiven, but man, oh man, when someone does me wrong it just stinks. I get hurt, I feel angry, I lose a few points on the happy scale. I want revenge. Yes, I do. I want to forgive, but this little beast inside me says take revenge, strike back swiftly.

And that part about not condemning others, well, I've been a Christian so long I know all the things I'm not supposed to do, all the 'don'ts' and 'not do's', so, it makes it easy to find everyone else's faults. In fact, it's easier to find my wif'e's faults than mine, less painful, you understand. Better that way. Less guilt in my heart. Cold words, hard words, tough words.

The easy thing to do would be to keep the Bible shut, closed, and collecting dust in my house. Maybe I could sell it or be really spiritual and give it away. That's the easy thing to do, but it's not the thing I choose to do. I always have liked doing things the hard way. Wish it wasn't so.

Just found some more 'cold' words, "Give to everyone who asks of you...." Man, I just should close this book before I get into more trouble, because I live in a big city and there is tons of poverty and I see people begging for money all the time. How do you, "give to everyone who asks of you,"?

Cold, hard, tough, life-giving words.

Old but young

To anyone who has ever blogged before please forgive me. I'm new at this. First time. Rookie. Or as I like to say before I try something I've never done, "Okay, how do I do this?"

To some of my friends I am old, mostly those under 45 years of age. To some of my friends I am young, like the winter texans who are my parents' age. To myself I say I am young some days, like when I am around kids in the preschool we get to serve, or when I am hanging out with middle schoolers or college kids.

But sometimes I feel old. My bones creak and crack making me wonder if I am going to come undone at some point and time. Or when I get up in the morning after not sleeping well.

This age thing is all in your head anyways, so say some friends, especially the winter texans who are over 60. I agree, when you are with youth, you feel youthful. When you are with older, wise, aged friends, you feel a little, yes, more ancient. That's why I hang out with preschoolers, middle schoolers, and college kids so much.

How old are you? How old do you feel? How old is your mind, your spirit, your soul?

When was the last time you learned how to do something you've never done before, like play guitar, the djembe, the flute? Or like ride a motorcycle, or pilot a sailboat, or drive a tractor? Or speak a foreign language, or an Indian dialect, or teach someone English?

When was the last time you bunjie jumped, rock-climbed, jumped out of a perfectly safe airplane with a parachute strapped to your back, climbed a volcano? When was the last time you took a risk, a chance, attempted to do something others told you that you couldn't do?

In my mind, small as it is, these are the things that make you feel young. These are the things life is made of. This is the stuff I'm gonna keep trying.

How old did you say you are?