7/31/10

Teaching a Man to Fish

On Friday mornings in the cafe in the bookstore my wife and i used to manage, we did what we called "Nooma n' Coffee". We would show a Rob Bell Nooma dvd while people were eating breakfast or having their morning cuppa-joe. It was great (when people showed up for it!) and great discussions afterwards.

One Friday we watched the one called "RICH". Rob starts out talking about how wealthy Americans are compared to most of the world. How an organization stated that $20 billion could feed the world and how that is the same amount Americans spend every year on ice cream.

I had a friend who preached a sermon one time using Krispy Kreme Doughnuts...quite a tasty sermon! Anyway, he had volunteers from the congregation come up and stand in groups. Each group was given a tray with doughnuts on it. There was a group with 2 people who had 14 doughnuts, a group of 16 with 1 1/2 doughnuts, a group of 6 that had 8 doughnuts, etc. Each group represented a nation or people group and what they consumed, food-wise. The group of 2 was the US...the group of 16 was Africa.

I shared this with the woman who had come in for the Nooma that morning. She was a great customer and wonderful person...very sweet and funny. I could tell that she didn't care much for the message in the video. She started out talking about how the poor people in the world had "brought it upon themselves". She stated how we should "teach them how to fish rather than give them a fish". In response I said, "How about we give them a fish WHILE we teach them to fish?"

She continued to try to support her view...did I mention that she is very wealthy? She pointed out that she didn't like organizations...she didn't trust them. She also felt that giving an extra big tip to her hairdresser was a Christlike thing to do, which I didn't dispute. But, her hairdresser HAS a means of support, as opposed to the truly poor.
I pointed out to her that, what if...what if God had looked down after the Fall and said, "Hey, they brought that (sin and it's effects) upon themselves. Let's show them how to be saved, but let's not actually save them." She remained silent.

I understand that some people just don't get it. I also understand that some people will NEVER get it. Those people are one of those that Jesus will say "Depart from me...I never knew you."
I have nothing more to say except...

Think about it.

7/26/10

DANCING ON THE FEET OF GOD

If you are the Daddy of a little girl or if you are the little girl of a Daddy, then you probably have experienced the joy dancing with each other in a unique way.

My girls are now 17 and 9 years old, so we don’t do this much anymore, and I must say I miss it, but when they were smaller we would have music playing and we would dance. Sometimes just a silly jig, sometimes mimicking square dancing, but the most fun was when they would place their little feet on top of mine while holding onto my hands. We would then waltz around the room like the finest of ballroom dancers. Not that I am an experienced dancer...by no stretch of the imagination could I be called even an amateur, but, we had fun none the less. The fun for them was to move about the room without exerting any force; Daddy moved them around, Daddy lifted their feet, Daddy made the moves, Daddy’s strength was what enabled them to dance.

When we said “Yes” to God, having accepted His Son, Jesus, as our Savior, we became His children. We start our prayers, just as Jesus taught His disciples, with “Our Father”.
If we have been honest with ourselves, we have understood that we are helpless in our sin condition. We can do nothing to make it better...of ourselves.

You see, God has a dance that He is quite fond of; it’s called righteousness. It is a way to live, a way to be, a way to exist. It is also a way beyond our grasp as sinful humans. Through no fault of their own, when my daughters were little, they didn’t know the dance steps. In order to dance the dance they had to rely on Daddy. And guess what? Daddy didn’t mind. Daddy didn’t get mad and say, “Because you don’t know how to dance our relationship is over!”  No, Daddy took his little girl by the hands and said, “Stand on Daddy’s feet, sweetheart, and Daddy will make you dance!”

God is not mad at us, not even people who have no relationship with Him. But, He cannot deny Who He is and what His standard is, His Dance. This Dance must be danced by everyone who would see Him. Enter the Lord of the Dance, Jesus. Jesus showed how the Dance was done. He knew/knows the steps because He is the choreographer as well as the composer of the music that goes with the Dance. He is also the dance teacher, but better yet...He is our Daddy.

He says to us, “Stand on Daddy’s feet, sweetheart, and Daddy will make you dance!”

Think about it.