Can I really claim to be "Christian"?

Downs and Ups:

The conventional wisdom is that though the stock market may go down, it will come back up--eventually.  I heard that most folk who just left their money in stocks through the Great-Depression actually made money.  I'm in my Sixties.  My retirement funds, like many of yours, are in "funds" i.e. stocks.  I'm wondering if I'll live long enough to see the upturn.  With the Greeks threatening to have a "Going out of Business Sale" and pay creditors fifty-cents on the dollar, I heard that even gold was down this morning.  Since I don't personally have any gold to sell it really doesn't affect my fortune--or lack thereof--but it is another downer.  

Maybe it's just complacency, but I figure I can't really do anything about it, so I don't pay much attention.  I talked to a really sharp guy, recently, someone who was paying attention to markets and such.  Through shrewd investment he was able to grow a few hundred-thousand dollar nest-egg into something like nine hundred dollars and change.  That's right, less than $1K.  So, I'm hangin' on hopin' this rickitey roller-coaster bottoms out soon.

Something I do spend a good bit of time looking into--not near enough, but a lot.  Is God's grace.  It is up.  The prospects are great.  

I just read & reread, & read again, this about the Apostle Paul.  ". . . when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased [He]. . . reveal[ed] His Son in me."  (Galatians 1:15-16) 

I only claim kinship with the great Apostle in that both of us owe our eternal prospects to the same resource--God's grace.  God's grace is never in default, shortage, recession--single, double, or triple dip--or depression.  It is neither inflated, quantitatively eased, not deflated.  It's abundant supply in described by another commodity that is prolific, ". . . where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."  (Romans 5:20). 

As an old hymn puts it, "Grace that is greater than all my sin."

It's STTA.

Thoughts on 9/11, #5, Change that lasts:

Ten years ago in a well-planned series of terrorist attacks three-thousand people died.  Many others were wounded, widowed, or orphaned.  Still more gave their lives or had their lives drastically changed as a result of what took place as a result of those attacks.  The terrorism iss indefensible, and the carnage rightly moved Al Qaeda, and its leader Osama bin Laden, to the top of the "most-wanted list."

Still, in spite of all of that horror, as many of us look back from our vantage point a decade away, we see some good things that happened as a result of 9/11.  I've reviewed some of those positive responses over the past week and a half.  Unfortunately, the willingness to turn to God for answers, recognition of the reality and presence of evil, and the unity that that came after 9/11 were mostly gone by 10/11.  In my four decades of ministry I've observed the same phenomena many times.  Life will smack us hard--perhaps knock us to our knees--as a result we will make promises, vow to change, and even begin to walk a new path.  Generally, though, such "conversions" are temporary.  The speed with which we abandon these new ways is almost as great as the rapidity with which adopted the news way.

Peter makes a couple of very unflattering comparisons when talking about those who soon repent of their repentance:  "It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."  (2 Peter 2:22)  A dog does doggish things because it is a dog, and hog does hoggish things because it is a hog.  No amount of merely external activity, no matter how well-intentioned can change that.  On the other hand 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
The difference has to do with whether anything has taken place at a heart-level, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)  

If the circumstances of life drive you to change that change will likely be short-lived, but if you flee to Christ. . . .

It's STTA.

Thoughts on 9/11 #4, Irony and Heritage

Living most of my life in a small town I've grown accustomed to seeing relatives take opposite sides of issues, or when events impact people in the same family in very different ways. It is strange to me, however, when it takes place on a global level.




Not long ago Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal announced that his Kingdom Holding Company will build a kilometer-high sky-scraper on Jeddah Saudi Arabia. The building designed by a Chicago archetectural firm will be, by far, the tallest building in the world.



What I find ironic, is the construction of the mammoth edifice will be undertaken by the Bin Laden group.

Yes, the very same family that provided us with Osama, who was intrumental in destroying two of the world's tallest structures. At the time of their completion the twin towers of the World Trade Center were the tallest buildings in the world. In defense of the Bin Laden family, and the company that bears their name. They disavowed any connection with their terrorist offspring in 1990. Still, I find the strangeness of it all quite deep.



I don't expect that the bin(s) (sons of) Howard Merrell Family will build the world's biggest anything. I do see great evidence that they will do that which is far more significant. My sons and their wives love and serve the Lord. While we can't be immediately sure about decisions that little people make, my youngest grandchild says she trust the Lord. My eldest grandchild just posted this on a social media site:

Tonight I'm left with this question: Being my last year of high school, what am I going to be remembered for? That I was a drummer? That I was "cool"? or even that I went to church alot? Will anyone be able say that I was the guy that wouldn't shut up about Jesus?



You can have that tallest building, and I'll throw in the biggest bank account to boot.

It's STTA.