$2,600 would buy me a pretty sweet new iMac, now shipping with the Leopard OS. With a bit of software, I could be up and running with my own home production studio. And more than that, it would look sweet sitting on my desk. In fact, now that I've been obsessing about it, I can't really look at my desk without picturing it right there between my PC and my iBook. "Look at you, iMac! All self-contained!"
$2,600 dollars, and it would be mine. I could consider it an investment. A business investment of sorts that will produce income once things get rolling. A couple big projects and it practically pays for itself! I'm actually losing money by not buying it, right? Yeah, that's right...keep convincing me. I can be won over with a good argument. It's not just something I want, I NEED an iMac!
$2,600 consumes my mind as I drive to lunch. Mondays are my day off, so JC and I hang out together and do father/son stuff. As I drive to meet Kristen at her school (the new job is going great by the way), the radio is on, but my mind is still panning through the loads of images apple.com has of its products. I saw them over and over during JC's morning nap. I know I'm obsessing, but it's such a fun obsession. And I could do a lot of good with an iMac. I just can't figure out how I lived this long without one.
$2,600 is hard to come by...I have a lot of bills, and it would take me a long time to save that much money. It's probably not a reality, so I need to get my mind off this stuff. The radio isn't helpful. It rarely is. I've heard each station three times...I guess I'll just listen to the interview on the local Christian radio station. There's a sweet Jamaican accent speaking! Typical...he's asking for money. "If ya save ya change fram naw til Christmas, you could save arawnd $130. That would help a poor Jamaican family." Typical...if I saved my change from now til Christmas, I would be $2,470 away from my iMac! Then the DJ came back on. I'll admit, there was a lot of passion in the man's voice, and he seemed to be moving the DJ enough to plead with us. "That's right folks. $87 will build a foundation for a new home. $160 covers the cost of a roof. $335 provides two windows, a door and a frame. And for $2,600 you could build an entire home for a poor family in Jamaica."
$2,600. I spent the morning obsessing - just short of praying to God - for $2,600. I want to put a fancy computer screen in the corner of my home office. I want to set it next to the two computers I already have, across the room from the TV, down the stairs from the stereo, down the hall from the TV in my bedroom where I set my Motorola cell phone every night as I lay my head down in the most comfortable bed we could find when we got married. I'll wake up, complain about the chill in the bedroom as I walk 5 feet to my double sink bathroom, and heat up the shower for a couple minutes before standing under the hottest water I can stand for at least 15 minutes. Then I'll go to my stainless steel fridge and complain about my food selection, and since I can't make up my mind, I'll just get McDonald's breakfast on my way to work in my new (to me) van. When I get to work, I'll push the button that opens the door of the van so JC can get out and go in to the daycare where he gets well cared for and fed.
$2,600 - if only I had the money for that new iMac, my possessions would be complete. Well...sort of. Once I have a new iMac, I'd soon need to upgrade that phone of mine to an iPhone. After all, why wouldn't I want to connect to my computer from...everywhere. I'd probably have to have an apple tv unit, too, because my 24" iMac isn't big enough to watch the movies I just bought. Oh, but my TV I have now isn't compatible...oh well, for another $2,600 I could have the biggest tv in the store! I really don't NEED one that big...I wonder what I can get for half that? $1,300 will still buy me a sweet TV.
$2,600 means a lot more to a poor family in Jamaica. It means a cement foundation, a roof, two windows and a door, and walls. I don't know if any of that goes towards pluming or not. And they didn't say anything about a fridge, tv, bed, or cell phone. And I'm guessing there's not an apple store in this part of Jamaica. But they don't need those things. They need the things I take for granted. The things I've never been without for even one day.
$2,600 would take me about a year to save, maybe more. I'm over-extended because of all the things I want. In a year, I could put a shiny new iMac on my desk. Or, 12 months from now a family could move into a new home that my money built, the money I saved for them. They could know what it's like to wake up with their own roof over their heads because of my generosity.
$2,600 is my obsession. As I pulled up to Kristen's school, I wiped the tears from my eyes, turned the radio down, and greeted my wife. Over lunch we discussed the remaining luxuries in our lives we can cut out. I will save $2,600. And through prayer and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I will condition myself to be generous with the blessings God has given me. $2,600 is a lot of money to me, and I can't wait to experience the blessing of being a blessing when I can give $2,600 away to someone who needs it more than I want it.
KGBI Omaha - Food for the Poor
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Long Day
Well, it's been a long day, but we're here in Swea City visiting my parents and family. JC had fun with grandpa tonight, and after a little fight, he and Kristen went up to bed. I want so badly to be able to post the pictures/video of the following story, but my Motorola SLVR and my iBook are not friends...according to the internet.
I was just sitting at the kitchen table catching up on my blog reading, when suddenly my dad started saying something to my mom about the oven smoking. I didn't think much of it because when I lived at home, these kinds of arguments were pretty frequent:
dad: what's burning?
mom: nothing! It's fine...it just dripped a little in the oven.
dad: it smells awful! It's smoking!
mom: don't worry about it. leave my kitchen alone!
and so on, and so on with playful arguing over mom's cooking...no big deal. Well, tonight mom used the wrong pan to make chocolate chip bars, and the bars over-flowed the pan while baking. There was some serious smoke, and lots of drippage, but for some reason mom decided the bars that were still in the pan were more important than the bars on the bottom of the oven, touching the burner! Sure enough, a couple minutes later the smoke was back, and where there's smoke...THERE'S A FIRE!!! Flames, rising up from the bottom of the oven. Mom was surprisingly calm, while dad freaked out. The flaming bars were scraped off the burner, and the half-baked pan of chocolate chip bars seemed to be in the clear. Only problem: the pan was still overflowing.
What happened next needs pictures to make it work...and hopefully I'll have them tomorrow. Let's just say, this is the first time I've not been able to differentiate an electric oven for a wood-burning oven. Dad was scraping with a spatula, mom was now freaking out, and I was in the middle of things snapping pictures and video with my phone, laughing my head off! It's good to be home...minus the smoke inhalation damage.
I was just sitting at the kitchen table catching up on my blog reading, when suddenly my dad started saying something to my mom about the oven smoking. I didn't think much of it because when I lived at home, these kinds of arguments were pretty frequent:
dad: what's burning?
mom: nothing! It's fine...it just dripped a little in the oven.
dad: it smells awful! It's smoking!
mom: don't worry about it. leave my kitchen alone!
and so on, and so on with playful arguing over mom's cooking...no big deal. Well, tonight mom used the wrong pan to make chocolate chip bars, and the bars over-flowed the pan while baking. There was some serious smoke, and lots of drippage, but for some reason mom decided the bars that were still in the pan were more important than the bars on the bottom of the oven, touching the burner! Sure enough, a couple minutes later the smoke was back, and where there's smoke...THERE'S A FIRE!!! Flames, rising up from the bottom of the oven. Mom was surprisingly calm, while dad freaked out. The flaming bars were scraped off the burner, and the half-baked pan of chocolate chip bars seemed to be in the clear. Only problem: the pan was still overflowing.
What happened next needs pictures to make it work...and hopefully I'll have them tomorrow. Let's just say, this is the first time I've not been able to differentiate an electric oven for a wood-burning oven. Dad was scraping with a spatula, mom was now freaking out, and I was in the middle of things snapping pictures and video with my phone, laughing my head off! It's good to be home...minus the smoke inhalation damage.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Gospel According to Jesus (2 of 2)
In Matthew 18, Jesus teaches Peter about forgiveness. Here are a few facts:
What really sticks out to me now from this passage is the last line Jesus says. He tells Peter that forgiveness comes from the heart. This is huge! I am really bad at this kind of forgiveness. I am fairly good at forgiveness of the mind, in that I can rationalize anything to the point where I can let it go. There are also times where I just "make up my mind" to let it go. But forgiveness of the heart...there's a whole 'nother deal. I understand the heart to be the part of the human being synonymous with the will, or the character. It's who you are under the hood. And our actions flow from the heart/will/character. So for us to forgive from the heart, it means we are the kind of people who naturally have forgiveness flowing out of us. This is not a decision made or a hand shaken. This is a change of who you are inside.
How do I change who I am? Unfortunately, you can't. You are who you are. But by adding an outside force to the equation, you might have a standing chance. In order to change your heart/will/character, you must allow it to be influenced by something outside yourself. Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit is in the business of changing hearts. But so are many other driving forces in our world. When we look to Jesus to form our heart/will/character after his own, he is faithful to interact with us. So forgiveness becomes less about the person who is forgiven and more about the heart of the forgiver.
We have been forgiven for much more than 10,000 days wages; the wages of our sin is death. We should have to pay the debt we owe with our lives. But we don't. Instead we have a chance to share in the glory of God, and not as servants, but as heirs to the throne! Still, some of us are not able to forgive the people in our lives who have hurt us. Some of our wounds go too deep to heal. So we carry around a burden. We take it as ours to bear. And it eats away at us. Jesus is asking for each of us to look to him as the answer. There is power in simply looking to him instead of trying on our own. It may not happen all at once. Forgiveness may need to happen over and over, as some old wounds like to resurface. But the command is still clear: forgive from the heart.
As we allow God to form us into people who forgive, this will almost always present itself as an opportunity to forgive. We must pray for these opportunities, and we must listen to the voice of God when these opportunities arise.
May God's forgiveness break our hearts today, so we may forgive others out of a renovated heart.
- Jewish law said one must forgive 3 times. Peter asked Jesus if 7 was enough, realizing that things were different with Jesus, and expecting that 3 was not enough.
- Whether Jesus said 77 or 70*7, he means a lot.
- In the parable, the 10,000 talents equals about $6 billion dollars in Omaha today. 100 Denarri equals about $16,000.
What really sticks out to me now from this passage is the last line Jesus says. He tells Peter that forgiveness comes from the heart. This is huge! I am really bad at this kind of forgiveness. I am fairly good at forgiveness of the mind, in that I can rationalize anything to the point where I can let it go. There are also times where I just "make up my mind" to let it go. But forgiveness of the heart...there's a whole 'nother deal. I understand the heart to be the part of the human being synonymous with the will, or the character. It's who you are under the hood. And our actions flow from the heart/will/character. So for us to forgive from the heart, it means we are the kind of people who naturally have forgiveness flowing out of us. This is not a decision made or a hand shaken. This is a change of who you are inside.
How do I change who I am? Unfortunately, you can't. You are who you are. But by adding an outside force to the equation, you might have a standing chance. In order to change your heart/will/character, you must allow it to be influenced by something outside yourself. Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit is in the business of changing hearts. But so are many other driving forces in our world. When we look to Jesus to form our heart/will/character after his own, he is faithful to interact with us. So forgiveness becomes less about the person who is forgiven and more about the heart of the forgiver.
We have been forgiven for much more than 10,000 days wages; the wages of our sin is death. We should have to pay the debt we owe with our lives. But we don't. Instead we have a chance to share in the glory of God, and not as servants, but as heirs to the throne! Still, some of us are not able to forgive the people in our lives who have hurt us. Some of our wounds go too deep to heal. So we carry around a burden. We take it as ours to bear. And it eats away at us. Jesus is asking for each of us to look to him as the answer. There is power in simply looking to him instead of trying on our own. It may not happen all at once. Forgiveness may need to happen over and over, as some old wounds like to resurface. But the command is still clear: forgive from the heart.
As we allow God to form us into people who forgive, this will almost always present itself as an opportunity to forgive. We must pray for these opportunities, and we must listen to the voice of God when these opportunities arise.
May God's forgiveness break our hearts today, so we may forgive others out of a renovated heart.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Gospel According to Jesus (1 of 2)
I've been thinking about this since it came up in conversation yesterday. Could Paul's account of the Gospel throughout the New Testament be different than the one preached by Jesus? Paul's Gospel could be summed up something like this: Jesus died to forgive our sins, once for all, and he is our only hope for righteousness before God. I don't think this is contrary to Jesus, but it seems while Paul's gospel is all about grace, Jesus was often preaching about how hard it is to live rightly. Take for example the parable of the unmerciful servant. Look it up: Mat. 18:21-35. Basically, Jesus is saying that unless we are forgiving, God will not forgive us. Would Paul agree? Or would he say God loves us in spite of our shortcomings of non-forgiveness? What would most Christians say today? I think we often lean on Pauline grace instead of living in light of the Gospel. The Gospel isn't a rule to follow (forgive those who sin against you) but a lifestyle change (you have been forgiven, so forgive).
I look forward to hearing more from the source of the discussion, and I'll post a follow up later this week. If you are reading this and you have thoughts, let's hear 'em!
I look forward to hearing more from the source of the discussion, and I'll post a follow up later this week. If you are reading this and you have thoughts, let's hear 'em!
Monday, October 8, 2007
I Grow by Believing
Q - What one thing can you do this week to grow in your Christian faith?
Many answers come to mind when pressed with this question. The common ones are probably read the bible, pray, serve the poor, attend a service of some sort, etc., while some may even include confession, fasting, or some other "deeper" Christian discipline. While all these disciplines surely are useful for growth, I would submit a slightly different answer: belief. There is so much scripture (John 6:28-29, Col. 2:6, I Tim. 1:3-5, Gal. 5:6) surrounding this idea of belief, and a quick breeze through Matthew (8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20) shows that Jesus' biggest criticism of his disciples is their lack of faith. Faith is central to the Gospel.
That's great, but how do I grow by believing? The exciting thing about Christian growth is that God is the one who does the growing. Faith is not the gospel's power in our lives, and it's a good thing, because if it were, we would be limited by the amount of faith we have. Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed could move a mountain. This is true because faith is not the power that moves, it is the switch that allows the Holy Spirit to flow. And believe me, if faith the size of a mustard seed could switch on the power of the Holy Spirit, mountains indeed would move. Faith, then, is the instrument for receiving the power of God in our lives.
You may be feeling this way: "Faith is some kind of spiritual energy you get when you obey. I do not have much of it." This vague feeling is common among Christians, yet it's a misunderstanding of faith. The truth is, faith is simply a sinner looking to Christ. This looking is the instrument of change.
So, to grow as a Christian this week, simply look to Christ. Many times we sin and repent, then sin again and figure 'what's the point?' 'I'm just going to do it again anyway.' That IS the point! You will sin again, probably sooner than later. But by looking to Jesus instead of ourselves to make things right, we exercise faith, which switches on the power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.
What area of your spiritual life are you trying rather than trusting God?
What would trusting God in this area do to your spiritual life?
Many answers come to mind when pressed with this question. The common ones are probably read the bible, pray, serve the poor, attend a service of some sort, etc., while some may even include confession, fasting, or some other "deeper" Christian discipline. While all these disciplines surely are useful for growth, I would submit a slightly different answer: belief. There is so much scripture (John 6:28-29, Col. 2:6, I Tim. 1:3-5, Gal. 5:6) surrounding this idea of belief, and a quick breeze through Matthew (8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20) shows that Jesus' biggest criticism of his disciples is their lack of faith. Faith is central to the Gospel.
That's great, but how do I grow by believing? The exciting thing about Christian growth is that God is the one who does the growing. Faith is not the gospel's power in our lives, and it's a good thing, because if it were, we would be limited by the amount of faith we have. Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed could move a mountain. This is true because faith is not the power that moves, it is the switch that allows the Holy Spirit to flow. And believe me, if faith the size of a mustard seed could switch on the power of the Holy Spirit, mountains indeed would move. Faith, then, is the instrument for receiving the power of God in our lives.
You may be feeling this way: "Faith is some kind of spiritual energy you get when you obey. I do not have much of it." This vague feeling is common among Christians, yet it's a misunderstanding of faith. The truth is, faith is simply a sinner looking to Christ. This looking is the instrument of change.
So, to grow as a Christian this week, simply look to Christ. Many times we sin and repent, then sin again and figure 'what's the point?' 'I'm just going to do it again anyway.' That IS the point! You will sin again, probably sooner than later. But by looking to Jesus instead of ourselves to make things right, we exercise faith, which switches on the power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives.
What area of your spiritual life are you trying rather than trusting God?
What would trusting God in this area do to your spiritual life?
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