Sometimes news preaches all by itself.
I just heard on CNN that a young baby was found to have a foot growing in his brain.
Yes, a foot.
Doctors said it may have been the beginning of a twin—but in the wrong place. They removed the foot and the baby will have to be closely monitored for awhile to make sure nothing else begins to grow! So far, all is fine. What a gut-wrenching experience!
Can you imagine being the parents of that baby; hearing the frightening diagnosis and then the good news their child’s ‘foot-in-the-brain’ was surgically removable? Do you think those parents hesitated for a single minute? Would they have delayed the surgery until they thought it was “really necessary?”
If all the untruths we have told, self-deceptions that we nurse, and blind spots that we entertain were physical entities like that baby’s foot in the brain, how would we treat them? Would we allow an examination by the Lord of Life? Would we accept the news that the second person growing wrongly inside us could be removed?
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Love in the Lord,
PH
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Lesson Learned - Theological Meniscal Tears?
I have a tear within my knee
It’s deep inside where you can’t see.
It aches: with every step I take;
When I’m asleep; when I’m awake.
Yet time has numbed the sharpest hurt
And I continue with my work
Sometimes forgetting altogether
(Except when there’s a change in weather!)
Ahh! Now I better understand
The elegance of God’s good plan:
Of all the people that I see
Many carry pain like me
Our hurting hearts reflect the same
Divine Creator whence we came
Spirit doctors under cover
Can ease the pains of one another
If we remember hurts are there
And WE’RE the “weather”
Others share.
Love in the Lord,
PH
It’s deep inside where you can’t see.
It aches: with every step I take;
When I’m asleep; when I’m awake.
Yet time has numbed the sharpest hurt
And I continue with my work
Sometimes forgetting altogether
(Except when there’s a change in weather!)
Ahh! Now I better understand
The elegance of God’s good plan:
Of all the people that I see
Many carry pain like me
Our hurting hearts reflect the same
Divine Creator whence we came
Spirit doctors under cover
Can ease the pains of one another
If we remember hurts are there
And WE’RE the “weather”
Others share.
Love in the Lord,
PH
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Spirit-tapped by God
It’s a scary passage in the Bible, isn’t it:
Jesus said: “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops."
The Governor of Illinois was wiretapped by the FBI. Now the FBI has held a news conference claiming the governor was selling political favors for money! The accusations are awful. He has lost all credibility. The FBI spokesperson said that Illinois has an awful reputation in America for corrupt government – if it’s not worst state, it’s at least close.
What if you were wiretapped?
What if everything you said to someone else about another person was recorded?
Would your friendships be lost? Would your reputation be destroyed?
We are all guilty of saying things behind other people’s backs. All of us.
And there is where healing can begin. If we all accept that we have ‘done it’ – then no one is in a position to judge someone else. We can forgive because we know we need to be forgiven.
The Pharisees didn’t want to do that. They were hypocrites – they wanted to appear without sin while pointing out others’ faults.
I love Sam Foss’ poem:
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of [people] go by-
The [ones] who are good and the [ones] who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
When I went to the doctor yesterday, the medical receptionist had this on her desk: “Not that perfection is impossible, but that by not striving for it, we might fail to grasp excellence.”
As we gather for the holidays, and as the stresses of getting things done and the amount of time spent with friends and relatives grows, maybe we can realize we are, in a sense, ‘wiretapped’ by the Holy Spirit. We are known; therefore, we have a holy incentive, and a holy leading, to say and do things in love.
“Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.”
Love in the Lord,
PH
Jesus said: “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops."
The Governor of Illinois was wiretapped by the FBI. Now the FBI has held a news conference claiming the governor was selling political favors for money! The accusations are awful. He has lost all credibility. The FBI spokesperson said that Illinois has an awful reputation in America for corrupt government – if it’s not worst state, it’s at least close.
What if you were wiretapped?
What if everything you said to someone else about another person was recorded?
Would your friendships be lost? Would your reputation be destroyed?
We are all guilty of saying things behind other people’s backs. All of us.
And there is where healing can begin. If we all accept that we have ‘done it’ – then no one is in a position to judge someone else. We can forgive because we know we need to be forgiven.
The Pharisees didn’t want to do that. They were hypocrites – they wanted to appear without sin while pointing out others’ faults.
I love Sam Foss’ poem:
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
Where the race of [people] go by-
The [ones] who are good and the [ones] who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
When I went to the doctor yesterday, the medical receptionist had this on her desk: “Not that perfection is impossible, but that by not striving for it, we might fail to grasp excellence.”
As we gather for the holidays, and as the stresses of getting things done and the amount of time spent with friends and relatives grows, maybe we can realize we are, in a sense, ‘wiretapped’ by the Holy Spirit. We are known; therefore, we have a holy incentive, and a holy leading, to say and do things in love.
“Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.”
Love in the Lord,
PH
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
God's Got Your Number
Caller ID showed the area code was 512. Should I answer? I am SO TIRED of companies trying to sell me stuff – and the church too. That’s the only disadvantage of keeping the church phone forwarded to my cell – I catch every sales call and a few really crazy calls, too.
I decided to answer. An older woman asked, “Is this the ‘little’ Methodist Church in Conroe?” I told her yes and asked her what I could do for her. “My son – he’s working but his truck broke down and he hasn’t been paid in four weeks and he’s hungry and he’s in the Motel 6 and he’s trying to earn enough to buy his own truck and I can’t get there until Friday and...and...and....”
I had to interrupt her. Run-on sentences don’t give a person time to process information. “Whoa...,” I said. “One thing at a time.” The lady paused, explained that her son was working for a company hanging cable wiring on poles and the company wouldn’t pay him. Not only that, but the company truck he was driving had no brakes and he was afraid to drive it to the store to buy groceries.
It sounded fishy to me. A creative new way to take advantage of the church, maybe? And then the woman said something that made all the difference. “We are members of the Methodist Church in [name of town] and you can call our pastor to verify this – I know how weird this sounds. Our son is hungry; will you help him?”
I did call the pastor of her church. He had known the mother and father for years – and especially their son who was stuck in the Motel 6 in Conroe. So Jerry and I went to the grocery store and bought several loaves of bread, stuff for sandwiches that didn’t have to be refrigerated, instant tea, and other food for a hungry son.
When we drove into the Motel 6, sure enough, there was the lineman’s truck with blocks beside the wheels to keep it from rolling. The story was true. The man answered the door when we knocked and after receiving the food asked, “Who ARE you?”
“A friend,” my husband answered. “Just a friend.”
I love the United Methodist Church. I love the “connection.” I love that a person who is a Methodist on the other side of Texas can call a tiny church in Conroe and know her child is fed.
Love in the Lord,
PH
I decided to answer. An older woman asked, “Is this the ‘little’ Methodist Church in Conroe?” I told her yes and asked her what I could do for her. “My son – he’s working but his truck broke down and he hasn’t been paid in four weeks and he’s hungry and he’s in the Motel 6 and he’s trying to earn enough to buy his own truck and I can’t get there until Friday and...and...and....”
I had to interrupt her. Run-on sentences don’t give a person time to process information. “Whoa...,” I said. “One thing at a time.” The lady paused, explained that her son was working for a company hanging cable wiring on poles and the company wouldn’t pay him. Not only that, but the company truck he was driving had no brakes and he was afraid to drive it to the store to buy groceries.
It sounded fishy to me. A creative new way to take advantage of the church, maybe? And then the woman said something that made all the difference. “We are members of the Methodist Church in [name of town] and you can call our pastor to verify this – I know how weird this sounds. Our son is hungry; will you help him?”
I did call the pastor of her church. He had known the mother and father for years – and especially their son who was stuck in the Motel 6 in Conroe. So Jerry and I went to the grocery store and bought several loaves of bread, stuff for sandwiches that didn’t have to be refrigerated, instant tea, and other food for a hungry son.
When we drove into the Motel 6, sure enough, there was the lineman’s truck with blocks beside the wheels to keep it from rolling. The story was true. The man answered the door when we knocked and after receiving the food asked, “Who ARE you?”
“A friend,” my husband answered. “Just a friend.”
I love the United Methodist Church. I love the “connection.” I love that a person who is a Methodist on the other side of Texas can call a tiny church in Conroe and know her child is fed.
Love in the Lord,
PH
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