What a waste

Friday 16 January 2009 US Airlines Flight 1549 heads from LaGuardia to Charlotte with 100 passengers and  5 Crew members. At 10:36 EST Flight 1549 has something happen that would change peoples lives forever. A Flock of Geese have flown into the engines and both engines go out. Captain Sully has his hands full but the training and experience and hours of flying skills takes over in his calm demeanor. 
But what do you think is going through the minds of the passengers at this moment? I heard one of the passengers and some of the others tell their stories and this one gentleman says it this way. After you hear the engines go out and the total silence of a plane take effect you begin think a lot very quickly. He stated that as the plane turned towards the Hudson River his whole life began to open up. Every Second seemed like eternity and the water was getting closer and closer. The crew gave very simple and directive orders. The gentleman said something that caught my attention. He said that he began to think about all the things he wanted to make right with people. He though about his children growing up without him. He was wondering about how he could have made mends with the people he hurt in his life. Had he lived a life that impacted others. did he do his best foe someone else. Or did he waste so much time doing stuff that didn't matter and was selfishly spent. He though about how could he live and heal all the wounds he might have caused with his careless acts of passing opportunities to help someone.  Notice he was not checking off a bucket list, he was not worried about if he had ever jumped out of a plane, raced a race car, gone shark diving or even winning the lottery. He was concerned more about how he impacted the lives of others. I believe this is a lesson and shows the true design of God. God never intended us to live for ourselves. God designed us to live and love others as he Loves us. And at the moment this gentleman hears the three most frightening words, BRACE FOR IMPACT! he begins to think of how precious life is and how much time he wasted on himself. How much time have you wasted on things that really don't matter? I know I have wasted a ton of time. Time on Face Book, playing Clash of Clans, watching TV etc. None of this really matters and we live in a self gratifying society where its all about me, me, me. Can you think about the same things this passenger thought about without your life in jeopardy or flashing before your eyes? Can you make a wrong right with someone today? What about forgetting being right all the time and just making someone else happy? Are you living knowing you are making a difference to someone you don't even know. There is a quote that I love by Bill Wilson and he says "To the World you may be one person but to one person You may be the world" I love this and I hope that I can live a life that impacts others and love the way God does. Putting ourselves to the side long enough takes effort but when that time comes when we are faced with life and death, maybe we will be at ease and the words we hear from our father is "Well done".
1 Corinthians 4:5
So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

Show some Love & Keep It Simple

Have you ever felt confused by people who speak over your head in order to make them feel bigger and better. Sometimes when a Dr speaks it's like way over our heads and we are like,  WHAT? Have you ever experienced this with another Christian or even a church? This is not a good example on how to reach people. Why did Jesus use parables to teach? Jesus knew that he was dealing with the average person and that big words and big talk would not accomplish anything. Jesus refused to preach over peoples head. He wanted everyone to have the opportunity to clearly understand and if this meant talking to them as if they were second graders then so be it, At least they would comprehend his words and storytelling planting a seed that would grow beyond the ears it fell on. I feel Jesus was a great example on how we speak to people. Not that we should always speak in parables, but as a Christian we should come down to the level of the person we are speaking to so that they have every opportunity to understand and not try to beef it up as if we know more. There is a good saying that is a great lesson in this. "Less is More". I never claim to know more than the people I witness to and I try to make the moment comfortable for both of us and not awkward. All I can do is keep it simple , plant the seed and pray that is fall on fertile soil. Something we can learn from a great parable of Jesus is never miss the opportunity to treat everyone with love and compassion as Christ would. We should remember that everyone is a child of God even if they don't realize it themselves. Despite our differences and views of life, they are still a child of God and we have an obligation to treat them as such. Never pass up the opportunity to love someone you don't know.

Matthew 25:34-46 

34-36“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’

37-40“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

41-43“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was homeless and you gave me no bed,

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

44“Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

45“He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

46“Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

Does evil exist.

I had to share this because someone shared it with me. But its worth reading no matter where you stand.
This has a thought provoking message no matter how you believe. 






Does evil exist?

A university professor challenged his students with this question. Did God create everything that exists?
A student bravely replied yes, he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.
"Yes, sir," the student replied.
The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil."
The student became quiet before such an answer.

The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?" "Of course", replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody and every object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have too little heat.

The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does".

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. "These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love, that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young mans name --- Albert Einstein