Democrats

Random Randomness Randomly Recorded…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 3 Comments

First, Happy Father’s Day! I hope all the fathers who read my blog have the best day ever. As a father myself, I can honestly say we don’t need a gift from our children today. Please realize that YOU are the gift. Your presence, your hug. your love, your wellness are all that matters to your dad. Give him those gifts and you’ll make his day.

I hit upon an amazing idea this week: ban all drive-thru windows. As I was sitting in a drive-thru (for an insufferably long time), I thought about how much fuel is wasted every day by us waiting in drive-thru lines. Not only that, but actually having to get out and go in to an establishment would help all of us with our personal interaction skills. If we want to save the planet, let’s start here.

All the world’s problems cannot be summarized by a meme. Meme’s simply reflect the shallow thinking most of our leaders utilize to make decisions. Just as our problems can’t be summarized by memes, neither can they be solved by them.

Solving the world’s problems takes hard work. No one wants to work hard anymore. Heck! No one wants to work, period. Everyone wants success, but everyone wants success handed to them. 98% of success is just showing up everyday.

Speaking of hard work: Moving is hard work. I don’t care if you’re moving from one room to another, it’s still moving and I hate it. I’m grateful I have the opportunity to do it, but I still hate it. Talk about cognitive dissonance!

I think it’s perfectly okay to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U. S. Army, even if the planned celebration happens to fall on a certain terribly despised person’s birthday. I am grateful for the U. S. Army, and for the men and women who have sacrificed for our nation. Why not celebrate such a momentous occasion?

I’m also reminded that the terribly despised person mentioned above is only despised by less than half the country. That means that more than half the country doesn’t despise him. We can’t live our lives mad at half the nation.

My statement of the above probably just angered some of you who read this blog. It’s okay to be angry with me. What’s not okay is for you to vilify me or demonize me. That’s what is wrong with our culture today.

Democrats and Republicans appear to be living on two different planets. What’s worse is there is no communication capability between the two planets.

Social media is the anti-Christ!

Why don’t we turn off social media and sit down over a cup of coffee and talk to each other about our hopes and dreams, our families, our future, our faith? We might make a little progress toward a better future.

I was reminded by social media that it is Annual Conference season. I miss Annual Conference (oh! how I make myself laugh sometimes!)! What I miss is the relationships that Annual Conference fosters. I didn’t get to attend a “Journey” session (Annual Conference) for my own denomination this year. I need some good, old-fashioned collegiality right now.

I might have more collegiality if I were a bit more collegial myself.

I’ve determined that I need saving everyday. Preaching on Paul’s conversion this week reminds me that even good, righteous holy people need Jesus. I’m the chief among them. I’m also reminded that I can be so busy doing God’s work that I fail to realize that doing God’s work and doing God’s will are not always the same thing.

Folks, we need to pray for Israel and Iran. People dying is never a good thing.

I suppose that’s enough randomness for one day. Happy Father’s Day! Oh, wait! I said that already.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Life is About Choices…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

Sometimes a guy just has to choose. No, I’m not talking about this past week’s election, though I certainly could. It is time to move on from that. It’s over and it was somewhat decisive, which are the two things I prayed for. If Donald Trump won, I wanted it to be a clear victory. If Kamala Harris won, likewise I wanted it to be a clear victory. We didn’t need four years of “Russian interference,” or four years of “stolen” elections.

A lot of folks I know gave a big thumbs-up to the election results on Wednesday morning, and an almost equal number of folks I know gave it the thumbs-down. Such is the nature of our divided nation these days, but here is what we followers of Jesus need to remember–we’re not working for a temporal kingdom.

Yes, politics is important and we need to pay attention to it and participate in the process (thankful we live in a country where we can), but it is time for the disciples of Jesus Christ to get down to the real business to which we’re called–building an eternal Kingdom.

Just as a reminder, I recall these words from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke’s gospel:

27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

37 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6: 27 – 38 (NLT)

Friends, it is time for us to choose to be different from the world because this old world is passing away. It is time for us to choose to live by different standards than power, utility and equal exchange. It is time for us to choose to follow Jesus in building an eternal Kingdom and to live the primary Kingdom principle of love. It is time for us to choose to tell the world about Jesus Christ.

This short video demonstrates why it matters:

@1littlerebel4.0

♬ Love of God – MercyMe

Let’s choose not to be Democrat or Republican. Let’s choose to be Christians. After all, life is about choices.

Speaking of choices, I’m making the choice to step away from blogging for a while. I may return to it someday, but right now, I simply have too many other responsibilities that are demanding my attention, not the least of which is spending my early Sunday mornings preparing to lead worship at Haughton Methodist Church.

So, thanks to all of you who have read my blog over the past many years. It has brought joy to my heart and been a great encouragement when someone would respond to a blog I had written. I hope they have been an encouragement to those who read them.

All I can say now is “I’ll see ya’ on the flip-side!”

Until next time (whenever that might be), keep looking up…