Christmas & Money

Last night while doing some Christmas shopping at Barnes & Noble, I was browsing the books on investment and money. There was a young man (younger than me anyway) browsing the same section and he asked me 'are you an investor?' I responded that I have had various investments at different times. We chatted a bit and in response to something he said I told him 'I am interested in money not for the sake of money, but for what it can accomplish, for the good it can do.'

So at this time of year when we may be more aware of how much we are spending and wondering if we should be spending so much, just a few thoughts. (And please don't take this as a plea to go spend more money! It's not! I am suggesting that we all live deliberate lives every day of the year, so that like Scrooge upon his redemption it was said: “... that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”)

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

"I'm telling you that although wealth is often used in dishonest ways, you should use it to make friends for yourselves. When life is over, you will be welcomed into an eternal home.” Jesus
Luke 16:9 God's Word Translation

So to summarize, money is an opportunity to do good, for your family, for your church, for your community. Don't be like the 'old Scrooge', be like the 'new Scrooge'. If all we do is use money to transact purchases, paying for goods and services for ourselves, then we have missed the larger possibilities. We have made our world too small. Rather (and this is what Jesus says) 'buy friends'. Yes, Jesus says to 'buy friends'! Be generous, help the needy, live and walk like a king! Make the world bigger again. Let your heart be large and see the possibilities of doing good in this fallen world. Become a redeemer, buying back and setting free that which is bound. You don't have to be a millionaire to do this. It starts with your heart and then you proceed by shortening the distance between your heart and your pocketbook. Because money does matter in the scheme of things. It's not the most important thing, but it does reveal to us the condition of our heart. Getting this right allows us to take first steps toward dwelling every day in the Kingdom of God! And so let us be like the 'new Scrooge':

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

Charles Dickens, 'A Christmas Carol'

Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!

Yeah I know. It's been a while. I could say I've been busy, which would be true, but we can all say that. So I'll skip the excuses and just suffice it to say I'm a lazy writer. I shouldn't be. It's not like I don't know what to write. That's the funny thing, I've got so much to say I really don't know when to stop. I've never had writer's block. Everything leaps out at me. Really!

Tonight at about 8 pm, I went for a walk. Mostly to get exercise, but it also gives me a chance to think and enjoy the outdoors, especially since I'm in an office all day. I have several routes to choose from.  All of them rather scenic and make great opportunities to think. The sun had not set yet although it was heading that direction, and the weather was about as perfect as what one could expect in August. A slight almost September coolness to the air. The sun was lighting up some perfectly beautiful clouds with shades of yellow and pale salmon set in a soft blue sky that literally glowed and makes one thankful one lives in Nebraska. It sounds like such a cliché but it is so true that the weather changes here constantly. A few days ago it was around a hundred degrees with high humidity and now the cool dry air makes you think you must have got on a plane and flew to Hawaii or something.

The twilight or 'gloaming' is my favorite time of day. Not to be overly romantic, but it seems I read somewhere that the Scots (of who I am descended) and perhaps the Irish (also descended) believed that this time of day (or is it night?) the pixies or elves or something could be seen. I don't subscribe to that but would agree that it inspires the imagination. I am more inclined to think of 'unseen angels' as in the old song 'Precious Memories'.

Precious memories, unseen angels,
Sent from somewhere to my soul.
How they linger, ever near me,
And the sacred past unfolds.

And since I have a bit of Scotland in me (love the bagpipes, but will pass on the haggis), it is also appropriate to quote a little Robert Burns concerning the 'gloaming'. This is the third stanza from the poem “I'll Meet Thee On The Lea Rig”.

The hunter lo'es the morning sun;
To rouse the mountain deer, my jo;
At noon the fisher seeks the glen
Adown the burn to steer, my jo:
Gie me the hour o' gloamin' grey,
It maks my heart sae cheery O,
To meet thee on the lea-rig,
My ain kind Dearie O.

Lincoln does a great job with it's hiking and bike trails. Family friendly, long and winding through parks and residential and business areas. I like the ones that have a 'woodsy' feel to them. Evergreens, oak, maples, and elms. Tonight the locusts were buzzing mightily with a slight blend of tree frogs. The further I walked the quieter the locusts became, giving way to the tree frogs and finally the tree frogs gave way to the 'croakers', at least that's what I call them, that is the frogs that live in the wetlands. As I type this with the windows of the house open, enjoying the fan pulling the air in I can hear the crickets now.

All of this to say, I feel very thankful to have this. I know many don't. I hope and pray that they can find some sense of God's beauty wherever they dwell. If they lack the nature that I enjoy may they find comfort in the Psalms and the Gospels. Beauty and truth and peace, all dwelling together. Soon enough winter snow and ice and wind will be here. But the Eternal Word is always the same today, tomorrow and yesterday. And there is a promise of a City that will come down out of heaven, the bride prepared for Christ. So when this summer fades, the leaves drop, and the coolness turns to chilly and then to cold; we will still have this promise that no matter what happens in this life, no matter where we go or end up, if we have Jesus as Lord; we have the promise of Eternal Life!

“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”

John 1:12 NLT

What's new?

Well, Easter has come and gone, the ears have been eaten off of the chocolate bunnies, the potato salad is gone (or should be so throw it out), the left over roast and ham is eaten.  But I'm still thinking about it (Easter, not the ham, although it was quite good).  In fact with Easter out of the way, I think I'm getting down to the nitty and the gritty of it.  Paul wrote a lot about it.    Continually he wrote "I preach Christ crucified", "I am crucified with Christ", just take a look at the 1st and 2nd chapters of I Corinthians.  Galatians, Hebrews, etc.  This preaching 'Christ crucified' is what makes it all work.  In I Cor 1, he writes that basically there are two kind of people who reject this 'crucified Christ'; those looking for a sign, a miracle, physical evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and those looking for a logical argument (ch 1, v 22).  The Apostles including Paul, gave them those arguments.  There were displays of miracles and they could reason from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord, the King, the Lion and the Lamb, etc.  The problem wasn't and still isn't for a lack of evidence, the problem is unbelief, fear, and a clinging to the old life.  For those who believe in the crucified Christ, in ch 1, v24; Paul writes that He is the 'power of God' and the 'wisdom of God', i.e., power = the display of evidence, and wisdom = the apologetics side, the good argument.

When we cling to unbelief and fear, there will never be enough miracles, never enough logical proofs, never enough demonstrations of any kind that will make us believe.  He gives us enough, actually more than enough so that we can believe.  Not only faith for salvation but faith for daily Christian life, to walk out and work out our salvation. Now to tie it back to former posts, to do this daily requires change or repentance.  We don't even really have to seek change out, in fact I think it's best that we don't, and just trust Him to bring it to us.  He knows more about what we need than we do.  Only do the things I suggested before; pray, study scripture, fellowship and so forth.  These things put us in the right frame, the right mentality to receive the gift of repentance.

Recently I have been watching 'The Gospel of John' on youtube.com , taken from the Good News Bible (I think), I am struck by how the leaders who should have known, who I think really did know, that Jesus was the Messiah, kept asking 'who are you', 'prove to us who you are', etc; and yet in spite of the miracles, the healings and so on, they refused to believe.  They chose willingly to remain in unbelief, pride, fear, doubt and in the end, lost their place and the temple (destroyed in 70 A.D.).   If they had believed, even with the temple destroyed, they would have had an Eternal Temple, as that is what Jesus is.  He does the work of the cross, the Holy Spirit is sent and the work of the Church (His Bride) begins and he goes to the Father to prepare a place (a real Home)  for His Bride.  In Ephesians (you will have to read the whole book, but see 4:13,15), Paul writes that the Church must 'grow up' until it reaches the full stature of Jesus.  That is some big shoes to fill, but this is the Word of God, not something I am making up.  How does it happen?  Read Ephesians, but if you at least follow Ch 4:11-16 you will find out that He gave Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers to perfect the saints (us), that we become one in unity, until we reach the size of Jesus. (That is what it says.) And that we all do what we are supposed to, supplying what we can to the rest of the body of faith and we do this through love.  This is the Big Gospel.

I wrote last time that I strongly encourage  praying the Lord's Prayer as a good place to start (and finish for that matter) and a good friend Tracy Hernandez (of Leonard & Tracy fame) wrote a paraphrase that I recommend as being worthy of serious prayer and meditation.  I relay it here with permission.
Our Father in Heaven-
You are so incredibly and amazingly holy. I pray that your plan, your ways, your heart would be alive and flowing freely here on earth, just as in heaven. I thank you for being so close to us, providing for every need we have, every day. And I thank you for forgiving me over and over again even when I don't deserve it. Teach me to have that kind of forgiveness for others. Lord, please keep me away from all that is evil. Don't let me be tempted to follow after the lures of this world, but to keep my eyes fixed on you. For all of this will soon pass away, and it is You, Your Kingdom, Your Power, and Your Glory that will last forever.

So I recently published on Kindle, so you can get some fiction for $1.49 that I wrote on the themes of 'Hope' and 'Change'.  Look for my name Marty Shrader or the title 'Highway 50 Tales and Two More' and the paperback edition should be out anytime on www.amazon.com (paperback edition is $9.95)

Change or stay the same?

So it looks like I'm back. At least I will try this again, or I will be adding more clutter to the internet. But I at least owe it to myself, if not to anyone else to write part 2 of the 'hope/change' idea.

Change. Humans either like change, hate change, or are indifferent to change and just go with whatever the flow is. I think I generally do not like change. I have always liked things the way they are. My mom tells me that when I was little, if she moved furniture I would be upset. I don't think I am quite that set in my ways now, but I still like a routine. I like to eat the same foods, dress the same way, etc. And I suppose most people are the same, or at least we carry out our daily lives, doing more or less the same thing, following the same traditions and trying to end up in the same place that we did the day before.

So how does the idea of sameness or routine square with the Word? When I think about change and the Bible, my first thoughts are concepts like 'repentance'. At it's very core, repentance is change. That is the essential understanding of repentance. To repent is to change; dramatically. I was going this way and then I changed direction and went a different way. Dramatically is not overstated. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This was in response to Andrew & Philip when they told Jesus that some Greeks wished an audience with him. (John 12:24 RSV). Jesus was speaking about his own death and resurrection (see v23), but he was speaking about a principle that is for us as well. Except we change (die to the old, the routine), we will remain isolated (alone and lonely, unfruitful); but if we change (repent) we will bear much fruit (a plentiful, bounteous, rich life). The image is from agriculture, which I am familiar with. Plant a single seed such as corn in the earth, and something happens, the seed changes as it's impacted by the sun, the rain, and the nutrients in the earth. It dies, changing completely from what it once looked like and then shoots up out of the earth. The seed, maybe three of them to the inch, becomes a plant reaching 6 feet or more toward the sky; bearing 2 or 3 ears of corn with hundreds of seeds.

This is what Jesus calls us to, to change. Without this process, the scriptures indicate that real death occurs. But with the change process, with repentance, real life occurs. A small part of us dies but yields great amounts of fruit. Here's a for instance: If I go to the doctor and each year he tells me to lose weight, and each year I ignore him and gain 5 pounds a year, I will finally reach a point where it impacts my health; my heart, my joints, my blood sugar, etc. But if I follow his advice, and at some point of the weight gain, I begin to exercise, eat right, etc; my life will change and I will live longer and in greater health. Spiritually we can experience the same types of things. We may have behaviors, lifestyle choices, habits, character flaws that are causing our spiritual selves (and perhaps our physical selves as well) harm. And it may be impacting our families and friends as well. But then Jesus calls us to repent, to change and if we do, a new way of life opens up to us. The harm we were inflicting on ourselves and others changes. We become the new creature promised in scripture.

But is the change process self-propelled as it were? No, the way I understand scripture is that we cooperate with His grace. He gives us grace and we cooperate with the process. I do think we can do things to cooperate more readily with His grace and they are simple: read and study the Word, pray (not just for ourselves but for others; and ask the Holy Spirit for help), fellowship with other Christians, attend and participate in the local church, etc. And finally is this repentance, this change a one time process? From what I understand and have experienced, the answer is a resounding 'no'; as this is the way that Jesus calls us to live. If we are to truly be alive in Christ, He calls us to grow, which requires repentance/change. This is the christian life. It is not a one time event, it is the way He calls us to live.

To continue this series, I plan on writing on a theme called 'The 3^rd Kingdom'. It is really about how we are called to live lives of hope & change. I do plan at some point releasing some fiction I have written, that expresses these themes in the short story format.

Well here goes.....

Real hope and change?  Why is this what I like writing about?  First of all 'hope'.  Many times we say 'hope' when we really mean 'wish' or 'want' or even 'cautiously optimistic'.  In other words if I say 'I hope I get a bicycle for Christmas', I am saying I want or wish I get a bike.  We all do this with the word 'hope', so what does hope mean?  The dictionary says:  'the feeling that what is desired is also possible or that events may turn out for the best; a person in whom or thing in which expectations are centered; to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe, desire, or trust;  the Archaic meaning:  to place trust, rely'.  And one of the scriptures passages that I find important is I Cor 13:13 'So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.' (RSV) Thus I've always seen these 3 working together, inextricably linked and intertwined.  Naturally I consulted the Greek N.T. meaning for 'hope' and wasn't disappointed:  to anticipate, usually with pleasure; expectation or confidence; faith.  So then for me, bottom line hope is to have this expectation that God really does want what's best for me and those I care about.   And so I can trust Him, believe Him, love Him, and worship Him.  Easy right?  Yes, as long as things are going the way I want them too. 
But what about when things don't go the way I think they should?   That's when hope may be more of a challenge to my thinking then a pleasant good feeling.  That's when hopes real value begins to show and to shine.  Difficult to maintain?  Yes, but worth the price, as it keeps me going, praying, desiring, longing to see God's goodness and then finally realizing that His goodness is always there; constant, never-changing, and everpresent.  Not to make light of the difficulties we all face, just to remind myself (and hopefully others), that God is the source, the sustenance, and the end-game of hope. 
Maybe that's why I like praying the Lord's prayer.  I think I pray it at least once a day, some days, several times.  I memorized it when I was a kid, and it has stuck with me.  When in difficulties, it's there, ready to be prayed.  When I don't know how or what to pray (especially in a difficult situation) I pray 'The Prayer'.  The part that often leaps out to me is 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done.'  I often add 'in my life' to the end of that, just to personalize it a bit.  By praying His kingdom and will be done in my life, I am accepting the situation I'm in.  I am handing the difficulty over to Him to be Lord of it.  And that helps me keep the hope alive, positive, and focused. 
And that is my mini-sermon on hope.  Next time, I believe I will tackle 'change'.  Or perhaps it will tackle me, and I will give you the insiders report.  Eventually I will get to the fiction I've written, but this will suffice for now.
In this Easter season remember what Job said: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth;"  Job 19:25 RSV

Jonathan told me I should do this....

So you see, I like to write and have written a number of stories; short stories and I'm working on a couple of novels and some 'spiritual' type books.  What I realize I like to write about is hope and change.  Not as a political concept, but as a way to live every day, on a personal, self-actualizing level.  And by self-actualizing, I really mean cooperating with God.  Since without Him, we can do nothing. 
Jonathan told me that I should publish my short stories to Kindle, start a blog and talk about what I've written, and then open a Facebook account that would direct people to my blog and published works. 
We'll see if all of this happens.  I'm not a fan of Facebook.  But I do feel called to write.  So maybe this is the way to get started, at least for me.   Which really brings me to tonight.  I just wanted to comment on Doug Griffith's blog, but it seems to be making me create this account.  Maybe this is God's way of getting me started.  If it is, then great, and if it's not, then I just added more clutter to the internet.