Almost a Good Day
December 30, 2017
CANCER Discovery WOW
January 5, 2018

New Year New Thinking

Good Morning !!!

I have a confession to make: I Love History and I’ve been ‘binge-ing’ on some of it. Some seems closer to fiction than the books of High School, yet I find almost all of it makes me SMH in amazement. Right alongside this has been my reading the Bible; the story of God’s striving with His People.

Many years ago, I took more than a few courses in philosophy…and then religious studies. In one of the many tests, I was asked to write an essay on Altruism or selfless concern for others. I believed and wrote that it must be possible as an ultimate desire.

40 years later, having read hundreds of histories, biographies and the narratives of many cultures…and having painfully reflected on my own life over and over, I am less idealistic, but more convinced than ever that Altruism is possible, but relatively infrequent and seldom purely.

I weep when I see it portrayed: Fiddler on the Roof, Don Quixote, The story of the Pacifist Soldier who rescued over 100 men on Okinawa: Hacksaw Ridge, The Biography of William Wilberforce, The history of Joan of Arc. I am crushed by the examples of such Sacrifice and Goodness. God’s Ways gloriously shining in moments of incarnation.

I know Only One was purely Altruistic; Only God is good…

Yet, is it not possible that mankind in such moments of humility and lovingkindness has demonstrated Sacrifice that honored, accomplished purposes fully beyond themselves and incarnated The Love of God in the midst of a world filled with perversity and selfishness ?

I know the temptation to avoid loss, to cling tightly to what assures us of survival… I know the temptation to stay out of the fray, secure and inside the protective walls…avoiding criticism, avoiding becoming a target. I know the voices of the world; the temptations to look out for number one… And I know the difficulties of maintaining stamina over the long long haul.

So, how will 2018 be written ? Will you choose safety and survival ? ….even if the Spirit of God and the Commands of God call us out of ourselves and into the fray ? Will you and I choose rest, if He calls us out of our insulation and into the mix ?

The Hymn linked here is out of fashion in almost all places. Please listen to it fully.
I wonder if you and I can sing it with integrity without weeping ?
Does it stir you ? …will you ignore its call ?