Wealth and Witness

time or money by beatrice pitarch

Following is the outline of the message Pastor Scott Loo gave this morning on James 5:1-6.

1. Use the wealth God has given us for life.
2. Bring the power of money under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Money and the accumulation of wealth can given an affective experience of physical and emotional security.
3. Give money away.  Giving will counteract the enslaving desire and power to accumulate, hoard and be greedy because giving is exactly the opposite of hoarding.

• Offering is an expression of personal faith
• Offering is a means of communal mission

Therefore:

1. Give money away
2. Give without seeking power
3. Give money away anonymously.

Thanks Pastor Scott!

Why unanswered questions are so hard

Challenging post on July 20 by John Fischer on the topic of Questions.  Here is one paragraph:

Questions leave us vulnerable, weak, needy. They open up gaping holes in our personality, our theology, or our lifestyle. Questions force an honesty that we are unwilling to confront – an honesty that requires us to live with our lives unresolved. We don’t like that. Especially when we’re trying to sell a theology that has an answer to every problem we face.

Read the rest of his post here

What unanswered questions do you have today?

Need to find another way to pursue excitement

After seeing this chart at carpe diem, I think I may need to pass on that motorcycle purchase. Originally seen at Kruse Kronicle

Great cartoon on life and fear

life-and-fear from David Hayward

After making a post on fear earlier, I found this great cartoon and post by David Hayward at nakedpastor.com.  David will challenge your thinking about the church! Thank you brother.

Let me never be put to shame

Apparently, I needed to spend time thinking about Psalm 31:1 this morning for a number of reasons.  I got stuck on Psalm 31:2 and 17 “In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.”  As I was about to sit down to write up some of my thoughts about the verse and specifically about shame, I received a comment (which I am choosing not to post) strongly demanding that I remove a picture that I had used to illustrate a post.  I failed to acknowledge where the photo came from nor did I receive permission from the photographer.   I was lazy in saving a picture without noting the artist and I didn’t think that anyone would care if I posted their picture on my little blog.  I have been appropriately shamed and I although I find God to be my refuge from the anger directed against me, I must suffer the consequences of my actions.  We shall see what happens.

 

Just back from my first trip to Israel

Picking olives with Arab family

What an experience! I may have a few things to blog about after being in Israel for two weeks–first three days we (together with my good friend Wayne) were on our own and then 7 days joining a tour group and then we ended our time with another 5 days on our own.  For those who know me, you can imagine that I enjoyed the time roaming around on our own more than with the tour.

Thank you God for a safe trip and many unique experiences.  More to come.

What is your blog personality type?

Thanks to a friend, I discovered that my blog or my writing style is that of an ISTP. According to typealyzer, my blog is The Mechanic.

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment and are highly skilled at seeing and fixing what needs to be fixed. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

What is your blog personality type?

Emotionally invested readers

Whether you are writing a blog for fun or trying to sell a product, most of us want people to read and make some kind of response.  I subscribe to copyblogger and in one post Dave Navarro offers four principles to guarantee that your readers will be “emotionally invested.”

1. Get in touch with the pain your reader brings to the table

2. Understand their frustration with “so far” and “out there.”

3. Step them into their “Dream Situation”

4. Close the deal with an “Ideal Solution”

Why do you do what you do?

why dont cats fly by jur igruh

If you are like me, you may not like the above question but it is one that is worth answering.  Just discovered Chris Tomlinson’s blog in which he makes  posts here and here asking those pesky “why” question related to our motivation for being involved in ministry.

In a reflecting on why he writes and blogs, Tomlinson wrote, “I write in order to

• Be affirmed
• Express a gift
• Force myself to think more deeply about daily life
• Prove I have something worth saying, or prove I am valuable because of what I do
• Attempt to know more of God
• Share ways in which the gospel touches our daily lives
• Satisfy my ego
• Proclaim Jesus as the greatest satisfaction to our soul’s deepest cravings”
• Feel important or impactful

Tomlinson continues, “You will notice a mix of pride-filled motives and grace-filled motives in this list.  My confession to God is that I am not ready to fully submit my writing to Him and His purposes alone, and my prayer is that He will help me remove my own selfish motives and replace them with His motives instead.”

Asking people why they do what they do is not a question to casually ask people.  Trust me, I have offended people on more than one occasion!  Our internal motivations are often hidden deep within and we need God’s gentle Spirit and the loving interaction with others to discern these blind spots.  May we be people who lovingly respond to others as well as be people who build community around us so that we might be prepared to hear the truth about ourselves.

Why do you do what you do?