thoughts on the news of the day: lottery

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            Three people, one from Kansas, one from Maryland and one from Illinois will share in the winnings from the Mega Millions lottery.  The jackpot reached $640 million, with each ticket earning about $213 million before taxes.

            Lots of folks claim that they will give some of their winnings to charity.  They pick churches, non-profit agencies and sometimes their alma mater.  Sometimes they give, sometimes they don’t.  I bet that you were saying that same thing:  “If I won the lottery, I would give some of the winnings to (fill in the blank).   We would all like to think that we are generous, especially when it doesn’t really cost us anything; especially when we weren’t expecting a huge windfall; especially when everyone is watching.

            Sure, we could wait until the unlikely day when we come into a huge parcel of income, maybe it’s the lottery, or a company bonus, or an inheritance.  But I say, why wait?  Why wait until that undetermined, unlikely day when you are suddenly enormously rich?  We can give now.  It doesn’t have to be big to count.  Scripture says, “God loves a cheerful giver” not “God loves a big giver.”

            A friend once told me about how she grew up in a financially challenged family … they were poor.  When she was young, she once told her Mom, “I wish we were rich.”  And her Mom replied, “We are rich, we just don’t have a lot of money.”  Their family shared what they had, and were blessed tenfold for it.  And my friend came to know that is what “rich” really means.

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thoughts on the news of the day: me, myself and I

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“Healthy at 100” is the name of a book by John Robbins.  Featured in an article in the New York Times yesterday, the book was actually written in 2006.  It cites research done in 1983 by a psychologist at Baylor University named Larry Scherwitz.  He taped conversations by approximately 600 men, with a third of them having heart disease.  In an interesting research twist, Dr. Scherwitz documented how often the men used first person pronouns like I, me, and mine.  The research revealed that those who spoke in the “I” mode were generally the most likely to have heart disease, and even more interesting, when these same men were followed for several years, they were the most likely to suffer heart attacks.

The conclusion would be that thinking of others before thinking about yourself will keep you healthier and help you to live longer.  This is a sermon that doesn’t need to be preached in my congregation.  We have a 90+ year old who regularly volunteers at our local hospital; she was at the hospital five days last week assisting staff who needed her.  Oh, and that’s in addition to volunteering at the Chamber of Commerce. 

So, for the rest of us, if you want to live longer, by all means, eat right, exercise and get regular check-ups.  But don’t forget to think about someone else, at least for a little while each day.  Add that to your regular routine.  Mr. Robbins and Dr. Scherwitz say it won’t hurt; in fact, it might keep you healthy a lot longer.

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thoughts on the news of the day: ahhhh

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Ahhhh….. remember the good old days?  Those days when you could open up your internet server and read without being bombarded by ads.  Seems like now whenever I log on, I am invited to a picture that encourages me to go to a news article.  Turns out that now when I try to do just that, the page offers me a video to watch which invariably has an advertisement that I am forced to view before the video begins.  First of all, I wanted to casually peruse the article, I didn’t want to be forced to receive the information in the order that the videographer insists.  Second, I really don’t want to have to wait for inane advertising prior to obtaining the information.  After all, that’s why I go to the internet for my news anyway; online, it used to be that I wasn’t forced to wait through advertising of products I didn’t need or care about. 

I wonder if we will eventually have a PBS of web sites.  Places you could go to where there wasn’t any advertising.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind ads on the side of my email box, especially because I get my email for free, so it seems only right.  Television viewers have somewhat solved the commercial advertising problem.  Recording and fast forwarding take care of that dilemma.  

My opinion is that commercial websites are missing the boat … and that it will backfire soon.  Guess we’ll see.  You know, I had been considering adding advertising to this blog …. But I think I will resist just a little bit longer …. wow, does that mean I’m out of touch?

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thoughts on the news of the day: angels

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When I was growing up, the common belief in my faith community was that everyone had an individual guardian angel assigned to them.  I was so enamored with this idea that I named my guardian angel …. kind of like you would name a doll or a puppy dog.  The angel was responsible for keeping us safe and out of harm’s way.  This was especially comforting to us as we were learning how to crawl under our desks when the sirens might blare informing us of a nuclear attack by the Russians.  They never did.

As I matured in my faith, I began to question that particular stance.  I had some questions.  Do I worship the angel or do I pledge my faith to Jesus?  How is it possible that there would be enough angels to go around?  What about when you died, did you become a guardian angel?  Was your angel reassigned?  I heard people say, when they lost a loved one, “Another angel has earned her wings.”  How did all that work?

Don’t get me wrong, its not that I don’t believe in angels … I do.  They are clearly present in the Bible. I have heard far more angel stories from friends, acquaintances and church members than to doubt their existence.  I am just not sure how the whole angel thing works.   Besides, I like the idea of angels being messengers sent from above to pass along truths that we have forgotten.  Things like God loves us, God watches over us and God protects us. 

Like most faithful believers, I am not sure what that means when bad things happen.  Painful events make us doubt.  But that is when we need God most … to comfort us and strengthen us and help us through the hard times.  I like to think that what’s important is that God knows my name;  and that all of heaven rejoices when I call God’s name.

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thoughts on the news of the day: jim's blog

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Check out my friend, Jim Freeman's blog for March 17th (tomorrow)!  I enjoyed being his "guest blogger"....
you can find him at:
       http://dailylectionaryreadings.blogspot.com/

PS Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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thoughts on the news of the day: THE

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            We have a church in our community who has named itself “THE CHURCH”.  I am not sure whether to laugh, cry, be insulted or be angry! 

            Our little community is filled with churches.  Someone told me that there are 128 churches in our town of 12,000.  I am not sure if that is an accurate count; but if it is, that’s a lot of churches!  To me that means that there are many different ways that people want and need to worship, to fellowship and to serve.  In our church we try to be open to the idea that even if we are in different locations on Sunday mornings, all of us who practice the Christian faith are striving as best we can to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Servant Savior. 

            Maybe at times we don’t do so well.  Maybe at times we compare ourselves to the “bigger” church down the street.  Maybe sometimes we even try to compete.  Yes, we do those things.  But our churches also serve together at the Christian Clinic, the Food Basket and the Center of Hope.  We don’t claim to be the one and only, we just claim to try and love our community and Jesus Christ.

            There is too much divisiveness in our country right now to carry it over to irresponsible claims to be THE one and only of just about anything.  Well… maybe Coca Cola can claim that, but it is just full of fizz and not much else anyway!  Hopefully, THE CHURCH will fizzle, at least in name, and we can all get back to serving God’s church together.

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thoughts on the news of the day: here we go ....

March 10, 2012

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            So, Ladies, is “Fifty Shades of Grey” on your nightstand?  You will probably not be surprised to know that it is not on mine.  The book is an up and coming best seller that has been called “mommy porn.”  Apparently it is filled with all sorts of deviant behavior and violence.  In addition to that, it is said to contain extremely disrespectful behavior toward women.  Yuck!  A major bookseller recently acquired rights to the book, whose popularity apparently had spread by reader reviews on the internet. 

            While I happen to disdain these kinds of books, I, on the other hand, think that GCB – the new network series on ABC is hilarious!  Yes, it does have a few suggestive (and funny) moments and the actresses do sometimes wear rather bawdy outfits.  But, if you have ever lived in a place like Highland Park, a Dallas, TX township, you would understand that the show nails that big-hair, gossipy kind of semi-uniqueness in a parody that never implies that all female Dallasites behave that way …. well … not all of them, all the time.  Some of my guy friends think the show is demeaning to women but I disagree … it’s supposed to be funny—and it is.

            Rush Limbaugh has made some really crude remarks about women lately.  Most people, including a few advertisers of the show seem to think that the statements were way over the top.  Interestingly, there are a few (mostly men) supporters who think that Rush is right.

            I am not sure where it all ends.  But I am sure of one thing.  Who knows how or why it happened, but women do have a power today that never before in history have we had.  We can wield it respectfully and thoughtfully and therefore improve and change the world. Or not … it’s our choice …

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