Had a bad day?

Just in case you had a busy day, maybe things did not go the way you planned, you may have had a fender bender or lost an account that would have netted you some extra money.
It is possible the kids gave you a hard time getting ready for school, or you were aggravated at a phone call from your wife telling you your teenager failed an important class.


You may have been anxiously watching the stock market, planning your retirement, your wedding or building your new home.
Hopefully, you were not dealing with a hangover. I pray you are not planning on leaving your husband, or deserting your wife and kids because things are getting tough.

I know how hard it is to be away from your parents, cramming for upcoming college tests. I know the anxiety you suffer waiting for that phone call from the employer you hope to work for.




Maybe, you spent part of the day worrying whether or not you can afford the newest electronic game system for your kids.

Is it possible that today is one of those days that something got under your skin, and you got that 'it's just not fair' feeling? Maybe you lashed out at a friend or colleague because your vacation week was just canceled.












If you have felt like this recently, praise God that you are so fortunate. For many our strife would be a blessing;


You stay up for 16 hours,

He stays awake for days on end.




You start the day with a hot shower and coffee,

He has not seen running water for weeks.

You complain of a headache and call out of work sick,

He is shot at and sees others hit, and still moves forward.

You put on your anti-war, 'don't support the troops' shirt and meet up with your friends for lunch,

He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You check your cell phone twenty times a day,

He clutches the cross hanging on a chain next to his dog tags for twenty minutes as mortars and bullets fly over his head.

You talk trash about your buddies when their not with you,

He knows he may not see his buddies again.

You walk the beach looking at pretty girls,

He walks the street looking for armed insurgents and IED's.

You complain that the waitress got your order wrong,

He does not get to eat today.

You are aggravated when a baby cries,

He wonders if he will ever meet his newborn daughter.

Your mad because you class let out 10 minutes late,


He just learned he will be there 4 more months.

You go to the mall to get your hair done,

He did not have time to brush his teeth today.

You see what the media wants you to see,

He sees the broken bodies on the battlefield.

You criticize your government, and say war never solves anything,

He sees the innocents tortured and killed by their own people, and remembers why he is there.

Tomorrow, thank God you live in a free society, and pray for those who risk their lives to keep it that way.

Gasoline for the fire

Photo courtesy; Associated Press.

Where else could this come from but the hotbed of social liberal sickness that is the city of San Francisco.
Yesterday the health officials of this bastion of iniquity, announced that it is taking the first steps in the attempt to open a 'safe' drug injection room for users of illegal narcotics.
This brilliant idea is being sold as a viable answer to some of the problems created by drug abuse, according to the city's Department of Public Health.
The problems they hope to address? The high rate of deaths caused by drug overdose, the ever increasing financial burden on the city and state caused by the emergency response to care for these folks, and to help clean up the unsightly clutter of used needles in Golden Gate park.
As I listened to this on MSNBC, and read the article on Lycos News I was sadly shocked to realize that nowhere was there to be offered counseling and help to those addicted in this plan. After all, why ruin a good high with the glaring reality that our public officials have given up on those in need.
What this will accomplish is the removal of the problem from our immediate perception, and so less attention will be paid to addicts and their plight. We will be able to more easily go about our lives in our comfortable consciences, while the hopelessly addicted can trudge their way to a slower death out of the public eye. The benefits are tragically wonderful. As these 'safe' drug rooms will be a haven from the law, (it is planned that anyone using the service will be exempt from arrest and prosecution for possession of a controlled substance, as to encourage users to come there rather than shoot up elsewhere) police will be freed up from dealing with many drug related operations and paperwork. Dealers of heroin and cocaine will gain a legitimate place in society and see increased profits. The citizens of San Francisco can better sell their city and all it's vices to the rest of the nation, perhaps in it's public relations advertisements, a fun visit to the 'safe' drug room for a blast of H or coke can be marketed as a place to wind down, or rev up after a day at the Folsom Street Fair.
Perhaps best of all, money will be saved. Numbers of emergency calls to rescue overdosing addicts will sharply drop, along with their expense, thus giving a happily validating news bite to the left leaning media, who if this succeeds, may begin to pose the question, why do we fight a war against drugs? Then again, why fight against anything at all when it's easier to just give up.

Appreciation

October is pastor appreciation month. While we think about our church leaders all year round, this month is a time to give extra consideration to the man at the pulpit.
Hopefully we as Christians have a good relationship with our pastors, one that exceeds a handshake at the door after service, and sending a polite card at Christmas and Easter wishing them and their family blessings. While those things are good, and to be sure appreciated by the clergy, these men who have been called to a life of dedication to the preaching of God's Word deserve vastly more consideration for the daily sacrifices they make for their love of God, and the flock He has entrusted to their care.
We may not realize the sermon we hear on Sunday that takes in most cases an hour or so to speak does not take an hour to write, that the study and research done often takes days worth of hours to pen, and hours of prayer to discern, that we may be sure of receiving all that God gives to his servant for the filling of our spiritual bellies. These hours are labors of love, many that take up extra time that may be spent with a loving wife, or anxious children longing for dad's attention. Sometimes meals are missed, and quiet times of much needed rest or meditation fall by the wayside as evening's hours turn to night, while the man of God chisels in ink the art of exposition for our ears.
The responsibilities of leadership in a church go beyond the Sunday sermon. We see these men wedding couples, and leading funeral services, dedicating babies, and comforting the dying in their last hours, then comforting the family of the deceased for days and weeks afterward. There are baptisms, conventions to attend, speakers to hear, and travel to meet and know other men of the faith that serve God as His shepherds, that they may edify and encourage one another. There are also difficult times to face, agonizing over a fallen member of the flock, who needs to be found and brought home to the congregation, and church discipline to be enforced in the case of the unrepentant. There is persecution to be faced from the world, angry folk who will not hear God's word that the pastor works so hard to purvey accurately and Biblically, leave the church in anger and disagreement. Like prophets from the Old Testament, they are sometimes ignored, often despised, and even threatened with incarceration or death when willful sinners inflamed with conviction turn their shame to anger and seek a target at which to vent their rage, or a government's desire to keep social order at the expense of truth.
There are missionary commitments to meet, ministries to explore, and the walk of faith in Christ by Grace from God to display in all situations as an example to the flock, yet at the same time being only human, subject to every temptation, fault, illness and error we all are.
Include with this responsibilities of family and daily life. Mortgage, car payments, a sick child. Physical ailments, the passing of a loved one, car repair and flooded basements. Comforting the kids in their grief when the family pet dies, the need to care for an elderly parent that can no longer take care of themselves.
Take time this month to think on these things, and this Sunday consider the man behind the pulpit and the message he brings from God and his Word. Take the time to talk with him as you would any brother in the Lord, and let him know how much his labor means to you and how much you appreciate his loving service to our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.