ON GIVING

I had dinner with a church member a couple weeks ago at a local Chinese restaurant. This member wanted to discuss the biblical command of tithing. He was having a hard time accepting this idea. Our conversation didn't seem to go anywhere, at least, from my perspective. He was making a excuses, instead of accepting the biblical value. At the end of our meal, this was his fortune. How fitting. I wondered if that was God having a sense of humor.

MEMO TO MAINTENANCE

MEMO: TO THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

Thank you for placing the sign where you were asked. However when I ask you to also buy a bag of cement, I didn't mean to put the sign on top of the cement. It was supposed to be the other way around. The cement bag was supposed to be placed on top of the sign. Or, you can pour the cement into the black plastic base. I took this photo at a local Methodist Church - not my church.

GOD'S PROVIDENCE

I was looking at some pictures last night, which reminded me of God's providence.

Last summer, I was in Canada to baptize my sisters boys. My sister and her husband had a special evening baptismal, that included a backyard party for all of the guest. There was a tremendous amount of preparation, time, and money that was spent for this occasion. I know, because I spent several days with er getting things ready, shopping, and preparing for all of the last minute details. It looked looked like it was going to be a perfect summer evening - at least by Canadian standards. It was a bit cooler, and let me assure you, the water in the pool, that we were using for the baptism, was very cooooooool. As guests starting coming to the party, dark clouds began to form around the house. I began to worry. In fact, everybody was worrying, but everything was set up already for an outside party. For the next two hours, the darks got darker, and closer. It was as if God's hands were holding them from covering over our party. Does God care about those small details - of not ruining a party? I am scared to answer that. Because the next question that I'll be asked is why doesn't care about my cancer situation, or let my father die an early death. I don't know. But, what I can tell you, on that Friday evening, as those boys were baptized into the family of God, the rains held back. I snapped these photos throughout the evening, just wondering if the rain would ever come down. It finally did. The rain fell in its fury, once the party was over.

LAW OF THE GARBAGE TRUCK

I heard this story...

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, he was really friendly! So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

PROUD OF ME

I took a few vacation days this week to get some personal things done. On my list, to start a new book project. The research has been collected, but I haven't been able to sit down and just start, well, writing. Yesterday, I had to go into the office in the morning, because I didn't plan well. So today was D-day. Well, actually, it is V-day for Valentines. In any case, I needed to get started. I did. This was a big accomplishment. I began a chapter outline, and starting putting some flesh to it. In addition, I wrote three solid pages. I started. I'm proud.