A Wish

I know. If it's God's will not mine. Still, I was thinking today how nice it would be to make some short films. I came up with a funny idea about drifters (people in boats adrift on the ocean talking about how free they think they are). Why do I get ideas like this if I'm not supposed to do anything with them? But still I trust God that he has his reasons even if I don't understand what they are.

The Power of Water

Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Ever consider the power of water.


Take a bucket. Fill it with water. Put a stopper/plunger type lid on the bucket and keep pushing the lid down squeezing the water into an ever smaller space. Keep putting pressure on the water, pushing and pushing it. Give it no pressure release. The water will become exasperated and break through the seal with explosive force.

Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. Colossians 3:21

Take the same water and channel it properly through a hydroelectric power plant and there's enough power to light up cities.

A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power. Proverbs 24:5

Take the same water and let it go wherever it will with no limits whatsoever. The water will spread out, directionless and turn into a flat swamp of death and decay.

Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks. Ecclesiastes 10:18

Fathers  especially should take note of this parable and learn to channel your children. Don't shove them down into a bucket but don't let them go wherever they will.


This parable doesn't just apply to children. It applies to all leaders and all people who need a leader. An authoritarian style of leadership (push leadership) incites rebellion and resistance. But a liberal and permissive style of leadership creates an atmosphere of idleness and decay.

A Small Honorarium to 9/11

It wasn't personal to me. I didn't know anyone who was involved. And yet even I was impacted. I had to work that day taking care of the developmentally disabled. Many of them were confused about what was going on. Many of them needed comfort. I had to set my own emotions aside. Needless to say, hardly anyone got any work done that day. We were all glued to any source of news we could find. The events of 9/11 were so big that it affected every single person in the entire country, even those of us who were distant and not really involved. We felt the social earthquake too as the ripples of the event shook everything in it's wake. The U.S.A. changed that day.

The Power of Curses and the Power of Speaking Faith

When I was younger, I thought that smiling was for when I was happy and if I wasn't happy, I shouldn't smile. When I was younger, I was usually sad. I was lonely and could not understand why people treated me the way they did. So I didn't smile.

When I became older I learned that people don't interpret a sad face as meaning a sad person in need of comfort. People interpret a sad face as meaning a proud person who thinks he's too good for everyone else. So all the time I was frowning from feeling lonely, I was actually pushing people away from me and causing my loneliness. I have since learned that smiling is what I should do to let other people know that I like them, whether I'm happy or not. To smile is not about me. To smile is a gift of encouragement I can give to others.

We need to be proactive instead of reactive. We cannot go around expressing how we feel in reaction to our circumstances. Circumstances influence our mood but the reverse is even more true, our mood influences our circumstances. Smiles cause happiness. Friendliness attracts friendship. Faith attracts blessings.

I will admit that I have had many people speak doubt into my life. People frequently talk about me as if I was lazy and immoral. They don't realize the power of their cursing. Their talk causes me to become lazy and immoral. But I have learned that I have power as well. I can speak faith into my own life to counteract those curses. I can speak faith that I am responsible and righteous and in speaking faith, cause myself to become responsible and righteous. So it becomes a battle of words. The more they speak curses against me, the more I need to speak faith.

Did you know that love believes all things?

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a NASB)

 Believe the best about people and people will become the best.

“If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.” - Abraham Lincoln

 Please speak faith into my life that I may develop good habits of grooming and friendliness. The number one reason I don't find work is because the first impression people have of me when I walk into a job interview is that I'm unfriendly and sloppy.

¹⁶ In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. ¹⁷ Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18

I've been unemployed a lot but the Lord has sustained me on manna and literally prevented me from from finding work under my own strength to humble me that I will know that it is God who gives me the power to make wealth. It is not because of laziness on my part.

Too Many Words

When a child has a flu, you give him medicine. If you do not see instantaneous results, do you give him more medicine and more medicine until you've caused a drug overdose? No, if you've given a proper dosage, you wait trusting that it takes time for the medicine to absorb into the body.

Likewise, when you give exhortation or correction to someone, if you do not see instantaneous results, do you keep talking adding words and more words until you've caused an exhortation overdose? No, if you've given a proper dosage, you wait trusting that it takes time for the words to sink in.

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Matthew 13:33 NIV

Freedom

Give a kid a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a kid to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

How does one give freedom?

Let's take the parable of the Good Samaritan and expand by adding some text.

Luke 10:30-37 NASB plus additional text (quoted text in italics, additional text not in italics)


³⁰ Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.


The man had also hit his head causing mild memory loss. He forgot his skill and trade and no longer knew how to fend for himself.


³¹ And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.


Then a fundamentalist preacher came by and shouted, "How dare you be naked. Don't you know that the human body is a sin and disgusting. You deserve punishment for your immodesty." And the fundamentalist preacher went over and kicked the man while he was down shouting, "Repent. You deserve to go to Hell unless you repent."


Then a liberal hedonist came by and saw the fundamentalist preacher. The hedonist shouted, "He has a right to be naked if he wants to be. How dare you judge him. If he chooses to lie here in his own blood, vomit and excrement, that is his choice and he has the FREEDOM to do so. I will defend his right to wallow in filth. I'll even give him money so he may continue to live in filth as he so chooses.


Then a welfare control freak came along and while the fundamentalist and the hedonist were arguing, welfare took the man and dressed him up like a dolly. Welfare tied the man into a wheelchair and put a gag in his mouth to keep him quiet. Then welfare paraded the man around announcing boldly, "Everyone come and look. Come and see what a good person I am. I have taken this poor, fallen man and I have dressed him up. Pat me on the back. Praise me and give me money congratulating me for being so awesomely kind to the underprivileged. This poor, fallen man will be my poster child for eternity announcing to the world what a kind and generous person I have been to him."


The fundamentalist saw this and shouted at welfare, "He should be punished. He doesn't deserve kindness." The hedonist saw this and shouted at welfare, "Why did you dress him? You are violating his right to be naked. Strip him now." The three got into a fight and in the fight, the helpless man had his clothes ripped off of him again but at least his bindings were ripped off as well. So the helpless man crawled away to die from internal bleeding. The three continued to fight but the fight moved away from him.


³³ But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, ³⁴ and came to him


But the man was afraid of the Samaritan after what the other three had put him through. He resisted receiving help from the Samaritan. He cried, "I didn't choose this. Don't punish me. Leave me alone so I may do as I choose."


But the Samaritan was wise and said, "Sh, it's okay. I know you didn't choose this. But you need to face the truth that regardless of how you got in this condition, you are in no condition to get yourself out. You are in no condition to choose so let me help you develop the skill you need to be able to choose."


The Samaritan brought out some clothes to cover the man's nakedness. But the man resisted crying, "Don't dress me up like your little dolly. Don't humiliate me by making me your poster child. Don't parade me around so you can show off how much better you are than I am."


The Samaritan responded, "I will not dress you up like a dolly. These are my finest clothes I am giving you. I am dressing you up like a king. I am giving you nobility so that when you have recovered, you may go free. You will not be bound to me. You are not obligated to me. You don't owe me anything."


The Samaritan dressed the man in his finest clothes


and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’


Moreover, I will pay you to teach him to fish or to do some other trade so that he may eat for a lifetime.


³⁶Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” ³⁷ And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

Kings and Kingdoms

There was a region that was divided into four kingdoms.

The first king was a tyrant. He spent most of his time and resources on enforcing his authority. The people obeyed but they suffered because there was little left over to be used to build roads, schools or hospitals. This kingdom became very poor.

The second king was benevolent. He did not spend any time or resources enforcing his authority. Instead, he spent most of his time and resources building roads and schools and hospitals. Unfortunately, the people took him for granted. They did not obey him because he did not enforce himself. So the only schools built were the ones the king built and the only hospitals again were the ones the king built. Meanwhile the people caused themselves a lot of trouble. They were so busy having fun at the kings expense that they got drunk and vandalized the very schools and hospitals the king provided. This kingdom became poor.

The third king was a wise king. He invested most of his time and resources directly into his people. This king conducted campaigns to inspire the people and ennoble the people. The people were so inspired by this king that the people built roads and schools and hospitals. The people were so inspired by this king that the people obeyed his laws. The people even began to imitate this king as they began to invest in each other. This kingdom became very rich.

The fourth king started out imitating the first two kings but then had a change of heart and started imitating the third king. This king became wise and did right by his kingdom. However, it took time for the people to accept the change in this king. For a very long time, the people refused to obey this king and refused to be inspired by him. This was very frustrating to the king who was frequently so stressed that he wanted to abdicate the throne and abandon his people. But the king endured and the people eventually turned around and accepted this king as their king. Then this kingdom began to prosper.

This is a parable about the role of a man (a king) and his family (the people). This parable is both about how a man should be toward his family and about how a family should be toward the man.

Watermelon Valley

A king examined his kingdom and noticed a valley that needed some help. The people of this valley were not doing well. They were living in squalor and very poor. Many of them had turned to scrounging for food in the garbage dumps of neighboring valleys. The king was displeased and chose to help the people of this valley. So he sent some servants to investigate this valley and bring back a detailed analysis.

After contemplating this valley and the detailed analysis, the king decided that the people of this valley should be taught how to grow watermelons. This decision was based on a number of factors including the soil conditions of the valley and the economic trade potential. The people had the potential to flourish with watermelons. But the number one reason for the choice of watermelons was that a single fruit of watermelon provided enough fruit to feed a multitude of people and enough seeds to plant a multitude more watermelons. The valley would have the potential to throw festivals inviting people from neighboring valleys to enjoy the harvest and they would have a self replenishing supply of seeds for more harvests.

So the king spent a large amount of his own personal money to ship a supply of watermelon seeds to this valley and he sent teachers and equipment to set them up with the knowledge and ability to succeed. He even officially named the valley, Watermelon Valley in anticipation of their success.

Unfortunately, several of the people of the valley were impatient and it was their impatience that had caused the whole valley to sink into squalor and poverty in the first place.

When some of these people received a supply of watermelon seeds, their attention was solely on their own appetite. They were hungry and impatient. They ate the watermelon seeds and didn't have any seeds left over to plant.

Another group of these people were careless in their impatience. They did sew the seeds but they scattered them randomly. They did nothing to prepare the soil to receive the seeds. Their land was overgrown with bushes and even a few trees. Some of the seeds landed in the roots of these trees and some of the seeds landed on boulders. These people didn't follow up with the seeds. As soon as they finished scattering seeds, these people walked away leaving the seeds to fend for themselves. About a fourth of these seeds produced a crop. Fortunately, at least the quarter of a crop they got was good fruit.

A third group of people listened to instructions and did exactly what they were supposed to do in the beginning. The seeds were successfully planted in good and prepared soil and plants began to grow. But this group grew impatient expecting faster results. So this group tried to hurry the plants along. They gave the plants too much water or too much fertilizer. They hovered over the plants. They pulled on the plants pressuring the plants to grow faster. The crop grew and produced fruit but the majority of the fruit was of poor quality. Some of the fruit was pale or yellow and lacked nourishment. Some of the fruit was just a shell with no actual fruit, no heart.

Still, a large group of people from this valley were patient and paid attention to the times and seasons, doing what needed to be done at the appropriate time and pace. These farmers produced huge crops with nearly every fruit being full and delicious. They gathered together for a huge festival and they continued to enjoy success year after year with an abundant supply of seeds.

In this parable, the farmers of Watermelon Valley represent evangelists and the seeds represent the edifying words they sew. Preparing the soil represents being friendly and helpful such as doing yard work for your neighbors or giving groceries to someone in need. Following up (water and fertilizer) represents being available to answer questions and correct confusions that a new Christian might struggle with.

The Fundamentalist Orchard

Psalms 19:7-10 NASB

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

The law of the Lord is spiritual. The Lord does not care as much about behaviors as he cares about the heart. Let me illustrate by talking about murder. If we have murder on our heart, we need a law telling us not to murder. If we do not have murder on our heart, than we are free from the law of sin and death. This is why the Bible speaks of a new birth, to cleanse our hearts from sin so that we might be free from the law.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:33 NASB (words in red because they were said by Jesus.)

There was a man who went out to inspect his orchard. Some of his trees gave good fruit and some gave bad and the man wanted to get rid of the bad trees. One of the good fruit from a good tree had fallen onto a tree that produced nothing but bad fruit. This bad tree offered the good fruit up to it's master as if to take credit for it and say, "See, I have produced good fruit. So now my master will forgive me for all the bad fruit I produce."

But the owner of the orchard wasn't fooled for a second. He called for his servants and pointed at the tree saying "Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?"

There was a young fig tree that witnessed this and was terrified because the young tree knew in his heart that he could only produce bad fruit. But instead of looking to the master or any of His servants for help, the young tree did what looked right in his own eyes. He decided, "I will not produce any fruit. Then I will be known as a righteous tree because he will never find me to do anything bad. He will never find a single bad fruit coming from me."

So the young tree did nothing and even after the man gave the tree chance after chance to produce fruit, the young tree refused because it was afraid that any fruit it produced would be sin. So the owner of the orchard called for his servants and pointed at the tree saying "Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?"

⁶ And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. ⁷ And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ ⁸ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; ⁹ and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9 NASB

So this parable is not original but then there is nothing new under the sun. What God showed me, hopefully, was away to illustrate a wrong thinking that some Christians can fall into. They define righteousness in terms of the fruit, the behaviors. But the heart is what matters. A bad heart cannot produce good fruit and cannot be saved no matter how good the person is at not sinning. A change of heart is required.

The trees in this parable were not cut down because they sinned. They were cut down because they were sinners who refused to let the owner of the orchard change their heart.