Stories from Texas!

Well I'm in texas right now, enjoying the christmas holiday with my family. Yesterday afternoon Casey and I were both reading, DORKS-I know, and i needed a pen. For making notes of course. lol. Casey handed me a pen from her purse saying, "that's my favorite pen!" I read for a while from Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis and began my underlining and note writing. Low and Behold, the pen was worthy of favorite status! Smooth gel ink and with little smearing. I said..."wow this is a great pen! can i have it?"

her response, "sure you can."

"but its your favorite pen." i commented.

"i know, its just a pen." she said

I can't honestly say that i would give away my favorite pen at a moments notice. not the biggest sacrifice, i know. still, it struck me. that's the attitude of Christ, giving just as freely has God has given unto us.

It should be our constant goal to be more like Christ, to be less like the world.

"This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."  2 timothy 1:9

Grumpy Solomon

“Somebody has a case of the muuunnnn-days”

I decided to complete the homework assignment that Robby gave on Sunday morning, even against my lazy instincts. Read the book of Ecclesiastes he said. Well that’s exactly what I did last night.

Meaningless reading, I say! Meaningless ideas, and meaningless preaching lead to meaningless meaninglessness! What does that mean? I’m not quite sure. Haha

You can tell that Solomon was having a bad day. The grim message that it doesn’t matter, we’re all gonna die flows throughout the book. Solomon would find himself in good company with our present “dooms-dayers,” Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh-hum-bug, who really say the same thing, “everything is horribly wrong and terrible and the end is near.” Add Solomon, and all three would make a fine trio.

But on to the theology. While I did find Ecclesiastes to be rather depressing, there is truth to be found here. Much truth indeed. Its no secret that all people will die. Both the wise and the foolish meet the same end. And yes, not one of us can take our riches and possessions to the other side. All of it is true. However, its only part true; because Solomon’s worries and complaints are lacking a very important element. They are lacking the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Now don’t be harsh on Solomon, I mean Christ wasn’t born yet. The messiah wouldn’t be born for another 300 years.

Now, does the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ change Solomon’s outlook on wealth, wisdom, foolishness, or toil? No, it doesn’t. Even with salvation, we still don’t take our possessions, pride, or hard work with us. But salvation does change one thing, one very important thing. Salvation means that I am NOT meaningless! I matter, I matter to a great and powerful God. So does Solomon and you and everyone, we all matter, and we are all FULL of meaning!

So don’t ignore the words of grumpy Solomon, listen to them carefully, taking heed to his final conclusion. “Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of humanity.” Ecclesiastes 12:13b.