Snowflakes

Yes, that is a weather term and yes, I love weather. I’ve even been known to use weather analogies when I write or speak. But this is less of a weather term, though the current urban meaning of it does come from the idea of weather. Snowflakes are a less than complementary term applied to some millennials and teens today. It is a metaphor to convey the fragility of one’s sensitivity toward something perceived as politically incorrect and the melt down that happens in a heated situation. I recently read that Jerry Seinfeld won’t do his comedy on college campuses anymore because he gets in trouble if he’s not perceived as politically correct, and it’s just too much of a pain.

Now this article isn’t about teens or millennials, I know some pretty strong ones, but more about us as Christians. So the term I would like to use is “Snowflake Christians”. Though Jesus didn’t use this term, He did talk about it when He told the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-23. When the seed, which is God’s word lands in the rocky soil, no depth is obtained by the roots and when trouble comes, it falls away. Or to use our snowflake analogy, it would melt away. The lessons Jesus taught were using the terminology of His day, much like the idea of “Snowflake Christians” used today.

In either case or use of terms the lesson Jesus was getting at was the same--trouble and difficulties are going to come. We like to think that everything will be lollipops and cotton candy when we make our commitment to Christ and are immersed in the waters of baptism. We come up out of the water to an “everything is wonderful life.” And yes, it is wonderful because of an eternal outlook we have; but, no, it is not always wonderful as we exist day to day. We don’t like to hear it and some would deny it, but life as a Christian can be very difficult at times. Again, not a pessimistic view, but an understanding of what Jesus says and teaches.

In the parable Jesus told, the seed along the rocky soil did not last because it lacked a good root system. Translation, the person did not dig deeper into the meaning of following Jesus. They did not regularly open God’s word, reading and meditating on what it meant. They did not get with others to talk about what we refer to as God’s word, the Bible. They were not in prayer over what it said and how to live what it says. They did not spend time with others praying for each other and others. In other words, they did not dig deep to establish roots to help them in times of difficulty. Difficult times are going to come (sorry, but then you probably already knew that). A good root system is valuable in weathering the droughts that come along in life and for weathering the strong winds that will uproot a shallow rooted system.

We don’t need to judgmentally look at others and determine if they are “Christian Snowflakes” (though if you do feel someone is leaning that way, why don’t you try to open God’s word with them, spend time with them, pray for and then with them.) No this article isn’t about others. It’s about you. It’s about me. How deep are my roots? Will they withstand difficult times? What am I doing to deepen those roots? Non lollipop and cotton candy times will come. I don’t want anyone to be uprooted, to wither or to melt.

Keeping from melting,

Randy

Retirement

Merriam-Webster dictionary online defines retirement as:

· an act of retiring: the state of being retired

· withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life

· the age at which one normally retires

Retirement-- a state of being we all want to get to someday. Now, circumstances in life may play a large role on when this takes place, along with what we want to do in our “retirement years”. As my years on this earth pile up more and more, that state of being is looking better and better, especially the withdrawal from one’s active work life. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to work and be active, but more in control of those activities and work.

What about the phrase “Christian Retirement”? Ever think about that? Some thoughts may go toward a Christian Retirement Center, which I am glad we have to help brothers and sisters as they get older. But, we never really retire from being a Christian. Well you may, but I think that would be called falling away, which is not a good thing.

So if we never retire from being a Christian, that means we are constantly at work. Let’s look at that work for a second. And since we are in Michigan, let’s say you work for Ford. No matter what you do from working in the office, to being a design engineer to assembling vehicles on the assembly line, the focus is making cars. Similarly when we are at work for God, we may have different jobs, but our focus must be heaven. After all that is the business, so to speak, that Jesus was in: reconciling people to God, ie. getting us to heaven. So the work we are constantly focused on is people being in heaven.

Much like the employees at Ford, we may preform different “tasks” as our contribution called work. You may be great at inviting someone out to our service, special event or activity that we have here. Maybe you are great with kids and help in the children’s class, both helping the kids to know about God and allowing their parents to be in class. Maybe you are great at sitting down with someone just be there when they need someone to listen. It could be that you are great at getting with someone and opening God’s word to show what it says about the path to heaven. Aren’t we all grateful that there were people like that who sat down with us? We could list more, but I think you get the picture. All kinds of tasks are needed to be filled by us as we help people know of God’s love, and stay close to God and not fall away, so we all end up in heaven.

So what about that “Christian Retirement”? Well, it’s kinda like the old song in our songbooks. The chorus goes “We’ll work till Jesus comes and then be gathered home”. Now the work you do may change over the years. As you get more comfortable with the scriptures you may start sitting down with people and opening God’s word. As the years drag on you may shift from doing the “heavy lifting” to more of a supportive role in activities around the building. You may get more comfortable with kids and start teaching, or less tolerant and stop, both valid. Regardless, we are here to help each other as we work for the Kingdom until Jesus comes to provide us with a retirement that is grander than anything on this earth.

Working toward retirement,

Randy

1 Equals 2

I loved my high school math classes. Maybe because I like math so much and maybe because all my teachers were great. One of my teachers had all kinds of math facts and puzzles on his bulletin board to try and get us to think math. There was one puzzle I specifically remember because it showed that one equals two. I have it listed below:

Now we know two doesn’t equal one, but the above explanation sounds fine. All the right steps seem to be followed. What it shows us is that just because something sounds fine, doesn’t mean it is always correct.

In the world we live in, some things sound just too good to be true. We get these messages in the mail, see them on TV or read them on the internet. Upon closer inspection we realize there are some flaws in the fine sounding sales pitch.

Now I am not saying that you will hear some things when it comes to religion as a sales pitch, but sometimes what we hear, well just isn’t quite true. It may come with some fine sounding arguments, but still doesn’t hold up. These fine sounding arguments aren’t new. They have been around for 2,000 years.

In Colossians 2:4-12, Paul warns the brothers and sisters in Colossae about fine sounding arguments that aren’t in line with God’s word. Stay in God’s word, read it, examine it because many in the past have been led astray by fine sounding arguments from man, and many still are today! Do you know what God’s word really says and not just what sounds good in the moment? If not, we too can be led astray. And that phrase “led astray”, may not sound that ominous until you realize it means led astray, away from God and therefore away from eternity in Heaven.

Paul warned those in Colossae--and now us-- to know God’s word.

Now we know that one does not equal two, can you find the flaw in the proof above? If you figure it out let me know. If you can’t find it but really want to know where the flaw is, I will show you!

Calculating God’s Ways,

Randy