I told you I’d be back. I guess you could have taken that as a warning, but I’m glad that you didn’t. It’s Thursday, and in exactly one week from today I will be turning the big 3-0. Some of you just read that and thought, Wow, that’s seriously old. On the other hand I know there are at least a few who pondered the fact that I’m practically still a child. Speaking from the point of social science, I guess the second half of you would be closer to the truth. Why do I say that? Because I just sat in on a class at the youth conference last month which taught us that it is now believed that adolescence doesn’t fully end in adulthood until somewhere around the age of 25 these days. So, in that sense, I guess I am still very green as an adult. I’d like to think that anyway – it makes me feel better when I “mess up” at being a responsible member of society (or whatever it is that marks us as grownups).
Well anyway, I suppose it’s due in part to this nearing birthday that I have become rather contemplative lately (as if you couldn’t tell by the tone of that last paragraph). I thought I’d share with you some of the things that have caught my eye over the past week or two. So here it is – a few of the things that have made me go Hmmm… (if you’re at all a product of ‘90s music culture, feel free to insert a little C & C Music Factory dance here).
A dry-erase board at the garden check out of a Wal-Mart in Gainesville, FL caught my attention with this bold proclamation: “love is never ENOUGH!” I can’t be sure, but I think the same thing may have been there the last time I visited the store almost a year ago. I wonder what made someone write those words. A bitter divorce? Bankruptcy? Why would someone write that? And could it be that they really think it’s true? Could the Beatles have truly had it all wrong and we’re all about to find out that love isn’t actually all you need?
The more I thought about it, though, I guess whoever wrote that might actually be on to some thing. “love” isn’t enough – not with a lowercase “l” anyway. Human relationships in and of themselves will never be enough. Why? Because we weren’t created to be in primary relationship with each other. That kind of love is part of the plan, but it’s secondary to capitalized “Love”. God is Love. He is the Love we were created for. When you think about it that way, Love is always enough. And it is most certainly all we really need.
On our travels last week we drove through Flippen, GA, and I thought about how cool it would be to live there. I mean, think about it:
“Where are you from?”
“I live in Flippen Georgia.”
“Oh, sorry I asked. Don’t you like Georgia…?”
Or how about this one:
“I parked downtown yesterday for 35 minutes in a short-term space and can you believe that the Flippen police gave me a ticket?”
Or another personal favorite could be on a church mail-out:
Jesus loves you. Want to know more? Then why don’t you try going to the Flippen Church of Christ!
Oh, how the list could go on and on. The people in that town don’t know the treasure they have just in their flippin’ little address.
A car passed us the other day while I was in the middle of a rather boisterous (yet silent) pity party. I had just been praying / whining to God about having had my feelings hurt, and I had let it spiral to that out-of-control place of feeling like I am the sorriest soul on Earth when he whizzed past. You know what his license plate said? “WE R OK” (notice I said “he” there – that was on purpose. That sounds exactly like something a man would say). At first I just sneered and thought, Oh, really… But then I thought about it some more. We really are ok. That’s not to say that we’re not all messed up and in serious need of being saved from ourselves, because that’s totally true. The thing of it is, though, that we already have that salvation. Jesus died to make us “ok”. We might not feel ok, but ultimately – thanks to Him – we are.
Also when we were driving on our recent travels, we found ourselves driving next to a semi with a logo bearing our oldest son’s name plastered on it’s side in larger-than-life letters. At the same moment we were also passing a billboard that boasted our youngest son’s name. I commented to Shane how unique that was, and he said that maybe we should name our next child something we could see at that very moment. The next thing I read? An advertisement for an attraction hosting some animal named “Hogzilla”. I don’t think we’ll be using that one, but I’ll let you know if something changes….
Anyway, I think that’s enough rambling for now. I just wanted to pass on some of the random thoughts that have struck me as either profound or funny (or both) lately. I’m looking forward to Easter and taking some time to ponder His death and resurrection. With any “luck” it will be something else that makes me stop and go Hmmm…
Well anyway, I suppose it’s due in part to this nearing birthday that I have become rather contemplative lately (as if you couldn’t tell by the tone of that last paragraph). I thought I’d share with you some of the things that have caught my eye over the past week or two. So here it is – a few of the things that have made me go Hmmm… (if you’re at all a product of ‘90s music culture, feel free to insert a little C & C Music Factory dance here).
A dry-erase board at the garden check out of a Wal-Mart in Gainesville, FL caught my attention with this bold proclamation: “love is never ENOUGH!” I can’t be sure, but I think the same thing may have been there the last time I visited the store almost a year ago. I wonder what made someone write those words. A bitter divorce? Bankruptcy? Why would someone write that? And could it be that they really think it’s true? Could the Beatles have truly had it all wrong and we’re all about to find out that love isn’t actually all you need?
The more I thought about it, though, I guess whoever wrote that might actually be on to some thing. “love” isn’t enough – not with a lowercase “l” anyway. Human relationships in and of themselves will never be enough. Why? Because we weren’t created to be in primary relationship with each other. That kind of love is part of the plan, but it’s secondary to capitalized “Love”. God is Love. He is the Love we were created for. When you think about it that way, Love is always enough. And it is most certainly all we really need.
On our travels last week we drove through Flippen, GA, and I thought about how cool it would be to live there. I mean, think about it:
“Where are you from?”
“I live in Flippen Georgia.”
“Oh, sorry I asked. Don’t you like Georgia…?”
Or how about this one:
“I parked downtown yesterday for 35 minutes in a short-term space and can you believe that the Flippen police gave me a ticket?”
Or another personal favorite could be on a church mail-out:
Jesus loves you. Want to know more? Then why don’t you try going to the Flippen Church of Christ!
Oh, how the list could go on and on. The people in that town don’t know the treasure they have just in their flippin’ little address.
A car passed us the other day while I was in the middle of a rather boisterous (yet silent) pity party. I had just been praying / whining to God about having had my feelings hurt, and I had let it spiral to that out-of-control place of feeling like I am the sorriest soul on Earth when he whizzed past. You know what his license plate said? “WE R OK” (notice I said “he” there – that was on purpose. That sounds exactly like something a man would say). At first I just sneered and thought, Oh, really… But then I thought about it some more. We really are ok. That’s not to say that we’re not all messed up and in serious need of being saved from ourselves, because that’s totally true. The thing of it is, though, that we already have that salvation. Jesus died to make us “ok”. We might not feel ok, but ultimately – thanks to Him – we are.
Also when we were driving on our recent travels, we found ourselves driving next to a semi with a logo bearing our oldest son’s name plastered on it’s side in larger-than-life letters. At the same moment we were also passing a billboard that boasted our youngest son’s name. I commented to Shane how unique that was, and he said that maybe we should name our next child something we could see at that very moment. The next thing I read? An advertisement for an attraction hosting some animal named “Hogzilla”. I don’t think we’ll be using that one, but I’ll let you know if something changes….
Anyway, I think that’s enough rambling for now. I just wanted to pass on some of the random thoughts that have struck me as either profound or funny (or both) lately. I’m looking forward to Easter and taking some time to ponder His death and resurrection. With any “luck” it will be something else that makes me stop and go Hmmm…
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