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Full Sized vs. Fun Sized  

The candy bar industry is on a roll lately.  And I'm not sure I like it.  The trend for the last few years is to offer much smaller versions of full-sized candy bars.  As if that isn't bad enough (hey, if I want a Snickers bar, I'm expecting a Snickers bar, not some shrunken alternative), they're trying to make our getting something less...sound like something better.  In a marketing hubris that only ad executives could speak with a straight face, these less-than-satisfying candy bars are said to be “fun-sized.”

Now, I get that folks watching their weight might welcome such a move.  And surely there's a place for smaller candy bars. My complaint is that something that is less than the real deal is boldly touted as “fun sized.”    But what does that make my full-sized Three Musketeers Bar-- “Boring-sized”?

I wonder if some of us aren't borrowing a concept from the candy industry in the way we live out our Christian faith. Example: personal Bible study.

Our devotional books are getting smaller and smaller. Have you noticed? Just one or two verses a day, perhaps.   And very little application to ponder along with the reading.

Is it possible that our growing satisfaction with “fun sized” devotionals—smaller readings—is largely to blame for our living so much of life disconnected from truly biblical teachings?

Hear me clearly.  I'm not throwing rocks at every devotional book out there.  There's a place for quick reads.  But if that's all we're doing—fun-sized Bible devotions—we're cheating ourselves.

What about our time spent in prayer?  Is that fun-sized, too?

The Bible strongly urges us, “Pray without ceasing.”   You wouldn't know that by showing up at a typical church prayer meeting.  Or by doing an honest spiritual inventory of most Christians.  So where do we get off feeling satisfied with “fun-sized” sentence prayers?  Again, there's a place for those—but if that's all we're praying, that's a problem.

Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.”   Given our high level of busyness, we're apparently doing a whole lot of something that amounts to nothing.

Let's stop cheating ourselves when it comes to personal Bible study and prayer. Let's go FULL sized...not fun-sized.

 
How old before you're TOO old?  

How old do you have to be before you're too old to encourage someone else?

I think I found the answer--in the "Bird Room."

That's what we call the meeting room at the nursing home where my mother-in-law lives. A large wood and Plexiglas display houses a dozen or so colorful little birds, fluttering from nest to branch and back again. So the "Bird Room" is an obvious choice for relaxing and visiting loved ones.

While we were there last time, a smiley chap named Bob reintroduced himself to my mother in law, who seemed to recall him. Bob had come on a mission: to strum on his guitar and accompany a singer who would entertain the residents.

The singer: Bob's 95 year old father.

Pops walked into the room sporting a full sized Stetson hat, a black leather jacket, cowboy boots and blue jeans. We shook hands and he sat down. I watched him fiddle with something in his pocket, finally producing a plastic lemon juice container. He popped off the lid and downed a shot of the juice explaining it got his voice ready to sing. “I'm almost one third of the way to 96," he told me.

We followed Pops and his son into the dining area where wheelchairs were being rolled in. And with that, the strummin' and singin' began. A smile on his face, Pops sang a country ballad, undistracted by the all the distractions in the room. The old man could sing, no doubt, yet his softer voice was at times lost to the ambience of the place.

A large flat panel TV played highlights from college football games, nursing assistants chatted, while against the wall, a shriveled woman, her mind lost in childhood, mumbled the same names over and over again.

To the huddled few who actually heard the old man's music it was a simple gift of encouragement from a 95 year old whose life appeared to be a testimony to the words of Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than receive.”

How old do you have to be before you're too old to encourage someone else?

Answer: at least 96.

 
Why are you so Cranky?  

Anxiety swirled like the impurities in a glass of pond water.

I was feeling uneasy...a bit cranky—and I didn't quite know why.

Call it a case of the Monday Morning Blues.   Or was it?

 

Pacing myself along the mile-and-a-half walk to work, I attempted to take some sort of emotional inventory and became the the subject of my own interrogation:

Why are you so uptight, Jon?

            Not sure.

Did you have a bad night's sleep?

            No.  Slept reasonably well, actually.

Are you gainfully employed?

            Gratefully, yes.

And would you describe the work you do as meaningful, or merely busy work?

            Definitely meaningful.  I love that about my job.

Nervous about paying some bills?

            Not really. None in particular.

Did you eat three meals yesterday?

            Yep.  Never had to worry about a single one of them, either.  Unlike some places I've traveled. 

And are you married to someone who loves you?

            Yep.  I'm blessed, in fact.

What about your health?  Perhaps there are issues there?

            Actually, none! 

And you have some spare change on your dresser, is that fair to say?

            Yes.

You realize, of course, that little fact alone puts you among the richest in the history of civilization, right?

            So I've heard.  Read it somewhere.

Isn't it true you've been forgiven of your sins?  All of them?

            Yes.  Absolutely true.

Isn't it also true when this little blip on the time line we call “life” is over, you'll spend eternity in heaven?

            Yes.  All eternity.  

Isn't it true that “He has said never will I leave you, never will I forsake you”?

            Yes. It's true.  Every word of it.

So let me get this straight.  You have a loving family, a good job, good health, money to pay the bills, you don't worry about food—ever—you're richer than most folks in the history of the planet...you've been forgiven all your sins, granted eternal life...but you're still upset?

            Umm....Not really.  Not anymore.

I didn't think so.

 
Some Things Just No Longer Fit  

To me, they represent the most exotic, most luxurious travel experience in the history of flight.  The Boeing Clipper ships.  Built from 1934-1941, these were essentially flying boats with no capacity to land on the ground at all.  Hence the name, “Clipper ships.”

The largest of these planes, the Boeing 314, had room for 74 passengers—and could even provide sleeping accommodations for 36 of them.  And remember--this was before World War II.

A dining salon served meals on linen covered tables as passengers relaxed in comfortable chairs.  These planes featured washrooms, hot and cold water, air conditioning, and a lounge for playing cards or writing letters.  They also traveled with an anchor which was let out whenever they landed in a harbor to let passengers on or off.

Cruising at about 150 miles an hour, the Clipper Ships opened up the possibility of travel to Asia.  There were routes to Hawaii, Guam, Wake Island and the Philippines.   No big deal  today, but it was truly cutting edge back then.

Just as these marvelous machines showed their mastery of the skies, World War II broke out.  By the time the war was over, the era of the Clipper Ships was ended.  The advent of the jet engine made flying much faster.  Plus, passengers wanted to land on the ground, and not be confined to water.

So the Clippers were scrapped, sold or sunk.

Sad, in one way, but necessary in another.

The older we get, the more inclined we are to reminisce and wish for the good old days.  But I wonder if as Christians, we hang on too long to techniques, strategies and even ministries that were useful in the past, but are no longer truly effective.   Like an airplane carrying a boat anchor, some things just…no longer fit.

With respect to those who have navigated the skies long before us, maybe it’s time to lose the anchor.

 

P-s-s-s-t!  Come hear Jon Gauger speak this Sunday at West Suburban Community Church in Elmhurst.  Topic: When You're Out of the Comfort Zone.  Time: 10:00am.  Directions: westsub.net.

 

 

 
How Likeable Are You?  

How likeable are you?

I'm serious.

If a group of honest folks were to assess your likeability on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best...how would you score?

My guess is most of us think we are more likeable than we really are.  We minimize our crankiness, our quirkiness....while maximizing the good.

This is an important question if we care about how non-believers perceive those who claim to follow Christ.

Wanna know why I think most Christians are less likeable than they think they are?  Check out these stories.

One time attending a national convention for a major Christian organization I spoke with a member of the hotel management staff.  He told me that this crowd (Christians) had more complaints, did more whining than any other group that rented the facility.

Ouch!  Not exactly likeable!

My brother was once a waiter at an Italian restaurant.  I know him well enough to know that he is a truly hard worker and knows how to work well with people.  He told me that the absolute worst tippers at the restaurant were Christians.  Invariably the folks making the biggest show about saying grace showed almost none of that grace to their server.  My brother told me that it was a widely known fact in the industry that Christians were/are the worst tippers.

Ouch!  Definitely not the stuff that defines likeable.

And there are so many other ways that we Christians come across as unlikeable.

Example: angry Christians—angry about all kinds of things.  That's a lot of us!   So we write angry letters to the editor and shout angry things at protest marches.  And while there's a place for righteous indignation...we can never forget that “God did not send his son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

How are we imaging Christ to the world?

Let me ask you one more time—as I ask myself—just how likeable are you?

 
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