Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXLI

We humans are strange creatures! Especially those of us who call ourselves Christians. We talk, and even complain, about all the troubles and heartaches we have to endure on a daily basis. Our neighbors mistreat us, our family members let us down, our bodies have something hurting most all of the time, and from time to time we have to endure the anguish and grief of losing someone we love. We get frustrated when it appears that wicked people seem to be the ones who are prospering. We live in such constant fear of our fellow man that we basically keep our homes and vehicles locked at all times. It's what we call "life." There's another part of this "life," however, that keeps us going. It's the hope of what we call the "afterlife." We refer to it as Heaven. It's a place where there's no such thing as trouble and heartache. It's a place where everyone loves everyone else, and every person there will treat us with dignity and respect. We'll never have to worry about losing a loved one, because death doesn't exist there. In fact, we say we have friends and family who are actually living there already. We'll always be happy and never experience sadness. "Life" there will be infinitely better than "life" here. So......if all I've said is true, why do we want to put off going to Heaven for as long as possible? Does going to Heaven have a downside? Do we prefer this life of trouble and heartache over that life of eternal bliss? I'm sure all of us would say we believe in Heaven, but could there still be just a smidgen of doubt in our minds about its existence? Or could it be that we believe, but we're just not completely confident that we'll be going there? And while we're on that topic, if we say we believe Heaven is a place where all who live a life pleasing to God will spend eternity, why do we sometimes take chances by committing acts that are not pleasing to God? Here's my theory: We were born as sinful creatures which gives us a natural tendency to commit sinful acts, and regardless of our good intentions, we're all going to mess up sometimes. (Thankfully, God understands that.) In addition to being born into sin, we're also born with a natural self-preservation mechanism that makes us want to hang on to this life for as long as possible. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that all of us want to go to Heaven, but none of us wants to go today. We humans are strange creatures! Preston

Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDLIII

My brother in law made a mistake, and it caused what he had to do to be a much more difficult task. His idea was great, though. He was thinking since his home is surrounded by significant acreage of pastureland, he should get a calf, feed it and let it graze in his pasture for a couple years, then slaughter it and fill his freezer with fresh beef. It was a smart move, except for one small detail: He gave his calf a name. He admitted to me that he shouldn't have done that, even though he named it Ribeye, because there's something about a name that makes it become much more personal. I remember one episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" when all the guys of Mayberry were were trying to catch a certain big, elusive fish that everyone referred to as Ole Sam. Then one day, on his first fishing trip, Howard Sprague caught him. At first they were all excited, but then the excitement turn to sadness when they all realized Ole Sam was gone. There was just something about the fact that he was a creature for which everyone had a fondness, and even called him by name, that made it personal. It was a relief to everyone in town when they found out Howard had thrown him back. In reading a book I've mentioned to you before, "Love Does," by Bob Goff, I was reminded of these stories, and I would like to share the idea that came to me from reading one particular chapter in his book. For some reason, we humans are sometimes quick to make derogatory remarks, and even poke fun of people who are different from us. We do it with people of different races, homosexuals, those who are extremely obese, folks from other religions, special needs people, etc. We make comments without stopping to consider how hurtful our careless words can be to those individuals. Here's the idea: We should try to become friends with at least one person from each of these groups. That should not be too difficult when we consider our coworkers, neighbors, the employees at the super market, and fellow church members. Then, when we want to make snide remarks about any of those groups, include the name of our friend from that group in our comments. For example, if we have a friend named Lucy Smith, who is obese, we should include her name every time we make fun of people with obesity issues. That makes it personal. As a matter of fact, why don't we try one more thing when we do that. If I want to make what could be a hurtful remark about those who are obese, not only should I include Lucy Smith's name, but I should also tell Lucy what I said. If I'm not comfortable telling her what I said, maybe I shouldn't say it at all. Do you catch my drift? There's just something about adding the name of a real person, someone we might could even call a friend, that makes it personal, and might even help us in breaking the habit of being so judgmental of those who are different from us. After all, when we stop to think about it, we're different from them as well, and they have just as much right to make fun of us as we have to make fun of them. If we feel we just have to be critical, let's name our criticism after a friend. That should make slaughtering their character a much more difficult task. Preston Sent from my iPad

Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDLII

No doubt there's no one else on earth who knows more about my wife than I do. It makes sense that after more than forty years of marriage, no other person could even come close to knowing about her the way I do. We talk to each other daily, 365 days a year. When I speak, she listens. When she speaks, I listen. We go places together. We have meals together. We take walks together. We trust each other. If something I do displeases her, she lets me know. I do the same with her. By the same token, when either one of us does something that pleases the other, we express our gratitude to one another. We know each other so well, we've become experts at interpreting the other's body language, and sometimes we can even discern what the other one is thinking. We went through a period, before marriage, when we said we were engaged. But now, after several decades of being husband and wife, we are truly engaged. Yes, you can say we have a thorough and intimate knowledge of each other. There's another way I could've done it, however, without going through all the actions I just mentioned. I could have studied her. Here's how I would've done it: Now that we have social media, I would have befriended her on Facebook and Instagram, and I would read everything she posts. I would also be sure to listen closely to anything anyone had to say about her. I would find out where she lives so I could pass by a couple times a week, maybe even getting a glimpse of her from time to time. I would learn about all her habits. I think I could become enough of an expert on her, I could even teach a class about her. I would call it an "Angie Study." However, even with all the time and effort I would put in to learn more about her, I still wouldn't know as much about her as I do with the actual interaction with her that I've been engaged in for more than four decades. You see, more than proclaiming ourselves to be experts and bragging about our knowledge of each other, we're actually involved. Instead of me knowing about her habits, we form habits together. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with an "Angie Study," but doesn't the method I discussed in the first paragraph seem like best way to learn all there is to know about her? It almost makes the method of merely "studying" her, like I described in the second paragraph, seem a little ridiculous, except for the fact that we so often follow that procedure when it comes to knowing about God. Sometimes I wonder if we are guilty of knowing about God, without ever reaching the level of simply knowing Him. To know Him, there has to be frequent interaction. We have to walk together. We talk....and listen...to each other, every single day of the year. When I'm hurting, I let Him know. When He pleases me, I tell Him. We trust each other. Now don't get me wrong....I'm not condemning studying about Him. I love a good Bible Study. All I'm saying is, even if I somehow memorized the entire Bible, I could still never know as much about Him as I do when I actually KNOW Him. Knowing Him and knowing about Him are not one and the same. Knowing about Him doesn't require intimacy. Knowing Him does. Preston