Noisy Bags

We live in a BIZARRE day...

Good is called bad ...bad is good, especially for the News.

Talent is spotlighted even if the gifted are reprobate or rude.

Character is degraded as old fashioned.

Sluggards are rewarded with entitlement and extended handouts.

The loudest whiner gets the attention even if the whiner is totally ignorant.

Credentials can be purchased or bullied instead of being earned.

Actually depraved men have always done their best to do their worst to get the most from those who do the most to do right.

Frito Lay invested a sizable fortune in a green initiative to make their "plastic" bags BIODEGRADABLE....{ After being lambasted for years as the scourge of the country side,(plastic bags blowing everywhere, mostly from people too lazy to dispose of their trash properly)}. They finally developed a bag that will breakdown in a compost pile in 14 weeks ...when it hit the market here is what happened:

SunChips bag proves it not easy being 'green'
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Noisy bag proves it's not easy being 'green'-- What happens when being "green" also means being LOUD?
In April 2009, Frito-Lay, the snack-chip company, announced that all the bags for its SunChips would be made from plant material, meaning the bags would leave no waste behind. The problem was the new bag had an unusual molecular structure that made it noisy. How noisy?
-- So noisy that people compared opening a bag to the sounds of lawnmowers and jet engines.
-- So noisy that SunChips sales have fallen by more than 11 percent in the past year.
-- So noisy that Frito-Lay has decided to go back to the original packaging on most flavors.
-- So noisy "Face Book" protests started
-- So noisy Frito-Lay Canada offered ear plugs
Frito-Lay says it will continue to try to find better ways to create environmentally friendly chip bags.

Not much different than Jesus' DayWhen there was an opportunity to do right.....

Matthew 9
23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
24 JESUS said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
25 But when the people were put forth , he went in , and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

There will always be noisy opposition against those who choose to love Jesus openly ... those who trust Him for the impossible ... those who chose to love others, instead of using and abusing others.

If you must be a NOISY BAG ...let it rip!

HLFA,

Jeff

Big Nose...Or A Beautiful Ornament

Laying down for a few moments, slightly under and near the Christmas tree, I closed my eyes just briefly to reminisce...Oh Christmas moments long ago, wee little crumb grabbers in total excitement and hope of what miracle might be discovered there for Christmas Morning!

I was actually chuckling out loud over the many funny memories...and it kind of bothered the dog...so she did something she rarely does...stuck her cold wet nose on my ear. (I'm not quite sure of the Greek word I used at that moment, possibly Huerisko) Immediately my eyes flew open, and staring me right in the face was a BIG Golden Nose. AAAAAAUGH! "Hey bub, that's your big nose in a golden globe shaped Christmas ornament" ....woe! ..pretty gross, possibly some golden goobers up there!!

But as I moved back just a little to get proper focus ...the nose disappeared and a shiny golden ornament took its purposely arranged place among the rest of the beauty of the Tree. The most beautiful thing about the tree is not its superficial decor but the underlying message of the hope of a more awesome tree, horribly but purposely decorated with the Body of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. DECORATED FOR US!!

Well in a big way, during this heart quickened season ...we are his ornaments. As people look on and see us, do they find a big gaudy blur that takes His love message way out of focus

OR do we concentrate on the ornaments that clarify faith? Like a beautiful woman below is the focus of the ornaments:

1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Oh to be decorated with ornaments that clarify His Love...not just a big golden nose!

Every Christmas is a little rough on me because I constantly bump into those who won't even entertain the thought of going to a church. Almost always it is because of the gross ornaments that have offended them that they have found hanging off of "Christians" ... pride, power, insult, offense, ignorance, and just down-right seperative rudeness.

It might be a good year to re-decorate our lives for Christ -
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Great place to start. ...get rid of the "big nose!"

Merry Christmas,

HLFA

Jeff 

Christmas Creation

Do you find your heart during this season... Once finding it, is it...longing...hoping...caring...hoping...longing..............sighing from your inner most being?

Once upon a time, an insignificant group of people sat in the darkness of the cold hours of the night. Like most nights, these people were captured in the longing: The longing for that flash on the horizon that announces that "daylight is coming". The longing for the constellations of Heaven fade into the day; the longing for the true light that begins to melt into peace. Peace that can deliver us from the anxiety caused by the unknown, the unseen, and the fears that creep in with the shadows created by the lesser lights of the night.

THIS particular night...an event would bring a change the way they would look at the skys forever. An event with such majesty that it would tenderize their longing hearts for the rest of their earthly lives. These insignificant people would experience the heavens burst open and eternity would spill forth and out, in full innocence and glory right before their very eyes.

A furious army of eternity's defenders ...would pass through the void, appear in the temporal sky, and would joyfully and boldly announce the Healing of the Eden's breech... "Peace due to God's Will and desire, which would be to all who would receive God's Love Gift, Jesus, who would restore the broken relationship with God and Men".

"You shall find" the "New Borne" Babe...the Alpha...bundled in grave clothes...Alive and resting in a feed trough..........WOW! there couldn't be a more appropriate place for Shepherds to find the food for their longing souls but in the common ground of the familiar...a feed trough.

Our God is so surprisingly and appropriately AMAZING!

He is Emanuel - GOD with us. Able to pay for our sins, able to save us from our sins, able to deliver us from death, able to sustain us in eternal life...and all by meeting us in the familiar.

Right where we are ...take a few moments in the media induced hustle and bustle of this season, get out under the star filled sky ...remember, thank, love and long for Jesus' next burst from eternity...that will call us away once and for all (who love His appearing) into Eternal Christmas, New Creation.

O does your heart long for Him?

HLFA,

Jeff

Stay Real???

Superman got his cape caught in a telephone booth as he tried to fly away. It yanked him back and he stepped on his "Clark Kent" glasses while tearing his cape in the process. Two identities marred. Easy fix ? Oh yeah! ...new cape and new glasses...nothing lost but time; but even that he fixed by flying backwards at the speed of light. No one noticed but him.

NO ONE NOTICED BUT HIM ... HE DID WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO TO RETAIN HIS IDENTITY... HOW DO WE RETAIN OUR IDENTITY IN THE MIDST OF A CHANGING WORLD AROUND US.We all experience successes and failures. How we handle these moments actually can define our identities unless we have a way to reset. Don't allow success or failure make you unrecognizable ..."I don't know who you are!" If that phrase comes your way from someone you love ...BETTER LISTEN.

After a miraculous recruitment of disciples in Luke 5 ... Jesus cures a Leper, a most contagiously infected and rejected individual; covered by his disease, controlled by his disease, untouchable because of his disease ...Cured by Jesus after a very tactile embrace from the Savior. The impossible done, He was now on the public broadcast system (though Jesus said go show yourself to the priest and keep it hush-hush) due to human nature's fascination with Miracles. Jesus did one big one and his fame spread like a wildfire. Success ...what does he do so he doesn't lose his identity? Let's take peek ......

Luke 5:15-16
But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear , and to be healed by him of their infirmities. Jesus' response to the overwhelming success and fame ...He lets it go to His head???? And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed .

Let's look at what this means through the revelation of the words ..."He retreated back to who He was... in a place void of success, and He communed with the Father".

Whether it be success or failure ...the place to go is to "who we are in Him". Don't sacrifice the integrity of your eternal relationship with Him for a few measly, tasty, temporal crumbs in this fading life.

True Success is found in our relationship with Jesus. Sink your energies into cultivating the most amazing GIFT life on this side of Heaven...Knowing Him and the power of His Resurrection.

Love Jesus Openly because you've retreated to Him in the Solitary.

HLFA,

Jeff

Lost in the Mix

One of the most frustrating things about being a musician is hoping the performance matches the heart.
...The music should carry the message.
... The music and the message should work together to convey the soul of the performer to touch the soul of the listener.

One of the most frustrating things about being a teacher is hoping the lesson matches the heart.
... The illustration of truth should reveal the truth.
... The lesson and the truth should work together to convey the soul of the teacher to touch the soul of the student.

One of the most frustrating things about being a lover of Christ is hoping our conversation (way of life) matches His heart.
... Our life should carry His message of life.
... Our walk and our talk should work together to convey the soul of the Spirit to touch the soul of those we come in contact with.

What causes the message to be lost in the mix: is the perception of "the moment" and what to do with the reality we are facing. 


Get a picture of this snip-it from a Biblical story (below) ...70 years the Children of Israel have been in ungodly Babylon ...free at last and in their own land, they stand before a "new" temple structure ... it is being raised from the rubble of the once glorious Solomon's Temple ... there are two groups of people at this dedication service: The Ancient who had seen the FIRST temple and "the People" , those who had never seen the temple because they were born in Babylon. The Ancient are a mixture of those type of people who hang on to the past and those who rejoice in the day ...the People are mixed with those who cling to the NEW and those who rejoice in the day. .........hear the words that recorded the moment: Ezra 3:12 - 13 

"But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off." 


Doesn't this sound a little like the gatherings that we call "Church"? Woe is me songs, Woe is me throngs droning Woe is me statements like "it wasn't like this in the olden days".
People weep because of change, not realizing that He who never changes (because He is always relevant), makes all things new! NEW ...what does that mean to you?

HOLD ON - SOMETHING IS BEING LOST IN THE MIX! 


Maybe Jesus has been lost in the mix ... though we've been unfaithful, we've never been disowned ...yet we act either like spoiled brats who scream when we don't get our own way, or orphans begging for moldy bread in the darkened alleys of a faceless city. Get out of your useless pity party and quit coddling your favorite sin ....rise up and take full advantage of this life abundant He has given...this life of Joy unspeakable with Him. 


Do you feel that it was easier before you came to Christ?(this thought may be revealing) Something is wrong ...and you are not wanting to face it ... Jesus has been lost in the mix of you choices in life. Slow down, simplify, focus on the star, the babe wrapped in swaddling cloth, the celebrated life, the cross, the tomb, the sky, the field....
Focus on Jesus ...He's standing right in the middle of the confusion ...calling your name ... 

Matthew 11:28-29  - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 


May our lives make a joyful noise that draws others to Jesus.

HLFA,

Jeff