During my sophomore year of college my older brother (and roommate) dropped out of school and joined the Navy. In one fell swoop I lost a brother, a roommate, and a friend. Our relationship stalled at that point and our memory of each other was locked in that moment in time. That is to say, I remembered him as guy he was in college with me and as the roommate that I would hang out with. I know that is the same for him.

My brother was stationed on the East Coast where he settled after he finished his time in the Navy. Both he and I had returned to a life of faith (which both of us had turned from in college) but we had done so independent of each other. This became obvious to me years later. On one vist, my brother joined me at a Bible study that I was leading. I realized that the comments he made during the study and afterwards to me were based on the assumption that I was the same person he knew in college. I also realized I was making those same assumptions.

So what does that have to do with Facebook? Well, as I traveled back through time to connect with people in my past I realized that they knew me when I was a different person. Would they make the assumption that I am the same man they used to know? Will they read my blog and be agast at what they find? Or will they realize, as I have, that when you come in contact with God in a meaningful way your life is changed.

The people of Israel were about to attack the Moabites and the king of Moab wasn’t so keen on that happening because  the Israelites seemed to be on a pretty good winning streak. So the king of Moab calls upon Balaam to call down curses on the people of Israel. The problem was that God was on Israel’s side so no amount of fussing, moaning,  cursing or otherwise was going to help the Moabites and God told Balaam as much. As the story unfolds we have Balaam heading out on his donkey to meet with the king of Moab.

Num 22:23-27  And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road.  (24)  Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side.  (25)  And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again.  (26)  Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left.  (27)  When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

Next two things that happen make me scratch my head in wonder. The donkey speaks to Balaam and Balaam doesn’t find that weird. Now I don’t want to get too bogged down in the story so I’ll stop there. I do, however, want to make some observations about the donkey.

1. The donkey was not the main character in the story
2. The donkey was beaten for doing its job
3. The donkey was there to save Balaam’s life

This thought came from a conversation I had with a guy last Sunday night. He was telling me how he had fallen on hard times but things were getting better. He had been there before but he guessed he just didn’t learn the first time and that God was teaching him a lesson again.  That seems to be our natural reaction when troubles come our way. “There must be something God’s trying to teach me,” but what if we are just Balaam’s donkey? What if we’re not the main character in the story and we’re in that situation to do our jobs and save someone from disaster?

James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear,
slow to speak, slow to anger; (20)for the anger of man does not produce the
righteousness of God (ESV)

If I could get these two teaching internalized, I know that my walk with God would be much more enjoyable.

I realized that I had some base assumptions about the rolls of the members and the congregational assembly. I would love some input and insight on this, so ….

What is church?

The Apostle Paul had this commentary on King David’s life in Acts 13:36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers…” Acts chapter 13 is Paul’s sermon to the Jews in Antioch concerning how their history was all leading to the redemption through Jesus. Of all the great things Kind David was and did, Paul could have emphasized how David unified the Jewish nation, how he was the greatest king they ever had, or how the promised Messiah was going to come from his line. Paul summarized all the importance of Kind David simply with “he had served the purpose of God”.

I pray that I have the opportunity to do mighty things for God but more than that I hope that I the reflection on my life will be “he served the purpose of God in his own generation.”

Over the years I’ve developed the concept of the Piranha Principle to explain why in our modern society we feel overwhelmed and defeated despite our obvious wealth and blessing. I’ll use me as the example. I have a great wife (mamakay), five great kids, I don’t carry consumer debt, I have a great career and a job that more than covers our monthly expenses, I’m active in my church, and generally regarded as a good Christian father.

With all that, I still get worn down bit by bit by the slight annoiances of everyday life. The alarm didn’t wake me up in time, the guy in front of me didn’t pull out fast enough, the line in the super market didn’t move, the kids didn’t get the mess cleaned up, and the like. Each little thing taking a bit of me like piranha taking down a water buffalo. One piranha by itself can not kill; it’s jaws are not big enough to inflict enough damage but you let it invite 200 of its friends and then you’ve got trouble.

Can you guess the number one recommendation for avoiding being killed by piranha? If you said “Stay out of the water” you would be correct. That’s well and good for saving your shins from shiny teeth but how do we avoid the piranha’s in our own lives?

SLOW DOWN. I have found that in my life the root case of frustration and annoyance comes from being in a hurry. If it takes 25 minutes to get from home to work why do we only allow 25 minutes for that to happen? Don’t we know that something will happen to slow us down? Why not just add another 5 minutes to account for God wanting to teach us patience ? How about with others?

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-3

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (ESV)

Paul’s “piranha-be-gone” with people is to be patient or said another way: SLOW DOWN. Don’t see others as interruptions to your great plan. Treat them with gentleness, love them, don’t think you are more important. Ease up on your expectations of them or their behavior.

For the record, this is my understanding not necessarily my practice (but I’m working on it)

• 1751 - The first cricket match is played in America.
• 1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
• 1834 - The British colonies abolish slavery.
• 1884 - Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
• 1930 - The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
• 1931 - The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
• 1940 - The 1940 Summer Olympics are canceled due to war.
• 1950 - Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
• 1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
• 1961 - Fidel Castro proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
• 1972 - I was born
• 1982 - The 1982 World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The authors give a basic overview of electricity and how it applies to solar energy, the distinction between grid-tied and battery-based systems, system sizing and the cost of producing your own energy.

Here’s the problem that I have seen with the “Go Green” people: they focus on saving the planet. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to do that or cares about that. I don’t. However… if you can save me some bucks that I don’t have to dump month after month into my house via electrical bills AND I don’t have to radically change my lifestyle, you’ve sold me.

Up to about a year a go I was eco-adverse. I didn’t mind that other people wanted to save the planet but it bothered me that for me to join them I had to give up all the things I enjoyed about being an American, drive a weird car, AND I had to pay more for the privilege of being green. No thanks!

Then something changed. The housing market was at a all time high, life seemed like it was only getting better, wages were up, everyone was spending like crazy, even the Republicans and Democrats agreed we were in a golden era. It was then that my wife and I realized that a tree can only grow as tall as its roots will allow and our economic tree had grown way to fast. We rushed to get out of our consumer debt and find ways to reduces our monthly expenses. Think about it. If we reduce our cost of living and the economy booms then we’re two times better off but if the economy tanks (like it did) then we are able maintain the lifestyle that we have.

Ok, if you have stayed with me this far, good for you.

While shopping one day I saw these funny little compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) that used an amazing small about of electricity. I scratched my head and wondered off. When I got home I started looking around my house at the lights. I have two big ceiling fans with light kits on them in our family room. Each light kit had 5 bulbs at 60W a piece. So I did some quick math: 60W times 5 is 300W. So if I replace those bulbs with the 13W CFL (13 x 5 = 65) I could reduce the cost of lighting that room by 78% I was sold. I started changing out all my light bulbs.

I’ve astounded my liberal and conservative friends alike with my rambling about conserving energy. But in the end I’m just Greedy Green. I’m not trying to save my planet, I’m just trying to save my money.