Giving us all something to think about on a Thursday!

I may have exchanged air with one too many children who were sniffing and coughing because I've actually been a little bit on the puny side the last couple of days. I suppose that handling over 500 children might set you up for something like that. Scratchy throat and coughing here and there, but still able to get up and go, therefore, as a dear old brother in Christ used to say, "If I kicked I ought to be." I'll let you figure that one out on this brand new Thursday, December 9, 2010. You may have heard about the fellow in New York City that jumped onto the tracks to save the life of another guy who had fallen. They came within a fraction of a second of being hit. The rescuer is being heralded as a superman but in an interview he had a completely different take on why he jumped to save his fellow commuter. He said the supermarket where he worked was considering eliminating his shift on the weekends and it being Christmas he needed to do all he could to keep his job. If the fellow on the tracks wasn't moved, the train would have hit him, the train would have been delayed, and he would have not been to work on time, and that may have contributed to him losing his job. Now that's the kind of dedication to one's job that we all admire. It was still an heroic act of courage for him to risk his life to save another but you also have to give him a huge amount of credit for his honesty in explaining his motivation. If I were that supermarket I would certainly do all things possible to take care of this guy because he is a keeper!

I read where a man named Smith changed his name to Awesome. How funny is that? He actually exchanged one of the most common sir names to one of the most commonly used, misused, and over used descriptive words. But, while it may do some good for his self esteem, I'm not too inclined to enjoy how the Awesome word as slang is thrown about all the time. It is a word connected to awe which originally was defined as being something that was so stunning it caused a response of reverence and dread. The Bible use of the Hebrew word for awe involves a response where one trembles or quakes. The Psalmist said this in the 33rd Division, Verse 8: "Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." To me you lose the connection of the sacredness, holiness, and profound majesty of our Great God whenever we use terms that were once limited to expressing His person, but we now connect it to anything and everything. Okay. Now you know why folks consider me to be an honorary member of the fuddy duddy society. I plead guilty but at the same time will continue to stand up for what I believe to be the enemy's attack on all things that turn our thoughts to our Great God. I have been called an awesome teacher but I have yet to see folks on their faces or their knees knocking together whenever my words come forth. That's why I believe certain words should be reserved for their sacred use. One more time, before you send a note telling me I need to get a life, remember that's why it's called The View From Here.

On Sunday when I made a Santa appearance at our local fellowship of believers at the birthday party for Jesus, each child was given a prayer card and a gospel card using an attached candy cane as an object lesson. The story of the candy cane is used to explain the salvation plan that God brought forth when Jesus came to dwell among men. The Santa prayer card was one that shared his desire to not take away from the Reason for the Season. This is very much like what we did when I was a kid. My mom tried to allow us to enjoy the festivities but always with a clear focus on the coming of our Lord into the world. I greatly respect those who have chosen to forgo any recognition of any other truth except the account about the birth of Jesus. There's plenty of good reasons to follow that path especially with the commercialization of the entire holiday. However, I consider it to be a matter of personal conviction and for our family we have continued the tradition of having Santa as a fun time while giving full reverence to our Savior and how that God brought Him into the world. Some would say it is impossible to find the proper balance here. That's a reasonable view as well. The little prayer card I gave to each child had the image of Santa kneeling at the manger. That may seem out of place to many but to me it does portray the balance many of us attempt to accomplish as we experience the joy of Lord at this time of year along side the fun of gift giving and Santa. Real joy, of course only comes from knowing Jesus, and growth comes when we get hold of the impact of true J-O-Y. J is for Jesus first. O is for others next. And, Y is for yourself last. See there. We all can learn something each day. Amen.             ........More later.