Ever thought about loving your enemies. No, not that "I love everyone" type of love, but the kind of love that means making a difference in your enemies' lives. Jesus taught us to love our enemies. The best example is near his death.
Jesus was in the garden, praying for a reprieve from his death sentence. He knew the guards were on their way and in a few hours, he would be tortured, and later killed in a most brutal way. The first tool of his death would be the guards leading him away.
Peter, in his zeal for a physical Messiah, cuts off the ear of one of those tools.
Jesus knows these are the men who will escort him to his trials. He could easily let that man suffer for his part in His death. Instead, Jesus rebukes Peter and repairs the man's ear. He heals his enemy. He has compassion for His enemy.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe I would be less likely to be so kind. Loving our enemies is all about seeing them as God's children. I often fail in my quest to be a loving member of God's family. I forget that each of my enemies are my brothers and sisters.
In this time of grace, where God sent His only Begotten Son to us, it seems like such a small sacrifice for us to start learning to love our enemies. We can start to make a world vision to take small steps toward making our world a little nicer by making our enemies' world filled with love.
The first step? Find the person you think you could never love, and begin praying for that person. Ask God to give them peace and love, to bless them, and bring a life of happiness between you and your enemy.
try it for a week and let me know how it goes.
Hope and peace to all of you... Allen
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Christians often spend enormous time getting ready for Christmas. We spend hours shopping and decorating. not to mention the time spent cooking and cleaning. When we compare the time we spend on Christmas tot he time we spend preparing for Easter, it pales in comparison.
Sure, we buy our kids toys and we read the Easter story. We bake a meal for the family and the festivities roll through like any other Sunday. Not that I want to diminish the importance of any family gathering, but I want to point out a few things.
First, Passover. Passover is a time celebrated as far back as Israel's captivity in Egypt. The Hebrew nation began to commemorate this special season as a time of learning and fellowship, as well as a time of bringing families closer together. Families took special notice of the grace extended to His people. And in case you haven't noticed, we have been grafted into the House of YHWH and are His people.
Shouldn't we give Passover a look?
I was an adult before I really realized that the Lord's Supper had special meaning because the Passover had special meaning. I was also an adult before I realized that celebrating the Lord's Supper should include the elements of the Passover. Why? you ask.
Well, I'll tell you. We are celebrating our own passover. Instead of passing over our first born males, we are celebrating the passing by of our own lives. The Angel of Death will not stop at our house when we are right with God. The Jews celebrate being freed from the Egyptions. We celebrate being free from sin and its grip on our lives.
Lastly, we need to stop thinking of Easter as a time of firsts, but as a time of many. The Jews celebrate Passover each year as a renewal of their faith and the reminder that their world changed in a night. It is a time when they renew their faith in a God who is capable of great works in our life.
We, too, should think of Easter as a time to renew our pledges and our beliefs. Seeing such a miracle happen in our lives can bring forward a new time of celebration and hope for the future.
I urge you to pick this year to learn as much as you can about the Easter season and to experience it as the first Century church did. The internet is full of good information about Passover and Easter. Make this Easter special. Then continue to work to make our Savior's sacrifice and important event.
until the next time...
Sure, we buy our kids toys and we read the Easter story. We bake a meal for the family and the festivities roll through like any other Sunday. Not that I want to diminish the importance of any family gathering, but I want to point out a few things.
First, Passover. Passover is a time celebrated as far back as Israel's captivity in Egypt. The Hebrew nation began to commemorate this special season as a time of learning and fellowship, as well as a time of bringing families closer together. Families took special notice of the grace extended to His people. And in case you haven't noticed, we have been grafted into the House of YHWH and are His people.
Shouldn't we give Passover a look?
I was an adult before I really realized that the Lord's Supper had special meaning because the Passover had special meaning. I was also an adult before I realized that celebrating the Lord's Supper should include the elements of the Passover. Why? you ask.
Well, I'll tell you. We are celebrating our own passover. Instead of passing over our first born males, we are celebrating the passing by of our own lives. The Angel of Death will not stop at our house when we are right with God. The Jews celebrate being freed from the Egyptions. We celebrate being free from sin and its grip on our lives.
Lastly, we need to stop thinking of Easter as a time of firsts, but as a time of many. The Jews celebrate Passover each year as a renewal of their faith and the reminder that their world changed in a night. It is a time when they renew their faith in a God who is capable of great works in our life.
We, too, should think of Easter as a time to renew our pledges and our beliefs. Seeing such a miracle happen in our lives can bring forward a new time of celebration and hope for the future.
I urge you to pick this year to learn as much as you can about the Easter season and to experience it as the first Century church did. The internet is full of good information about Passover and Easter. Make this Easter special. Then continue to work to make our Savior's sacrifice and important event.
until the next time...
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Followers
You might notice I have added a Follower's gadget to the left of this post. I have added this benefit to the blog for the convenience of the people who like to keep up with what is happening here.
It is simple to sign up and is really painless. The one millionth customer to sign up will get a free set of steak knives, hand delivered by me. If you win, please bring your own cigarette and blindfold.
I am hoping for three, count them, three bloggers in the next two or three years. Let's see if I am right.
Oh, and did I mention that you get to put a picture of yourself on the page under followers? Pretty cool, huh!
Till then....
It is simple to sign up and is really painless. The one millionth customer to sign up will get a free set of steak knives, hand delivered by me. If you win, please bring your own cigarette and blindfold.
I am hoping for three, count them, three bloggers in the next two or three years. Let's see if I am right.
Oh, and did I mention that you get to put a picture of yourself on the page under followers? Pretty cool, huh!
Till then....
There Is No Light At the End of the Tunnel
We all look to see if the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. The brilliance of the sun shining into the dark hole is comforting to all who wish to remove themselves from dark, moldy holes in the ground. Sometimes, however, it is night out and the sun doesn't shine.
Case in point, this blog. I may never see an end to ministries in the nudist world. Not in my lifetime. But that doesn't mean we are not making progress. For some of the time, we can believe there are some good things happening. Other times, we see nothing good coming from our labor. Of course, labor is its own reward.
Noting there are dark times and times of light, we can anticipate both the good times and the bad.
With this in mind, I would like to look back at some of the good, the bad, and the-- well really bad.
First the bad. Nudism still has a taint about it. Neither the world nor the Christian community accepts us for the what we are. Most see nudism as a related activity to sexual gratification. We have not done our job to make sure people know what we do. It is unlikely this will change until we start to cast light into our world so that the community around us can see us for what we are.
The really bad. There is some truth to the fact that nudism attracts a bad element. Just a short google search away from this blog will take you to a place where you can see all kinds of sexual wrongs being done in the name of nudism. As little as 30 years ago, we had tons of exploitive nudist magazines proclaiming the free lifestyle of nudity, all the while presenting young teens in provocative positions and in compromising sitautions. Coming from a 100-year-old tradition of wholesome nudist beginnings, we can see how the freedom to worship and love God and to appreciate His creations has turn ugly.
The Good. We are starting to make a difference in the nudist community. Churches are starting in our resorts. Bible studies are popping up in people's homes. We are praying for one another. Many of the us are looking for ways to serve in our communities to make the whole of the community better.
So, what is this all about? Well, maybe it is time we shine a light in the tunnel instead of trying to see by what falls through the openings.
First, we need to open up to the world. If you are not telling your family about your Christian beliefs, there is a problem. If you are not telling them about your nudist tradition, there is a problem. Covering up either causese you to walk in darkness and allows others to only see a small and mostly errant side of both. We need to shine a light on our lives so that there is no question what nudism is about. For those who would do us harm out of ignorance, the truth will set us free. When all people can see our way of life and see what there is that makes us thrive on God and nudism, there will be no doubt as to our intentions.
Second, we need to share our Christian lives with the community in which we thrive, the nudist community. Shine the light on our lives so that all can see the benefits.
How can we do this? Easy. Let our everyday events tell our story. When you sit down to eat, be thankful and take a moment to pray and thank God for your food and ask him to bless it. It need not be gaudy or loud, just a simple silent prayer is sufficient. It honors God and it tells the world you are serious about this. Take a moment at the end of every day to say thanks to God and to pray for your friends, family and enemies. Take the opportunity to help others in Christ's name. Thank God even for the things you did not want. Accept God's decisions even if there is a "no" in the front of them. And lastly, go to church, become a functioning member and actively encourage your church to use you.
Lastly, we need to tell our churches we are nudists and why. If you don't know why you are a nudist, it is time to consider the question. If it is for sexual reasons, perhaps you should leave the nudist world. If it is because od gave you a gift of nudist lifestyle, shouldn't you let the church know about your gift?
Shining the light on our world will do two things. It will make us feel better and releive most of our fears. Second, it will let the world see what we are about. Both are great results. It is a win win situation. Third, it will allow us to self police our community. Remember the people here for the wrong reasons? They exist because we keep our world in the dark. Expose it to the light adn these creeps have no place to hide. They will leave. That's a win-win-win situation.
Till next time...
Case in point, this blog. I may never see an end to ministries in the nudist world. Not in my lifetime. But that doesn't mean we are not making progress. For some of the time, we can believe there are some good things happening. Other times, we see nothing good coming from our labor. Of course, labor is its own reward.
Noting there are dark times and times of light, we can anticipate both the good times and the bad.
With this in mind, I would like to look back at some of the good, the bad, and the-- well really bad.
First the bad. Nudism still has a taint about it. Neither the world nor the Christian community accepts us for the what we are. Most see nudism as a related activity to sexual gratification. We have not done our job to make sure people know what we do. It is unlikely this will change until we start to cast light into our world so that the community around us can see us for what we are.
The really bad. There is some truth to the fact that nudism attracts a bad element. Just a short google search away from this blog will take you to a place where you can see all kinds of sexual wrongs being done in the name of nudism. As little as 30 years ago, we had tons of exploitive nudist magazines proclaiming the free lifestyle of nudity, all the while presenting young teens in provocative positions and in compromising sitautions. Coming from a 100-year-old tradition of wholesome nudist beginnings, we can see how the freedom to worship and love God and to appreciate His creations has turn ugly.
The Good. We are starting to make a difference in the nudist community. Churches are starting in our resorts. Bible studies are popping up in people's homes. We are praying for one another. Many of the us are looking for ways to serve in our communities to make the whole of the community better.
So, what is this all about? Well, maybe it is time we shine a light in the tunnel instead of trying to see by what falls through the openings.
First, we need to open up to the world. If you are not telling your family about your Christian beliefs, there is a problem. If you are not telling them about your nudist tradition, there is a problem. Covering up either causese you to walk in darkness and allows others to only see a small and mostly errant side of both. We need to shine a light on our lives so that there is no question what nudism is about. For those who would do us harm out of ignorance, the truth will set us free. When all people can see our way of life and see what there is that makes us thrive on God and nudism, there will be no doubt as to our intentions.
Second, we need to share our Christian lives with the community in which we thrive, the nudist community. Shine the light on our lives so that all can see the benefits.
How can we do this? Easy. Let our everyday events tell our story. When you sit down to eat, be thankful and take a moment to pray and thank God for your food and ask him to bless it. It need not be gaudy or loud, just a simple silent prayer is sufficient. It honors God and it tells the world you are serious about this. Take a moment at the end of every day to say thanks to God and to pray for your friends, family and enemies. Take the opportunity to help others in Christ's name. Thank God even for the things you did not want. Accept God's decisions even if there is a "no" in the front of them. And lastly, go to church, become a functioning member and actively encourage your church to use you.
Lastly, we need to tell our churches we are nudists and why. If you don't know why you are a nudist, it is time to consider the question. If it is for sexual reasons, perhaps you should leave the nudist world. If it is because od gave you a gift of nudist lifestyle, shouldn't you let the church know about your gift?
Shining the light on our world will do two things. It will make us feel better and releive most of our fears. Second, it will let the world see what we are about. Both are great results. It is a win win situation. Third, it will allow us to self police our community. Remember the people here for the wrong reasons? They exist because we keep our world in the dark. Expose it to the light adn these creeps have no place to hide. They will leave. That's a win-win-win situation.
Till next time...
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