September 9, 2016 – Words of Wisdom
John Wooden (basketball coach UCLA)

“Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.” John Wooden
“Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:25-37
If it wasn’t for the Pharisees and lawyers and Scribes and such who wanted to argue with Jesus, we would not have some of our greatest parables that teach us important lessons about the Christ-like life. In the case of the parable of the Good Samaritan, the lawyer asking Jesus the question wants to “justify” himself. In other words, he wants to show others how important he is. This is so important to him, because his sense of importance is crucial to forming his opinion of himself. But, instead of challenging him to a debate, Jesus simply poses a situation and a question “Which of these was a neighbor….?” So, in the end, the lawyer does not have the opportunity to justify himself, and we all have to consider the question “What does it mean to be a neighbor?”

My father taught me an important lesson about life. He used to tell me about a friend of his, someone who worked with him, who in the process of doing business, they would often have long arguments, disagreeing on how to handle a situation. But, after all of the arguing, even if they finally did not agree on a solution, they remained good friends. If you only surround yourself with people who think just like you, you may find life to be simpler, but you will miss out on opportunities to grow and to be challenged – and to evolve in your thinking. I believe this is the lesson of the Lawyer in the parable of the Good Samaritan – he was forced to think differently – and he, and we, are the better for it.

Pastor Dave

September 8, 2016 — Words of Wisdom
Paul Coelho (author of such books as The Alchemist and Aleph. )

“The rails and the wheels of a train are in conflict and we can hear the noise of that friction between metals. But the rail justifies the existence of the wheel and vice versa. Without the other, each could not exist. The same is true with people. Without conflict we could not change or evolve.”
“And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

I once heard some “way out there” scientist say that if there were only one person on the earth, they would have no personality. His theory was that you need two people to develop a personality – because you need another person to respond to. Now, to me, that sounds about right. We need other people to reflect off of, in a way, to project our sense of who we are and then to interpret the responses that come back.

This is what Paul Coelho is getting at in his quote. I was watching a commercial the other day for some baby product, and the spokesperson said something like “All you want to do is give them comfort and protection in their life.” As parents we do look to provide for our children, but if we always try to comfort and protect them, if they never suffer any adversity, they will never evolve – or in other words they will grow up expecting comfort and protection all of the time from a world that is neither comfortable nor protecting. As Paul said, “…knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” No matter the suffering we all will endure, Jesus is there with us in the Spirit to guide us, sustain us, and lead us through to new life, and to eternal life.

Pastor Dave