Pot - marijuana - weed - inviting a Christian response

Oct 17^th (469 words)

Pot/marijuana/weed is legal in Canada.  What do you think?  Should we hold a mass rally demonstrating against it?  Should we hold a party celebrating it?  Should we blink twice and go on with our lives?  What about using it as an opportunity to think about our consumer society?  In this post I’m announcing my thoughts on Pot – I invite debate and discussion!

We are brought up thinking that if it feels good and doesn’t hurt anyone it can’t be wrong… but is this the case? 

Here are some thoughts for Christians - coming from someone who has never had a THC high.

1) The altered state caused by smoking one joint (I have heard) puts you in an altered state of controlled drunkenness.  A friend at work explained to me that you get more “drunken effect” for your buck when pot is compared to alcohol.  

If you’re looking for a high – the Holy Spirit is way better and he doesn’t increase your chances of Schizophrenia (See Ephesians 5:18 or 1 Peter 5:8).

2) Don’t be a slave.  Though some researches say that pot is the least addictive substance (compared to tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs) it is still addictive.  It can easily become a psychological crutch that is required for a person to relax (1 Corinthians 6:12 and 2 Peter 2:19).

3) Don’t let pleasure be your idol.  Do you worship pleasure?  Does your life revolve around the constant search to be happy?  Pot gives temporary happiness for a price.  True happiness comes not through a search for happiness – but in finding God and allowing him to transform us from unhealthy lies and thought patterns.  God frees us to live in a way that produces happiness as a bi-product.  The chief end of humankind is to love and worship God and enjoy him forever (2 Timothy 3:4).

4) As Christians, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Why put things into your body that can be harmful?  Why not care for your body and put things into your body that builds it up? (2 Corinthians 6:19-20).

5) Your testimony is the book you write on the hearts of the people around you.  I don’t think that looking for God’s glory will be helped by the hazy cloud caused by Marijuana.  Studies show that it won’t help a Christian walk through the complicated terrain we face every day – it only makes people more unmotivated, unambitious, and unproductive (2 Corinthians 8:21 and 1 Timothy 4:12).

These reflections have come out of the joint discussions of the churches in our network called Xtension.  They open up many more questions: how do we respond to energy drinks, alcohol, smoking, sugar, coffee, potato chips, video games, facebook addiction etc?

Please share these reflections if you think they might help someone.

Leaves and lilies - watch for beauty

Oct 12, (230 words)

Being amazed at the color and variety of the leaves was a choice I made on our drive back from Nova Scotia.  Flower gardens amaze us with their colors and variety.  Gemstones amaze us with their colors and variety.  Take these small things and multiply their size by 10,000-fold and you get the big-picture-scope of the fall colors. 

Gemstones are expensive.  Flowers can be expensive too.  But the tree leaves are there for our enjoyment (even though the price of gas is getting more and more costly).

King Solomon in all his splendor wasn’t dressed as the lilies of the field.  “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Mat 6:30)

Solomon said that life is too short - what is there for us but to fear God and take pleasure in the work of our hands.

The idea here is that we are under God, we are his.  Out of this context, we are freed to enjoy life and the world around us as we wait and work (can I say eagerly) for the eternity with him.

This is God’s gift to us – through his son Jesus – the Lord and Christ.  “Thanks God, for the leaves and the beauty all around us!”

Do you like the rain?

Sep 26^th (410 words)

Let it rain!  “I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.”  From Charlie Chaplin.  Is this a morbid thought?  Is it something Christians shouldn’t say?  Is it a reflection that you find embarrassing?  I had to bring up a quote I might have shared before. 

The whole point of Mr. Chaplin’s words is that he didn’t want to embarrass others by the inner pain that was causing his eyes to drip salt water.

Often when I write my posts I start with where I am.  Sometimes happy sometimes sad…

Today I was glad for the rain but… also recognizing incredible pain and brokenness in the world around us!  What do we do with all that pain? 

“Great Scott – dear God, we need you!” 

I just had a conversation about this world of pain – and how often God is with us in the pain instead of taking us out of the pain. 

We talked about how God suffered for us (so we don’t need to suffer the punishment of Hell)

He suffers because of us – because of the garbage we have done. 

It is also true that he suffers with us.  Literally, the suffering we experience is also felt by him.  He knows our suffering from the inside!  He is one who has suffered but he also looks at it from the outside – having created it from the start with his higher purposes.

It is incredibly comforting to be with someone who knows what you’re going through.

I also just shared a story illustrating how sometimes suffering is beyond us (we can’t understand it).  One day my dog, Sheba, had a run in with a porcupine.  When Dad tried to take out the quills Sheba snapped at him.  Dad asked if I would try.  I took out the quills one by one and Sheba looked at me with her sad eyes asking “why are you hurting me?”  I couldn’t explain to her the risk of infection or that if I didn’t take them out she would have even more pain…

If I had reasons for inflicting pain on my dog, how much more might God have his reasons for allowing us to suffer?  If my dog could trust me to pull out the porcupine quills, how much more can I trust the creator of the universe in and through the suffering I experience in this short, little life?

I’m his simple, faithful watchdog.   

What makes you cry?

Sep 18^th  (196 words)

“Dear God, in a world of many gods how do we say there is only one true God?  They won’t hear us.  They will automatically think that their gods of wood and paper and stone and metal and ice are the same as our God – the same as you.  Many will hear that we worship the one true God – and assume we are people without love, citing all the wars caused by people who believed they were following the only true God.”

This is not that.

“Honestly God, I’m tired.  Sometimes I feel like crying.  Added to this is the pressure that as a man, I’m in a society that largely thinks I shouldn’t be crying… that it is a sign of weakness… that I’ve cracked under the pressure.  Jesus, you cried.  That must mean that there are situations where it is okay for men to cry.”

Instead of crying – I sit here in a coffee shop – Who is the one true God?  How can you find him in the cacophony of all kinds of religions and philosophies…? 

Answer: God finds you. 

“God, I have a lot of people I want you to find!”

September 11th - and the end of the world

Sep 11. (350 words)

Where were you September 11^th when disaster struck?

I was in Africa – and I heard the news from our missionary friends – working three houses down from us.

What was the disaster at the Twin Towers all about?  Terrorist evil?  American greed?  An undercover conspiracy?  All the above? 

From where we stand today, does the future look brighter or more uncertain?  Can we answer: “All the above”?  Is it possible for us to have an uncertain (even evil) future while at the same time believing it to be a brighter future? 

Before writing this post I wanted the focus to be on water – and the lack of rain the world is getting right now.  I wanted to encourage water-saving ideas, and when it does rain – for us to offer up thanks to God for every single raindrop.  

Reading the news last night I then thought about opening up the questions about Russian/Chinese aggression…

Could there be a connection between September 11^th, the global rain problems and nations gearing up for war?  I think so.  “How does this offer us a bright future?” you might ask.

Very simply: we believe Jesus is coming back soon.  There might be a flash of suffering – but the bigger picture is one of undeniable hope and eternal glory. 

A flash is something that lights up the room so that an accurate picture can be taken (think of a camera flash or a lightening flash or a flash-light). 

The flash of present persecution the third world is now experiencing, and the legal foundation in our own society preparing for future persecution, and the anti-Christian media that is more and more popular – gives us a picture of a sinful world rebelling against God. 

Sinful world in rebellion against God – each word is heavy but the statement can easily be put away with dogmatic extremism.  It is more like a weatherman’s assessment of the clouds.  God gives us his assessment of the weather systems brewing.  And in his assessment Revelation 19, 20, 21, and 22 promise hope for us who live in and out God’s perfect love!

Call to action

September 1^st (164 words)

Call to action.  “Call to action is a marketing term used extensively in advertising and selling. It refers to any device designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale”  (Wikipedia).  What devices has God designed to get us moving?

The cross – which crucified Jesus the Christ!

God’s grace – undeserved favor poured out for us.

God’s loving presence – being with us through thick and thin

God’s creation (1) – he made it all by his power for his glory! 

God’s creation (2) – His creation is all around us showing us his power, love, presence, beauty, attention to detail.

This is a list of devices that God has made, which, when understood and experienced, have the power to promote an immediate response.

What r u going to do in response to God’s amazing work and person?

I’d suggest we worship him.

I suggest we respond by acting in thankfulness.

I suggest we find people around us who need love!

Go for it!!!