2.15.9 – Faith … What IS It?

Every President we’ve had since at least 1976 has been referred to by his supporters as a “man of faith”. Other people in the public eye are said to be people “of faith.” And, I would guess, most of us would be rather proud to be introduced as someone of faith.

But what does it mean? Or, more importantly, does it mean what we think it means?

It’s that time of year when Hollywood votes on it’s favorite or best movies and the rest of the country waits in anxious anticipation … to see who will be the opening day starters for their favorite baseball team. While we wait for that, I thought I would publish—for no good reason—a list of my 89 favorite movies.

Why 89?

There was a story on the news this week about some group that was having a contest. The winner would be paid a large sum of money for the next 20 years for sitting on a beach. “The dream job,” they called it. Just get paid for sitting on the beach.

I’m not sure I’d want that because I’m not all that crazy about beaches. Now, if someone were having a similar contest for living in the mountains, I’d probably sign up for that one.

Boy, do I feel like a sucker! Here I've been for years only buying houses I could afford to pay for, making my mortgage payment on time, running up a credit rating over 810 ... when along comes our President rewarding exactly the opposite behavior.

Buy a house you couldn't make the payment on? Don't worry, we'll get those poor saps who have been paying their taxes (i.e. "no one in my cabinet") to cover your loan.

I spent early Monday morning sitting in a room with a dying body.

I had gotten a call on Sunday afternoon that one of our hospice patients—a man I had visited with a few times over the preceding weeks—had taken a turn for the worse and death was imminent. In fact, the person who called me and asked me to take the 1:30 to 4:30 (a.m.) sitting shift didn’t expect the patient to last to my shift.

2.8.9 – God’s Contagious Love

[During this opening section of the sermon, I’m folding a paper airplane.]

For school this week, Nolan had to build a paper airplane. Five of them, actually. And, on the back of the airplane, he cut some flaps. On one of them, both flaps would be down. On another, both flaps would be up. On still another, one flap would be up and the other would be down. Etc. Then, he was to compare the various “flight patterns” of the airplanes.