This is the 2nd year I’ll use my birthday month to shower readers with gifts. It was fun last year, and this year, with quadruple the readership here, it should be even better!
And yes, it is a “custom” in the tradition of hobbits. (hobbits -give away gifts on their birthday)
I have a photo below of just a few things that will be up for grabs. I’ll be popping up every few days in February to offer you goodies, gadgets, books, surprises, and combo packs just for interacting here at this blog. (No strings, no money, I just enjoy mailing packages of gifts.)
Sometimes, word spreads fast when it comes to gifts, still, I thank you for passing this news along where you can. Watch for more informative posts, especially in February. If you enjoy giving more than receiving, and feel so moved, give your present away, and “pay it forward.”
Thanks, friends!
Just *some* of the gift items for blog readers in Feb.
We all have our troubles, and our issues. We all have pain, and problems.
In American, Jesus has often been sold like a product. When there is still struggle, disappointment,and pain, the “Jesus is the Answer,” for some people just feels like a broken promise. Maybe even, a crappy snake oil kind of product. It’s quite a consumerist mentality.
Asian depiction of Jesus painted c.1880s
In many parts of the world though, being a follower of Jesus means one pays dearly. Perhaps in health quality, comfort, safety, status, personal/family economics, and in quite a number of cases, with one’s life. Is Jesus still the answer? Well, in the gobal South and East more adults have willingly claimed Jesus as Savior and Lord in the last 35 years, than in ALL the last 1,500 years combined. Christianity is booming like never before worldwide, and greatly outpacing any other belief system. One missiologist suggested, where there is struggle, oppression, and suffering, Jesus shows up.
(note: You may have heard Islam is the fastest growing relegion in the world, but consider that Muslims claim any one living in an Islamic state (at any age from birth on) and those under newly-changed Muslim governmental regimes, or anyone converted by force to Islam are considered Muslims in these tallies. A personal faith, or a conscious and unforced decision to choose one’s faith is not considered a criteria for Islamic adherence in these statistics.)
Simply put, the gospel message, and a person’s receiving of it, doesn’t result in an easier life. Maybe even the opposite is true, but it continues to be the hope and healing many give their lives for. The affluence of America, and other Western countries, has seemed to create an entitlement mentality or expectancy of a time of comfort or ease for the spiritual journeyer. That concept seems to be a cultural construct, more than anything. And it seems a childish one, at that. We are here to help each through life, which can be very difficult indeed. There is something about the struggle that helps us grow, and makes us better than before, by grace.
I won’t kid you. Some people honestly need to be chemically helped with medication to feel well. That is in a different category, in my opinion. A doctor, and probably both a spiritual director and therapist can assist here, for those who cannot see life as anything but gloomy, or can’t get out of bed in the morning.
How does this play out in the real world, and in the blogosphere?
It’s quite interesting. I have stumbled on SO many blogs. So many perspectives. In them, people reveal who they are, and what they really believe in, value, or to whom they sacrifice. They tell who they count as important, whether they put themselves and their comforts in the center of their lives, or if they use their time to inspire. I have been saddened to see so many negative Christian blogs, consumed with bemoaning one thing or another.
They are WILDLY different, and I still get baffled by it sometimes.
I visit one more than the other. One is a professing Christian, and one is not. Since I can’t be in the mind of either author, I must admit, I really can’t know what they experience, much at all. I can’t condemn either one, I don’t want to, and I won’t.
Yet, one insight emerges after witnessing these two perspectives, when I ask myself,
“Who would I rather emulate?”
I ask myself, “How do I want to be in this world?’
I’ll leave general observations and summations to you.
If the exploration reveals anything for you–I’d be quite interested in your responses.
I traveled around 11 countries backpacking in Europe, and I saw scores of beautiful and inspiring cathedrals. As I would enter them, I appreciated the art, the architecture, and their magnificence. It wasn’t something I was used to. Typical buildings of worship I was used to didn’t involve such grander. Spiritually for me, it helped to sharpen the import of my overall faith tradition of Christianity that extends more than 2,000 years. The efforts to build such amazing places to bring glory to God, and reflect his splendor, put me into a state of awe and reverence. But it wasn’t so much for the religious habits of the people involved in those efforts, but because of the character, nature, and vitality of the Creator God we worship and love.
Even though I got to see St Peter’s cathedral at the Vatican, and various places of worship in Florance, and even St. Paul’s in London, my favorite cathedral was, surprisingly, in Praha (Prague). The St. Vitus cathedral was breath-taking. Here are images I found at prague.net.
Where have you traveled, near or far, grand or simple, that has had a spiritual impact on you, and why? Share a response here. Please enjoy these photos of St Vitus, too, and try to visit one day, you won’t regret it. (click to enlarge)
