The other day my grown daughter asked some of the guys in the neighborhood to help with her car. They checked the fluids, wipers, tires, etc. They were helping her to keep the car safe while she drives around in the snow with two little children.

The guys are practical jokers and thought they would pull a good one on her by asking about the blinker fluid. Thankfully, my daughter is not as gullible as some would believe and she just laughed.

I have a woman that emails me often with all sorts of silliness from alerts to warnings to a whole variety of chain letters that desperately and immediately need to be passed on to all my friends so that the blessings of God won’t be broken in my life.

I take the alerts and warnings, do a copy/paste of the first two sentences or so, and slam them into a Google search. Undoubtedly, they will show up on hoaxbusters.com or hoaxslayer.com. Those are sites dedicated to exposing hoaxes, myths and just junk in general.

It completely fascinates me at what some people will pass around in the name of truth, especially when it generates such false fears. The bible talks about being sober minded. It speaks of being watchful and sober. In the Greek that means to be sober, calm and collected in spirit, to be temperate, dispassionate, or circumspect.

Whether someone is trying to convince you that ‘your angel’ (which by the way is not biblical) wants to bless the first 20 folks on your mailing list but only if you get the email sent to him or her within 3 hours or that your blinker fluid needs to be checked, use caution and don’t be afraid to question its soundness, intelligibility or common sense.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. ~ 2 Timothy 4:3-5

We went for a ride today and ended up at the Mother Cabrini Shrine. I have driven past it for almost 15 years but never went up the mountain to see what it was. I had heard rumors in the past about apparitions there and the pilgrimages by the ‘faithful’.

As we ascended the mountain there were a few non-descript buildings. Further along there was a church. We parked and began to walk. There were small, medium and larger statues everywhere of Mary, Joseph and Jesus and then there was ‘the’ statue at the top of the mountain of Jesus. It stands 22 feet tall.

The 373 steps upward were covered in snow and not visible. There was a rope and a sign that said that they were taking donations to keep the road safe or something to that effect.

Pictures of Mother Cabrini were everywhere. There was a spring where I later researched was where she must have thought she was like Moses and hit a stick against the rock and a spring burst forth. The water had been tapped; there is seating and plenty of paper cups available if you wanted to drink. Research says that there is spiritual power in the waters. There was a limit of only a gallon per family.

In the process of Mother Cabrini becoming a saint, she was beatified, canonized and venerated. The saints mentioned in the New Testament 61 times refer to those that have professed Christ. Simply put.

I was taking pictures of the statues. One was of Mary with three little cherubim at her feet. A man that was possibly a worker on the property stopped and asked if I wanted my picture with her. Inside I was a bit stunned. His inflections were almost as if he were speaking of God himself, Deity in person. I turned and politely declined. Of course, it got me thinking.

Has Mary surpassed the greatness of Jesus? Did folks really think that a 22-foot statue of Jesus on top of Lookout Mountain was really Jesus watching over Denver? How can one have a living relationship with a statue? That is a lot of superstition going on and a lot of religious hullabaloo.

I am so glad that I have the Spirit of the living God within me. I don’t have to worry if I forgot my medal, statue or artifact in the midst of everything I daily do.

Sincerely,
Saint Damale

I would that God were laughing at me, yet I fear He is crying. ~ DMA

While I was in Connecticut in January, my husband and I took a train into New York City. We came in through Grand Central Station. We experienced the train, the subway, the taxis, bus, and boat. We tried a New York pizza to see was their any difference from a Colorado pizza. We experienced many different things in those two days. Although the weather was ‘warmer’ than Denver’s temperatures – it was freezing! I suppose because of the surrounding water and the serious blowing winds.

In Denver, we live on an ‘apartment farm’. For those who do not know what that is imagine 10-20 acres with nothing but building after building of apartments. Not like Brooklyn apartments. Not high-rises but two story buildings that house about 800-1000 people. Outside of the ‘farm’ are complete open spaces, hills, and scenery. A mile away is a freeway and a large hospital but from the farm area, they are not visible. One could hear the rush of cars on an early morning walk, but it is not too overwhelming. It is just enough to break the complete hush of the morning.

After two days in the concrete jungles of New York, there was one thought that just kept echoing repeatedly within me, “How can anyone hear God with all this noise?” and “God, if you wanted to speak could anyone hear you?” It was not just all the noise of the vehicles and horns blowing, but the constant movement of people, lights, vehicles, buildings, etc. In Times Square, they had whole buildings that had moving advertisements on them up 10-20 stories high. It was overwhelming.

You could barely hear your own thoughts let alone God. I was deeply saddened. I was becoming besieged with all the action and noise so I tucked into a restaurant to use the restroom only to discover that they had loud rock n’ roll playing in there also! I couldn’t seem to escape the invasion.

I needed to get some ‘down’ time to recharge and hear God. Beyond all the noise of New York all I could have the sense of hearing was wondering how could anyone hear God if he wanted to speak to them. Does one eventually block out the constant sensory overload? Does one get used to it, blend with the scenery and then fall within themselves enabling them to ‘hear’ again? I didn’t know the answers.

I went back to the hotel to try to regroup and release from the sensory overload. It took many days to settle my equilibrium. Nevertheless, the sorrow remained in wondering about all those people in that city that might never hear God. I know God can bypass the noises and distractions of the world to those truly searching for him but I would just imagine it easier to find God in an open field where his beauty resounds and there are not nearly as many distractions.

In my family my husband wears the perpetual silver lined pink glasses while I wear the darker tinted ones. We both continually joke about how each other sees the world through our glasses.

My husband and I have both grown up in a harsh reality of bitterness, disappointments, abuse and dysfunction. He chooses not to dwell in all the ‘yuck’ of life by trying to change his world by changing his outlook. He chooses to see Jesus as the ever loving God of peace, kindness and all things wonderful. This is somewhat commendable if it didn’t HAVE to find the rosy in EVERY situation.

I will use this illustration to summarize the difference between the pink and the dark glasses. When your child dies, your job is dissolved, the water main breaks and a tornado is forecasted for the next hour the fact is that these things are happening and they are going to hurt and they are real. Yes one could remain calmer and not freak and this could be viewed as a positive outlook and you may be able to smile big and quote positive things to cheer you through but there is not a pink pair of glasses around that will change the reality of what is happening. When you wake up tomorrow the problems are still there. It is not to say that the dark glasses person will freak when all this happens. It is to say that they will take it all for what it is worth, try to level out the processes as they are happening, look at all the possibilities available and work with the best common sense possible.

I view the pink glasses as looking at life not just in a positive light, begging to see the good in everything and finding the silver lining in every coffin but that they are fuzzy and somewhat blurry in their perception of reality. I think that the true concept behind pink glasses is that they are mainly worn by folks that are disillusioned with life and reality the way it is and they choose to bypass this reality and view it the way ‘they want’ – pink, rosy and brightly lit.

I on one hand have worn and cherished my dark tinted glasses because it has seemed to keep me from stepping into, what my husband chooses to see as a garden of flowers, but is really a pile of prickly weeds. It has kept me in a more balanced reality. It causes me to not see Jesus as a flowery, peaceful dude but as a righteous, holy God to be revered. It causes me to see my sin and fall on my face with a broken heart of humility and repent not just because I sinned but that I sinned against a God that has offered me life. My dark tinted glasses keep me from superimposing my desires on God and it blocks the glare of the world’s enticements. It shelters me from the dazzling shine of pretty sins.

The driver in a car that has its windows tinted dark does not have impaired vision but a cleared vision without the brilliant dazzling and blinding lights coming at him from all sides.

Behind my shades I see the clear light of a holy God. Whether I wear pink, green or dark glasses I desire to see life through the eyes of Jesus. I desire to see life in a way that glorifies him in me.

Yes, I can hear folks wondering where the happy median is. But Damale, where is the moderation? Why so black and white? So left and right? First, moderation is a common extrapolation of Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean not a biblical term. Second, Christ was quite adamant about the left and the right, the sheep and the goats, to be written in the Book of Life or to be blotted out, etc. Most of what Jesus taught was that you either are or are not. To play the religious game half way and expect full credit didn’t go over well with him.

It is a harsh cold world and I don’t mind wearing pink glasses on a rare occasion when I need to overlook something in order to show the love of God but I cannot and will not don them to overlook sin in my life or yours. I prefer to remember Jesus all tore up and bloodied on the cross for MY sins (not hanging all pretty-boy-like). I want to remember Jesus as one that was not comely in appearance. I want to recognize that he didn’t wear the ‘just bleached’ white robes and his feet were not soft. I am sure he didn’t walk around with a glowing halo around his just washed hair. I want to see that when I deny him it tears at the core of our relationship.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ~ 1Corinthians 13:12

Take my poll at http://fq8.pollhost.com/

The give and take scenario is exemplified in the parent/child relationship. From the moment of conception we as humans begin to take. We extract from the umbilical cord all the nutrients we might need to continue to live. We are born and continue our great need upon our parents for everything. As infants we can not seem to sleep, eat, or release bodily functions without our parents help.

Our parents teach us to use the toilet, eat with a fork, tie our shoe laces and use proper hygiene. They help with schoolwork, riding a bike, and driving a car. They exemplify the use of a budget, how to get and keep a job and how to maintain relationships.

Maybe I am seeing too deep with the pink glasses in using the stereotypical family concept. My glasses are far from pink and I am all too aware that too many families are severely dysfunctional in these basic concepts. Ozzie and Harriet made us all think that was they way it was. I am not emotionally deaf. I know not all families run in the Nelson perfection.

But when we turn this scenario towards God the Father and us who claim him as Lord it is not nearly as dysfunctional. He desires to teach us all the important things we need to grow spiritually. He is not affected by the passing tides of religious fads and facades. He functions with or without us. He would stand to be even if we did not exist. He is the stalwart parent loving us when we are most unlovable. When we throw a temper tantrum and insist on having our way or are adamant that our way is right or better he sits and waits and then lovingly and gently reminds us he is God. I am so glad he is God.

I grew up in the ultra-dysfunctional family setting. I hear a lot of folks say that they are unable to view God as a loving parent because their father beat them or molested them. Been there done that and got three shirts and a key chain. Move on. One of the main reasons one would view God as harsh parent that they could never love is because they have already tested him beyond what they should and are still trying to convince him that their immature ways are far better than what he is presenting them with. And thus in their need to prove their way is better they end up not having a loving God figure to give them approval so he ends up becoming the angry, unreasonable, ogre.

My daughter asked me what happens if her son tries to touch the glass on the fireplace. I said he would burn his little fingers and hopefully he wouldn’t want to touch it again. But if he insisted then it would be a matter of time and growth that he would succumb to the reality that touching the hot glass is fairly stupid… and it hurts!

Father God will do the same. If you want your life the way it is; if you are happy the way you are then he will let you have it. But don’t wah-wah that he isn’t there to help you when you on a whim decide you ‘need’ something from him then push him away when you are finished. He is so patient and he will wait, wait, and wait. When you are ready to give up to his ways and relinquish your tries at ‘undoing the dysfunction’ he will be right there for you.

God is who God is. He is the ever-loving, truly loyal, compassionate and caring God amongst gods that sent his only son to die for your redemption and adoption into deeper and higher ways. Until our hearts truly desire repentance and to be like him and see like he does then we will continue to be the takers while he is the definitive giver.