Black Friday

-
It's living up to it's name. So far here in the "Excited States of Hysteria" (a term I first heard today, in an unrelated blog comment from a native Canadian) the shopping death toll stands at three. What can I say? What can anyone say to a nation of people who trade their lives for baubles?

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done.'" Matthew 16:24-27

The only thing worth trading our life for is Christ. Everything else, is baubles.

Comments

Ashley said…
The only place I would go on Black Friday would be Joann's. But I love fabric and sewing. Still, I think I could only do it again in a couple of years. :-)
But I don't understand standing in a line to get into Walmart. Though I suppose some people love Walmart the way I love Joann's. But to me it seems odd. :)
November 28, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Ancoti said…
I grew up not far from that Wal-Mart in NY. It is unbelievable that this happened, and what the behavior was as and after it happened, making the tragedy even worse. To lose one's life for something as silly as an early morning sale, my heart goes out to his family.

I never go out during this shopping time, and I never intend to.
December 1, 2008 at 3:50 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

in which I discuss the unthinkable

-
Paul and I have just returned home from the funeral of a most precious little girl.  Lydia's smile could have lit a room. Now it reflects the glory of God the Savior for all eternity. Perhaps you've noticed the sparsity of my entries here these last two weeks. We've been struggling and praying for appropriate ways to handle what we're dealing with, and when and whether to speak about it. Up until now, for reasons which will become obvious, I've only shared this with a very few trusted friends. Paul made reference to it on his blog several days ago, but with no specifics.  I think it may be time for me to fill in the gaps. What we're dealing with is horrible and ugly - about as ugly as it gets. This all happens on the heels of my mother's death, and has now somehow managed to even overshadow that.  Mother's death, as difficult as it was...well...it made sense. She was 87 years old, and hadn't been well in many years. This, on the other hand, is a m...
Continue reading...

I forgave you a long time ago...

-
"I forgave you a long time ago..." I pray that I never forget those words as long as I live. They were a gift spoken by a friend I had hurt unintentionally many months before. It had taken me some time to recognize the offense I had caused, some more time to accept that she had a right to feel offended, even though, in my opinion I had done nothing wrong. It took more time still before love won out and I worked up the courage to face her. I dreaded her rejection. I feared this treasured relationship would be lost forever. But instead of the rejection I feared, she gave me this gift. She not only forgave me, she loved me, and continued on as though the whole episode was barely worth mention, nothing but a little bump on the road to the continued sweet fellowship and mutual encouragement we had always shared. There are many things I may before have considered to be marks of true godliness, but I none can hold a candle to this: "I forgave you a long time ago......
Continue reading...

"It is finished!" ...and I am free...

-
Image
What can I say? I've been set free. It's as simple as that. It's been a long time coming, but the simplest of truths has finally filled my thick skull with peace. For nearly as long as I've been a Christian I've grappled with the subject of legalism and the Old Covenant Law. I've read so much and heard so many sermons on the subject and all the while the waters have only grown murkier and my confusion greater. I've heard there are those who disregard the Old Testament entirely, seeing it as useless, something we ought not even bother ourselves with. But, to be honest, in all my years in various church settings (from Pentecostal to Reformed Baptist) I've never, ever met anyone who believes that way. No, what I've encountered are a variety of Christians from a variety of traditions all claiming to be "Bible-believing" struggling, generally with all sincerity, to figure out what to do with the Old Testament in light of t...
Continue reading...