Reflections on Easter and Earth Day

Our church urges members to invite the un-churched to come to New Life, especially on Easter and Christmas.  Those are the Sundays that people are most recognized as "holidays" for those that don't really know Jesus.  Many in my family live pretty far from the church I go to and are self-described agnostics. Many may or may not have attended church in the past.  I also have a family member who declares himself a "Non-attending Believer."  The mission statement of my SF church is "To know Him and to Make Him Known."  I'm finally getting to the part where I feel I know Him, but am failing at the making him known part.

EASY: The greatest commandments were to love God and love your neighbors.  It's easy to love God, although many strictly use Him as a "Magic 8 Ball" when asking questions or for help (instead of thanking, praising and worshipping Him.)  

HARD: Once you get to the part where you're both praising and asking Him, it's definitely hard to love our neighbors (especially the Trumps, Bannons, Putins, etc of the world). 

HARDEST: The great commission is, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:19-20

This is the hardest for me because there are so many I love that don't really even have the "easy" step down yet.  In retrospect, it took me almost 50 years to get that down, so I guess it isn't that easy after all.  The hardest part is helping others get to the "easy" step and to guide them to the "hardest" step.  Some people talk about their faith easily, but it's never been easy for me to talk about my feelings (much less faith).  But I'll pray that God gives me the wisdom and knowledge on how to spread His love to  others - to help them see that it is Jesus who's blessed me and urges me to be loving.

Earth Day was yesterday and Creation was God's first Bible for mankind.  It is evidence of His greatness.  I once asked my uncle if he believed in God while we were in Lake Tahoe, and he said, "It's hard not to when you see all this."  Even when I was an agnostic, I agreed wholeheartedly with this statement.  Whether I believe in climate change or not, I certainly believe that God created the Earth and we are stewards of it. Since fossil fuels and coal are finite resources, it behooves us to find alternative renewable energy.  Drilling and mining for coal is bad for the environment and drilling puts water sources at risk... not to mention the health issues the miners face when mining coal.  I'll keep praying that we can care for the Earth and each other....

45 Moving in the Right Direction?

There's so much going on these days - Neil Gorsuch, Bannon vs Kushner, Syrian Chemical Attack Victims, Bombing Assad's Regime, Meeting with Chinese Leader, etc.  Instead of watching all the channels (MSNBC, CNN, Fox, etc), I've been narrowing it down to CBS Nightly News at 5:30 with Scott Pelley.  It's only 30 minutes of news (20 without commercials) and little to no commentary.  I still peruse the news sites, but I can't do the daylong news channels anymore... especially with the Giants back (and losing).

Today I'm focusing on 45's decision to bomb Assad's air fields.  My initital reaction was that it was the right move; I'd even heard Hillary mention that this should be done hours before it happened.  I was still annoyed with 45 for blaming the Obama for letting Syria go a few years back because it was 45's Russian buddies who were supposed to ensure Assad got rid of his chemical weapons.  So in short, it seemed like the right move to make even if he had to go and muck it up by blaming Obama beforehand.

If you watched this video on the recent history of Syrian conflict, you'll see that it's very complicated...  And now I'm wondering if this was really the right move done for the right reasons.  Was it just emotional because 45 saw pictures of dying children and babies?  Did he just need a "good day" that most Americans could get behind?  Where was his compassion when declaring a ban on the refugees?  Or when he tweeted a few years back for Obama to stay out of Syrian conflict?  45 is unpredictable, impulsive and impressionable.  One day he's "America First" and non-interventionist... The next he's bombing Assad's air field because there was footage of children and babies dying.  His behavior is probably a reflection of the Bannon vs Kushner conflict in the White House.  It's no secret that I can't stand Bannon and his alt-right racist Breitbart website; and Kushner is a moderate Democrat.

I think Bannon got 45 into office with his nationalist alt-right supporters... but 45 also knows that he lost the popular vote and his approval rating has been sitting pretty low, probably because of all the advice he's taking from Bannon. Perhaps Kushner is the one to get 45 to be more of a President for the people (not just the alt-right Bannon/Breitbart/Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly lovers).  If this is the case, I'm hoping Kushner wins the battle over Bannon.  If the investigations into whether the Trump administration colluded with Russia during the elections proves them innocent, then I'd rather Kushner have 45's ear than Bannon.  This would be better for the country and world overall.  None of them may be qualified to run the country, but that's what we have to work with for now.

There is definitely a lot to handle as President, and I'd never want the job. While 45 may have made the correct decision this time, I still don't trust him to make the right decisions for our country and world.  I'll continue to pray that he listens to the advisors that are more moderate instead of Bannon, and that there are actual spiritual advisors who can move him to have a more Christ-like heart.