Garbage pickers

On trash day, we sometimes have garbage pickers that come down the street and inspect what is at the end of our driveways.  They usually have a pick-up or flat-bed truck which has a number of items already piled in there.

I am not into picking through garbage or dumpster diving.  There was one time I found a small gas grill next to a dumpster and it proved useful for many years.  But in general, I am not someone who likes to go through other peoples trash to find a bargain.

The garbage pickers bug me a little.  I think it bothers me that they are evaluating what we have chosen to throw away.  I don't want someone scrutinizing my decisions.  There are somethings that are better off at the trash heap and never seen again.  These people should just let it go.

It also bothers me that the trucks they drive are noisy and could use with a new muffler.  Hearing them start and stop and start and stop is a disturbance.

Usually I am not around when there is trash pick-up.  So lately I have not seen them.  Hopefully, they have stopped driving down our street.

Looking forward to heaven

I am getting to that point in life where departing to heaven is becoming more and more attractive.

Paul's words in Philippians 1:23 are making more and more sense.  "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."  The same battles are fought again and again.  The same stories are told and re-told.  The same experiences are done again and again.  There are things I would like to do to make life better but many times, my goals are never realized.

I use to think that a man dying before 30 was tragic and that he didn't live long enough.  Now, I think that amount of time is enough to get right with God and depart.  I am well on the other side of that and I now see that dying young actually keeps a person from a lot of pain and grief.  There are many ways to die and I think about how it will occur to me.  Car accident, heart attack, disease.  I am not sure.  The pain that comes with death I am not looking forward to.  But leaving this earth, with its many problems and ills, sounds better and better all the time.

Thoughts on "Genius - The Movie"

This weekend I watched "Genius - The Movie".  It is a recent release to the internet and YouTube by Living Waters and author Ray Comfort.

The focus is on John Lennon, the former Beatle member.  John had some controversial words on Jesus and the movie touches on that.  He also had some surprising and refreshing thoughts on evolution.

What touched me and brought tears to my eyes was the young people who were interviewed.  They were very flippant on murder for money, stealing, and other sins.  This is the generation that has been raised in front of TV and computers and have not seen the inside of a church or heard of the God who created them and will demand an account one day.

I highly recommend this short film.  See it here.

The Bible character Lot

There is a Bible character named Lot who never impressed me.  I didn't like most anything he did, yet he is now in heaven, according to the New Testament.  He had many people around him that were sinful but on the inside he was righteous.  He had a faith in God and was a believer.  I never understood him until recently.

Many people around us are going through life doing things that appear normal.  It is easy to get dragged into what they are doing.  But often what they are doing grieves the soul of a believer because there are few neutral things.

I still don't approve of Lot's choices.  It is just that now, I understand better what he went through.

When Christians sin around me

When I see or hear of another believer sin, it affects me deeply.  I am very grieved and troubled in my spirit.  Here is why.  It is like they despise the sacrifice that Jesus made for them.  They are saying in essence that what Jesus did for them, suffering & dying, has little meaning to them.  And when it has less and less meaning to them, it also becomes less and less real.  That saddens me too.

Please Christians.  Just because God has extended grace and forgiveness, don't think that it cost Him nothing.  It was very real what Jesus went through.