Does MADD know about this?

Houston Metro Bus Stop.

Sure, I can understand the problem, but I'm not sure this is the best way to get drunk drivers off the streets.

We are playing for "keeps".

Jesus chases the money-changers from his father's house, and the Pope sells indulgences there. Has anything really changed?

Do I really need to say anything more? Perhaps you'll listen to another, more authoritive voice.

"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

"Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

"Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!

"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches."

The Revelation to Saint John 3:15-22 (The Message)

Jesus says: "Ask. Seek. Knock. Open."

Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Luke 11:9-13 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Chicken or egg?

A dear friend recently suggested that perhaps I should visit a counselor about my anger issues. Another opinioned that I'd make a great mentor if only I didn't have such a negative attitude. The sketch above is a self-portrait from about 1989, when I was trying to run a struggling advertising agency with partners who were less than, um, cooperative.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Today, in 1945.

A Roman Catholic church in Hiroshima, Japan. Auguat, 1945. For Roman Catholics (and many other Christians), today is the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Luke 28:31
About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white.

The Prisoner.

All "baptized" Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. We are, as Paul says, a Temple for God to live in.

But too many Christians try to be less the Temple of the Spirit, than to be the Spirit's Prison, a place where the Holy Spirit is kept in a kind of solitary confinement...under lock and key. We prefer to see it as some sort of "protective custody", as if the Spirit is untrustworthy and incapable of being freed from our prisons of doctrine and fear. We set ourselves up "in loco parentis" as guardians of God's foolishness.

We only fool ourselves.

If we try to run a prison for He who can't be contained, we end up guarding an empty building, populated only with prison guards. We look into our hearts, see the guards and say, "Oh good! The Spirit is safe!"

The reality of the situation is this; all we have done is to try and make ourselves safe from the Spirit.

Foolish Galatians.