Simple minds...

Was watching a TV show the other night called "don't forget the lyrics".   It was charity week and they had Kevin Cronin frm REO Speedwagon, one of the songs he had to come up with the lryics for was Simple Minds, "Don't you forget about me" and of course this got mine going.

You may or may not know this song is from the 1985 movie "the Breakfast Club" While stationed Ft. Campbell Ky, there was a local radio station whose morning show was called the Breakfast Club, every day when the show ended this song wold play and it made no sense at all to me  -- until I happened to rent the movie.

So I went online to look up the lyrics to the song   just to get some deeper thoughts to share.  

So just what are those thoughts...

Well the most well recognized line is "Don't you forget about me..." Towards the end there is another verse...

As you walk on by 

Will you call my name?

As you walk on by

Will you call my name?

When you walk away.

Or will you walk away?

Will you walk on by?

Come on -- call my name

Will you call my name

If you've seen the movie it makes sense, but one thing is for sure as we go through life we see many people we know and wonder if they will walk on by or call our name. 

We also walk by many people and debate the same, walk on by or call their name.  

I truly believe we live in a starving world, one that is starved for acceptance and though they may not know it Jesus, just screaming inside "call my name".  Jesus calls our name all the time, and weather times are good or bad the last thing he would do is walk on by.  

So as you go about life you obviously would not know everyones name you pass but in a sense you can still call their name, speak to that person you normally would not, even if its just to say hello.  You don't have to become their best friend, witness to them, you may never see them again.  But you could give them the Blessing of acknowledging their presence and that they are part of God's creation and most importantly help feed a starving world.

BreakFast is near....

Depending on where you live Resurrection Sunday is just hours away or has already arrived.  Along with this comes BreakFast, I guess I'm intentionally being a bit deceiving as it should Break Fast, as in breaking of the fast.  Easter Sunday along with the celebration of the Resurrection is the end of the season of Lent.  

I'm not one to fast from anything for Lent but do have several friends who do.  One friend who is a Pastor last year gave up pizza for Lent, he considered the end of the Easter service to be the proper time to end or "Break Fast" and after the last Amen he stepped into a room and returned with a pizza box.  I know this year he is giving up TV and has a lot waiting on Tivo.  

Some will be waiting for the midnight hour to get into that favorite food or TV program, some will decide what they had given up for Lent they can give up for life and some have long ago given up on giving up.  

I had a friend who passed away in 2006, he was a great man and I think he showed me something really special about God's love. As I remember this man would take up smoking just before Ash Wednesday, the day when the Lenton season begins.  This made it real convenient for him to give up smoking for lent.  Then one year Ash Wednesday rolled around and my friend had taken up smoking as usual, but this year he did not give up smoking for lent.  He shared with me that Jesus would still love him weather he gave up smoking for lent or not.  He smoked through lent and gave it up for good after. 

I'm not telling you to stay in a sin of choice because Jesus will still love you, or to take up a sin of choice so you can quit.  But do remember this Jesus hung on a cross and died for our sins so that we would not have to.  It is up to us to decide if we are going to keep sinning, reject Jesus as our savior and make the time He spent on the cross for us wasted time or not.

Since I did not give up anything for lent I'm off to DQ for a Brownie Earthquake :)

Have a Happy and Blessed Easter

Catching up....

Its been 11 days since I've posted so I figured I need to get something going.  I don't have any particular song running through my head right now so I opened itunes and am listening to Cinderella's Coming Home.

I caught the very end of the season finale of October Road, my friend Bunny said I should watch it all so I did.  The part I caught at the end was the four main guys at Phil's place doing the "air band" thing, the song was REO Speedwagon's Roll with the Changes.On the positive note they did let Ikey "back in" but when I watched the complete show it just did not grab me like it usually does-- possibly because that night was also the first night of 4 days of migraine headaches.

This week is a short week at work, I'm kind of trying to get stuff ready for Sunday so I can maybe actually have a play day on Friday. Easter Sunday is just 5 days away, Easter is one of what I would call "cookie cutter" sermons, the Easter story never changes so how hard could it be right?  Very hard.  

One thing that has been on my mind the past few days is concerts and salvation.  When Jesus was crucified it was for a reason.  He shed his blood for our sins so we would not have too.  Plain and simple, pray the sinners prayer, repent and ask forgiveness for our sins and we are one our way to heaven when we pas away.  Jesus bought the ticket and all we have to do is go to the gate and pick ours up.  So what does this have to do with concerts?  A lot.  

Somewhere around 1980 Shiela Walsh was opening for Steve Taylor in concert at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus Ohio.  I was there with a friend of mine and 3 extra tickets we had bought for friends who said "sure I'll go" then had "something else come up"

If you have not learned yet remember these words when buying concert tickets "give me the money"  thats give, NOT show.  We got there early, and had decided to give the tickets away, 3rd row and you know what?  No takers.  This was nearly 30 years ago, scalpers were barely heard of and there was  no such thing as a home computer or forged tickets. Some people had tickets already but did not want the offer for better ones.  Others would politely decline and buy tickets at the box office for $10, this was roughly 3 hours wages for each ticket we were giving away. I think we went in and had lots of space.

Sometimes it seems God's offer of Salvation is the same way.  He is offering us free tickets to the best show anyplace and all we have to do is take them.  No catch or worry of the tickets being forged.  No price to pay.  But many will refuse the offer, rather than take the offer of eternal life may try to go it on their own and "earn" their Salvation. As I heard one lady share at home group last week, many people are afraid to take the risk of being set Free.  

Easter is just 5 days away if the Lord does not return.  do you know Jesus as your Savior?

On a different note, last week I bought gas, it was $3.49 a gallon, probably the highest I've ever seen in the states.  I thought about the times I could fill my car from fumes for like $15 and decided to put in $25.  Some may have already guessed what happened, I got it stopped at $25.01.  At $3.49 a gallon I decided i could look poor for one time and stopped there, but add a cup of English Toffee  Capucino and it comes to $26 even :)

I'm off for now, Be Blessed

  

October Road

If you know me I'm not one for much TV but occasionally I can get reeled in late at night.  One show that I do not watch but tends to reel me in is October road and last Monday it got me.  Actually it was a combination of the story and the music.  

The show was a combination flashback to when some of the characters were ten and present day.  

In the flashback it shows the main characters (all guys) and a girl named Angela Firelli. Angela moves away (3 towns over) like in March but tells the guys to come to her birthday party in May. So time goes on and they are all getting on the bus to go to Angela's party.    As they ride the bus they are kind of lip syncing a song by Cinderella called "I'm coming home" one guy picks up a tennis racket for a guitar, 2 are singing and another is playing air drums.  

For  some reason the lyrics "I took a ride down a road, it's the road I was meant to stay"  seem to be stuck in my mind that coupled with the distinct sound of and Ovation 12 string guitar.  They get  to the party only to meet Angela's boyfriend.  One of the guys, Phil, had bought a necklace with "I remember you" engraved on it, told the others it was her favorite song. Of course when Phil meets her boyfriend he decides maybe he does not need to give her the necklace. One thing that can happen with life is that things change, the guys don't feel right with Angela's new crowd  so they kind of disappear without saying good by.  

So why the flash back Ralph?  Well in present day "the old gang"  learns that Angela was killed in a car crash and with this comes the usual Reminiscing of the good times past.  Phil is talking with his dad about this while shuffeling through some  things and stumbles across the necklace.  They all go to the funeral meet Angela's husband and young daughter, maybe 8 years old.  Phil kneels before the daughter, shows her the necklace, tells her he meant to give it to her mother but never did and that he'd like her to have it.  Phil looks up at het father he gives a nodd of approval and Phil places the necklace around her neck.  As they leave the funeral the Skid Row song "I remember you starts playing. Part of the chrous

Remember yesterday -- walking hand in hand.

Love letters in the sand -- I remember you.

Through sleepless nights and every endless day.

I wanna hear you say -- I remember you.

So what's your point Ralph? Not real sure, maybe one might be don't ever leave without saying good by, actually I prefer see ya later -- good by is so permanent. Another  is that life is short, we've all probably had at least one Angela Firelli in our lives. In my short time of pastoring I've had to deal with what seems like a lot of death, along with death comes the regrets.  I think as long as there is life there will probably be regrets, i know I have a few, some I can never "fix" and some I'm gonna be thinking about when I finish this post.  Along with my regrets I have a truck load of memories.  Memories of good times, people I've met, special friends and special times, places we've been, food we've ate, things we've done and when my time comes to pass I'd hope everyone is saying "remember when..." 

This past week has been kind of hard, but I've seemed to keep a song by the Martins in my head...

On my baddest bad days, in my deepest dark night, 

I know that everything is gonna be alright because...

GOD"S GOOD!!

Thanks Debbie.

It's just a little over ...

In the course of my morning I stopped to buy gas for my car, if you are like me you no longer "fill'er up" and the $2.93 a gallon I paid did not seem as outrageous as it did a year ago.  And like most of us I do not fill up anymore, just in case the price comes down.  But this morning I had to buy gas, I had driven 35 miles since the low fuel light had come  on a couple days earlier.  

Another problem with gas prices being so high is the display on the pumps.  It used to be dials but time and technology have changed all of that to digital with six digits.  so you could pump up to $10,000 worth of gas before you "roll over" the dollar amount.  I pulled into the gas station intending to put in $25 worth of gas, remembering when $12 would fill it up from running on fumes.  Another problem with $3 a gallon gas is that the dial for the dollar amount spins like a slot machine, while the one for how many gallons seems to sit, and trying to stop at $25 is a challenge.  I started pumping gas and did the usual stop at $23.75, pump some more and stop at $24 so anyone looking would think I was trying to top it off when in reality that would take probaly $40.  At $24.90 I'm going real slow and careful but alas wind up stopping at $25.01.  Not wanting to look poor I try for $25.50 and miss.  Finally at $26.55 I put the nozzle away and go pay for my gas.  Many times I think they have these pumps programmed not to stop on the even dollar just to get you to spend more -- they got an extra $1.55 out of me today.  I thought "what a scam"

I worked in fast food for 8 years, if you do anything long enough you get good at it. Like reaching into a meat freezer and grabbing exactly 12 pieces of meat without counting, or 3 pennies out of a cash drawer.  Another thing I learned from fast food was "is that a large coke" and of course  "do you want fries with that" .  

This got me to thinking about another "scam", the deli counter. Deli counters I think are slowly going the way of the neighborhood store which could be a bad thing.  Time was when you could go into a store ask for 3 or 4 slices of baloney and not feel bad about it, I'm not so sure people can do that anymore after all we would not want people to think we were poor would we?  So you go up to the counter ask for your pound of ham and the inevitable happens. You expect it to happen.  We think the person has been trained to do it.  It is their job. If they don't do it we might even feel a bit cheated -- OK we'd be surprised but not cheated.  They are slicing away and putting the meat on the scales and here it comes, the line you've been waiting for...

"Thats just  a little over, is that ok?"   In our mind we are thinking NO!!!!! IT'S NOT OK!!!  But not wanting to look poor or cheap we say sure.  

I have a friend who gets a mean streak on occasion, he'll go into a deli and ask for "just under a pound of ..." the person behind the counter gets a funny look and he explains that when they say it is just a little over he'll have the pound he really wanted and they can feel like they have sold him more than he wanted.  

I think thats they way it is with our society, TV, radio, magazines they fill our eyes, hearts and minds with way more garbage than we want or need and say "thats just a little over..."  I know because I've been sucked into the deal many times myself.  I'm not going to start a massive E-mail campaign, or ask you to forward this to everyone to show that you "really love God" but maybe just think about what's going on in your world and remember one of the last parts of the Lord's prayer "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"