When Thanksgiving comes to pass, that means one of very few things to many people - shopping. The so-called "Black Friday" comes to mind. If everybody knows that it is the biggest shopping day of the year, why don't they wait it out for a bit until they can actually shop and browse with much less distraction? The today-only "deals" you get are really not that worth it because in order to increase your "savings" you have to spend more. It's a bit like taxes in reverse. If you want to be taxed less, you would have to make less money. I don't know of very many people who would voluntarily make less money just for the sake of making less money. (Those who do willfully take a pay cut generally have a higher purpose).
The sad irony in this is that people are so driven to buy obscene quantities of material goods so soon after a time that ought to be spent being thankful for what we already have. What is this all for? Well, there are several holidays coming up in the next few weeks but the majority of people in North America are doing this for Christmas. However, most of them do not know the truth about Christmas. It's about Christ. He was a gift to all of us. Also, the 3 wise men provided gifts to Him upon their visitation but mostly as a customary courtesy. Their PRESENCE during His early days was far more significant than their PRESENTS.
If we remove "Christ" from Christmas, we're left with "mas" which is not even an English word. In Spanish, it means "more." Christ has largely been forgotten in what has become a season of excess. People in our society always want "more." Even the occasion to be thankful for what we already have (it's called "Thanksgiving" for a reason) is just quickly and casually brushed aside like an inconvenient distraction because of our society's eternally insatiable appetite for "more." "More" will never be enough. But if those of us who celebrate Christmas focus on the reason for the season, there will be no need for "more." We've already been given the gift to end all gifts and we can instead spend this time appreciating the joy of the all-too-rare opportunity to be in the presence of our own families. (Yes, presents are fun, but not nearly as meaningful as our presence).
John 18: 33b-37
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
It's the end of the World as we know it!
For the past few years people have often joked about how the world is going to end in 2012. As the year drew closer people started to get more specific about what time of year the end would come. Predictably, the consensus was that the world would end very late in the year, like in December. If any of you remember the film "12 Monkeys," they said the same thing about 1996.
Rumor has it that a Mayan calendar cycle ends in 2012. Naturally this has led many to suggest, sometimes in jest, that this is some sort of omen foretelling certain doom. Others say it's just a new cycle, like a millennium. Surely some of you must remember all the apocalyptic hoopla regarding the coming of the year 2000. This was supposed to bring about a doomsday of sorts as a result of computers, electricity, clocks, and other forms of modern technology not working right. As we all know, the cycle changed over in a very uneventful and anticlimactic manner.
I do remember seeing a comic showing Mayan guys. One of them has just finished carving a calendar wheel and his friend asks him if 2012, the final year on the wheel, is the end of the world. The guy who carved the wheel says "no, I just ran out of space." The fact of the matter is we don't know when this gig is up. It could happen at a very obvious time like the end of a calendar cycle but it could just as easily happen at just some random time.
With that in mind we ought to live life to the fullest. If you want to serve others in your community or in your family, do not put it off. If you want certain people to know how much you love them, let them know when you get a chance - don't wait for the sake of being more dramatic (it generally ends up not being any more dramatic anyway). If you want to turn your life around, be a better person, and do the right thing, start giving it a go now - don't keep putting it off. There is a phrase in Latin that says "Carpe Diem." It means "seize the day."
Mark 13: 24-32
Rumor has it that a Mayan calendar cycle ends in 2012. Naturally this has led many to suggest, sometimes in jest, that this is some sort of omen foretelling certain doom. Others say it's just a new cycle, like a millennium. Surely some of you must remember all the apocalyptic hoopla regarding the coming of the year 2000. This was supposed to bring about a doomsday of sorts as a result of computers, electricity, clocks, and other forms of modern technology not working right. As we all know, the cycle changed over in a very uneventful and anticlimactic manner.
I do remember seeing a comic showing Mayan guys. One of them has just finished carving a calendar wheel and his friend asks him if 2012, the final year on the wheel, is the end of the world. The guy who carved the wheel says "no, I just ran out of space." The fact of the matter is we don't know when this gig is up. It could happen at a very obvious time like the end of a calendar cycle but it could just as easily happen at just some random time.
With that in mind we ought to live life to the fullest. If you want to serve others in your community or in your family, do not put it off. If you want certain people to know how much you love them, let them know when you get a chance - don't wait for the sake of being more dramatic (it generally ends up not being any more dramatic anyway). If you want to turn your life around, be a better person, and do the right thing, start giving it a go now - don't keep putting it off. There is a phrase in Latin that says "Carpe Diem." It means "seize the day."
Mark 13: 24-32
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Called to give all
This past week marked the end of all the election madness. A lot of money goes into elections, particularly presidential campaigns. That has always been the case. However, this time around, we were introduced to the presence of Political Action Committees, which operate outside each campaign but generally support one candidate and not the other. The really big PACs are often referred to as super-PACs.
The amount each candidate fundraises for his own campaign is about what we would expect. The human ability to fundraise is not going to evolve noticeably over the course of only a few years. But now that we have super-PACs, the scene changes considerably. A lot more money is going into and out of the presidential campaigns than before - unprecedented amounts. The presidential campaigns alone spent a total of about $2.6 billion! This, of course, was made possible in large part by some individual donors who each gave millions of dollars to super-PACs of their choice.
With people or companies that can so casually throw around huge sums of money, thus seemingly imparting a heavy influence upon elections, it can be easy to get discouraged when you want to help out a campaign. Sure, we can make our phone calls from home, we can visit door-to-door, or we can donate. But our donations seem like mere drops in a bucket. Also, some paid staff is needed to coordinate volunteers to give them the information they need to work with such as who to call and who to visit. The people who gather and organize all this information for the campaign offices to hand off to their volunteers might need to be paid as well. Basically, even the volunteering is driven by money to some extent.
So the question again, is, what could we possibly do for the campaign of our choice when there are these super-PACs and major donors whose influence and behavior could render our effect to be irrelevant? The answer is we could do plenty. If you call from home or visit door-to-door, there's a good chance that you may have convinced multiple undecided voters who happen to be registered as members of your party. Let's say you managed to convince 10 people, including yourself. Basically, you only need 10% of the electorate to even lift a finger if all the other volunteers are similarly effective. For those of you who've been canvassing over the course of several days or weekends, convincing 10 people would appear to be quite feasible.
About 120 million people voted in the presidential election. With $2.6 billion spent, that translates to about $22 per vote. For those of you who donated, that's really not so daunting - especially if you've been donating over the course of a few months. If you managed to donate more than $200 over the course of the whole campaign, you not only cast your own vote but you theoretically influenced several others to vote similarly.
You may not have made headlines like the super-PAC donors but those of you who volunteered or donated gave it your best shot and you did indeed have a direct effect on the election and you were a big help, even if your candidate did not win. Four years from now, there might be even more money going through the presidential election but it will not be 10 times as much. You will still have an effect on the election. Perhaps not individually, but certainly collectively. Remember, the legions of small-time volunteers and donors are nothing more than a great multitude of individuals. Think globally, act locally.
Mark 12: 38-44
The amount each candidate fundraises for his own campaign is about what we would expect. The human ability to fundraise is not going to evolve noticeably over the course of only a few years. But now that we have super-PACs, the scene changes considerably. A lot more money is going into and out of the presidential campaigns than before - unprecedented amounts. The presidential campaigns alone spent a total of about $2.6 billion! This, of course, was made possible in large part by some individual donors who each gave millions of dollars to super-PACs of their choice.
With people or companies that can so casually throw around huge sums of money, thus seemingly imparting a heavy influence upon elections, it can be easy to get discouraged when you want to help out a campaign. Sure, we can make our phone calls from home, we can visit door-to-door, or we can donate. But our donations seem like mere drops in a bucket. Also, some paid staff is needed to coordinate volunteers to give them the information they need to work with such as who to call and who to visit. The people who gather and organize all this information for the campaign offices to hand off to their volunteers might need to be paid as well. Basically, even the volunteering is driven by money to some extent.
So the question again, is, what could we possibly do for the campaign of our choice when there are these super-PACs and major donors whose influence and behavior could render our effect to be irrelevant? The answer is we could do plenty. If you call from home or visit door-to-door, there's a good chance that you may have convinced multiple undecided voters who happen to be registered as members of your party. Let's say you managed to convince 10 people, including yourself. Basically, you only need 10% of the electorate to even lift a finger if all the other volunteers are similarly effective. For those of you who've been canvassing over the course of several days or weekends, convincing 10 people would appear to be quite feasible.
About 120 million people voted in the presidential election. With $2.6 billion spent, that translates to about $22 per vote. For those of you who donated, that's really not so daunting - especially if you've been donating over the course of a few months. If you managed to donate more than $200 over the course of the whole campaign, you not only cast your own vote but you theoretically influenced several others to vote similarly.
You may not have made headlines like the super-PAC donors but those of you who volunteered or donated gave it your best shot and you did indeed have a direct effect on the election and you were a big help, even if your candidate did not win. Four years from now, there might be even more money going through the presidential election but it will not be 10 times as much. You will still have an effect on the election. Perhaps not individually, but certainly collectively. Remember, the legions of small-time volunteers and donors are nothing more than a great multitude of individuals. Think globally, act locally.
Mark 12: 38-44
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Love is all you need
After coming back from some work-related travel, I received a call from my parents informing me that they had made it back to the United States after some time spent in Japan. Earlier in their trip, I was there too. At that time we were visiting my brother who lives with his wife's family and works out there. During much of my stay there, I hardly paid for anything - yet. My brother and his wife's family were very gracious hosts to say the least. However, there is a phrase that my Mom has told us before that no matter how close you are, always keep account of who owes money to who and how much. In Chinese, I think it's said in 4 quick (and musical) syllables.
Now why is it that when you're in the family or in any other relationship you should keep account of such a thing as the transfer of money? Perhaps it's because that's the only thing that really can, or should, be accounted for. If you do a favor for someone but that other person does a different favor for you, how can you determine if you're "even?" You can't, unless you think it makes sense to quantify a favor. If you do or say little things to show that you love the other person, how do you "keep score" to make sure you're both "pulling your weight" in that regard? You can't, unless you think it's possible for 2 people to have the same personality. Now how about rules and regulations regarding ritualistic practices? Well, conducting ritual in and of itself is meaningless unless it has a purpose or intent. Otherwise you're just getting bogged down with the drudgery of procedure.
In other words, money is the only tangible thing in any relationship. Keeping good account of it is thus essential because it ensures that nobody takes advantage of someone else. It keeps the other person's concerns in mind. If you can't maintain this simple foundation of trust, how can you be trusted with anything else in the relationship, especially things that can't be measured? Basically, aside from money matters and perhaps even including them, you have very few, if any, rules in a relationship and that's the way it ought to be. Most of what would be considered rules are behaviorally-related and are really just common sense if you have any semblance of compassion.
What it comes down to is: are you showing love to the other person or people involved? It's not about whether you do or say certain things at certain times. It's about keeping the other person or people in mind in regard to every decision you make and every action you take. That's what love is. It's the giving of oneself for the sake of being mindful of others, being considerate of current or potential concerns of theirs. In a relationship that is all you need because it really does cover everything if you think about it.
Mark 12: 28b-34
Now why is it that when you're in the family or in any other relationship you should keep account of such a thing as the transfer of money? Perhaps it's because that's the only thing that really can, or should, be accounted for. If you do a favor for someone but that other person does a different favor for you, how can you determine if you're "even?" You can't, unless you think it makes sense to quantify a favor. If you do or say little things to show that you love the other person, how do you "keep score" to make sure you're both "pulling your weight" in that regard? You can't, unless you think it's possible for 2 people to have the same personality. Now how about rules and regulations regarding ritualistic practices? Well, conducting ritual in and of itself is meaningless unless it has a purpose or intent. Otherwise you're just getting bogged down with the drudgery of procedure.
In other words, money is the only tangible thing in any relationship. Keeping good account of it is thus essential because it ensures that nobody takes advantage of someone else. It keeps the other person's concerns in mind. If you can't maintain this simple foundation of trust, how can you be trusted with anything else in the relationship, especially things that can't be measured? Basically, aside from money matters and perhaps even including them, you have very few, if any, rules in a relationship and that's the way it ought to be. Most of what would be considered rules are behaviorally-related and are really just common sense if you have any semblance of compassion.
What it comes down to is: are you showing love to the other person or people involved? It's not about whether you do or say certain things at certain times. It's about keeping the other person or people in mind in regard to every decision you make and every action you take. That's what love is. It's the giving of oneself for the sake of being mindful of others, being considerate of current or potential concerns of theirs. In a relationship that is all you need because it really does cover everything if you think about it.
Mark 12: 28b-34
Friday, November 02, 2012
Halloween = Opening Act
Now that Halloween has passed, everything just seems less festive. The days and weeks leading up to it were fraught with hype. Plenty of people had costume parties or cocktail parties. Many went trick-or-treating or provided candy to trick-or-treaters. But I don't know of anybody in their right mind who would expect any kind of decent turnout if they were to try to throw a party the day after Halloween or the first weekend after Halloween - especially if it were a Halloween-themed party. The days after Halloween - All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day - are treated like afterthoughts. For example, if you're on a university campus during one of those years when Halloween falls on a Friday, then Friday night would be busy and festive while Saturday night would feel like a giant letdown. This, of course, is not at all typical of the usual pattern on most weekends.
The irony regarding Halloween's power on the social scene is that its very name implies that there's more to come. It used to be known as "All Hallow's Eve." "All Saints Day" would seem to be a rather logical follow-up. In other words, Halloween is merely the opening act while All Saints' Day is the main event but Halloween has stolen the show.
This, of course, brings to mind something from the annals of rock n' roll history. Back in the late 1970s, Black Sabbath was touring with Van Halen. During the early and middle 1970s, Black Sabbath had been the Lords of this World. They were legends in their own time! Van Halen, on the other hand, was this little-known upstart band when they joined Sabbath as an opening act.
Unfortunately for Sabbath, they were on the decline by this time. They had turned out 2 albums since 1975's "Sabotage," arguably their last truly great album, and both of those later albums sounded like the works of mere mortals compared to their first 6 albums. Furthermore, the music scene was changing. People were losing interest in extended jams and changing time signatures and gaining interest in fun and upbeat music that they could dance to or play at parties, such as the music of Van Halen.
Van Halen was treated like the next big thing, which they were, while Black Sabbath was treated like yesterday's oatmeal. They just faded further out of relevance and into obscurity. Black Sabbath was just no longer being taken seriously. Van Halen had stolen the show. Of course, there were a lot of other things going on as well, but the fact of the matter is, it seemed "impossible" that Black Sabbath would ever be "cooler" than Van Halen, especially with Sabbath's singer gone and enjoying a successful solo career (has anyone NOT heard of Ozzy Osbourne?)
Now let's look back at the last decade or more. Anyone in the metal community could tell you that Black Sabbath has a LOT more credibility than Van Halen. Black Sabbath are seen as legends from the good old days while Van Halen is seen as a bit of a punchline. The music of Sabbath had much more substance to it while Van Halen's music was a vapid flash-in-the-pan. Black Sabbath has thus found themselves some multi-generational appeal while Van Halen faithful are largely from a comparatively narrow age group. Young people can still be seen with Sabbath apparel; Van Halen, not so much. The time has come when people have finally realized that the mighty Sabbath is the REAL DEAL!
In much the same way, the time will come when All Saints' Day will be given its due. You wouldn't think so now, you may even deem it "impossible," but Halloween's reign is not meant to last. All Saints' Day shall be rightfully recognized for what it is - the main event.
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
The irony regarding Halloween's power on the social scene is that its very name implies that there's more to come. It used to be known as "All Hallow's Eve." "All Saints Day" would seem to be a rather logical follow-up. In other words, Halloween is merely the opening act while All Saints' Day is the main event but Halloween has stolen the show.
This, of course, brings to mind something from the annals of rock n' roll history. Back in the late 1970s, Black Sabbath was touring with Van Halen. During the early and middle 1970s, Black Sabbath had been the Lords of this World. They were legends in their own time! Van Halen, on the other hand, was this little-known upstart band when they joined Sabbath as an opening act.
Unfortunately for Sabbath, they were on the decline by this time. They had turned out 2 albums since 1975's "Sabotage," arguably their last truly great album, and both of those later albums sounded like the works of mere mortals compared to their first 6 albums. Furthermore, the music scene was changing. People were losing interest in extended jams and changing time signatures and gaining interest in fun and upbeat music that they could dance to or play at parties, such as the music of Van Halen.
Van Halen was treated like the next big thing, which they were, while Black Sabbath was treated like yesterday's oatmeal. They just faded further out of relevance and into obscurity. Black Sabbath was just no longer being taken seriously. Van Halen had stolen the show. Of course, there were a lot of other things going on as well, but the fact of the matter is, it seemed "impossible" that Black Sabbath would ever be "cooler" than Van Halen, especially with Sabbath's singer gone and enjoying a successful solo career (has anyone NOT heard of Ozzy Osbourne?)
Now let's look back at the last decade or more. Anyone in the metal community could tell you that Black Sabbath has a LOT more credibility than Van Halen. Black Sabbath are seen as legends from the good old days while Van Halen is seen as a bit of a punchline. The music of Sabbath had much more substance to it while Van Halen's music was a vapid flash-in-the-pan. Black Sabbath has thus found themselves some multi-generational appeal while Van Halen faithful are largely from a comparatively narrow age group. Young people can still be seen with Sabbath apparel; Van Halen, not so much. The time has come when people have finally realized that the mighty Sabbath is the REAL DEAL!
In much the same way, the time will come when All Saints' Day will be given its due. You wouldn't think so now, you may even deem it "impossible," but Halloween's reign is not meant to last. All Saints' Day shall be rightfully recognized for what it is - the main event.
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
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