Finding Laughter In Difficult Times

I’m recovering from SCAM; not from having been scammed, or from being a scammer, but of the SCHOOL of COMPLAINERS AND MURMMERERS.  I had celebrity status among complainers.  My walls were decorated with cheap and fake certificates for being a top complainer!  But I quit complaining, minus an occasional outburst here and there due to unfairness in life.  I was due to receive a top award, but it was humiliating!   Certificates were nothing but made of cheap, recycled toilet tissue instead of recycled rubber tires…something substantial and enduring…

As a top complainer and murmurer, I was “going places.” I was climbing the ranks; soon to graduate as top complainer in the east…I was envied by many.  We held debates on who could out-criticize others! There was the highly critical food guru who could critique everything on a menu from either being too cold, too hot, too spicy, or not enough fire… And there were the political murmurers who lashed out at the government.  But there were a few of us who majored in general complaints.  We had experience!  No subject was off-limit.  But, thank God, I’ve moved on!  Complaints are off the table!

Can you believe a driver cut me off as I’m writing and driving?!  Unbelievable!  Hey, shmuck!  Excuse me people!   But I’m glad I’m reformed! Glad I’m no longer watching the log in someone else’s eyes.  I’ve learned to quiet down and accept some things as they were, I mean, as they are.

Complainers and murmurers face an uphill climb to recovery with ofttimes slipping downhill to familiar grounds.  Is God a member of SCAM?  He abhors it!  He punishes it! the wilderness, when God’s people, the Hebrews, were delivered from Egypt, they murmured against Moses and God about the water and the food.  They quickly forgot their past hardship as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years.  Instead, they wished they were back there, rather than trusting God, the Deliverer, to take them forward in victory (Exodus 16:3).

Needless to say, Isreal learned some hard lessons.  Today, many, in God’s kingdom are also learning theirs.  Went to same schools?  Had the same teachers? Hmm. Today’s a great day to drop out; leave that Master’s degree behind!  That’s right, quit complaining, murmuring and grumbling and start praising God for the good and bad that comes your way.  It’s better to thank Him and be on the safe side than the alternative:

“Neither grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer” (1 Corinthians 10:10).

God Bless!

Sam

In today’s world, everything seems to be someone else’s fault.  My kid abuses, intimidates, bullies, or kills someone’s kid, and it’s their fault.  “No one told them to be so smart, so good-looking, so bad looking, etc. But not my kid, he’s a good kid.  Some parents will go as far as saying things “The kid dressed like my kid captured on video, must be a mistake.  My son/daughter didn’t do it. He isn’t going to pay; someone else will.”

Someone is warned about the dangers of smoking (I remember my 7^th grade science teacher, Mr. Spardel, showing us cancer warnings on a cigarette pack back in 1970), yet people still smoke ‘em but blame others for their cancer.

People will remove barriers and proceed illegally, yet they feel someone else will pay for their misfortunes!  They don’t think of owning up to their mistakes or responsibilities. They need to grow up, look in the mirror and take blame for their actions or inactions. 

On a daily basis, cops, firefighters, and others lay their lives on the line for us.  This Memorial Day, we remember and thank those who paid with their lives to give us a better life.  They paid a price even when it wasn’t their fault.  They gladly fought for justice.  Thank You Men and Women for your service and heroic acts.  We remember you and honor you this day.

Taking it several steps further, God knows the condition of our hearts and the need for a Savior.  He knows try as we might, we’ll always mess things up for ourselves and others. Knowing we can’t keep things up to His standards, He decided, way-before time was, to pay the price for our sins.  You don’t have to tell Him, “You’ll pay for this, God!”  Nah, even though Jesus was sinless and therefore, guiltless of any crime or offense, He took upon Himself the sins of the world and paid them!  He paid for our messes!

Whether you’re smart, naïve, beautiful, not quite there, good or evil, you’re still a sinner and Christ paid for your sins.  When you’re tempted to shout, “Someone will pay for this!” Remember, He already did.  And if you feel you’ll never shout those words because, perhaps, you’re a “Goody-two-shoes,” you can’t repay Him either.  It’s all His doing.  We have no say in it.  Jesus gets all the credit, yep, all the glory.

“But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God Bless!

Sam

Recommended songs: Jesus Paid It All Hymns of Grace

My wife, a librarian, or Information Specialist, knew just about every one of the 17,000 books at her Information Center (library).  If a child asked, “Hey, Ms V., do you have any books on puppies?” She’d say stuff like, “Sure! It’s in the 680s (an example of mine), in the blah, blah section, on the top shelf next to the books on cats, just besides the pink books about…”

And so, it continues at home.  I’ll be watching a movie and she’ll be next to me reading.  If I wonder out loud…”Gee, I wonder why the man killed the lady…”  While reading, she’ll say, “He didn’t!” “It was the son of the lady dressed in orange who came by and not finding the deeds…took it upon himself to…”

I’m wondering, “How does she know this stuff?” Though she’s not watching, she’s listening.  At times, she tells me, “Oh, you already saw that movie.”  I’m like, “I did?” She’ll say, “Remember, that’s the one I didn’t watch with you where…” Even if she’s reclining with her eyes closed and practically asleep, she knows more about a movie than I do, whose eyes are open!  Over all, I guess she doesn’t want me wasting my time!

 And so, if I need a can of green beans, for example, why open the cabinets, when I can ask her?  I’ll ask, Honey, do we have green beans?”  She’ll say, “Sure!”  “Right next to the corn, next to the pink Goya beans on top of the pigeon peas on the second shelf in cabinet 7.”  Pretty cool for someone who’s not watching or even present!

Back in NY we heard a radio commercial featuring a husband and wife.  The husband asked something like, “Honey, where’s my scarf?” The wife: “In the closet dear.”  Husband: “Anyone seen my boots?”  (Wife): “In the closet dear.” Husband: “Where’s my umbrella…my coat?” Wife: “In the closet dear.”  Then the husband asks, “Where would you like to eat to tonight?” Wife: “In the closet dear.”  

We had a music leader at church just like that.  Everything he needed, he’d ask his wife where it was.  Her response was always, “Look in your black bag!”  Sure enough, one by one, he’d find them all!

God is like that!  When He asked Adam, in the cool of the day, as He walked through the garden (Genesis 3:8), “Where are you?”  He knew exactly where Adam was, but wanted to hear directly from him. When Adam said he hid because he was afraid, God knew something was amiss.  Can we hide from God?  No. Does He know where you’re at right now? Yep. He wants to hear from you.  Maybe you’re “In the closet, dear.”  Or maybe you wish you could hide in a black bag.  Or, maybe you know it all and know all the answers. 

Regardless of your circumstances, God does know everything.  Even if you think He’s not watching, He is.  If you think He’s forgotten you, He hasn’t.  Even if you forget that you once walked with Him, He can tell you, “Son/daughter, you’ve seen me working miracles in your life before.”  God doesn’t want you wasting your short valuable time.   He’s also listening to your heart’s pleas.  You’ll wonder at how He knows your every thought and will be amazed as you realize “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight” (Hebrews 4:13 NIV). Call Him Now!

“I was asleep, but my heart stayed awake” (Song of Solomon 5:2).

God Bless!
Sam

Growing up, anyone who was stingy was also called a cheapskate; kids who didn’t like to share. “Don’t hide, divide” was my friend, Angel’s favorite saying.  A few years ago, when an ad, which said, “Alone at last…” first aired, it reminded me of how growing up, whether we shared or not, we all wanted at least one alone moment, but rarely found it.

We’ve all noticed, how in recent years, contents or portions have gotten smaller while prices have continued to climb. I recently bought a paint roller wire frame.  It came all wrapped in cellophane.  After opening it, I realized the end cap wasn’t riveted but had a small nut on two threads and there wasn’t a snug fit.  Obviously, the roller cover kept sliding off.  With longnose pliers, I was able to fix it. 

I was telling my wife that years ago, you just picked up items and expected them to work.  But in pursuit of the mighty dollar, things now appear under various categories: cheap, cheaper, cheapest.  Cheap, lasts a few weeks or months.  Cheaper, usually breaks after a few uses.  Sometimes, cheapest is held together by the cellophane it’s wrapped in!  Tear it off, and there goes your item.  Of course, in Puerto Rico, where that’s the norm, if you attempt to return such item, you’ll be told that “Probably, you tore off the wrapper too hard!”  *Here, it’s the norm for businesses to sell the cheapest, smallest, or least number of items, for the highest possible price.  That’s the norm.

Just as many of us want quality things and for stuff to last long, God wants the same from us.  He neither wants us to be in the cheap category, or to be a cheapskate.  He wants us to share with others things of value and worth.  He didn’t tell His disciples to secretly hide the bread and the fish; No! He multiplied them and fed over 5,000 people!  His death on the cross didn’t come cheaply either, neither was He cheap with our salvation.  He didn’t take the easy way out.

 He didn’t say, “Hey, what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”  He also didn’t feign His death as a religious group claims; neither did He faint at the cross and walk away, without fulfilling what He came for, as some believe!  No, He paid the ultimate price, and a full price at that.  It cost Him His life.  He didn’t pay with cheap stuff like silver, gold, or precious jewels; He paid sacrificially with His blood and life. Being God in nature, He paid as King of the universe. His sacrificial death can never be equaled or replicated.  Let’s leave the way of “cheap” behind! 

Maybe your life feels like it’s being held together by a cellophane wrapper; remove it, and you’ll fall apart. Let Jesus hold you together!  To Him, you’re not a cheap object; you’re priceless!          

 God Bless!
Sam

We’ve heard that phrase before!  Sounds funny, but it can be true!  Just as some people think they can pull the wool over a blind man’s eyes, many are confident they can get over on God! They have their lines ready.  They’ve thought of just how to justify themselves before His presence.  They have every excuse lined up.  Well, someone in the Bible thought so too! Check it out. Backdrop:  Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (10 tribes), was sick. King Jeroboam sent his wife to Shiloh to see the prophet Ahijah to see if their sick son would live. Here’s the plan:

 “Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam…Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age.  But the LORD had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”  So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam.  Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news…As for you, go back home.  When you set foot in your city, the boy will die” (1King 14:1-14NIV).

God revealed to the blind prophet all of Jeroboam’s plans. He knew what the king’s intentions were.  We see that whether we disguise ourselves or pretend to not know something, or claim we forgot, God knows our every thought! He’s known it since before any ideas even spring up inside us!  Picture it like this: It’s judgment day and you’re waiting in  heaven’s lobby surrounded by zillions of angelic beings and trillions of people all waiting their turn.

Your number is called to enter God’s throne room and as you strut your way in, you touch your nose thrice, rub your shoulder like, “He’s got nothin’ on me” and you begin rehearsing what you’re going to say about this case and that other one, etc. As you’re walking in, you see yourself on a huge screen committing what ever sins you did.  Your masks or disguises are removed and you see your thoughts or excuses being formulated in your brain right there.  So, before you even open your mouth, the irrefutable evidence is displayed on the screen.  There might even be a bunch of screens showing the different stages of your thoughts and actions as they occurred-all from different angles.  You realize there’s no use in denying your actions! He’s got you covered! 

“For the word of God is alive and active.  It is sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Now, God’s not blind, nor has lost His sight like the prophet; He’s not “The Blind Man” either- showing up to install your blinds!  Yet, He knows and sees everything all around us. He’s Omniscient (all-knowing), He’s Omnipresent (everywhere at all times), He’s Omnipotent (all-powerful), and Omni-benevolent (all-good/loving). He knows what’s on the horizon for 67 years from now and beyond, just as much as He knew all the events that would transpire from before Adam sinned until this moment.

Because He’s all-good, you can trust Him right now for whatever you’re going through!  Go ahead, invite Him into your living room for a Pepsi, or a Coke, or a Sprite, or 7-Up, or a grape soda, or water, and tell Him your woes (He won’t be surprised).  Clear your chest of what’s bothering you and then invite Him into your heart. He sees it. He’s Jehovah El Roi (Genesis 16:13), The God Who Sees.

God Bless!
Sam

There are people who forget everything. They forget to buy milk, forget to gas up, forget to dump the garbage…forget to set their alarm…forget it!  Forgetting things is not always a good thing.  If someone was supposed to show up but didn’t, it can be a bad thing.  However, forgetting can be a good thing too!

Consider Manasseh in the Bible.  His father, Joseph, said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household” (Genesis 41:51); thus, it was a good thing.

Do you know people who apologize but never forget?  They say they do, but bring up comments such as: “Remember the time…” and, “How come…?” or, “You always…”  God wants us to sincerely forgive others! Check it out! “So likewise, shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your heart forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).  

What about God? He can remember the names of every star in the universe (Psalms 147:4).  He knows “when a sparrow falls to the ground” (Matthew 10:29). He’s not absent-minded.  He remembers us all as well as He remembers His promises.

However, God also forgets!  Check this out: “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). He will cast our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). That’s great news!

 When we approach God, He’s not yielding a 2×4 or a hockey stick waiting to score on our heads.  If we’ve yielded our lives into His hands and we’ve messed up, when we confess to Him our fault, He’ll forgive us and cast it out from His memory.  Meaning, if we return to apologize anew for the same offense, He won’t recall what we’re talking about.  He doesn’t say, “Oh, it’s you again; what’d you do this time, Sam?”

Isn’t that amazing?!  Repent and bring your sins to Him. He’ll say, “Forgetaboutit; It’s covered under the blood!
God Bless!

Sam

Sometimes in life we need to get back to the beginning, to the basics. As the above song says, “Do you remember that day, (That sunny day) When you first came my way I said no one could take your place.”

Do you remember that special day in your life?  The day you fell in love? The day you were loved?  The day you graduated? The day you wed?  The day you made it to the top?  Do you remember the day you hit rock-bottom? The day Jesus came into your life?  Do you remember falling in love with Jesus?  Remember telling Him those words: “I said no one could take your place?”

If you’re currently drifting or walking away from Him, He’s telling you to get right back to where you started from.  As verse two says, “A love like ours (A love like ours) Can never fade away. You know it’s only just begun.”

God’s love for you is like Him; eternal! Nothing or no one can snatch you away! Read His message to you:                                    

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Romans 8:35)?

God wants you to make your way back to Him! Dance it if you have to!  Read what He’s done for you!

“I have blotted out your transgressions, and, as a thick cloud, your sins; return to me; for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22 KJV).

Decades ago, we used to sing this verse as a chorus (corito) in Spanish: “Yo deshice como nube tus rebeliones, como niebla tus pecados, vuélvete a mi (2x) porque yo te redimí,” (3x).

Meaning? God wants us all to return to Him.  He’s blotted out the penalties written against us.  He’s paid the price for our sins.  He wants us to remember the day we said YES to Him!  Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38, 39).

Eternity with Him has only just begun!

God Bless!
Sam

*Maxine Nightingale, 1975

Our pastor recently gave us small hourglasses.  Some were of 1 minute, 3-mins, 5-mins, etc.  We all know that an hourglass will measure segments of time, or time in increments.  Set one up, and time seems to slip away rapidly.

Mentally, set yourself up on a desert. There’s nothing but tons of sand.  Dunes are dispersed throughout. Reach the top of a dune and look back.  It’s possible your tracks will quickly vanish and get covered up in a short amount of time.  Wind moves sand and erases what you recently created, whether you planned it or not.  Like grains of sand slipping through our fingers, life passes by.

The grains of sands that comprise our lives are ever-moving and ever-shifting.  Time, is running out on us.  We began with a full glass, but now grains of sand are rapidly diminishing.  As Jaci Velazquez sang in the Thief of Always

“You’ve got to live every moment/As though it was your last/ Before the thief of always/Steals tomorrow from your grasp/ Before the chance to know His love/Has somehow passed you by/Let your heart reach out/Right here, right now/For the Lord to touch your life.”

Time waits for no one, whether your hourglass holds seven-decades, three decades, two mins. or 60 secs of sand. Only God is unaffected by time because He exists outside of His creation and its effects on life.

Your life can hold more meaning if it’s hid behind His. When your time to leave this earth comes, you’ll transitions flawlessly into His presence- alive. As that oldie Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band) said, “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin,’ slippin’ into the future.” Use it wisely.  God’s our timekeeper.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

God Bless,

Sam

Back in the mid-60s and 70s, there were songs like: Papa’s Got a Brand-New Bag (James Brown), You Make Me Feel Brand New (The Stylistics), and Brand-New Key (Melanie Safka.  While a lot of people like new stuff, some don’t like brand new things at all-or at least act like they don’t.  Ever seen in movies when a guy compliments a girl on her new dress and she says something like, “What, this old thing?” 

Ages ago, people didn’t like wearing brand new dungarees, because they were so stiff.  I remember practically walking like John Wayne in them; especially if I also donned new Converse sneakers (footwear also has to be broken in for a comfortable fit).  To avoid the stiffness in jeans, people would wash them immediately before wearing them. Thus, pre-wash jeans were introduced, which raised prices too. 

There’s one thing I’ve never liked about new stuff, actually, a new look.  And that’s when women go to the beauty parlor and get their hair done. It might be cultural, but where I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. You had all these (Hispanic) women return from the salon looking like their heads were wrapped in plastic. They’d return home with hairdos that had received about 3 cans of hairspray.  It’d be shiny and stiff; primarily, when they had beehive hairdos!

Thankfully, my wife has never done that.  Even when her hairdo has undergone “the works,” she’ll say, “I’ll fix it at home.” And she does!  She knows how to make “New” look normal.

But new is good! If we have a new car, we tend to shine it up endlessly. Have a new house?  Like to show it off?  I can understand it.  But for over the top, it’s helpful to think that Jesus is in heaven preparing new homes for us.  They won’t be used, repossessed, from a kit, or worse; come with drawn and unwritten instructions!  Everything will be brand new, including our bodies, our neighbors, and a new earth with new heavens.  Life will be completely different from what it is now.  We’ll have a brand-new start in life, and won’t look like we’re made from plastic either! More importantly, our focus will be on Him, not on us. 

If you’ve ever been in the presence of professionals, you know what it’s like when your best efforts fall short compared to theirs!  Imagine worshipping God with angels! Imagine being in the presence of the Cherubim as they cover their faces before God’s holiness!  We’ll get to see the Seraphim flying with six wings!  Can you imagine?  With 2 wings they cover their feet; with 2 wings they fly, and with 2, they cover their faces as they sing out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:2,3).  We’ll join them and other beings in worshipping God!  It’ll all be brand new to us!  We’ll have glorious experiences! 

All in all, everything evil, harmful, hurtful and devastating, will be gone!  Sin will be no more, corruption will be gone, death will be gone…temptation, lust and scamming as well!  In this case, new is good!  That’s the Gospel: Good News!

God Bless!
Sam

There are people who love making a grand entrance wherever they go. They want all eyes on them, stares, and jaws dropping as they strut their stuff. To me, they’re like Mr. Big Stuff (Jean Knight) commanding attention and recognition.  More so, it’s like stepping on to the dance floor during the Disco age displaying your outfit and hairdo, as well as your moves (Oh yes, it’s Ladies’ Night and the feeling’s right (Kool & the Gang); Disco Lady (Johnny Taylor); Mondo Disco (El Coco), etc.

Back in the mid-80s we had a “Supervisor” at work like that. It was said he liked to sashay his way around.  After a few minutes of modeling and giving a few instructions, he’d leave and return another day.  No one ever saw him work; much less, work up a sweat.

In general, man, lives under pride.  He loves to gloat, loves attention, and loves to be recognized. Those are all traits inherited from Satan, the liar and father of all lies. They are not traits from Jesus who made His entrance into this world in a most obscure way-born in a manger.  His “home” wasn’t exactly smelling of roses.  He lived unknown until He began His ministry at age 30 (Luke 3:23).

Unlike Jesus, Satan wanted Him to be like himself: (extravagant and attention seeking). He told Jesus ,“Cast yourself from this mountaintop…” (Matthew 4:6) so all could see Him); but that wasn’t Jesus’ MO.  “The pride of life…” (1 John 2:16).

“Jesus came to undo the works of Satan” (1 John 3:8).  Do you “Own the floor?” Are you starving for attention? Must everyone listen to what you have to say? Must you out-perform or outrank everyone for the spotlight? 

NEWSFLASH!!  The dancefloor belongs to only ONE person: JESUS! Although, He’s not the flashy type, He is decked out in glory, light, and surrounded by all types of jewels and majesty (Revelation 4:1-6).  He has all the moves; not dance-wise, but salvation-wise.  He controls EVERYTHING in the entire galaxy.  He rules over the affairs of man.  “Nothing happens without his knowledge” (Matthew 10:29).

After His crucifixion, He descended to depths of the earth to make a grand entrance into hell.  He spoiled the principalities there.  He made a show of them (Colossians 2:15).  After resurrecting, He appeared to many on earth for 40 days.  He made another grand entrance into heaven to the cheers of angels and the glory of the Father.  He reigns in heaven and everything is subject to Him (1Corinthians 15:28).

Soon, Jesus will make an exceptional grand entrance upon earth again!  His entrance will not be as a helpless infant this time, but as mighty warrior coming to bring vengeance upon everyone (Psalm 149:7), and to establish His earthly millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:1-10).  Upon completion, His body, the church, will reign with Him for all eternity. His Grand Entrance will be permanent!

But you don’t have to wait a thousand years! Hey, you don’t have to wait decades or weeks for Him. “Call on him now” and He’ll make a grand entrance right into your life this instant!  He’ll rule and reign over your affairs.  He’ll break darkness and shadows hovering over you.  He’ll heal your aching heart and restore your health.  As an extra measure of His love for you, He’ll throw in eternal life (John 17:3)!

God Bless!
Sam