Motives Count

By Pat

As I was doing a recent time of devotion, the scripture to which I was directed was Romans 12:1-8. I am very familiar with these passages, which encourage us to use the gifts God has given us, and remind is that each gift has a special value all its own. These verses have brought me comfort many times when I have felt that my talents and gifts do not compare well with the gifts others have, but what struck me this time was the heart with which we use our talents. "If it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give GENEROUSLY. If it is leadership, let him govern DILIGENTLY. If it is showing mercy, let him do it CHEERFULLY." (Romans 12:8)

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Down The Slide!

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

Last week the nation was transfixed by the JetBlue steward who had enough of his job and made a dramatic exit from the plane and his career. In his side of the story he got fed up with a passenger and once the plane landed he opened the emergency exit, deployed the slide and slid down into infamy. Regardless of whether his side of the story is true or not people rallied around him and cheered his actions. He became a cult hero for his actions. To many he represented the person we would like to be. The person who finally has had enough and then in a dramatic fashion tells the world and makes a difference.

I know that their are many times in my life that I would just love to do the same. Working in a customer service environment I can understand the frustration that he encountered. I can easily say that the majority of calls that I handle are by customers who are angry and want to lash out. It certainly does not matter to them if I am at fault...I represent the company therefore it is me that bears the brunt of their anger. I must admit it can be tiring at times. However I would never dream of just telling a customer off and walking out. That is too far off the spectrum for me.

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A Cheap Imitation

By MAD21

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to capture things in a photo sometimes? The way something appears to us in real life, the beauty or enormity of a situation and no photo you take can do it justice?

I was thinking about this when I was trying to get some pictures of the area around my house after the blizzards dumped such a huge amount of snow on us last month. I kept taking picture after picture, but when I'd look at the picture I took, it just didn't match what I was seeing with my eyes. I mean they were ok, but there was so much lost in the pictures. The camera was just unable to capture the whole essence of what I was seeing.

I wrote a little about this topic for my post on Remembering, and I was reminded of it again when I was looking at Beki's picture for her blog carnival, Fingerprint Friday. She had tried to capture the beauty she saw in a frosted window, but wasn't able to get the picture to show the full beauty of the frost with it's shine and depth.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

I've been thinking about how a photograph can fail so badly at portraying the beauty and complexity of real life. It is such a good analogy to the things we experience over the years. God has given us so many gifts. They aren't exclusive to believers, most of those gifts can be enjoyed by unbelievers. But there is always something missing when you take God out of the equation.

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Going Through The Motions

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

This has been on my heart for the past few days so I thought I would attempt to verbalize it here. Matthew West has an awesome song titled "The Motions." If you have not heard it I encourage you to do so before reading further.

I want to take some of those lyrics and apply them to our walk with God.

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