Today’s sermon from The Church at Avenue South was about the rich young ruler who chose his riches over Jesus. More accurately, he chose to put his trust in himself, i.e. his control over his finances and his morality, rather than in the person and work of Jesus.

Riches in and of themselves aren’t good or bad. They can be used for great good or enormous evil. It’s not money that is the root of all evil; it is the love of money.

The rich young ruler started off by asking the wrong question: “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?”

Apparently, he missed where Jesus said that if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must receive it as a little child. Or perhaps his religion of righteousness through outward improvements and better morals didn’t allow for such a thing as saved by grace through faith.

If the the young man could have done anything to gain eternal life, there would have been no need for Jesus. There would have been no need for an incarnation, much less a crucifixion. The fact that Jesus was available to answer the man’s question showed that it had no merit.

Jesus’ answer wasn’t that voluntary poverty was the way to salvation. The key was surrender. The man had to surrender his trust in his riches, his man-made empire of wealth that he trusted in above all else, to follow the Rabbi. Jesus would have no other gods before Him.

The rich young ruler went away sad because he’d rather have gold than God, silver than a Savior. The disciples, while they certainly didn’t understand a lot of what Jesus said and did, still chose to trust what they knew and keep following. That’s the difference.

So apparently we’re losing an hour tonight. Whenever I lose sleep, it’s a big deal. I’m not ready for this.

Why do we still even have daylight savings time? I know back in the day it was helpful to farmers and such to have more hours of daylight for working. But these days we have devices that allow us to work past sunset.

My life won’t come to a screeching halt if we still have daylight savings next year. I’m just saying that it’s very annoying to have to mess with all my clocks twice a year. Can’t we just leave them alone? Can’t we just live and let live and keep that extra hour of sleep?

If you love and look forward to daylight savings, then God bless you. I won’t think any less of you for springing forward and falling back.

I just know that I will at some point tomorrow be in dire need of a nap.

That’s all.

I ran across something that I wrote 11 years ago. It’s always intriguing to read some of what I was thinking and feeling back then and how much I have changed since then (and yet how much I remain the same).

I don’t remember the circumstances behind what I wrote. I don’t remember much of anything about March 12, 2010. I may or may not have gone to work that day. It may or may not have been a good day. All I know is that what I wrote speaks to me and will hopefully speak to you.

Here’s a blast from the past:

When I am alone and nobody seems to care,
Lord, You know my name.
When I am ignored in a crowd,
Lord, You know my name.
When I am screaming inside with a smile on my face,
Lord, You know my name.
When I have one more step left in me before I quit,
Lord, You know my name.
When I have all that I want and am still empty,
Lord, You know my name.
When I forget You and walk away from Your promises,
Lord, You know my name.
When I am in heaven and see You waiting for me there,
Lord, You know my name.
For it is written in stone and on Your heart.

I love the part that says how we’re not called to be kind to people because they somehow have earned it or deserve it in any way, but because Jesus has been kind to us.

I think sometimes we forget that it took as much grace to save any of us as it took to save that death-row inmate or the hopelessly addicted junkie or that thief on the cross with his last minute plea. All of us who belong to Jesus are standing on level ground at the foot of the cross because we all equally still need Jesus to save us and keep us and sustain us through all the rest of our days.

So be kind. Remember the lovingkindness that was shown to you once when you least expected or deserved it. Remember that while you and I were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We’re 3 days away from that special Saturday where we spring forward an hour. Well, technically, it’s Sunday at 2 am, but who really stays up that late just to set the clocks ahead? Not me.

We’re also 10 days away from the Spring Equinox and the official end of winter. What the heck? Or, as I heard in a sitcom, what the ham sandwich?

Where has the year gone already?

It seems like this time last year we were all awakening to the reality of a pandemic and all the restrictions that ensued. Now it seems like the pandemic is (hopefully) drawing to a close and those restrictions are being lifted.

I can’t keep up anymore. I barely know what day of the week it is, and that’s only because of my awesome Doug the Pug daily calendar that I keep at my desk at work. Sometimes, I look at my watch just so I know that it’s Wednesday, April 10.

Just kidding. I know it’s really March 10. But after I blink, it really will be April. What in the actual ham sandwich?

The only way I’ve found to keep the time from completely flying by is to enjoy the moments. Receive each moment as a gift from God (which is why it’s called the present) and try to be present in each and every moment.

Spring has warmer temperatures (yay) and pollen (boo). It has lots of sunshine (yay) and also plenty of rain (boo). At least I won’t have to scrape ice off my windshield anymore for a while (big yay).

So bring on Spring. I’m ready.

As you can tell, my lap was invaded by a small tortie with a peanut butter foot prominently displayed. That is how exciting my evening was.

Peanut kept me company while I finally got around to doing my taxes online for the wild and wacky year of 2020. I don’t know why I put it off for so long this time because it’s never really very complicated.

But it’s nice to have some feline company, no matter what the occasion. She’s never one to talk my head off or to be obnoxious. Mostly, she curls up in my lap and falls asleep.

I did have a lovely dinner with Mom at a very trendy West End restaurant called Kay Bob’s, paid for by a Living Social voucher that I got way back in 2020. I like that place, but I think it’s been 10 years since I was there last.

That wraps up my not overly exciting Tuesday evening. I’ll take non-eventful over stressful any day of the week. Including Tuesdays.

“The incarnation, from the manger to the cross, is the very opposite of our wishes. It defies our logic and exposes our self-righteousness and bankruptcy. It reveals how obsessed we are with ourselves. We know in our bones that our rightful end is hell, banishment from the Garden. But the good news is that this is precisely where God meets us. God dwells in the godforsaken places of our lives. His aim is to vanquish every hell, not by external force of will but from the inside out, through love” (Charles Moore, The God Who Descends).

I love that God meets me where I am, not where I should be at this point in my life. I also love that God knows me better than anyone, including me, and yet still chooses me and loves me and wants me. When I take the time to think about that, it blows my puny (in comparison to God) little mind.

The story of Easter is that God took our hell so that we could have His heaven. He took the death we deserved so that we could have the abundant life that only He can give.

I’m aware that Easter has been commercialized to the point that some Christians refer to that Sunday as Resurrection Sunday. I’m really okay with either name, as long as the focus is on the empty tomb and the risen Christ. The hope that we squandered is born anew in us.

If you are committed to following Jesus and not just being an admirer, people will misunderstand and malign you. They will persecute you and pester you. Be faithful any way.

It’s not about pleasing the world. It never was. They will only be satisfied with you denying Christ. If you gain the whole wide world and lose your very soul, what good is it?

Seek to honor and please Jesus, because in the final analysis, if you have Jesus and nothing else, you have everything. If you have everything else but Jesus, you have nothing.

Sometimes, thrifting can be very rewarding. Today, for instance, I went to Goodwill and found this Doctor Who lamp, complete with light bulb, working doors, and sound effects, for only $5.

I can safely say that I am now full-fledged geek status.

I say geek in the most honoring and reverent way possible, not in the dismissive and demeaning way that some use it. I am proud to be identified both as a geek and a Doctor Who fan. I also happen to love finding unexpected bargains.

It’s not like I come away with treasures every time I visit a thrift store. Most of the time, I don’t find much of anything. But on those rare occasions, it’s almost like an early Christmas. Or a belated Christmas, depending on your perspective.

Life can be like that. Day after day can pass with little or no fanfare, then one day, the sun is shining and all your stop lights are green and you find unexpected little treasures throughout the day. The trick is to trust God and keep your expectations on Him and Him only– let everything else be a pleasant surprise.

May your next thrift store visit be a successful one.

So far, so good. I’ve been away from social media for about 3 weeks or so, and I’m not missing it. I know that when Easter is over, I’ll probably go back to the Facebooks and the Instagrams, but I think (and I hope) that it will have less of a hold on me than before. I can tell lately that I don’t need it or miss it as much as before.

I don’t ever want to get to the point where my life is so wrapped up in the artificial and the digital that I miss what’s right in front of me. I’d much rather see one real sunset than 50 amazing panoramas posted on any Facebook page.

I definitely don’t miss the social media shaming. All the anti-maskers shaming those who wear masks and visa versa. No one seems to grasp that no one else’s mind gets changed in the least through shaming posts on any social media platform. That’s not how it works.

But back to lent. I’m still reading through Bread and Wine, my devotional for this Lent season, as well as Piercing Heaven, a collection of Puritan prayers. I’m also up to 2 Kings 19 in my quest to read through the Bible again.

I want to feel the true joy of Easter again. I want to celebrate like one of those in the early church, rejoicing in the resurrection that transformed and changed everything. I want the American church to rediscover the fire that led a small but committed band of Jesus followers to turn their world upside down (or better yet, to turn the upside down world right-side up again.