I am so rich

Yesterday I drove to Calvary Chapel of Lexington to drop off some missions resources for Cam Moss. We eventually began talking about his sermon on Sunday, Compassion International Sunday. He preached on the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. As we talked, he told me of a website, http://www.globalrichlist.com/, that tells you how rich you are in the world based on your salary. I'm in the top 1%! I wasn't even that high in my high school graduating class and I was a very good student.

It really is funny or more appropriately sad how soon we forget how rich we are. As a result of my conversation with Cam, I began thinking about what we Americans, at least most of us, regard as necessities. A phone was a necessity. In my elementary years, we were on a party line. That means five other households used the same line as we did. (Boy did they get angry when I entered junior high and started having 30 minute and longer phone conversations!) Now owning a personal cell phone is considered by most of be a necessity. We had a TV for part of my childhood. A black and white that could only get one channel where we lived. Now for most Americans, multiple TV's (sometimes one for every person in the house) is considered a necessity. And then some sort of subscription (cable, satellite) to get dozens if not hundreds of channels in considered a necessity. Air conditioning for the car was only for the wealthy. Now, air conditioning is considered a necessity for almost all of us car owners in America. Cameras, personal computers, number of and fashionableness of outfits, owning a house and maybe a vacation place (time share or lakeside/seaside/mountain cabin), etc.

What do you remember being a luxury that has become a necessity? What do you remember being normal and good that has mostly disappeared?

I am filthy rich. I say that even though we some times struggle to pay for unexpected costs like Esther's braces and Joshua's cavities. (We don't have dental insurance.) I truly need to sit down with Susan and figure out how we can be even more generous with all that God has blessed us with. Since I am in the top 1% of the rich worldwide based on my salary, I have a great responsibility to share my resources. I need to do this as a compassionate human being and I need to do it because it is the way of Jesus. I need to be far more grateful to God and far less quick to state that I am not rich.

Today is a beginning

I don't know why, but there has always been in me a desire to write. In fifth and sixth grade, I wrote fiction stories. Usually they were about classmates who I admired. I took writing classes in high school and was identified by teachers as a good writer. I went on to earn a minor in writing at Houghton College, but I was never able to step up from B's to A's. (I guess that means I was an above average writer but not an excellent writer!) Since my college days, my writing has been limited to newsletters (missionary prayer letters), and Bible lessons and sermons. Many of those have been in Japanese, so my development as an English writer has been severely hampered. Every writer out there says that in order to be a good writer, one must write and write and write some more. Most of my regular writing has been in my journal. I also write in my mind but seldom get that material onto paper. Perhaps that will change. Perhaps!

In the past week, my wife and I both read "Redeeming Love," a modernized novel based on the biblical book of Hosea. Because of that novel, I have returned to reading the original Hosea in the Old Testament. This brings me to the title of today's post. Yes, I'm beginning to blog (which may of may not last). The greater meaning is taken from Hosea's adulterous bride.

In the second chapter, the Lord says he will allure his wife. He speaks of a future time when he "will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." He speaks of that time when "she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt." In other words, this adulterous woman will be able to return to a time of purity with God. When salvation was new and she had hope for the future. In the case of God's chosen people, that time of purity was short-lived. They were celebrating around a golden calf while Moses was receiving the moral code from God on the mountain. God's people went from pure to adulterous very rapidly, and God punished and then restored his people. He did this time and time again in their history.

I also am repeatedly unfaithful. Oh, I've never bowed down to a statue-shaped idol. However, I am quick to doubt God's care in my life. I easily forget him just like the adulterous bride is recorded to have done. (2:13) I worry about finances. I worry about political leaders and even church leaders. I rely too much on them and then desert them when they disappoint me. Sadly, I do not take time to regularly acknowledge all that God has given me. I have a wonderful family. I have more than enough to eat, a rental house large enough to take in guests (as long as they don't mind sharing a room with one of our children). I have Christian brothers and sisters all around the world, especially in America and Japan, who love me and demonstrate that love with kind, encouraging words, with financial support and gifts, with time to hear my troubles or ideas, and with a willingness to share from their own knowledge and wisdom. The key point is that all of this is from God.

Today is a new beginning. Will I remain faithful to my loving Lord, Savior, "husband," God or will I like an adulterous wife pursue others to meet my needs? It is easy to write an answer. It is fairly easy to write and to say anything. The real answer, however, comes from how I live my life each day.