Easter: The Aftermath

Easter is over.  The chocolate bunnies are eaten.  The leftovers from Easter dinner are gone.  The new outfits have been dry cleaned and tucked away in the closet.  It's back to business as usual.  But if we celebrate the resurrection then go back to status quo then we've missed the point.   Easter is a new beginning.  For the Jewish people Passover was a significant time.  While the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt the last plague was the Passover.  Everyone who Read more

Passions Need People

Last time we looked at how Nehemiah's passion led him to complete the tremendous undertaking of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days, but he didn't do it alone.....   How often have you had an idea, a vision, a passion you wanted to pursue, but it never went beyond an idea in your head because you had no idea how you would make it happen?  Yeah, its sounded like a good idea, but that thought of trying to accomplish Read more

The Power of Passion

Often when we hear the word passion, we think of it in the context of love and romance.  Most people can relate to that feeling of being in love.  You fall for that special someone and they become your obsession.  That special person is all you think about.  You'd do almost anything for them.   You can also get passionate about a goal. Something you feel driven to accomplish.  Something that you're willing to put your all into, make sacrifices for.  Read more

Spring Break the Hunger....A Child's Spark

Last time, I asked for your help in raising money for my church’s current initiative: buy 300 Food Packets to send home with kids over spring break.  Essentially, the food pack is enough stuff for the kids to make themselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday.   So we’re sitting in church last Sunday, listening to the man explain the initiative and my son (whose 9) leans over to me and says “Mom, that’s all they get?    They should Read more
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Easter: The Aftermath

Posted on April 8, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Insights | Leave a comment

Easter is over.  The chocolate bunnies are eaten.  The leftovers from Easter dinner are gone.  The new outfits have been dry cleaned and tucked away in the closet.  It’s back to business as usual.  But if we celebrate the resurrection then go back to status quo then we’ve missed the point.

 

Easter is a new beginning.  For the Jewish people Passover was a significant time.  While the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt the last plague was the Passover.  Everyone who put blood on their door post was passed over.  Those homes that did not have the blood, the first born of the house was killed.  This was the final straw and the pharaoh finally allowed them to leave.

 

For Christians Easter represents the birth of Christianity. If Jesus had just lived a long healthy life and died of natural causes would that be significant?  Would the story be as powerful? Even if he still did the same stuff would it be as “great”?  There was something about demonstrating the power over death that sparked a new beginning.  Christianity went from being a cult to spreading across the land.

 

resurrection sticker

Even for the pagan traditions that some Easter practices are founded, the holiday was to celebrate spring and fertility (hence the bunny rabbit).  Saying goodbye that that which is dead and cold, welcoming new life and new season.
Easter is about turning the corner….a new beginning…making a fresh start….lighting a fire…the birth of something BIG.  It’s great to celebrate the holiday with whatever traditions and ceremonies you choose.  But what comes after the celebrations?

Passions Need People

Posted on February 24, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Insights | Leave a comment

Last time we looked at how Nehemiah’s passion led him to complete the tremendous undertaking of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days, but he didn’t do it alone…..

 

How often have you had an idea, a vision, a passion you wanted to pursue, but it never went beyond an idea in your head because you had no idea how you would make it happen?  Yeah, its sounded like a good idea, but that thought of trying to accomplish it was overwhelming.  The good news is that if your passion is “big” enough that you could accomplish it on by yourself…then it probably isn’t big enough at all.  In order to make big things happen, you need people.  You need others to see your vision and get motivated by your passion.  Inspiring others is not as difficult as you think.  If you are passionate about your vision, people will follow you.

 

There’s a famous quote that says “if you light yourself on fire with passion people will come from miles to watch you burn.”  So how do you go about lighting ignite passionyourself on fire?  Easy

  1. Define your mission clearly.  Put into words exactly what you are passionate about and what you want to accomplish.
  2. Seek confirmation.  Through prayer and seeking counsel of others look for confirmation that this is what you should be doing.  Accepting that there is no such things as coincidences see what messages are being left for your confirming or redirecting your mission.
  3. Make plans.  One of the reasons Nehemiah’s mission was a success was because he planned for it.  When the king asked him “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” (Nehemiah 2:6) he had an answer.  When people see you have plans it will help bolster their belief in you.

 

Last time I asked what were you passionate about?  Today, I wonder, what are you going to do about it?

The Power of Passion

Posted on February 21, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Insights | Leave a comment

Often when we hear the word passion, we think of it in the context of love and romance.  Most people can relate to that feeling of being in love.  You fall for that special someone and they become your obsession.  That special person is all you think about.  You’d do almost anything for them.

 

You can also get passionate about a goal. Something you feel driven to accomplish.  Something that you’re willing to put your all into, make sacrifices for.  A passion can be selfish…I want to lose weight, I want to make a lot of money, I want a bigger house, I want that promotion, and so on.  A passion can also be bigger than you…help the homeless, stop human trafficking, or feed hungry kids.

 

Nehemiah’s story is an example of someone who developed a passion for something bigger.  Nehemiah was a cup bearer for the king.  His job was to taste the king’snehemiahs wall wine; this would be a pretty cool job as long as no one was trying to kill the king.  One day he learned about the sad state of his hometown of Jerusalem.  The city had been destroyed and the walls were torn down.  This broke Nehemiah’s heart; he took a chance and asked the king of he could leave to go rebuild the wall.

 

He left his cushy job, traveled 1000 miles (by foot), rallied support, and in 52 days rebuilt the wall.  Nehemiah made a decision to make a change…to do something different.  From that spark of passion he was able to accomplish something that many would have called impossible.

 

What are you passionate about?

Spring Break the Hunger….A Child’s Spark

Posted on February 13, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Inspirational | Leave a comment

Last time, I asked for your help in raising money for my church’s current initiative: buy 300 Food Packets to send home with kids over spring break.  Essentially, the food pack is enough stuff for the kids to make themselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday.   So we’re sitting in church last Sunday, listening to the man explain the initiative and my son (whose 9) leans over to me and says “Mom, that’s all they get?    They should at least have some Spaghettio’s or something.”  I explained to him that stuff cost money and by doing this we’ll at least help these kids have something to eat over break.

Fast forward 2 days later…we’re in the car:

Him (out of the blue):  Mom we can do more

Me:  More of what?

Him: It’s pitiful those kids only get peanut butter and jelly; we can do better than that.

Me:  What do you want do?

Him: We should raise money so we can put some Spaghettio’s or macaroni and cheese in their pack.

gaming roboAnd so began his mission.  To raise enough money so that we can put something in the kids lunch pack.  Over the past week he’s talk with people, priced macaroni and cheese cups, and began detailed planning for video game competition.  His first goal is $250 so that each kid can have one macaroni and cheese cup, but his real goal is $500 so each kid can have two macaroni and cheese cups.

I have to be honest, when he first started, while supportive on the outside, on the inside I was thinking “that’s cute, but it will never happen.”  I’m a cynic and a skeptic.  I was doubtful the he would be willing to do the leg work necessary to plan the event or that he would have the focus necessary to see the plans through.  But to date he hasn’t faltered.  His energy and enthusiasm around this project has been contagious.

Children can be our role models.  They haven’t been jaded by time.  They still believe in magic.  They still believe that anything is possible.  And some of us need that attitude too.

“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ “

Matthew 18:3

Spring Break the Hunger

Posted on February 10, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Inspirational | Leave a comment

For many children, the free lunch they get at school everyday is their only consistent meal.  When breaks come around, they bring with them the reality that it may be days in between meals for some of these kids.  This year my church, Compass Community Church, is raising money to send home food for kids at a local elementary school.

$5 will purchase a Food Packet that containsphoto

1 jar of peanut butter

1 juice box pack

1 bottle of jelly

1 loaf of bread

1 apple sauce pack

 

Our goal is to buy 300 of these food packs so that every child at Oyler Elementary can take home a food pack for spring break.  If you would like to help, you can donate online at www.cincycompass.com

Thank you!

It doesn’t take much….

Posted on February 5, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across this story on Yahoo:  Waiter who refused service to customer becomes a web hero.  Basically there was a family in a restaurant who had a special needs child.  Another family began complaining about the noise from the child.  The waiter told family #2  “I won’t be able to serve you.”

Of course in this day and age that story went viral and was all over the internet.

Constrast that with another story that recently went viral: Pastor who got Applebee’s employee fired feels the Internet’s Wrath.  A waitress got fired from Applebee’s for posting to the Internet a picture of a bill that a customer left her.  Gratuity was added to a customer’s check; the customer stiffed the waitress of the tip and wrote on the receipt “I give God 10%.  Why do you get 18?”  The waitress posted the receipt to the Internet, the customer was identified and complained to Applebee’s, the waitress got fired.  The worst part of the story, the customer was a Pastor.  Every since the story went viral, the Pastor has been feeling the sting.

wwjd 2Both of these stories have one theme in common:  It doesn’t take much to make a long lasting impression.  It can be a good thing, like standing up for the little guy;  it can be a bad thing, like embarrassing someone or letting your pride cost someone their job.  Either way, every day you make a choice how to respond to the situations life puts in your path.

I’ve never been a fan of tired cliches but it probably doesn’t hurt – every now and again – to ask yourself, “What Would Jesus Do?”

FREE eBook

Posted on February 2, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Book Review | Leave a comment

As a special promotion, Kindle is offering my ebook, 10 Reasons Christians Should Care About What They Eat from now until Monday, Feb 4th.

Don’t have a Kindle?  No worries!  You can read the book directly from your computer.  And if you like what you read, please take a moment to write a review ont he Amazon site.

Thank you for your support!

Is America Losing Its Religion (part 3)?

Posted on January 31, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Insights | Leave a comment

This whole discussion about the Religious Unaffiliated resonates with me because I can relate to having a sense of spirituality, longing for a connection to a higher power, yet feeling constricted by the confines of the “typical” church and turned off by the behavior of my fellow Christians.  If our relationship with Jesus is supposed to be a personal relationship, why do we need the church to tell us what is right and wrong?  If the New Testament signaled the end of strict adherence to the law why are many religious denominations so quick and eager to return to the shackles of the law?  And if the message of Jesus was all about love why is there so much hate and intolerance amongst those who call themselves “religious”?

 

There is a fine line between spirituality and religion.  While we might dislike, even fear, organized religion it does serve its purpose in our society.  Many of the social services provided in our society are done through the churches of various religions and denominations.  Churches often provide an extended family and sense of community that help many people handle life struggles.  Church also gives you an opportunity to find others who share your belief and gives you a sense of freedom to express yourself (the tough part here though is searching until you find that perfect church….it’s out there).

 

new religionI don’t think America is losing its religion…I think America is redefining religion.  It’s a good thing that the younger generation is more accepting of differences, more tolerate of people, more willing to help people in need and more in-tune with their personal spirituality.  Being “more spiritual” doesn’t have to translate into abandoning the church.  My prediction is over the next decade or so we’ll see the church change.  You already see more churches offering a contemporary service in addition to a traditional service.  Dress codes have been relaxed and coffee is allowed in the sanctuary.  In home and start-up churches continue to be a part of America’s landscape.

Change is a good thing and if you think about it, isn’t that what Jesus did?  He came and turned the religious world upside down.  It’s time we do the same.

Is America Losing Its Religion (part 2)?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Blog Trotting | Leave a comment

Last time we discussed how the number of people who consider themselves Religiously Unaffiliated is on the rise…

religion chart

 

In their Religious and Ethics News Weekly PBS reported:  “46 million Americans that our poll found have no religious affiliation, almost one in five. But they’re not entirely secular. About a third describe themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious.’ ”  The article quoted Diana Butler Bass  (Author of  Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening): ” I think that the main problem that people identify with religion and religious institutions is hypocrisy, is that they look at these institutions and they see people who are more concerned about politics, more concerned about money, more concerned about their own power, and that’s just not what people expect out of a faith institution. They expect some level of authenticity, especially in the leadership. They would like religious institutions to practice what they preach.”

 

The scary part is not only is the number of religious unaffiliated is growing but young people are largest part of the group.

 

In another PBS article entitled None of the Above  “About one-third of all American adults under the age of 30 describe themselves as either atheists or agnostics or say they just don’t have any particular religion.”  In the article Bob Abernathy from the Pew Forum says: “Two-thirds of the unaffiliated say they believe in God, or a universal spirit. More than a third, 37 percent, call themselves spiritual but not religious. About one in five say they pray every day, and the same number say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives. With all that religiosity, then, why do 46 million Americans say they are unaffiliated with any religious organization?”

 

Some possible answers included in the article…

 

  • “Young people are becoming increasingly willing to tolerate people who are different. To tolerate different sexual orientation, different religion, different ethnic background, whatever. We don’t want to be told that we can’t accept gay marriage or that we can’t support birth control or abortion. You can still be moral and you can still be a good person without being religious.”
  •  “I don’t necessarily feel like I need to be guided through my relationship with, you know, the higher power or whatever you will call it. I feel like it’s a very personal relationship and I don’t necessarily need to be sitting in a church to experience that relationship. So that’s why I’ve never really been drawn to attending services regularly.”
  • “Many of the Nones say they want no part of the conservative politics some churches embrace. Others say society in general has become much more tolerant of non-believers, so it’s easier than it used to be for some people to acknowledge publicly what they have long been in private, to come out of the atheist or agnostic closet.”

So what do you think, do you need religion to be spiritual?

Is America Losing Its Religion (part 1)?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by ML Smith Posted in Blog Trotting | Leave a comment

In October 2012 The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released an article called “’Nones’ on the the Rise: One-in-Five Adults have no Religious Affiliation”  The article reports:  “The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling….In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%). “

religious exit poll

 

The Pew Forum  describes itself as “a nonpartisan ‘fact tank’ that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world… by conducting public opinion polling and social science research…analyzing news coverage and holding forums…. It does not take positions on policy issues.”

 

As you can imagine this article set off a flurry of discussion and debate.   Similar articles, quoting the Pew Forum as a source, were seen on  sites such as CBS News, USA Today, Huffington Post and Christianity Today all asking the question:  “Is America Losing its Religion?”

 

According to a Pew Forum article    “The religiously unaffiliated number 1.1 billion, accounting for about one-in-six (16%) people worldwide. The religiously unaffiliated include atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs. For example, belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults. Some of the unaffiliated also engage in certain kinds of religious practices. For example, 7% of unaffiliated adults in France and 2 7% of those in the United States say they attend religious serv ices at least once a year.”

So what do you think, Is America Losing Its Religion?

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