The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey (Aesop)

A Man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

 

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours--you and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders.

Then they went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them: "Please all and you will please none."

When Greatness Meets Emptiness

What happens when good things become ultimate things? In the end, they starve, enslave, and divide us. Human emptiness is a God-shaped void, even in the lives of notorious people like Michael Jordan. And, unfortunately, the last place we usually go to solve our pressing problems is to God, via the Scriptures, in the person of Jesus Christ. Bottom line, we would rather live in our disordered loves than seek real, satisfying answers. We are all worshipers, whether of good things, of ourselves, of evil impulses, or of God.

When Greatness Meets Emptiness--Michael Jordan at 50 

"Word of God" by Mian Situ

   I love this picture (a painting entitled "Word of God," by Mian Situ). It seems to be a painting that brings out the truths in the parable of the sower from (Matt 13:1-9; 18-23).
   A clergyman, looking heavenward, is declaring the Word of God to a diversity of hearers, some engaged, others partially engaged, and still others ignoring him. All of these people are on a voyage together. While a storm seems possibly brewing in the distance, it is not presently upon them. A lifeboat is vaguely in the background (note: click on it to enlarge).

Financial Advise From Jed Clampett?

Well, here's an unlikely source of good financial advise--but good financial advise it is! 21st-century Americans would do well to be as content financially as ole Jed. This is one of my favorite scenes from the old show, The Beverly Hillbillys.

Running the Race

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it (1 Cor 9:24-25).


". . .let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, . . ." (Heb 12:1-3).


Here's a story that puts these verses in perspective.

The Future Forecasted in the Past

Some old pictures iconically point toward the future, and this is one of them. It's Winter, around 1971. I'm taking the picture (the shadow), and my 3 little brothers are working on our new "recreation room" (my grandfather and stepfather's do-it-yourself project). From the time we were very little, all 4 of us were ever surrounded by tools (ladders, hammers, and wheelbarrows), as well as construction projects. All 3 of my little brothers ended up making a living via construction, and I went on to tackle numerous DIY construction projects of my own--as well as being the family member who usually takes the family pictures.

Death and Dying and God

    In the last sixteen months, four members of my family died (a stepfather, two brothers, and an uncle). All of them were critical influences in my life, and each of their deaths was a blow that left me reeling. Death is daunting, especially when it comes rudely knocking on my household's door.
    While it may be stating the obvious, death is certain for everyone, a fact easily acknowledged but hard to face squarely. Moreover, none of us knows whether we have one day left in this life or many. So, like everyone else, I don't like the thought of facing the certainty of my death, nor facing the certain death of anyone I love. Nonetheless, a death-date awaits every single one of us, and how we live our lives between now and then matters. Every nanosecond matters. After all, everyone wants to live well, and everyone wants to die well too.
    Death and dying and God all give rise to a lot of opinions, religious and otherwise. And, many people in our relativistic culture believe God is whatever they imagine Him to be (or not to be), and what happens amid death and dying is considered the same, involving whatever chemistry of imagined "realities" a person conjures up.
    However, this is both illogical and irrational; all such "truths" simply can't all be true. Think about it. Does God just magically become what each individual person imagines? No. Do death and dying just magically transform into each individual's imagined perception of what they involve? No. Thus, such relativistic "truth" isn't really very comforting at all; its merely a coping mechanism that sadly reflects our depth of denial and distance from God. Upfront, relativism sounds good in theory, as a basis of civility and tolerance, but, in reality, it lacks serious answers to many of life's most pressing problems (e.g. death, dying, God, meaning, evil, and pain).
    Hence, truth about death and dying and God must be pursued outside ourselves, and only the Scriptures can adequately inform us in these matters. Don't drink the relativistic Kool-Aid, even if its vogue among the intelligentsia of our day. Such "experts" (religious or otherwise) will offer you no real answers to death and dying and God. Bottom line, you can't learn to live or die well from these sorry sources. True faith isn't a blind, relativistic leap in the dark, it's an informed, absolute leap in the light, the light of God's revealed will in the reliable Scriptures.
     "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" (Rev 1:17-18).