If we care than we will show it...

I would just like to say that the purpose of me putting out this blog is in the hopes that the readers will take a look at themselves and try to make themselves more available to others who might be going through some of these things.  This particular blog is not directed towards anyone, and I am the first to admit that I myself have failed in the area that this blog addresses.  It is my sincere hope that the people reading this who claim that they are Christians will not feel bad or even angry, but it is my hope that they will read this and become even more open to listening and helping others.  Once again, I am not calling anyone out or trying to anger anyone, I am saying my own faults in this matter.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

I have recently attended a Christmas party with a group of friends and towards the end of the party a wonderful individual (who has been going through an extremely difficult time this year due to marital issues) was asked how she has been doing right as she was about to leave.  The wonderful person blew up and vented saying that she is finding out who her true friends are because the ones that have known she has been going through these things have not called or tried to find out how she has been doing and she was obviously very hurt.  The sad part is that the normal Christian approach to someone being in pain is to:

a. leave the person alone, 

b. stay away from them, 

c. take a hands off approach, 

d. shun them, 

e. act as if they have done something wrong (even when they haven't), 

f. think that they deserve what they are going through , 

g. or even to just drop them from your friend list(I'm not talking MySpace, I'm talking acting as if they are no longer a friend).  

As Christians we say :

a. I'll pray for you (I am not against this,I support this, but surely we can do more for a person than remember them when talking to God.  How about we pray for them AND do something else).

b. Call me (This is the most common line that I hear.  As Christians or even as decent human beings, we should take the initiative to reach out to someone we know is in pain.  Think about it, when would someone in pain finally call?  When they feel they can't take it anymore.  If you don't matter to a person enough to call them, than why should they call you?).

c.  Let me know if there is anything I can do (People are not normally going to ask for something, so how about YOU/WE keep calling that person and SEE if there is anything that can be done.  Being available is sometimes the best thing a friend can do.)

With mush shame, I must admit that I myself am one of the people who has failed this wonderful person.  I have talked to her (when I have seen her) and I have called (2 or 3 times over the year and all of that was before/during the summer), but besides that, I myself have not reached out to "minister" to another person who claims they are a Christian when in reality I should have.  Not only have I not ministered to this wonderful person, I have not even been a very good friend to her.  As a Christian I have failed.  

Sure I have had "reasons" not to reach out.  I myself have had issues over the year, but that is no excuse to not even being a good friend to another person who was in need. The fact is that I should have been much more proactive than I have been.  The trap that "church people" or even true Christians fall into is that we become Fair weather Friends.  We are only there for each other as long as things are going great for you but if you have something that could bring us down/make us think less of you (such as a dissolving marriage, loss of a job, financial problems - all of which we coincidentally use to judge someone as a success) than we will not be there for you.  True Christians (myself included) need to make more time for others.  

As this is the Christmas season, why not reach out to someone in pain (and statistics show that everyone knows someone in pain) and earn the title of being called a friend.

I once had a class in bible college in which the professor continuously stated that we should always be available for those who need us.  How can we be a minister if we are not ministering?

The place where your hearts most authentic desire calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

If every one's feeling it, but no one is seeing it, than how are they supposed to know it's real?

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.  1st Peter 4:10 

What is going on in your life?...

One thing that I have noticed is that in all of my blogs I have talked about how I feel, what I think, or what is going on in my life.  In this blog I want to know what is going on in YOUR life!  I want everyone reading this blog to comment back anonymously about what issues are going on in YOUR life.  If you post the comment anonymously I wont be able to tell who it is and I wont try to find out who it is either (not that I could). 

I just would like to know the good and the bad things that others are going through right now.  I will be happy for the good things, and for the hard times that you are going through I will pray.

I think that this would be a great opportunity for others to share with me what they might be going through right now.  I'm not someone who is important, but I am someone who cares and I am someone who will pray for you and love you no matter what you might be experiencing.

The ugliness of politics...

There is something that is not new to politics this year, but there is something that I have noticed this year more than any other.  Ugliness...

This year has been the ugliest year that I can ever remember involving politics and quite frankly it is pretty disgusting.  I'm not talking about ugliness as far as appearance goes, but I am referring to the ugliness that is shown by one person to another when a complete lack of care or concern is shown towards another human being.  Being ugly is when you only care about what you want and disregard another person simply because they have a differing opinion.

Some examples of ugliness that I have seen this year are:

Less than a month ago when my wife and I went to the Fall Festival in our town (which is one of my favorite things in the world, by the way) and I decided to wear a shirt that supports a friend of ours who is running for the County Board of Education.  The Board of Education is not a "Republican" or "Democrat" type of election.  It is not run based on a political party at all and as a matter of fact only one candidate  (of the 8) even says anything about their political party (not the person who's shirt I was wearing though).  Anyways, I put on the shirt and walked across the shirt when a complete stranger (neither my wife or I know her) walks up and ask me "Is that shirt for a Republican?"  Although my friend is not running as a Republican I do know that she is a Republican so I answered the young lady with a "Yes, she is".  The young lady than told me "Than you should be shot " with a serious look on her face.  This was one of those moments in life where you are unsure of whether or not a person is joking, but the hate in her eyes told the truth and my wife and I were quite shocked.  I told her "That is the ugliest thing that has been said to me all day", and than I told her that "I hope that you have a nice day".  She said "Yeah, right, until I walk away".  I said "No, I really hope that you have a nice day" and than my wife and I walked away from her.  This is not a made up story and it is not exaggerated either.  This amount of ugliness really happened to me and all I did was put on a t-shirt!  Now, this true example is NOT meant to show that "Democrat's" are wrong and ugly, for I am quite sure that there are "Republicans" who are doing this type of things as well, but still, regardless of political party, ugly is ugly and wrong is wrong.  Is this the best we can do?  Is this as good as we can be to one another?

Another example of ugliness actually happened today when my wife forwarded a message from a friend of hers to some of her own friends.  This message had some information about one of the presidential candidates in it and my wife was just trying to share the info.  I know that I have gotten info from both sides and all I do is read them and throw them away.  Two of these people, that mean quite a bit to my wife, e-mailed her back ugly messages where they called her names and made false accusations about her.  These two people really meant a lot to my wife and that is how she gets treated?  If you don't agree and if you are voting for someone else than just delete the message if that is what you think.  I have seen another friend of mine get chewed out and cussed at via e-mail because he just had a different opinion than someone else.  Is that any way to act? Is this as beautiful as America can get towards one another when it tries to pick the person to run the country?  It is no wonder that we are having the difficulty that we are having when we cant even listen to each other and at least TRY to work together.

It doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, you should have common courtesy and decency when dealing with other people.  If you disagree than don't hang out with that person instead of cussing them out of treating them as if they don't matter... everyone matters so please treat each other as if we do.

chris

To whom it may concern...

This is probably the saddest blog that I have ever written or will probably ever write.  Before I begin though I want it to be first known that I am not trying to make anyone feel bad... but I am trying to let people think about their lives and their actions.  I know that I have looked at my life and I have found myself lacking.  So I have just three quick questions for you.

My first question is this:

1. Who has felt you love them today?

Notice the phrasing of the sentence.  I'm not asking who has HEARD you say that you love them or who KNOWS that you love them, but really take a moment to think to yourself... who has FELT you love them today?  Have you taken any time today to listen to someone that you feel is in pain or have you taken the opportunity to show someone that you care by doing something with someone that you know is lonely?  While making a phone call to someone to let them know that you have thought about them is great (I have done this myself), could you have done more for that person than just make a 15 second phone call?  

2. Could you have done more for another person today?

Have there been any times today in which you could have done something for / with someone and instead you did something for yourself?  You could and can make a difference in a person's life and not even realize that you do.  The smallest bit of kindness can make the largest difference.

3. Could you have helped someone to love themselves more today?

A simple compliment can shape another person's world for a day... if a compliment is given.  The easiest way to help someone to love themselves is to remind them how great they are.  EVERYONE has something good that they do.  If it is playing video games, take some time to tell that person how good they are at video games.  If they are skilled in singing than let them know how proud of them you are.  If they are a nice person then let them know how special they are.  EVERYBODY has something great about themselves, sometimes it is good to remind them of that.  Be warned however, you will probably get a weird look at first when you do this because people are not used to this.  They will either ask you if you are all right, or they will feel uncomfortable.  Sadly, some people will even get upset.  But, you are doing a good thing and keep it up.  Your friend will think about your compliment and it will matter to them.  People in this time period are just unused to giving/receiving compliments.

What is sad about this blog is that there are so many people who are down, hurting, and feel so alone.  Every single person that is reading this blog knows someone that is down, hurting, or lonely, even if they are unaware that that person is feeling these emotions.  Please, please, take a look at those who you are close to and see if they might be people that could use some love.  Even if they don't seem to need it, feeling loved for a day would definitely make someone feel better regardless.

Matthew 22:39 - Love your neighbor as yourself.

                                                                               With love and prayer,

                                                                                                                 chris 

What i love about my church...

Since I normally spend so much time complaining (venting) about things I see in life that I think are wrong, today I will brag about something that I think is pretty great... My church.  I know that no church is perfect and I am not claiming that this church is, but I am claiming that this is a great church, and it is a church that I am proud of.  

To start things off I will let you know about the church.  It is a small church about 12 minutes outside of the city.  There were 53 people there this past Sunday and there were 9 children for children's church.  The last youth meeting had 13 youth and although the church is small you can just feel the love and the excitement and you can just see the growth every week.  You might be saying to yourself, "If there are only 53 people then how is it growing?"  Well, 2 years ago they had only 17 people.  The age group is pretty varied but about 65% of the church is middle age/elderly and there are lots of children and many young families.

Things that I love about my church...

1.  Generosity - I have seen this church not just say that they want to help people, but I have seen this church reach into their own pockets and give not just their money but also their time to help other people out.  Their was once a time when they were given the "opportunity" to help out someone and without batting an eye they said "What else is the church for?"  This is far from a rich church but it sure does enjoy giving as if it was a rich church.

2.  Loving - "You shall know my people for they will have love for one another."  You can feel the love from the people if you ever attend a worship service with us.  The people are genuine and very friendly.  My church is not a church you will go to and be ignored.  My church is a church in which you will leave feeling as if you have made some new friends.  The greeting and fellowship  time (that time where everyone walks around and shakes hands with one another), can easily go for 10 minutes because the people just want to find out how each other is doing and because they want to smile and find out about each other... my church is interested in who you are.

3.  Open minded - This past Sunday my wife and I had a friend come over and sing a song to the church for worship.  My friend has a beautiful voice and is very talented and God has surely given her a gift, but still I thought that some people would get upset because the style of song was contemporary.  Remember that the average age of this small little country church is middle age/elderly.  I thought for certain that somebody would have a problem when my friend started to sing a Bethany Dillon song that sound real "poppy".  Imagine my surprise (and shame for not giving my church enough credit) when my church gave the loudest and most enthusiastic applause that I have ever heard them give.  Imagine my surprise again when so many of the middle age/elderly people came up and thanked my friend and gave her sincere love for the song that she song.  Now that you have imagined my surprise and shame imagine my pride...

4.  Strength - My church is just a little old church , but it is a church that is strong enough to have lasted 125+ years and it is a strong enough church to fight against an organization that it no longer wants to be a part of.  For those who are unaware, my "little" old church used to be Methodist but my "little" old church decided to take a stand against the large denomination when my "little" old church didn't agree with many of the things that the Methodist denomination was accepting.  My "little" old church is now fighting for it's very survival for what it believes is right and I KNOW that my "little" old church is going to win.  How "little" was David when he fought Goliath?

5.  Unity - The day of Pentecost was successful for 2 reasons.  The first reason was because the Holy Spirit came down and touched the people.  The second reason is because the people were united and all in one accord.  My church is united and if one person should fall then the rest of the church will pick that person up and carry them until they can walk on their own again.  My church voted 100% to leave the Methodist denomination and that is unheard of.  My church is united in making a difference and helping people not just helping themselves.  My church is united in wanting to serve God.

I'm sorry if I seemed to be bragging about my church but it is because I really am proud of my church.  This is a church filled with great people who want to do God's work and this is the kind of church that makes me proud and happy to be a Christian.  I know that if I have lived a less than perfect life these people would not look down their noses at me and I know that they would love me just the same.  I love my church because it is not mine so much as it is God's church and I'm just happy to be there.  I love my church because there is no drama, no back stabbing, no hurting one another, and no pettiness (I am not saying that all churches have those, but the few ones that do have those things do give the rest of the churches a bad name, so please do not think that I am writing about any church in particular).  I love my church because it loves me and my family and that is what Christianity is all about...

My church is named Mount Pleasant Community Church.

chris

Something different...

The other day I was thinking about how it seems (at least to me) that maybe all that I have done so far on my blog is just say what things I think are bad about the world without maybe saying anything bad about myself.  I don't want for anyone to ever be able to say to me that I think that their is nothing wrong with me, so with that in mind I am going to become very vulnerable in this blog and open up about what things I think are wrong with me.  Please feel free to add other things about me that you believe are flaws, things wrong with me, or things that I should work on.  I know that I have a lot of work in order to become the person that I want to be and I am open to helpful suggestions.

1.  I think that my sense of humor often hurts me in reaching out to people.  I don't have a bad sense of humor, or a dirty sense of humor, but my sense of humor can often be sarcastic and I believe that I often offend people without really wanting or meaning to.

2.  I have been told recently that I come across as arrogant and if that is true than I would definitely like to change that.  I truly don't think of myself as better than anyone else and I really don't feel that I am above others.  I am on the look out for this habit in myself  so that I can make sure that I don't do this anymore.

3.  I have a VERY difficult time in trusting other people.  This is very obvious to me because this is something that I feel everyday.  I believe that the reason for my lack of trust in others is due to how I was raised, and because of the amount of betrayal that I have experienced in my life.  I want to get better at trusting others so that I can build deeper and closer relationships with other people.  I currently only trust about 5 people in this world and I would like to be able to trust so many more than I currently do.

4.  I feel as if I am very demanding of my friends and of other people.  I think that a lot of this is because of how demanding I am of myself and I would like to become more carefree towards my friends and myself. I don't want to push others away and therefore miss out on their great friendships because of my being demanding.

5.  I am a very insecure person.  I am really going to open up the vulnerable can on this one by saying things that I am insecure about:  my weight, I feel as if I don't have any friends, I don't really feel as if I have accomplished anything in my life, I have yet to influence the world in the way that I would like to, I feel as if no one truly loves me (but God), I find that I find myself to be unworthy of love (but from God, I know He loves me), I don't really have any talents worth mentioning, there are things in life that I would love to do but I can't really do them now...  Just to name a few.  Please do not respond with things that are supposed to make me feel less insecure.  I am not doing this blog to fish for compliments but I am doing this blog to be as sincere and real as I can be.

6.  I have some phobias in my life that really affect my living and I let these phobias affect my life.  I really wish that I could overcome these, but they are a huge thorn in my side and I have lacked the strength to defeat them.

7.  I have really let things get me down this year and that is probably my deepest regret.  As a Christian I wish that I would have been a much stronger person than I have been this year and I feel that I could have accomplished so much more had I had a more positive demeanor and attitude this year.  As a Pastor I do not feel as if I have been the persevering role model through problems that I should have been, even if not too many people have been aware of the problems that I have faced.

8.  I often wish for things that I don't have and I let these things get me down.  I'm not jealous, or covetous, but I do get down on myself when I think of how I don't have this thing or that thing.  I wish that I had a family (children, closer blood relatives), or a job that I felt called to, or more friends, or enough money to pay all of my bills, or a better car for my wife that would be able to pass the inspection that was due on it two months ago, or a closer relationship to God that it seems to me that other people have that I seem to be lacking.

9.  My wife says that I am a very judgmental person. I do not think that I am, but I do respect her opinion enough to believe that this is something that I just don't realize about myself.  I don't want to prejudge people because there is a lot that I might miss out on who a person truly is by doing so.

So far these are the only things that I could come up with.  If you have any comments that might be able to help me than please leave feedback.  If there are other things that you think of that you believe that I should work on these please let me know.  If you would like to be anonymous I understand and all you have to do is put anonymous and even I would be unable to find out who you are.  If you are unable to come up with anything than I ask that you would please remember me in your prayers and I ask that you would pray that I improve as a person due to this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Chris R. Gordon

The other day at bible study...

During the past week when I was at a bible study there was something said that made me really think.  During the study the topic of other denominations came up and one person made the statement that this one particular denomination hurts the cause of Christianity more than anything else, and it got me to thinking about what truly does the most damage to Christianity.

I believe that Christians do more damage to the cause of Christianity than anything else.  In my ten years of being a Christian the worst people that I have met are those that are professing to be Christians and the people that have treated me the worst, lied to me the most, and been downright cruel the most, have been Christians as well.  I believe the reason that Christianity is not blossoming in America is because people are not seeing the so called love that Christians are supposed to be showing.  Christians are not showing Christ.

A common occurrence  that I have seen is Christians KNOWING that a person is suffering or in pain and than doing NOTHING to help the person.  Often times people are too busy to help it seems.  Yet, I am sure these people that are too busy still manage to watch American Idol or some other TV show. I have seen this from laymen, deacons,  board members, even all the way up to Pastors.

Please do not get me wrong, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I can't help but write down what I have personally seen and while the worst people I have met have claimed to be Christians, the best people that I have known have been Christians.  I have seen many Christians reach out unselfishly to help another person and as a matter of fact I have seen two separate instances in the past week alone of Christians helping others while asking nothing in return, but for the most part I have seen people that claim they are Christians or people who even are Christians care little to less about the heartache and pain that they see others around them undergo.

I believe that this is why Christians have a stigma about revealing anything wrong that might be happening in their lives or that there might be any trouble.  Christians know that their might be little to no empathy or sympathy and that instead of love they might actually get attacked for; 

1. a lack of faith, 2. sin in their life, 3. opening themselves up to the devil, 4. God holding them accountable:

all of which I have actually heard someone say about another person.

I will end this blog with a challenge to anyone reading this.  I challenge you to reach out with love (not the gospel, the gospel will be shown through your love) to someone who needs a loving ear or a helping hand.  Pray that God will bring someone who needs you into your life and than show them what a Christian is all about.

People's heroes...

Earlier today I was listening to 107.5, which is a popular local radio station in this area, and I heard a commercial that I had never heard before.

1st off - I do not normally listen to this station (or any radio for that matter), but today I was lazy and just left it on so that I could hear noise while I was driving.  I am a comic book fan so when I heard a commercial about kryptonite, I paid attention.

Unfortunately this commercial was about a club called Club Kryptonite that was having a "kids under 18 years old" special.  They said kids under the age of 18 years old get in free and that all drinks were half off.  Then (and it gets better), they announced that Ron Jeremy was going to be there when they host there "pimps and ho's" night.  For those who are unaware, Ron Jeremy was a famous porn star from the 1970's and 1980's, and apparently he is someone who is of such value to peoples lives that kids under the age of 18 would love to meet him.

What really saddened me about this commercial was that I realized that Ron Jeremy (someone who has given nothing to society but filth), has become a hero and role model to our youth and to so many.  Ron Jeremy has done nothing but become famous for filth and apparently being famous is all that people care about anymore.  Style over substance, and in this case no style.

When did porn stars become porn stars, or adult actors and adult actresses?  I remember when they didn't even have a name for them.  Now there are teenage girls that drive around with porn star stickers on their cars and for some reason their parents let them have those kind of things.

It seems to me that our society has really taken a turn for the worse when kids look up to people who have sex for a living and Mother Theresa is someone that most kids don't even know about.  Where are the morals that we once had when the Pussycat Dolls (who are just girls that used to be strippers who dance around the one girl who can sing as suggestively as possible) are a top act that even sings on So You Think You Can Dance?  

Superman has been looked down or for "being a boy scout" because he stands for truth, justice, and the American way (which in Smallville and The Superman Returns movie they took American out and put in the words "all that stuff" to be PC), but child molesters are now victims because they are no longer able to be Boy Scout Troop leaders and The Boy Scouts are bad guys because they did not want to allow that into their organization?  

As a society, where are our standard's?  Killing convicted murderers through the death penalty is inhumane but killing children in the womb is a person's choice?  Why are there not people standing up in outrage to all of the wrong that they see?  And why are there so many people who just stand back and do nothing, in the fear that they will make waves?  I PRAY that before I die I will have made waves in this world and I PRAY that I will make a difference for the better.  As a Christian I feel a strong conviction to do this that can not be stopped, but even if I were not a Christian I would want to take a stand against all of the things that I see wrong in the world because I love the world and want the best for the world.

What disappoints me though is how alone I feel whenever I do stand up for the right things.  Whenever I do take a stand I look around and see myself standing alone and that is something that shouldn't be happening.  People will stand together for the wrong things but I think that people do not want to be labeled as "the Christian" or as a "bigot" or as a "hate monger" just because they are standing up for what they believe to be right.  If someone has the privilege to stand up against Christianity, then why don't Christian's have the privilege to stand up for themselves?

There are no solutions that I have to this, just a sharing of what I see and feel.  America, please wake up and pick better role models than Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton, and start looking to people who have contributed in some positive way to the world.

Evil only truly wins when good men sit back and do nothing...

My first Blog...

A lot of you might not know this, but I used to love writing and there have been times in my life in which I have used writing as an outlet for the emotions that I was experiencing.  Thanks to the example of a friend of mine who I have seen use his blog quite effectively, I have decided to start my own, and I find it quite fitting that I use one of my poems to begin my blogging career. Don't worry, I wont have poetry on anymore blogs after this.

A Call for Purpose

Sitting alone I stare at the walls in my mind

Looking for purpose, or a reason to find

Something to hold to, something that’s mine

Something that gives me a reason to shine

My mind is a muscle that twists as it grows

And shares in the knowledge of things that it knows

I believe in the truth of the things I can’t see

And I look to the cross for the things I can be

I’m a light that is blind with a heart that is dark

A stranger alone, all in black, in the park

I cry to be saved as I cry out His name

I live to die daily and I live with my shame

I was lost and I needed a change in my heart

So I took all the love that was there from the start

I look in the mirror with disgust on my face

And with slow-moving thoughts I realize my place

Is to love Him and serve Him with all I hold true

And if I love Him and serve Him, I’ll love and serve you

I’m a human, I fail and I fall everyday

But the truth is in Him; He’s the light and the way

He’s pure, true, and holy, He’s known as the One

His name is Jesus, He’s God’s only Son

With arms open wide, He was nailed to a cross

He stayed there in pain just to save all the lost

He just wants to hold you and help ease your pain

So commit to pure love and commit to a change

Were not promised tomorrow, were just given today

So come just as you are to this altar and pray…

 Chris Gordon  January 2004