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So, a couple of weeks ago I heard or read something like this… “to have remorse is a feeling, to repent is to enact change”

I liked that.

The season premier of one of my TV shows dealt with this subject… kinda. The show is House and House had to realize that he wasn’t a god and that he could care enough about somebody to have remorse and then he had to ask for help.

Some of you went to church today. Were you moved, exhorted or extolled to do x, y, or z? Or to stop such? Awesome, you felt remorse. But is that enough, just feeling remorse?

No.

It’s not. It’s not enough to feel remorse that you offended a guy when you judged him. You need to go to that guy and have a conversation that both of you can grow from.

AND

You need to work on changing.

That means you need to go to God and ask for the loveing God of the universe to help you.

so, at church or in a conversation, or in a prayer, or reading the Bible, you felt remorse for something. Great.

What have you done about it? Have you turned away from that behavior that cause you to be remorseful? Have you asked for help? He’s ready to help.

I haven’t rambled in a while… so here goes…

I’ve been having some conversations recently with some people who are reminding me that I (and you) need to be careful with my/our words.

These are people who are in the 25-35 age range and are sort of walking around the fringe of Christianity. They do not claim to be followers of Jesus because of things that have happened to them that have caused them to not be sure because of the “followers.”

Its like this: If I claim to be following Jesus and do X, then the person observing this behavior is going to think that Jesus is X. get it? (BTW, I know I am revisiting a repeated theme on this blog, maybe it bugs you because you, like me, need to hear it, okay?) But Jesus isn’t X, I am.

Now, it is not fair to those who who actually live up to what it means to follow Jesus and do A, B, and C to throw out what they stand for because of what I do. But that the real thing, right? We react to, make decisions about stuff and build our world view largely on what we experience. Face it, that’s the real deal.  So, if I as a known follower of Jesus judge a guy for T behavior, while stating such and such about blah, blah should be… and then I turn around and judge this guy unfairly… what have I done? I have made him think that Jesus is judging him too. Why? Cuz this guy knows me as a follower of Jesus.

So, what do we do? We calm the heck down and have conversations with people about stuff or else we SHUT UP. How’s that?

Feel judged?

Maybe it’s because you have.

I have and I do.

Americans using credit cards and debit cards overseas (especially Europe) need to be aware of this information… click here

Consider this chart about improved life on the planet and where people are better off than in 1990… The Economist, click here

One of my destinations next month is Georgia which 14 months ago had a brief but intense war with Russia. It will be my first trip there, so this article was interesting… click here