Wanderings – Page 31 – The Life and Times of Joe Suttle

Bailout?

joe February 14, 2009 Political

Not in my view. Doesn't look that way to a lot of people, but the way Congress acted it was "the people be damned."

In case you couldn't follow the news, most of what they passed were dollars for regular programs that have not gotten through Congress in the past. Some of those programs won't be creating jobs for at least five years – they will need designs, committees, environmental reviews (followed by lawsuits), contracts, bids, more lawsuits and then you know how government projects go. What businesses can accomplish in a year take years in government's hands.[more]

One of my memories is of the construction of the downtown campus (a building) for City College of San Francisco. The old building at that location had already been demolished, so all they had to do was start construction. But right next to where I worked, a business destroyed an old building, replaced it with a skyscraper and had people moving in, and the College building was still under construction.

So…if you expect anything out of the bailout, get ready for a long wait.

Doing Right Ain’t Easy

joe February 14, 2009 Faith

Maybe that's why Peter says what he does in verse 17. In my continuing reading, this verse just hangs there at the end of another phrase. What he says is that it is better that we suffer for doing what is right, rather than for doing what is wrong.

Kind of sounds like one of those things parents say to kids to get them to behave, or explain why they should not do something bad. [more]

On the face of it, it sounds like doing the "right thing" is going to cost us something. Something worse than any punishment (bad treatment, people not wanting to be around us, not getting invited to parties, etc.) that could be heaped on us for doing something wrong. Kind of makes me wonder what Peter saw going on around him, but you just have to go back to the beginning of the letter to understand.

The challenge here in this verse (I Peter 3:17) is the summation of verses 13-16. We are to not be afraid of the punishment for doing what is right, but rather fear the punishment for not doing what is right. You know, that gut feeling you get when you passed by someone being mistreated (and you didn't say a word), or the stranger who needed money or clothes or food and you didn't help.

How about all those "heroes" who rushed into flaming buildings or to the scene of an accident and "helped" because they "felt" it was the right thing to do. They were put there for some reason that they could not explain, and did the right thing. It cost some of them their lives (physically or emotionally), or friends or family. God sometimes has to push us to the front of a crowd so that we can speak out. Other times, we go kicking and screaming. When we do what is right, we give, by our actions "an account for the hope in us. (what we believe)" It is our witness for Him.

Words and More Words

joe February 10, 2009 Faith

They keep pouring down, requiring some kind of definition(s). Continuing to read in First Peter, and could not let "bless" just get passed over. It appears so often in our everyday speech, and of course, it's all over the Bible. At first, trying to find a definition was like putting toothpaste back in the tube – in other words, it wasn't easy.

Looking up definitions online was of some help, but the problem there were the number of definitions. Basically, it boils down to "gaining God's favor" or being honored or special. When you are blessed, you are more holy. There was even one definition that linked the english "bless" with a germanic "blessing" (can't type german or old saxon) that was related to the spilling of blood.[more]

Finally, they tied the old germanic "bless" back to the Old Testament where blood had to be spilled to make the offering "special." Interesting, that the further back you go, the more meaning words sometime have. Think about that, the thing that made the offering special was the spilling of blood. And that is just what Peter is talking about here in chapter 3, where he talks about "Christ died for our sins…"

Peter's challange starts in verse 9 where he wants us to "bless rather than curse (insult)" just because we have been blessed. It continues where he urges us to "sanctify Christ (set Him apart) as our leader." Interesting that he uses the term "set apart" – it's kind of like there can only be one leader.

There is more here, so don't go away. This chapter is full of challenges and can't be glossed over.