The Devil Made Me Do It

  Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Open up the jails! I have just seen the ultimate solution to tort reform and crowded jails.
  The other day the newspaper reported that a man killed eighteen people, yes eighteen. The man's defense was that he was a crack head, abused by his mother and raped by a social worker when he was a young boy. It wasn't his fault after all. The dealer, his mother and the social worker actually pulled the trigger.
  Like a flash of light, it came to me that we all can claim our problems are the result of the actions of people, who came before us. Following this logic to its ultimate conclusion, we discover we can all blame Adam and Eve for our problems. Cain killed Able because of his upbringing. So bulletin!: we no longer need jails, courts, judges, and lawyers. The common and unbeatable defense is now: Adam and Eve made us do it!
  Of course Adam and Eve's only defense was "the devil made me do it." Somebody made me do it? A six foot burly drunk exclaims, "my wife makes me drink". Now she is five foot two, it takes real mental power to visualize her holding him down on the floor. And it takes even more to see her pouring the drink down his throat as he desperately attempts to struggle free.
  The same struggle surfaces while reflecting back on my youth. Three boys went into a small local store, owned by a little old  and kind lady. Two decided to steal a bottle of Nehi grape soda. The third chose to sneak back and pay her the ten cents. All three lived on the same street and came from similar families. Today we know, by popular demand and acceptance, that the two who snatched the sodas did so because of something negative in their background or families. What on earth caused the third boy to do a good act? Today we aren't sure.
  Sixty some years ago, the little boy who paid the dime did so because he felt sorry for the little old lady. She worked so hard and was kind to all of them many times. From the time he first left the store his conscience wouldn't leave him alone. The other two seem to have no conscience. They got what they wanted and to heck with the old lady. They even made fun of the third boy for going back. In fact they resented him. They were concerned only for themselves, he was concerned for others.
  Who made them that way? The two who stole the Nehi came from families with a father and mother, brothers and sisters, with their own homes and no real trauma in life. The third boy couldn't remember his real father, lived in basement home and was raped by a neighbor at age six. According to what is in the news these days this story is all wrong. This boy made a moral decision and took responsibility in the middle of an immoral setting, where the majority were acting irresponsibly.
  Today he could have gone back and brutally attacked, raped and killed the old lady, before turning on his friends in rage and killing them under stress. A good lawyer and a sympathetic jury would easily see that his father, who abandoned him and his sister, the neighbor who traumatized him and the modest living quarters were more than enough to justify his actions. In fact they probably would award him millions from Nehi Beverages for making sodas that would entice young boys to steal.
  God holds each person responsible for there own actions. The devil cannot make anyone do anything. The only power anyone has over another is the power to influence. History is littered with persons, who have given up their lives rather than act irresponsible or immoral. Successful societies hold people responsible for their own actions.
  Physical and mental cowards shy away from accepting responsibility for their actions. They also allow and encourage others to make immoral and irresponsible decisions. "Real Men and Women" use their past only for understanding themselves and certain influences in their lives. However, "Real Men and Women" then hold themselves accountable to make moral and responsible decisions. They do not tolerate any less from others.
  Aren't you tired of this endless rhetoric that is nothing more than one big excuse for irresponsible behavior? I am! It is my cause to stand up against things irresponsible. I don't want to be buddies with my children, I want to be their father. I don't want to be well liked, I want to be respected for my principles. I am going to say, no to the man who hits a woman; to a child being disrespectful toward an adult; to thief the first time he steals; to a teenager crowding in line at the movies; to the church gossip killing the reputations of others; to sin; and to anyone tolerating immoral and irresponsible behavior.
  Many of you know the basic problem. In my Uncle Tom's words, some chose to do good and some chose to do bad. My grandmother would say some want to go to heaven others to hell. I say their are self centered people, who don't give a damn about anyone or anything, and there are God centered people, who care enough about others enough to act responsibly and morally. Let us call it what it is - Evil (period). And let's start when they are little boys.

Bread is Life in many ways

  A man dying in the vast hot dry desert suddenly found a bottle in the sand. It was empty. He rubbed it against his chest. As he did a vapor cloud and a huge genie pop out of the bottle and said, “For three wishes, I am yours to command.”
  Realizing there were only three he thought carefully and said, “My first wish is to have the greatest riches of every kind in the world - food, drink, women, power.”
  “It is done,” said the genie, and with a snap of fingers the man was transported to a magnificent mansion, clothed in rich raiment, surrounded by adoring beauties who served his every need.    “What is your second wish?” asked the genie.
  “To be once more in the prime of life.” Once again the genie snapped his fingers and the man became a magnificent specimen of a man surround by power and beauty.
  “What do you want for your last wish?” asked the genie again.
  The man knew this would be his last so he thought carefully and finally declared, “I have everything I have always wanted but since I have one last wish, there is something I have always wanted - make me a perfect malted milk shake.” And in a snap of his fingers there was the mansion, the women, the money and on the couch in the middle of everything where the young man had been sitting was the world's most perfect malted milk shake.
The moral?
What you eat is always food for thought. How much you eat is food for strength.
  “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” - Savarin in The Physiology of Taste 1825

   During World War II a group of Jewish orphans at a convent could not go to sleep at night. It puzzled the sisters until one realized they were frightened of what each tomorrow would bring. That night each child was given a slice of bread to take to bed. The children all slept through the night. They knew they would have bread in the morning and would not be hungry the next day.
  “All forms of government fall when it comes up to the question to bread - bread for the family, something to eat. Bread to a man with a hungry family comes first - before his union, before his citizenship, before his church affiliation. Bread!” - John L. Lewis
  Bread is central to the Biblical message. In the wilderness they received a bread from heaven - manna. Bread was un-leaven to remind them that they had to leave Egypt in a hurry. Some bread was round, some in loaves and some in heart shape. It was essential to everyday life as well as the farmers and soldiers in the field. It was a gift for strangers. It was used as the spoon, when eating.
  Bread is the focus of many today. We work to make more bread. We break bread together. Bread is and always has been central to life on this planet. The essentials for life are water and bread and clothing and a house to cover one's nakedness, but we cannot live by physical bread alone!
 The Christ declares that he is the bread of life. Do you want a slice or a loaf? Do you want only enough to get you through the night? A slice!
  So many times we take part in Communion and only want a slice. We leave church a malted milk shake. A little peace, some assurance about heaven and a possibility that maybe God loves me.    Today as always The Christ offers each of us the whole loaf. Peace of mind, assurance of an eternal life beyond the grave and knowledge that God loves me - total acceptance by God just as I am today.
   So slice Or loaf? i.e. “do you want the whole thing?” Jesus [his principles or example] is not something you make a sandwich out of in life. We don't take our world and wrap it with a Jesus roll. We make Jesus [his principles and examples] our life support to live in this world. He is our bread and the world is his butter.
  Perspective: Jesus is the bread of life, but God is the giver of life. The next time you take communion please remember we partake of Jesus the bread and worship God the baker.
 Through the bread we learn about the baker. In the bread we find the ingredients of the meaning of life used in the recipe of the Creator.
 A slice allows you to learn about Jesus. The whole loaf gives us knowledge of God. Don't settle for less. Make all your wishes count. Yet the question remains, Slice or Loaf? Part of God or all of God. Live a little of a Godly life or jump in fully feet first that is the question!
  The Bread of Life, Christ Jesus, was prepared by God to be a banquet not a snack tray. It is above all affiliations. It brings peace at night. It sustains and strengthens your every effort. Are you getting enough bread today?