Timing

Timing.

I had no time. If I stopped for breakfast, then I would be late. So, I grabbed a banana.

Looking at the banana, its greenness made me pause. It was not ripened on the tree. It was Picked early to arrive at my grocery story at the perfect time. Consumers do not like brown banana. Grocery stores would rather wait on a green banana, than toss a brown banana. But this banana was not quite ready for me to eat.

So, I put the banana in my window sill. A little sun would turn the green to yellow and ripen it up a little bit.

Timing, they say is everything. Bananas taste different when they are green, yellow or brown. Jokes are funny when the timing is right. Music becomes music only when the notes are properly spaced. The notes we play are important. However, it is the silence in between the notes that makes the music heard.

Timing matters. Yesterday yellow caught my eye. I forgot about that breakfast banana. It has been sitting in my office window sill for more than a week. It must have quickly moved from green to yellow all the way to a lovely brown. I missed the perfect timing.

Life could be described as knowing what time it is. Is it time to move or stay put? Eat or hunger? Correct or be corrected? Save or be saved? Everything has its time (see chapter three of Ecclesiastes)

May your words,
May your movements,
May your discipline,
May your work,
And may your faith be properly balanced
between silence and speech,
greenness and brownness
So that your timing
Gives way to God's timeliness
for the glory of God.

Friends, Faith and Action

Yesterday my friend Bob Bentley from Nairobi, Kenya told me the news about the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the life of John Garang the Vice President of Sudan. This man was a peace maker. He was very well educated. Garang had been in office only a few months. It was a bold move by the government to have a leader form the South in office with a Northern president. The hope was peace. It is sad that bad weather and a crash may result in riots, death and more religious fighting and genocide in Sudan.

So, why not get rid of all religion? > > >
My friend Jackie King happened to mention something she saw on CNN Saturday night July 30th. The interview was with a woman who wishes to see the elimination of all religion. Because religion is the cause of war, fighting, violence. In fact, she is a leader of a group to work for the elimination of religion.

Wow! Do people focus on the negative? Never mind that the history of hospitals is tied to Christianity. Never mind the billions of dollars given away to needy by churches. Never mind the millions of good citizens who are followers of Jesus. Instead, lets look at the failings. We all have failings.

So who's to blame - Not Me! > > >
Today another friend, Mary Perry, mentioned an article to me from today's Dallas Morning News. It was a reprinted article from the Washington Post.

Read it here: Story

This was a story that for some reason I decided to write the author. Why do we write authors? I don't know. Do we expect them to respond? Rarely. It is easier to hide under a pillow. After you read the story. Read my reply.

John -

Are you serious? Your article admits and rationalizes your non-presence in a community of faith. Your article acts as a pulpit to accuse others of not doing enough for the poor, gangs and ghettos. These words flow beautifully even as you pull your pillow over your head. I really expected you to admit that you and your parenting were ironically part of the problem, but it never came.

I appreciate your call for churches to do more and pastors to show material restraint. I agree with your treatment of the hypocrisy of some ministers and churches. But your own words come as soft as the pillow that covers your eyes and ears.

Justification is something God offers all of us as failed sinners. Justification is not something we offer to cover our own backsides.

Blessings,
Brady

Last words > > >

We excuse ourselves and blame others.
This is the remedy for complacency.
When do you find yourself in excuse and blame mode . . .