Friday Coffee with PJ

Well .. it's Friday of what has proven to be a looonnnggg week (at least as far as the weather has been concerned). Snow ... then ice ... now perhaps more snow over the weekend? Here's one guy that's hoping this winter weather train gets derailed! All that said, grab a cup of your favorite hot brew and join me for a few random thoughts.

1. Puzzles.Of course, puzzles take numerous forms from the million piece puzzles that can frustrate to hours, to the many forms of digital puzzles that one can spend hours on, to the colorful rubik's cube, to a crossword puzzle ... and on and on it goes. Some people love to tackle puzzles and will spend hours doing so. Others would be heading out the door should they be asked to help solve one. However, all of us deal with a puzzle ... and we deal with this particular puzzle 24/7/365. It's called "LIFE." And yes, life can be a puzzle (and if you don't agree, then let me ask you ... Do you have an explanation as to why certain things happen in your life?). I sure don't. Circumstances often arise in my life ... and my first reaction is to look toward heaven and ask, "Why?" Then I spend a lot of time (way too much!) trying to figure out the "why's" behind the "what's" in my life. But there is a better way. It is called the way of FAITH! My life (and all of its circumstances) are in HIS hands. And MY WAYS of doing things is very often not HIS WAYS of doing things (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-35). So let's seek to walk by faith rather than sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) and allow our God to make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

2. If you talk to the average Christian about evangelism, you just might find him heading to the nearest exit. The topic of sharing one's faith is not one that evokes a lot of warm fuzzies. For many Christians, thoughts of evangelism only conjure up feelings of guilt and frustration. If this is true of  you (or even if it is not), please take a moment to read Simple Evangelism in the Church. The writer of this post "gets it!" I hope we would "get it" too!

3. This morning I called a tree service. Why? The ice storm that hit the other day did some significant damage to a group of birch trees in my back yard (see photo). As a result I need someone to come in to clean up the mess (as it is way beyond my ability to do it!). After spending several minutes checking calendars, we decided on a date over two weeks out. The tree service lady was apologetic ... but I told her I understood. There are probably hundreds of people here in Lancaster County who also need a tree service right now. Now I could grumble and complain about this ... I mean, having this damage to clean up which will impact my wallet was not something I asked for! And to wait so long ... come on, this is America where I should be able to have it done quicker than Jack jumped over whatever it was that he jumped over! But . . . where does complaining ever get anybody? Oh sure, some people complain so loudly and so frequently, that people respond just to quiet them and get rid of them. But is that a way for a follower of Christ to act? Certainly not! Our calling is to do "all things without grumbling and disputing (complaining)" (Philippians 2:14). And that includes cleaning up the backyard mess!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj