Cheap Hot Dogs, Spray Cheese, and Loving People

One of my favorite foods of all time is a loaded hot dog with sweet relish.  But I can't have just any hot dog wiener.  I can't stand cheap hot dogs, and it's not because I am too refined for them.  It's because they are gross and give you gas.  Have you ever read the ingredient list on a hot dog package.  Things like "mechanically separated pork and chicken, red dye #76, and sodium nitrite," should not be a part of your dinner.  Have you ever had the ones that turn your water red when you boil them-they are my mom's favorites. Ugh!  I like an all natural/all beef hot dog.  Yes, they cost at least twice as much as their mechanically separated counterparts.  But at least I know that I am eating real food that God made.

Now about the Spray Cheese.  Just say that with me...
"Spray Cheese"
Kinda rolls of the the tongue like..."Stomach Cramps"
There is nothing good or wholesome about Spray Cheese.  If I am gonna eat cheese, I want the real stuff not some aerosol concoction.  If there is any Spray Cheese in your home, stop reading this, run to the pantry and throw it away...NOW!  Trust me you are a better person for it.

So what do Cheap Hot Dogs and Spray Cheese have anything to do with loving people.
A Great Deal.
Odds are if you were to the President come over for dinner you would not feed them cheap hot dogs, saltines with spray cheese, and Kool-Aid. For that matter you shouldn't feed those things to anyone unless you wanted them to have stomach cramps.  But the truth is we are figuratively feeding people cheap hot dogs and spray cheese with the way we love them every day.  There is a huge difference between pure, natural, organic love for people and man-made, forced, fake love.  Fake, cheap love leaves people poisoned much like a bad hot dog or aerosol cheese.  Sure natural, organic love cost more, takes more time to prepare, and can be messy.  But natural, organic love also tastes much better and leaves our spirits unclogged.  Love is not something that can be forced in us or out of us.  Loving people must come out of a natural progression in our relationship with Christ.  God will give us the heart and the ability to love people in a beautifully organic way.  He commands us to love our neighbor of the love He has poured out onto us.  He doesn't expect us to manufacture some artificial love to love people with.  That's what the world does.  This world gives out cheap hot dogs and spray cheese in the form of entertainment, bad relationships, and addictions.  We can't allow ourselves as Christ followers to hand out the same love this world is handing out.  Our love must be His love.

Bigger Cup Please!

This morning I began to pray and ask God for something which isn't at all abnormal for me.  I am going to be a little transparent if it is ok.  I began to ask God for a bigger cup. You know, kinda like the Prayer of Jabez..."Oh Sovereign Lord, enlarge my boundaries, broaden my tent pegs."  I thought it was a pretty good prayer, but mine went like this..."Hey God, I think I need a bigger cup, mine is kinda like a sippy cup and I want a BIG cup."  Before I could even finish my eloquent prayer, the Holy Spirit stopped me and said, "Hey Josh, you haven't filled your cup up yet. You gotta fill yours up first."  Then I stopped praying and moped for a while like a little kid.
You see my son Will is 5, and he drinks out of little cups.  Not only does he drink out of little cups, but we don't even fill his little cup up all the way.  The reason we don't fill it all the way is because we don't trust him enough yet with a full cup.  He will end up spilling the whole thing everywhere, and we would be the ones cleaning up.  So essentially the Holy Spirit was telling me that I am too much like my son Will, and I can't handle a big cup yet.  But man I really want a bigger cup.  Maybe if I quit spilling what God gives me things would be different.  I want to note that there is a BIG difference between spilling and pouring.  If I pour out what God gives out, God will give me more. If I spill out what God gives out, God will hold out.  I am gonna get my big cup...

Reflection

"I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters"   -Mother Theresa

This year more than any other I have learned how to reflect on God.  I have learned how to be silent and allow everything to slow down and recognize God.  I have always been told that I am a quiet person.  I believe silence is underrated.  I think if more people would shut up more often the world would be in better shape.  We must learn how to harness our thoughts, shut our mouths, and let God speak.  I love to go fishing, and it's not because I am a great fisherman.  I love to just sit and stare out at the water and imagine God.  I love to sit in silence and dream.  My dad was a great fisherman. He would sit in a boat for hours perfectly content without saying a word.  For the 3 months he lived for Christ, I bet he was a great prayer.
The more I am able to sit in silence and reflect on God, the more I am able to see God's reflection in all of creation.  This world needs silence desperately.  We need to turn off our lives and tune into Him.  Elisha learned the beauty of a whisper from God.  Sometimes my son Will tries to talk to me from the backseat of the car.  He speaks so softly that I have to turn the radio down to hear Him.  Why does God speak so softly?  He would like to know if we are willing to turn down the radio to hear Him speak.  Is His voice important enough to you that you would be willing to stop the madness and sit in silence?  Reflect on Him and see His reflection.