notes from lisa...

I started out my day, doing one of the things I normally do (among other things). I read one of my favorite devotionals, by Chuck Swindoll--this one really resonated with me. It would have convicted and indicted me a few years ago, but today thankfully, I could read it with a sense of freedom. However, I saw in it a clear and rather vivid portrait of our current society. Here it is: A Cavalier Culture There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 A hurry-up lifestyle results in a throwaway culture. Things that should be lasting and meaningful are sacrificed on the altar of the temporary and superficial. The major fallout in such a setting is the habit of viewing relationships casually. This cavalier attitude cripples society in various ways: Friends w alk away instead of work through. Partnerships dissolve rather than solve. Neighbors no longer visit and relax together. The aged are resented, not honored. Husbands and wives divorce rather th...

" Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! " Job had some "friends" (I have to use that term, lightly) come by at the worst possible time. You may have had this experience--I certainly have. At the toughest, most trying time in your life you have those people who come to not help bear the burden, but to suggest (rather forcefully and judgmentally) why and how you got in the predicament. Gee, thanks . Even if you are at fault--it's hindsight now, so that suggestion is counterproductive; how do we move forward. And, frankly, if you don't have something positive to bring to an already difficult situation, maybe you should just stay home and pray (for God's will mind you, not what you think and assume). Job's friends Bildad, Zophar and Eliphaz came to see Job after he lost, literally, everything, except his wife who was in his ear suggesting that He "curse God, an...