Joy Unspeakable!

"Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” So said the Master of Life. I can tell you, He knows what He is talking about. What could be more joyful, more playful, more creative, more expressive, or more spontaneous than the heart of a child? To play, to laugh, to imagine, to sing, to dance... to experience the joy of living... that is heaven on earth. To have a pure heart that is thankful and full of reverence is more precious than fine gold. To know that we are loved by our Creator is nothing less than joy unspeakable, once we deeply comprehend what that means.

I have been reading a book called "Heaven is so Real!" by Choo Thomas. It is an international best seller, translated into several different languages, with over a million copies sold. It has transformed the lives of countless people by making real a place that people had barely been able to imagine. Have you ever wondered what heaven is like? In this wonderful book, she tells how she was taken there numerous times by the Lord of Life Himself, and she describes it in glorious detail. Streets of gold are just the beginning. There are mountains and crystal clear rivers and colorful fruit trees and playful animals and majestic mansions. It is a place beyond all that we could imagine, and it is there for those who seek after goodness and truth and the Creator of all things with the heart of a child. The author sings and dances and laughs and wonders at the joys and beauty laid out before her. It is this kind of heart that is rewarded. Selfishness, materialism, jealousy, power trips, ego, fear, worry, doubt... these lead to the destruction of the soul. Goodness and godliness are health to the soul. We choose the path we walk and bear the fruit of our choices. I highly recommend getting this book and reading it for yourself. Her testimony and the 'book on tape' are also available as videos for free on Google if you search "Heaven is so Real". Don't miss this chance!

Have you ever had a puppy? They know joy!!! They love to play and are so happy and joyful. It is a pleasure to come home and have them leap for joy when we arrive. They have such amazing love... it pours out of them like a fountain. I want to be like that. I want to have that kind of joy and love in my heart. I want to have the heart of a child, to sing, to dance, to play, to laugh and to love. What could be better than that?

Living spontaneously, joyfully, with an open and pure heart is what we were made for. To appreciate the Creator as well as the creation is our purpose. To do good, to care for the needy, to help the hurting, to heal the sick and wounded, to have compassion and understanding is our calling. To speak the truth in love to those than need to hear it is our mission. We can be creative and expressive and loving and live a life that is not only rewarding now, but also in the higher level of existence that the faithful will attain in the future. We live in the matrix... the material realm is a crumbling illusion. The true reality is spiritual. When we seem to be surrounded by earthquakes and floods and nuclear disasters and the world seems to be spinning into chaos, the answer, the freedom, the liberty, the peace we seek will not be found in matter. It is found in a simple song of praise that elevates you above the matrix. Joy unspeakable is yours if you have the heart of a child!

Spaghetti Sandwich

Creativity involves putting together elements that are not usually associated with each other and coming up with a surprising result. The two conditions necessary for being granted a patent are 'novelty' and 'non-obviousness'. The invention needs to be 'new to the world', and it needs to be a bit of a surprise. The other day, I had some leftover spaghetti, but it wasn't enough for a meal. I thought I'd have some bread with it (the idea came from restaurant dining, where bread is often served with a meal), but I didn't have any butter. Then (bing!), I thought, I can put the spaghetti between two slices of bread... that would be just enough food, the bread wouldn't be dry, and it would be neat and easy to eat. I did, and the result was actually quite tasty (sort of like an eggplant or chicken parm sub with pasta instead). Now this invention was new to me (I had never heard of a spaghetti sandwich), but was it new to the world? I typed "spaghetti sandwich" into Google images and got several pictures of spaghetti sandwiches and quickly found out the invention had been thought of previously. It therefore lacked 'novelty', and could never be patented (not that I would... this is just a silly example).

Now a lot of people might go,"Yuck!" at the thought of a spaghetti sandwich, but only because it is unfamiliar and seems strange. When I was a young child, one of my favorite books was "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss. It was all about breaking the paradigm of unfamiliar being bad... at first the Cat in the Hat refused to eat the green eggs and ham, but after lengthy persuasion, agreed to try it... only to find that he actually loved it!

When I was in college at WPI, I minored in 'Creativity and Creative Problem Solving'. As part of my education, I put together a 3 day course on how to be more creative, which was held during winter break. In order to promote the course, I put up flyer around the campus that said (with the words formed into a question mark that covered the page), "Are you strange? Would you like to be stranger?” followed by enough info to know how to sign up for the course. I got 18 students to sign up. If you want to be creative and inventive, you really have to be excited about adventuring into the strange and unknown. You need to look at things from a different and unusual perspective. You need to be comfortable with ambiguity and willing to mix and match things that are at most tangentially related (i.e. at least 2-3 degrees of separation). Often, when I am trying to find a solution to a problem, I will isolate one aspect of the problem, generalize it, and then explore how others have solved the general problem. After finding some interesting solutions, I bring them back to the original problem and see if they unlock a novel solution. Often, they do.

Another common element of creative people is that they will use what is already around them in new ways. Creative people will tend to collect things and educate themselves about all kinds of things so that when that opportunity arises, the needed components and information will be readily at hand.

One important distinction to recognize is that there is an important difference between innovation and creativity. Creativity is fun and play and surprising and humorous and joyful and rewarding... but, more often than not, the outcome is rapidly forgotten. Innovation is where creativity produces something that has social, economic, emotional, or some other form of value, and that value is recognized, and the invention is subsequently duplicated, distributed, and adopted because of its clear value.

Often the innovation will be improved upon as people tailor it for their particular application. This is user innovation on top of existing innovation, and it takes place because (a) people have a specific need that the invention (in its current form) does not fully address, (b) they typically have at hand the tools that can be integrated into the invention, and (c) they have a certain expertise in that field. These user innovations frequently becomes the next generation of the invention. A research study done at MIT found that approximately 3/4 of innovations come from users. Users really understand the need (often better than the manufacturer), and, often by serendipity, will have some skill or talent that enables them to modify the innovation in a way that makes it better for them. It was somewhat shocking to me how often a product would be launched without the marketing person ever using the product themselves. If we are to be really good at innovation, we need to be personally involved to get the richest solutions, and we need to learn new skills and achieve new levels of understanding so that we can apply that to future innovations. Finally, understand the users, and look for unique and interesting applications and modifications to your innovation. That could be your next generation success story!

Metamorphosis

When we think of metamorphosis, the image that immediately pops to mind is the transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly. While that is a powerful and almost shocking example of transformation, there is another type of metamorphosis as well, which is more gradual, such as the transition from a tadpole to a frog. In a sense, one is like a revolution and the other is like an evolution. Both are valid means of reaching a desired end. In each case there is a dramatic difference between the 'before' and 'after'.

Curious about the word, I learned that during the pupa stage, a caterfly butterpillar will actually emit digestive fluids that cause the cell death and dissolution of its own former body, and the dissolved components are then recombined into a brand new living structure... literal death and rebirth. Other species, in more evolutionary metamorphosis, undergo dramatic transformations of their organs, such as the flounder, for example, whose eyes start on opposite sides of the fish larvae and end up together on the same side of the adult fish.

Another revelation came upon seeing that the antonym for metamorphosis is 'stagnation'. As growing, learning, evolving human beings, surely metamorphosis is preferable to stagnation!

A common but less cited example of metamorphosis is one that we have all gone through. We started off as two separate single cell organisms in two entirely different ecosystems. One merged into the other, and in an unbelievably complex microscopic dance, the DNA of both individual organisms combined to form a brand new and totally unique single cell organism. This organism then began replicating itself in another miraculous transformation. Then groups of identical cells began to express differentiation from other cells, eventually forming organs. Our form evolved visibly as we were transformed from a blob to a fish-like form to a human form, and then, pop! we went from liquid breathing to air breathing. Next, we are transformed from helpless babies into fantastically creative learning beings as children, and then into teen and adulthood.

Finally, as adults, some people go through a metamorphosis in their personal, psychological and/or spiritual makeup. Once successful businessmen can get addicted to drugs or alcohol and undergo a dark metamorphosis, at the end of which they wake up on a street corner homeless and penniless. Some will undergo another metamorphosis by going into a 12 step program, kick the habit, take the 12 steps to heart, and will emerge as a kinder, healthier, more ethical, stronger and more humble individual than they were before they started. Other people will find God and will be transformed from self-centered narcissistic individuals to loving and spiritual giants. The walk of faith is truly one about transformation... metamorphosis. It is about putting to death the 'old man' (fallen, sinful, corrupt), being born of the spirit, and bringing to life the 'new man' (enlightened, connected to God through Christ). In the central and pivotal verse of the New Testament, Romans 12:2 ("And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."), the Greek the word from which the word 'transformed' is translated is 'metamorpho'... look familiar?

It is said of businesses, that if you are not growing, you are dying. A business that is not innovating and progressing will soon be outflanked by its competitors and eventually become an annotation in the history books. The same is true, to a certain extent, with us as individuals. We need to continue to grow, to learn, to innovate, to change, to rise above. Some may go through radical, revolutionary transformation, while others may evolve more slowly. If we stop moving, we will stagnate. If we don't try each day to be better people, to answer our higher calling, to give more and to love more, then we are slipping into mediocrity and anonymity.

You can achieve great things! You can undergo a daily renewal and transformation so that you become stronger and healthier and wiser each day. As you grow, you will be able to accomplish more. Never stop learning. Never stop discovering. Seek the source of light and truth, then seek the transformation of your very soul. As you do, you will find yourself accomplishing things you never dreamed possible, reaching unimagined heights, and appreciating with renewed humility and joy the creative expression of God!

Innovation Nation

In less than a brief 200 years (3 average lifetimes), the United States of America went from a ragtag republic to the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth. We are now on the brink of losing the good that we have accomplished in the world, as we gaze with wonder and confusion while the world around us begins to unravel. How did we get to where we are today? How can we get back to where we were a few short years ago? The answers are varied and complex, but here, I think, are a few big pieces to the puzzle.

The USA was founded on some basic beliefs that, at the time, were aspirational goals which were largely untested. Almost all governments up to that time were based on a ruling class that made decisions for the 'ignorant masses'. Government (typically a monarchy) was centrally based and handed down the rules that everyone had to live by. Having seen how this usually ended up in tyranny, the Founding Fathers sought to establish a form of government that was 'for the people and by the people', based on the assumption of innocence until proven guilty, a fair trial by a jury of one's peers, and a firm conviction that all men are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Government was to respond to the will of the people, not the other way around. The goal was to minimize the infringement of the government on the rights of the individual. They believed that if we were given the freedom and opportunity to achieve great things, it was the nature of man to do so, and we would. They were right.

The trick was to find the right balance between anarchy and tyranny. Through much prayer, blood, sweat and tears, inspiration came as they rested on the values that they had learned as a result of their Judeo-Christian heritage. Much like the government of Israel in the Old Testament, as much power as possible was delegated to local representatives, who were closest to the problems and, generally could do the most good. Bigger and more difficult problems were elevated upward, and only the most challenging issues were addressed at the highest levels. The greatest leaders were to be the greatest servants (modeled by Jesus washing the feet of the disciples). Liberty was a gift from God, not to be taken lightly. As the ink dried on the US Constitution, the grand experiment took flight.

No longer constrained by burdensome rules and regulations and excessive taxation, innovation became the hallmark of this young nation. Benjamin Franklin, besides being a founding father, was a tireless inventor (bifocals, the Franklin stove, the lightning rod and daylight savings time were a few of his inventions). Thomas Jefferson was also a prolific inventor. Their efforts helped assure that the fledgling government was also innovation friendly.

Strong faith and reliance upon God was the norm of the day. The Master of Life had declared in his mortal frame, "Allow the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God." Having a childlike spontaneity is the greatest single key to creativity and innovation. A selfless desire to do good and help people motivated men like George Washington Carver, who's epitaph read,"He could have added fortune to fame, but, caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world." In an atmosphere of freedom and adventure, questioning one's assumptions was a virtue, not a vice, and living with ambiguity was a way of life in this rapidly evolving nation. These are all strengths common to the giants of creativity and innovation. This can-do culture gave wings to men like the Wright brothers, Thomas Edison, Alexander Bell, Nicola Tesla, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, and many more.

So what happened? In the US today, only about 3% of students receive college degrees in engineering or the sciences... in China, that number is around 42%. A recent study ranked the U.S. sixth among the top 40 industrialized nations in innovative competitiveness, but 40th out of 40 (dead last!) in “the rate of change in innovation capacity” over the past decade. In 2000 the U.S. exported $29 billion more high-tech products than it imported, but by 2007 that had turned into a $54 billion trade deficit, and it has only gotten worse since then. In 1960, one in three jobs was in manufacturing. Today, it is less than one in ten. Our country is surviving largely on money we borrow from the Chinese. How far we have fallen...

Why? God and the foundation of morals and ethics have been driven from our schools and the halls of government, the traditional family is nowhere to be found, and life is no longer valued. The desire to invent something that will help our fellow man has been replaced by corporate greed, leading to endless outsourcing. Government control seems to be becoming more and more invasive every day, so that things that were once simple are now increadibly complex if not impossible. Instead of teaching people how to think for themselves, our education system teaches rote memorization and conformity to a single standard. Other countries reward innovation... ours regulates and/or taxes it to death.

Can we turn this ship around? I don't know. But I do know each individual can turn themselves around. If enough individuals turn themselves around, maybe, just maybe, it will make a difference. Maybe we can restore a bit of the shine on the tarnished liberty bell. I can't speak for my country, but I can speak for myself. I can choose to think more creatively. I can choose to see a need and try to figure out how to make other's lives better. I can, and so can you. Make somebody else's life better, and then ask them to pass it on. Every bit of good we can do is a step in the right direction. You can make a difference... believe in yourself, believe that you have a higher calling, and with a prayer for divine guidance go out there and rock the world!

Breaking the Programming

Have you noticed how many pharmaceutical ads there are these days? You can't seem to get through a single commercial break without being bombarded by one or more ads suggesting that you might have some disease, and they have the fix. Then they list all the horrible things that could happen if you take their remedy (often including long term disability or even death) and then say, "Ask your doctor if ___ is right for you". What is going on here? This is a form of mental programming. They start by instilling a bit of fear (Do I have that disease?), activating the reptilian mind (see previous blog), which, through the pleasure/pain response is closely connected to our subconscious. Mental suggestion can often induce the now deeply rooted perception that one has the condition that is being suggested, and ultimately (through the power of suggestion and belief - sort of a reverse placebo effect) one can ultimately display enough of the suggested symptoms that a doctor will agree with your proposed disease diagnosis, and prescribe the suggested 'cure'. Only the cure isn't a cure, as the side effects are commonly worse than the relief it claims to bring. You then are led to take another pill for those symptoms, and so on and so on. By the time people are seniors, many are taking 7-10 different medications, lining the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies while polluting and damaging their bodies with a semi-toxic chemical cocktail.

This is one example of intentional mental programming by an industry with power and money and access to your life through television, radio, and the internet. Bankers are another industry that has us, as a society, well programmed. Your credit limit is touted as an indicator of your prosperity and personal worth. Once upon a time, living within your means meant only spending the money you have... now we have been trained to think it means living within your available credit limits. They then convince you to buy the biggest house that 'you can afford' (based on the amount of money that they are willing to lend to you), the best car, the biggest TV, etc., etc., until your credit is maxed out. At that point you are likely paying hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars in interest to the banks every month. They feed off of you and millions of others using money that they created out of thin air (research 'fractional reserve banking') commonly backed (at a 1:10 ratio) by money they got from the Federal Reserve (a private company) at zero percent interest (or close to it). The Fed gets its money as a result of 'The Federal Reserve Act' (passed in the middle of the night during Christmas break in 1913). Instead of the US government printing its own money (as the Founders had intended), when the government needs money, the Federal Reserve tells the US Treasury (a government agency) how much money to 'print' (either physically or electronically). They then take the money that the Treasury 'prints', and loan it to our government with interest. The Federal Reserve (reminder - a private company) gets rich off of the the government (i.e. our taxpayer dollars), and then loans that money out to banks. In the meantime, our government goes deeper into debt (they have fallen into the same mental trap, reinforcing the false perception) and they (the banks) get richer, though they did no real work to accumulate that wealth. Quite a gig, if you can get it, wouldn't you say? Yet the banks have convinced us this is all for our benefit, so, "Go shopping! Go ahead, max out that card! Borrow as much as we will let you! You are entitled to it! Give us full control over your life! If you can't pay your bills, we'll take everything and you may end up homeless and hungry, but don't think about that. It would never happen to you!"

A third mental programming for you to consider goes under the label of 'terrorism'. Because of the fear of 'terrorism', millions of American citizens now must agree to either be electronically stripped naked at airports using potentially dangerous technology, or to subject themselves to sexual molestation by a complete stranger in a uniform. In another example, in London (a city at the forefront of citizen control), it is estimated that there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras, roughly one camera for every 2 citizens of that city. It has also been reported in the US that the phone calls, internet activities, and even the location (via phone GPS) of a significant percentage of US citizens is being tracked by our government. Can you say, "Big Brother'? Why are we allowing this? It is all because we have been conditioned to fear 'terrorism'. We are at least a sixty times more likely to die in a car crash than to be hit by terrorism, but we still drive (number based on an average over 10 years, including the events of 9/11). Yet we will subject ourselves to all kinds of invasions of privacy and government control over our lives in order to 'protect us' from supposed 'terrorism'. It is little more than a ruse to gain control over every aspect of our lives.

These are three classic and prevalent forms of mental programming designed to get each and every one of us (if possible) under their control to feed their systems, concentrating the wealth and power of the world into the hands of a few. Awareness of how others attempt to manipulate us for their own benefit is the first step in 'recovery'.

Once we are aware of how others try to program our thinking to their benefit, we can start to take steps to counter their mental programming. We can mute the TV every time a drug ad comes on TV (or better yet, shut off the TV altogether). We can learn how to maintain and improve our health by eating more healthy natural foods and maintaining a positive mindset. We can work to get out of debt and commit to "if we can't pay cash, we won't buy it". We can buy houses that we can easily afford. We can refuse to live in fear of 'terrorism' and do everything we can to protect our freedoms. Instead of living in fear of disease, fear of bankruptcy, and fear of terrorism, we can choose to live wisely and be free from fear. Fear constrains us... causing us to live a 'fight or flight' existence, submitting ourselves to the rule of others who claim to have 'the answer' (not!). Truth makes us free.

There is a higher way to live. We can choose to live a life that is guided by love and compassion, by spontaneity and creativity, by charity and humility, by truth and wisdom, by divine majesty. We can work to make today better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. We can learn to love a little better every day. We can pray to God. We can let the Book of Life speak to us and teach us the meaning of life.

As the Master of Life once said,
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the good news to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed..."

If we are willing to follow his example, then it will be said of us:
"Those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."

The truth will make you free!

Breaking Free from the Reptilian Mind!

According to neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean, we have a three part brain, consisting of reptilian, paleomammalian, and neomammalian sections of the brain.
- The reptilian section regulates the body's life-support systems, such as respiration, cardiovascular and nervous functions. It is also responsible for survival and instinctual behaviors, such as aggression, dominance, territoriality, competitiveness, hoarding, pain and fear response (fight [anger] or flight [avoidance]) and ritualistic or repeating behavior (including addictions). It is 'cold blooded' (lacks emotion), and controlling (if we let it).
- The paleomammalian section (the limbic brain) is generally associated with long term memory and emotional learning.
- The neomammalian section (the right and left cortex you normally think of when you picture a brain, unique to mammals) is the 'thinking' and 'feeling' part of the brain, involved in advanced levels of cognition, such as logic and reason, language, creativity, planning, perception, emotion, and holistic levels of integration of sensory information.

What is somewhat surprising in our culture today is how much of it seems to be designed to get us to rely primarily on the reptilian brain functions. As soon as we enter school, we are taught to sit down, shut up and obey the teacher (fear and routine based). Rather than creative learning through exploration, discovery, and optimization, children are taught through rote repetition and memorization. TV often shuts of the higher levels of consciousness and feeds directly into the lower levels, hence the focus on power, sex and greed. Sports often feeds our instincts towards violence, competitiveness, aggression, and dominance. Video games teens play are full of first-person-shooter scenarios where the child routinely kills dozens if not hundreds of virtual human beings in gory bloodbath of destruction. As adults, we become slaves to the clock, filling our lives with routine, seeing work as an extension of school... sit down, shut up, and obey your boss. There is little spontaneity, free expression of ideas, discovery, or creativity. Outside work we spend our days either shuttling the kids to various competitive events or vegging in front of the TV. Is that how life should be?!?!?!?

We can continue being subservient to our reptilian brain, or we can choose to rise above it and become truly free. The first step is awareness, awakening. Realize that life does not need to be a series of routines imposed on us by others. Authority is not always right. The norm is not always the best. We can go higher. We can rise above the din. We can seek truth and goodness and love. We can be free. How?

What if we turned off the TV and spent some time sharing our deepest selves with each other? What if we shut off the video games and spent time exploring nature, helping those in need, sharing with others, becoming more aware of the beauty of the creation? What if we dropped our daily routines and acted more spontaneously? Let life flow naturally instead of always trying to beat the clock (like people did before clocks were invented)? What if we questioned authority, challenged assumptions, lived fearlessly? What if we sought the truth and lived in love? What if we broke our psychological conditioning and became truly free individuals?

What if? Why not? Why not start now? Refuse to be manipulated by the media or those in power who would like to keep you controlled, passive, predictable. Think differently. Seek a new perspective. Seek truth, goodness, and free creative expression guided by love. The truth will make you free! Ready, set, GO!

What is the meaning of life?

Can I answer any questions for ya? "Sure. What is the meaning of life? (LOL!)" Guess what? What if the 'unanswerable question' was (drum roll please...) answerable? Things that make you go "hmmmmmmmm..." Can life be full if it lacks purpose? No more than a bucket of holes. So how do we 'find our purpose'?

Part of the difficulty in answering the question is that we are all individuals, so everyone's 'purpose' is assumed to be slightly different. We are not islands, however. Is there a common purpose that we all share? Based on the common purpose, do we then each have an individual calling? Yes and Yes.

(Intentional Digression:) Now it occurred to me that there may be a subconscious resistance to the idea of having a purpose in life. Why? We may perceive that as being externally imposed. We just want to be 'free'. Is being 'free' and having a purpose mutually exclusive? (maybe this is why we laugh at the idea of finding the meaning of life... perhaps it is a nervous laughter, fearing we might be somehow bound by our calling if we took the time to figure it out). I am convinced there is an elegant and happy solution to this cognitive dissonance. Allow me to take a shot at it.

There was a man who lived long ago who was, and still is, considered one of the wisest men that ever lived. Through his wisdom, he gained great power and wealth. About four thousand years ago he built the great temple in Jerusalem, parts of which still stand today... you likely know his name... King Solomon, son of King David. In what reads like a private journal, he struggles with this very question (the book of Ecclesiastes). Oft quoted, was the dark side of this private struggle... "Vanity, vanity (uselessness), all is vanity". Drifting between glimpses of light and existential angst, he wonders aloud about the meaning of life. If this life is all we have, then we shall go as we came... with nothing. Looking at life that way, it could seem useless.

But wait! Over there, a candle burns! Where there are shadows, there must be light! As Solomon gazed at the candle, what did he see? (Puzzle piece #1) "... I realized that the best thing for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. God wants all people to eat and drink and be happy in their work, which are gifts from God." Appreciate what you have. Let the glass that is half full quench your thirst, and be thankful. Find the good, and do it. Enjoy a good meal, a good friend, a job well done. Give. Love. Give love. But wait, there's more! What is his conclusion? (Puzzle piece #2) "Now everything has been heard, so I give my final advice: Honor God and keep his commands, because this the duty (i.e purpose) of all mankind". Why is this important? "God will judge everything, even what is done in secret, the good and the evil".

"Honor God". What does that mean? It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Learn about His nature, His grace, His love, His mercy, and then be as He is. Commune with Him. Get to know Him. Then encourage, inspire, guide, be an example to others. Look at the heart (not status) and find the good. Wealth means nothing. Power is fleeting. To quote the Apostle Paul, "I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing." Living in Love honors God, for God is love.

"Keep his commands". What does that mean? For Solomon, that was keeping the Ten Commandments, and all the other laws of Moses. Do you know what? This part is impossible. Surprised? Do you know why it is impossible? Solomon knew why. Earlier he had noted, "Surely there is not a good person on earth who always does good and never sins." Paul said it another way. "All have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory... no one can be made right by following the law. The law only shows us our sins". Solomon was the 'Bill Gates' of his day... he had it all. Was he a success? No. Not by a long shot. Despite all his wisdom and wealth, he died a broken man. Some of his sons turned against him. One even killed his brother. He had let pride and materialism win out. He knew that he fell short and his self condemnation destroyed him in the end.

Let's face it... if Wikileaks could see everything we ever did, we'd be toast. So, if "God will judge everything, even what is done in secret, the good and the evil", are we toast? Yikes! But wait...White horse to the rescue!

How so? There was another who was also known as the son of David, born in the city of David (Bethlehem), who came about 2,000 years later. The Word of God by whom all things were made was born in a manger. "In him there was life, and that life was the LIGHT of all people. The LIGHT shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. There was a man named John who was sent by God. He came to tell people the truth about the LIGHT so that through him all people could hear about the LIGHT and believe...The true LIGHT that gives light to all was coming into the world!... to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become the children of God... They were born of God."(John 1:4-13). Now we are not talking about a candle here... this was the Great Supernova! The King of Kings and Lord of Lords came to our rescue. How? He brought with Him (through his life, death, and resurrection) the forgiveness of sins. Through hindsight, we have an advantage over Solomon. Jesus condensed all the Law of Moses into two commandments: (1) Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, and (2) Love your neighbor as yourself. To that, he added one more. (3) "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

So what is the meaning of life? What is our purpose? Honor God, and Love (1), Love (2), Love (3). Using our individual talents and circle of influence, we each bring our own unique flair to this task, making our purpose special to God. Enjoy and appreciate good food, good friends, gainful employment. Treat everyone with respect and kindness (even if you think they don't deserve it). With the heart of a child, love God, have love and compassion for those around you, protect the innocent, and give generously to the needy. Then, may God bless you richly in Jesus Christ! That is my Christmas message to you all, this December 25, 2010.