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Something Heavy

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on January 23, 2008
in Thoughts
. 2 Comments

At church last Sunday we were given impor­tant reminders about caring for our envi­ron­ment and being good stew­ards of our resources. I really am grate­ful for the way Gregg pre­sented the infor­ma­tion and chal­lenge. It was scrip­tural and prac­ti­cal. I like the idea that re-​using, reduc­ing and recy­cling can actu­ally be a form of wor­ship­ing God. It shows that we care about what He made.

Gregg’s mes­sage has stim­u­lated some inter­est­ing blog dis­cus­sions which have all been very good. I started think­ing last night about the envi­ron­ment and our minds. There are sim­i­lar­i­ties between pol­lu­tion and sin:

  • We all are stuck in a system where both are out of control
  • Maybe we can’t avoid either of them com­pletely, but we all need to try to be as pure as we can
  • We each need to look at both pol­lu­tion and sin on a per­sonal level. It’s more impor­tant than judg­ing what other people do.
  • Pol­lu­tion is sin against the earth, sea, and sky; sin is pol­lu­tion in our minds, bodies, and relationships

This com­par­i­son breaks down when I think about solutions.

The prob­lem of pol­lu­tion and wise use of resources will only be solved when we all work together. The prob­lem of sin andbadwater2.jpg impu­rity will only be solved when we indi­vid­u­ally come to Christ.

This is a pic­ture of a con­t­a­m­i­nated river. It is also what we all look like inside.

On MLK and the NBA

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on January 21, 2008
in Thoughts
. 0 Comments

I’ve been a Blazer fan since the 70’s. I haven’t always been thrilled with the guys they’ve had on the roster, but like a lot of people, I’m liking what I’m seeing these days.

Sto­ries came out today about the coach and a group of Blazer play­ers tour­ing some MLK sites in Atlanta on Sunday. I like to read about this team when­ever I can, but these arti­cles caught my atten­tion in a dif­fer­ent way. They paint a pic­ture of the play­ers as people, and what they did on their day off.

To see the house where he was born, and to go to the gym where he played some hoop was kind of cool. It’s like you get to walk in his shoes for a minute, which is a great moment, espe­cially for us being African Amer­i­can males. Because of a lot of the things we are able to do today are things he fought for.”—Bran­don Roy

It’s not so much that the game means any­thing more (the Blaz­ers play Atlanta on MLK Day), but the day itself means a lot. You get to reflect on some of the things that he did to make it easier for minori­ties in this nation. So just to be a part of that, and to know the his­tory, it’s some­thing special.”—Martell Webster

I think it is good for them to see that, it’s edu­ca­tional for them. Life is about oppor­tu­ni­ties, and for me, I ask, ‘Would I have had this oppor­tu­nity (to coach) 40 or 50 years ago?’ No. So that’s what this is all about: In life, we hope for an oppor­tu­nity to show what we are capa­ble of doing, and he helped give us all that opportunity.”—Nate McMillan

I like to use it as a day of reflec­tion. Just to look back and remem­ber how people sac­ri­ficed their lives just to have us be able to have a chance or oppor­tu­nity in life like this.”—Jar­rett Jack

We all ben­e­fited by Mr. King’s efforts, but it is espe­cially cool to see these par­tic­u­lar guys making the effort to go back and honor the man that made it all possible.

You can read more in this Ore­gon­ian story, and here at ESPN. I like how the ESPN story men­tions that that edu­ca­tion and scrip­ture were impor­tant in the King house­hold. These are good foun­da­tions for everyone.

Childermas

Published
by
Michael Comfort
on December 28, 2007
in Thoughts
. 0 Comments

800px-rubens_kindermord.png

Today, Decem­ber 28, is Chil­der­mas, or “the Feast of the Holy Inno­cents.” It com­mem­o­rates the day the chil­dren (boys 2-years-old and younger) of Beth­le­hem were mas­sa­cred by King Herod in an attempt to kill the baby Jesus. He was angry that the Wise Men had betrayed him, and left with­out telling him where Jesus was.

This event, recorded in Matthew 2:16-18 isn’t included in our usual North Amer­i­can Christ­mas sto­ries! Bolivia was dif­fer­ent. When I was a kid it was a normal part of the Christ­mas drama at church! I remem­ber seeing the actors play­ing the role of Roman sol­diers grab­bing dolls from the women on stage and pulling the dolls heads off! It made a real big impres­sion on me!

There is still a lot of evil in this world, but Jesus is on the throne, and this gives us our unshak­able hope.

Here’s an inter­est­ing item from a Catholic web site…

The fourth day of Christ­mas com­mem­o­rates these baby boys, who are con­sid­ered mar­tyrs — the very first mar­tyrs (St. Stephen, whose Feast was com­mem­o­rated 2 days ago, was the first martyr of the Church Age). As Beth­le­hem was a small town, the number of these Holy Inno­cents was prob­a­bly no more than 25, but they are glo­ri­ous mar­tyrs who died not only for Christ, but in His place.”