The Explosion in my Apartment

“Ugh. Another answering machine,” I thought. I’m not sure there were any more coal dealers in the phone book. I had called several and every one that I called was away for Christmas. After a year and a half in Berlin, I no longer lived with the woman I thought I would marry. (This was before I became a Christian.) I no longer had central heat. I had a coal furnace…but no coal.

“I can get coal at the building supply store,” I thought. It was a forty five minute trip to get there. Carrying as much coal as I could, I still could only bring enough home for a day or two at a time. Until the building supply store didn’t get their shipment.

The furnace looked like a big ceramic box: nothing complicated. There was an iron door about 10 inches square at the bottom on one end. The whole thing was five or six feet tall by 2 feet deep and 3 feet across and had a chimney at the top of the side farthest from the little door. When I say, “ceramic”, I don’t mean the whole thing was ceramic, rather it was covered in ceramic tiles. So when I had wet laundry, it worked well to hang my laundry on. A string fit nicely in the grooves between the tiles and then held the laundry against the furnace. I didn’t have a washing machine, or a dryer and paying for a dryer was expensive. So why bother? I had this great, big, hot box in my bedroom that dried my clothing just fine…or so I thought…until I ran out of coal.

“I’ll just get wood for today. It’s just a big box anyway, right? There won’t be any harm.” So, I bought wood instead of coal. Wood, unfortunately, doesn’t burn like coal. With coal, the fire is actually in the coal. When wood burns, it gives off gasses when heated and then the gasses burn…unless there isn’t enough oxygen for the flammable gasses to burn. Remember the big, simple, box that was my furnace? It wasn’t as simple as I thought. Coal just burns more slowly if there isn’t enough oxygen to burn quickly. Then the smoke gets routed in a sort of zig zag pattern through the inside of the furnace so that as much heat as possible is sucked out of the smoke and is used to heat the room. When you burn wood in it, though, that zig-zag slowly fills up with those un-burned flammable gasses until the air inside the furnace goes critical and then, “poof,” or “bang,” depending on your luck.

Remember the laundry? Those ceramic tiles are just held on with clay. Get it wet and the tiles come right off. That’s how those furnaces are repaired. Did I know that, as a foreigner? No. Did anyone tell me? No. Am I thankful no one told me not to hang my wet laundry on my coal furnace? Yes. When those furnaces get old, sometimes they go, “bang” and the top comes off, flying across the room. If you are lucky, you won’t be under the hundred pounds of clay, iron and ceramic tile when it lands. If I hadn’t hung my clothing on my furnace to dry before putting wood in it, it might have gone “bang” instead of “poof”. I might not have seen the little black puffs of smoke come out from between those tiles except for my laundry getting them wet.

Or, someone might have told me not to put wood in my coal furnace…even if I’m out of coal and I’m cold. Then, I might not have blown up my furnace (even gently) and had to go two weeks without heat.

Deu 10:19 So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Do you know any foreigners? If so, ask them about differences between where they are now and where they are from. Maybe give tips on how to live here. Perhaps you can prevent them from suddenly hearing “bang” or “poof”. You might save that foreigner’s life. They might appreciate it. Seriously, though, it might be rare for you to be able to find something that will keep anyone from accidentally causing an explosion. However, if you ask them about themselves, you can show them that you care. Maybe the above experience of mine has opened your eyes to something that you didn't even know existed just a short time ago, but is common in another country. Knowing about such things can make it easier to know what to talk about with foreigners, which can make it easier for you to "show love to foreigners."

Have you had any similarly bizarre experiences? Have you traveled? If so, you probably have lived through some shocking things. Why not let us know about those in the comments? Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you about it.

Earning an Escape from the Flames

"What you are asking for, I cannot sell you," said the old man.

Rufus replied, "If I'm not offering enough, I'll pay more. How much do you want?" They walked steadily and quickly, but calmly through the city as others ran past frantically.

But the old man answered, "There is no price. I'm sorry."

Amidst angry shouts around him, Rufus persisted. "But, you've offered it to me hundreds of times before...I just wasn't ready."

"You weren't ready? Are you sure you weren't just unwilling?"

The old man had volunteered at the orphanage for years. He told all the children wonderful stories whenever he came. But he also told the children to follow him and that doing so would be both extremely difficult and more fun than anything they'd ever done before.

"Well, I don't know. The things you said didn't make any sense to me. How was I supposed to know that the things you were saying were true?" The old man had also told them what would happen to their city. The old man had told of the problems the city had: the rising tensions and the unwillingness of the people who lived there to do what was right. The people who lived there always wanted more and more: even after they’d been given as much as they could use without hurting themselves.

"I know and understand that. But, they didn't make sense to Jimmy, either, and yet he is now coming with me."

"Why does he get to go and I have to stay? He doesn't have anything to give you! Look how much money I've offered you and he hasn't offered you anything!"

"He loves me. He is a child. Jimmy trusted me and came when I called him. He has no other parents. He needs me. You have said over and over again that you don't need my help. You are all grown now. Your father came to claim you years ago and you willingly went with him. Don't you remember the story of the soup kitchen?"

Rufus knew it well. The old man had explained to him and the other orphans using a story about how strange people could be. He said that he had run a soup kitchen for a time and that one night a proud man came in who had lost his home. He was still well dressed, in spite of being homeless. The man had no more money because of legal difficulties and problems with his own business. The proud man had wanted to earn his soup. The old man told him that he couldn't do that.

"But, I don't want a hand out. I don't want to take anything for free. Let me work for my food."

The old man could only reply, "You are welcome to work. You are welcome to eat. But the food is free, whether you work or not. You cannot earn it. All the ingredients have been donated. I promise all donors that I will never charge for what they have freely given. Should I put a price tag on it now? I cannot."

The proud man hadn't eaten in days and began to weep because he didn't want to take charity.

"But what does the soup kitchen have to do with us...here and now?" asked Rufus. Meanwhile, as they had walked, they had come to the docks and the old man began to board a ship, little Jimmy running quietly alongside him to keep up. The old man gave the fare for himself and Jimmy and continued to explain to Rufus, "When I told you not to steal, you did it anyway. Others punished you. I could not. I was just a volunteer. When I told you to tell me about your homework and let me help you with it, you would not. Your grades suffered for it. You didn't trust me in the little things. Jimmy did and does. Jimmy is clearly willing to be my son. You didn't seek me early. We haven't spoken in years. But now, when the things I told you would happen have finally come to pass, now you claim to want to be my son, but you aren't." By this time, everyone had boarded the ship except the old man and Jimmy. Then, they walked up the gang plank, too. The ship began to pull away.

Rufus looked out at the large ship as it kept pulling further from the dock. He had to speak ever louder in order for the old man to hear him.

"But I'll work for you. I'll do anything you say. Whatever you ask me, I'll do."

"Rufus, you've said that before, but you never keep your word. You have always lied to me. And anyway, I can't turn the ship around. The gap is now so large, you couldn't leap it if you tried. And, remember the soup kitchen."

Looking back, Rufus could see the city on fire. With all the noise in the background and the growing distance to the ship, Rufus was now yelling so loud it was hurting his throat.

He said, "I was only in the orphanage because I thought my father was dead, but he wasn't. Now I know my father is an evil man. But you were always kind to me. Even though I didn't do what you said, the things you told me...I see now that you always only gave me good advice. Please take me with you. And why do you keep bringing up the soup kitchen?"

Rufus began to sweat from the heat of the burning city. He was also sobbing by this time. The buildings in that city were made mostly of wood and it had been dry lately. The fires were spreading quickly, even while the people rioted instead of trying to put them out.

The old man yelled, "You don't really love me. You haven't ever loved me. You are only saying those things now to try to escape the flames. Immigrations would never allow it. You have no more time to make those decisions. You are too old now. I can't bring a grown man home and claim to have adopted him. This is your city. This is where you belong. I keep bringing up the soup kitchen to remind you that there are some things you just can't 'earn'."

The fires were close enough now that Rufus could feel pain from the flames, and he could no longer see the ship because of the smoke. It was so thick he was in complete darkness. As he tried to watch the ship sail away, Rufus gnashed his teeth in agony from the heat, but there was no way to earn a place aboard the ship. He couldn't buy a ticket any more now than he could pay the old man to adopt him. His wicked, natural father had deserted him again at the first sign of danger and his chance to go with his savior was gone. The last words Rufus heard were, "There are some things you just can't 'earn'."

Jimmy and the old man watched from the ship as the smoke flooded over the docks and absorbed Rufus but were unable to do anything to help him. Jimmy asked the old man, “Daddy, what is Rufus doing now?” He answered, “I don’t know, Jimmy. I can’t see him any longer.” With that, they sailed on to the old man’s home land. There were, of course, times when Jimmy did things he wasn’t supposed to. But, he kept learning. When he was punished for something, he would learn not to do that thing again and he stopped doing it. His relationship with the old man continued until the old man’s death many years later. Then, he went on to teach other children how to live uprightly as well. And yet, he always knew that his relationship with the old man did not exist because Jimmy was “better” than Rufus. They had both lied. They had both stolen things. But Jimmy never left the old man for long. And if he did something wrong, he came back and apologized. The relationship didn’t exist because Jimmy paid the old man anything. It wasn’t there because Jimmy “worked” for the old man, but because they were both willing to maintain a relationship.

There is an old man who wants to adopt you, too. Are you willing to be his child? If you wait too long, one day, there won’t be any more time for you to decide to change, either. If you decided once that you wanted him to adopt you, have you kept up the relationship? Or have you walked away and only return when you are in trouble? What kind of a relationship is that if you only show up when you want something from him?

If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear what you think. Thank you for reading.

How to Lead a Valuable Life

You need to lead a valuable life. Perhaps that's obvious, but most of us drift through life without much thought to how to make ourselves more valuable. If you want to be valuable, there are several steps involved. First, you have to decide that being valuable is your goal. Second, you have to know what your goal means. Third, you have to know how to achieve it. Of the three, once you've achieved the first two, the third is easy.

Why focus on being valuable? The easy answer is, "Because God commands it." Now, he doesn't come right out and say it that way, but consider the two commandments from the Bible which Jesus said are the greatest: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Now, when the Bible commands us to "Love God" and "Love our neighbors", what is it saying? First and foremost, remember that love is a verb. In the case of those two commandments, it is not only in active voice, it is COMMANDED! Sometimes people lose the idea that love can be commanded, but know this: love isn't just a feeling. It can be commanded because we can choose to act out our love toward others regardless of how we feel.

What does love have to do with being valuable? The opposite of love is not hate, but rather selfishness. There are only two ways to lead a life. You can be self centered or others focused. There is very little room in between.  If you seek to gratify your self, that path can only lead to failure. A very rich man from the early twentieth century was once asked how much money would be enough for him. He answered, "A little bit more." We are no different. One of my children really likes Pokemon cards. As a way to help him understand himself better, I asked him that same question, "How many will be enough? 100 cards? 500 cards?" He answered, "Some of my friends have binders and binders full of them." The answer doesn't really depend on some absolute, measurable goal, but rather on measuring up to those around him. What about you? Do your goals include measurable results?Do those results make sense on their own, or are your goals aimed simply at having as much as the next person or being as good as the next person? Are your goals all focused around how to get more _______ for yourself? (Go ahead and fill in the blank: money, power, prestige, stuff, comfort or other physical pleasures...it doesn't really matter what you put in that blank unless it is that you want more of God in your life...) To see a verse which talks about selfishness, read Isaiah 56. Towards the end of that chapter it says (of people not following God)

Isa 56:11

Yea, [they are] greedy dogs [which] can never have enough, and they [are] shepherds [that] cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

The one who follows God is satisfied...not necessarily because God pours out money and possessions and power on those who follow him, but rather because God commands us to be content with what we have...and because he commands us to love our neighbors as our selves.

This is why the idea of selfishness is important: we can never be filled by seeking only our own good. We can only be filled by giving to others. By seeking to empty ourselves, we find out how full we are. That's where contentment comes from. I'm not saying we can be content merely by giving. God has to have a hand in it. There's no value in giving away so much that you become homeless and are no longer taking care of your family. Poverty isn't valuable of itself, either. There are ways to be poor which benefit no one. The value comes not from being poor, but from serving God by serving others in his name.

I know I haven't spent much time writing about how to actually be more valuable. But, as it says at the beginning of this post, actually doing it is the easy part. God will make you more valuable if you decide that making yourself more valuable to others will help you to love them, which is the second greatest commandment. He tells us that if we love him, we'll keep his commandments. So, being loving toward others (and you know that doesn't mean just fawning over them or feeling a certain way towards them) is second in importance only to living out our holiness towards God. And, He doesn't command us to do anything He doesn't give us the ability to accomplish (1 Cr 10:13, Matt 11:30 & 1 Jo 5:3).

As always, I look forward to your comments. They are a huge help to me. Thank you.