That's Amore!!!

In case you didn't know, next week is Valentine's Day...The day of love or as I like to think of it as the Day after Thanksgiving for Card and Flower shops. Of course, this day has sparked in me a brand new set of reflections that I would like to share with you all, my dear readers.

The bible is filled many notable verses that for some reason or another resinate louder in the hearts of man (woman) than others. I like to think it is because there is so much truth in them that you can't help but take notice. For me, there are 3 verses which prove themselves to be true and powerful. And when thinking about the L-word, I find them even more powerful.

They are (NIV):
1. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

2. 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

3.Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Number 3 - Now I know someone is saying "But Brain, the word love is not mentioned in the third verse..." To which I reply "Good observation Pinky, I am quite aware of that." But you know I am going to tie love in that verse so in order to remove the suspense I will start with the last one first.

Do not be decieved my friends! We are all reaping what we sow. So what exactly are we sowing? Casualties of war...wayward children...hate crimes...crimes against children...corruption...perversion...the list could go on and on. But I am certainly not here to depress you. My only goal is to make you think. We are sowing some pretty pitiful stuff into this ONE life that we all get. Just ONE life to make a difference. Just ONE opportunity to do something meanful. Just ONE chance to make this time count for something. What are you sowing into your life? We sow garbage and expect flowers. We sow into our children bad habits and expect them to be angels. We sow into our lives an "its all about me" mentality and hope to reap respect and honor from our peers. We sow all the wrong things into the life field and expect wonderful things to happen. It is no wonder living in this world is like watching a bad B horror movie.

But if you are reading this blog, that means you are alive and God has granted you another day to get it right. Must be something about you! Something deep down worth sowing into somebody's life. AAAAAAHHHHH...the L-word. Yall knew that was coming. How about sowing some love and watch the harvest you get. I can't say I have ever seen anything bad happen when someone expressed REAL LOVE to their fellow man. Key word "REAL"...not the phony, cliche love but genuine love. Imagine if everyone sowed some love...all the bad things that we are watching today in the world would eventually disappear. But sadly, everyone is not going to do that. But if we commit to expressing some kind of love to someone who needs it...not your mama or your child or family, although they need it, that is too easy. I mean to someone who really needs it. I believe everything else will fall into place.

Number 2 - Other bible translations of this verse say the love of money is the root of ALL evil. However you look at it, I can say this is true either way. This verse popped into my brain after a question was posed to the radio audience of a local station. The DJ asked if we thought it was wrong for the gospel group Mary Mary to record a song with the rapper LL Cool J? And I was pondering this and thinking how whether it is right or wrong, nothing surprises me anymore. But then into my thoughts jump this verse..."For the love of money...blah blah blah..." For the record, I am not saying either of these performers are evil cause I don't know them. But I think what God was saying to me is that an extreme affection for the green stuff makes people do things they may not normally do like mix secular music with gospel music. What does the second part of the verse say: "Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Think about it. (1) The War in Iraq, most of us know it is about the money but some of us won't admit it. If it was all about war on terror, Bin Laden's boys wouldn't be on tv telling GWB "I bet you don't know where I am" Come on! We can build a satelite which supposedly will travel 9 years and find the planet Pluto and we can't find a man in the desert. (2) Reality TV...why else does Flava Flav have a reality show about finding a girlfriend. For those of you who don't know who he is...he is a former member of the rap group Public Enemy. All who need further explanation may I sugget www.google.com. Anyway, if you do know who he is, you would agree how ridiculous this is. But to the movers and shakers in Hollywood, it is all about the dollars. Why else would people eat 1000 year old cheese on the show Fear Factor for the CHANCE at $50,000? BTW - where do you find 1000 year old cheese? All for the Benjamins! NC just got approved for the lottery. In the mist of all these layoffs and unemployment, you can best believe there will be some folks at the 7 Eleven buying lottery tickets. In the words of the Mighty OJays, "Money, money, money, Mon-Ney, Mon-Ney" Let's face if we don't soon stop worshiping the Money idol...we are going to reap what we sow.

Number 1 - No greater love. I believe I have a blog entitled this. Must be a reaccuring theme for me. There is no greater love folks than laying your life down for your friend. This is what Jesus told his disciples and then he backed up his words with actions. Now I am not suggesting for you to go physically die this minute to show your love for your buddies. But think about this passage from my favorite book in the bible:

Roman 6:8-14 8- Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 - For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 - The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 - Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 - For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Dying with Christ because we love him and he's our friend. I hear a question "You mean I can do what Jesus did without the nails, the cross, the torture, and the pain?" YEP! Somebody is gonna have to meditate on this for a while. Since it is a reaccuring theme, I am sure this verse will come back on the blog scene. Of course there are always opportunities for us to die to selfishness and do something for some else. Die to the ordinary and do something extraordinary. Die to fear and stand up for what's right. Die to arrogance and spend some time with someone who doesn't run in your circle. Lots of things we can die to and put the needs of others first. But this ain't easy but I pray I can get better at dying to my own needs and wants and sowing life into someone else.


IN CONCLUSION - Remember this: "Love, exciting and new...Come aboard, we're expecting you...Love, life's sweetest reward...Let it flow, it floats back to you" Everybody knows the theme from the tv show THE LOVE BOAT. No doubt you've tried to sing it. But sing those few lines again (with feeling now) but think about the words and you may have a new impression of the L-WORD!

Happy Valentine's Day! Now go spread some Love! (((BIG HUGS)))