Living Above One's Means or Living Within One's Needs? Hmmm.

I guess it depends upon one’s life experiences and perspective, and of course cash flow. Now what may seem extravagant to someone making $30,000 a year may be peanut butter and jelly to someone making $150,000 annually. You do the math.

I was reading an American male’s profile on a would-be dating site if I were dating, and he said he was looking for a woman who lives within her means and doesn’t get into debt unnecessarily. I kind of adjusted what he said to how I “saw” it, then I deleted his profile from my inbox. LOL!! Who in the world gets into debt unnecessarily these days? Because our country is in debt, as are most countries on this planet, as soon as you are born and given an ssn and an address, you are in debt. If the IRS can find a way to make you start paying taxes by age seven, then that’s what will happen. Last wills and testaments are so necessary in order to guard loved ones from being saddled with debt after a death, for the government hates death. Why? Someone has to pay those outstanding bills, and now that you’re gone to that other home on the range, they cannot harass you anymore. You do the math. J

Anyhoooo, back to my original thought. I was thinking about the high cost of living: To live healthily versus to live trying to restore one’s health. Or another scenario: To live healthily versus living frugally to the bone and then trying to restore one’s health. Hmmm, which is more cost effective or efficient? Which is considered to be “living within one’s means” rather than above one’s means? Which is considered, or when is one considered to be living within one's NEEDS?

Okay, I’ll get more specific with a common, true story scenario (hmm, I’ve used that word already.) that hits close to home. I am a meat eater. Always have been and always will be. It’s my blood type – type M-E-A-T positive. J I tried to go vegetarian a few years ago and became twice the person I was. That was more than I could handle – seeing double everywhere I went, and the other me always getting there 10 steps before me. The doctor asked “where’s the beef?” Well, often on my mind was the concern “but what about my cholesterol?” How will I be able to keep it from spiking later in life if I’m pasturing with cows and pigs everyday? So much to learn, and I hope a lifetime to spend doing what I’ve learned. But fast-forward back to the future.

“Your cholesterol is at the limit” the African French Doctress said. “Your HDL is very good, but your total cholesterol is at the maximum and we need to make some diet changes.” Uh huh. “Demi-lait”. (half-fat milk). I don’t like or drink milk. She said “no problem then.” (in English this time. LOL!) Cheese and butter also half fat (50 % graisse). Oh, I can eat a cheese’s cow! J “Only olive oil.” But I just bought a new fat bar of butter. I chimed in “I eat yaourt (yogurt) instead of milk.” She responded, “fine, but only 50% fat.” So she made a list of the best options for me. Then we began talking meat. More fish per week. I’d already been trying to do that but dropped my pole in the lake. Gotta go buy a new fishing pole.

Chicken and turkey. Yes! No skin. Homer Simpson’s “Doh”!!! There goes KFC and Micky D’s fried chickens on the bone (or bones with chicken). Fried-and-with-the-skin-on. Somehow I always knew this D-Day would come. I put my head in my hands and wept. LOL! I cried ‘no skin’! That’s just not possible. That’s not real chicken. I told the doctress J I would remove the skin after I cooked every last bit of the fat and juice from it. We laughed and again she said, “remove the skin”. Anyhooo, we decided beef was necessary only once or twice a week and that I must remove ALL of the fat BEFORE cooking it. Somehow I did not feel deprived. Can you say “George Foreman’s hamburger machine”?

All these years I’ve been reading about lowering one's cholesterol, and making small adjustments here and there, but rarely could bring myself to remove the chicken’s skin. After all they have rights too. Another change I never quite got around to was the buying of salmon. I’ve known it’s the best fish for you, and it is also one of the most expensive, so I would not buy it. I could get twice as many hamburgers, fish, pork chops, and ham slices for the price of a four-pack of anorexic looking salmon steaks. I had to live within my means.

Well, that trying-to-be-frugal-to-the-bone life style has landed me in a place I was trying to avoid and it’s called “The Jefferson's highrise cholesterol”. Now, I can either continue buying more for less NOW and end up paying a higher price just around the corner, or I can make the adjustments and buy the more expensive-good-for-me items, and lower my overall cost of living. Okay simply put, I can change the mantra I live by from the one my culture has raised me to live by, and then I can live the life I’m meant to live. I can live within my NEEDS, no matter how much they cost and no matter what others may think about it, for my needs are MY needs, and I can live happily ever after NOW. Or I can continue living within my means (whatever that means) and end up paying more to try to restore what I already had (and have) in the first place.

I’ve heard people say “oh it’s easy. I go shopping here for this and that because I can get it in bulk for less, but then I drive to this store for thus and so, and I get all my dry goods at this place. . . And then I prepare my meat like this before I prepare it to be cooked, and I do this . . .” (Either way, it looks like we all are paying somewhere. Yep.) Okay, that’s fine and good, but we’re all not the same. We don’t all live the same life-styles on the same budgets. Heck, many of us are using different currencies on different continents. Some of us live in cities surrounded by public transportation so we don’t spend money on vehicles, insurance, tires and repairs, etc. And don’t forget, gasoline. J But we do spend a lot of time waiting for those buses and trains etc. While others of us live in towns that are at least 30 minutes from the nearest convenience store with a gas pump, a modern gas pump maybe. Can you say “shopping mall”? Hmmmm.

For one person to live within his or her means will be different from another person’s, and usually we’re living in what we believe are our NEEDS. But for me, I’m just beginning to see, and learn and believe that my means and my needs are not the same, and I need to reassess my life based on my NEEDS and adjust my means to fit the task.

I’m using a simple story to make a point for me, and sharing this with you just because . . . hmmm, I want to. J Not because it’s gospel or TRUTH – for Jesus is truth. But because it is a lesson I’m learning and maybe it will inspire others to do their own life-change searches. I’m not writing a new Bible or Allnthejeans World Book of Facts and Stuff, but just doing what I love to do and was created to do – share stories. The Bible says for those of us who are children of God, “My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:19, KJV] Hmmm, I like that. So when did we start living by MEANS? When did that verse get changed? See, the Kingdom of God culture is different from our independent I-can-do-it-myself-and-my-way-politico-libero-supercalafragilisticespialadotious-north-south-AfricAmerEuroAustralAsian earthly culture. God did not promise to meet all my means. Maybe that’s why we’re not living the “abundant life” according to the Garden of Eden blue print. Our minds are too small (but greedy. Yes, greed is the sign of a small mind.) concentrating on what WE can do rather than believing, and living in what God said He would do (and has already done) through Calvary first, and then the empty tomb.

I NEED to live in good health. I NEED to decrease the high cost of my cholesterol. I NEED to eat more good-for-me foods such as expensive salmon and veggies that God created to meet that natural NEED in my life. Man overpriced them, but God gave them to us for free. Hmmm. Alors, God knows where I am. He knows where you are too. He knows where and why He has placed us where we are and what we are to do, and who we are created to be, and thus He knows how much it costs for us to be HERE. J So, with that said, I can afford to live within my NEEDS because He has already provided. He has already done the math.

Peace.

Mean Christians?

Mean Christians. Now isn’t that an oxymoron – two impossible realities coexisting in the same space? LOL!! But they do exist. We do exist I am sad and sorry to say, but why? Well, we’ll come to that in a minute, but this is what I’ve seen and experienced: These are Christians who have the GIFTS of the Spirit (as opposed to the FRUIT of the Spirit) operating in their lives (for the gifts of God are without repentance. Romans 11:29 The Amplified Bible says it best: “For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.]”) (also see Paul’s autobio at Galatians 1:15-16). They are very intuitive and “discerning, able to “see” things in others accurately most of the time, but the meanness in them hinders the recipients from being able to hear, see, and receive the message being delivered; usually a message of deliverance and salvation. But these types of messages must be served on silver platters of love – real love – not love with sloppy grace and no accountability for ones actions, i.e. “it’s okay, now you can return to your post” love. Real love has within it a change agent like detergent has within it chemicals to remove stains. We are those change agents.

However, we are agents of change first in our OWN lives AFTER we ourselves have received, embraced, and continue to live in that love. After we have first been washed in that detergent. What detergent? The love of God, through Jesus Christ His Son detergent. For what do we have that we have not received? Nothing. Nothing is of us. We own the rights nor the copyrights to nothing in this life, or in the kingdom of God. We can change no one, not even ourselves, but God’s love is the change agent within us – consumed by us, consummated within us, and His all-consuming love consumes us, changes us, and changes others – transforms them through the transformation we’ve experienced by contagion. (Wow, what a neverending sentence that was.) Anyhooo, it is transmitted in/through the AIR – by words (the gospel being preached and taught), by spirit/heart, bodies – physical love manifested in myriad ways. Can you say “show and tell”? And His love is transmitted through prayer.

Mean Christians. We really need to ask God to consume us with His love, “please Lord love all our deep pain and bitterness away!” It’s not all emotional, therefore many of us don’t realize we’re mean because we smile and speak to everyone we meet and see, even sometimes to people we know. J We give our money to the poor and strangers, yet we complain that the friends we loaned money to take too long to pay us back. Why can’t we just give it to our friends too? Duh! Oh, here’s an even better one: why can’t we just loan or give and not tell anyone else but the Lord? How about that one? Then we will receive our reward in heaven which is much greater than any payback we can get down here. Also, another note on that: The Bible doesn’t tell us to loan anything but to GIVE. Therefore, if we don’t have it to give away, then we don’t have it to loan. Just say “no, I don’t have it. Sorry.” That’s not being mean. That’s being real.

Mean Christians. Full of public diplomacy, but talking out of both sides of their mouths, breaking commitments because better ones come along (especially money motivated ones), betraying the confidence of those we call friends as though we own the rights to their private stories, and disclosing their identities in the telling as well. What’s up with that? Gossiping Christians are mean Christians. Which reminds me of a true story. I was having a great and funny conversation with a good friend. We laughed so hard he could not breathe. What in the world did we talk about? Ourselves. We talked about our quirks and our conversations with God as we’re trying to respond to His . . . you got it, love. Oh we had one hilarious time and before we hung up I said to him “we talked and laughed for an entire hour about God and ourselves, gheri/jheri/Jerry’s curls and the movie ‘Coming to America’ and not one word of other peoples’ business, which is none of our business anyway. Not even a movie star.” We did not reveal the secrets of others to each other for we found our lives to already be funny and worth talking about.

It’s not necessary for us to talk about and laugh about other people, or even talk about the negatives. Unless we’re going to pray for them, we have nothing worthwhile to say. All we have to do is think about ourselves – from where we’ve come, remembering all the Lord has done, the good, the bad and the ludicrous of our lives and we can have a laugh for free at no one’s expense, for we’ve already lived and produced the movie. On top of that, we can make each other’s day for in all of our life’s stories is some kind of inspiration, if for no one else but ourselves. Yes, I’m inspired by my own life and existence for I know that it could be different. It could be worse. I could be in another hot world. But for the grace of God . . .

Bisous Bisous!! Hee hee, but just before you arrived I dogged you to a stranger (someone you didn’t know) because you were late for our rendezvous. That’s witchcraft. Ick and ew as Buffy would say. Mean Christians. Well, enough of that.

Why are Christians mean? Because when we received Jesus Christ we were not immediately and continuously bathed and marinated and soaked in His love until the texture and “flavor” of our characters were transformed by His. We were “raised” by other mean Christians who were our examples of Christians. Religious and legalistic Christians, like the Pharisees – full of traditions and rituals, knowing all the scriptures, church doctrines, on every board in the church, never missing a service, keeping all the floors and pews clean etc. are mean Christians. Religion does not make happy Christians. But a relationship with Jesus Christ living His life in and through us, off the cross and out of the tomb mind you will make us full of joy and more laughter, even when times are not so funny. Many of us got saved like this: took a shower, not with a washcloth or loofah but rubbed on the soap by hand, not turning off the water first, so really soap and dirt never made contact. We barely dried off, so that the towel could have done the job the soap missed, put on clean underwear (I won’t say more about that) and beautiful clothing on top. And don’t forget the expensive perfume, no not cologne. Then we went out with our gifted and talented selves and were told we could and should start evangelizing the world because Jesus has saved us from a living hell etc. But we still don’t KNOW Jesus. We just met Him, shook His hand (actually the pastor’s hand and those who gave us the right hand of fellowship for joining the church of other mean Christians), picked up a Bible, some Gospel tracts and a microphone and off we went in the name of the Lord out into the wild blue yonder! Yippee! PTL and God is good all the time and all those other Christianized and zealot clichés we’re covered in like post-its on a cork board. Whew. J

But inside of us remained the remains of the “old creature”. You know what happens to dead things? They rot and give off toxins and poison the environment around them. This is why we have cementaries (you caught that didn’t you) . . . because it is not healthy and safe for the dead to live among the living. Hmmmmm. Five m’s that time. (Yes, I did mean to NOT say “the living among the dead”. Things that make you go hmmm.) There must be a healthy separation for no one builds a house in a cemetery. (No typos that time.) J That’s why Jesus rose from the dead after three days in the tomb. It was impossible for Him to live with the dead. (Just one reason of course, from my book.)

It takes time to know Jesus, hence it takes time to become like Him. It takes time to be transformed from a mean person to a gentle person. To “BE” means to manifest, to “become” in reality and normality (I make up some words as I go along) from the inside out. Not just a smile and a hug and a “praise the Lord I’m wonderfully blessed and highly flavored!” NO! So, “if any man/woman BE IN Christ he/she is a New creature. Old things have passed away, behold ALL things have/are/do become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17) [emphasis mine] This verse is two-fold. In one fold it’s talking about our position in Christ in the Kingdom of God. This is an immediate change when we receive Christ into our lives. We’ve made a move from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Light. The second fold describes the process of becoming new, becoming Christ-like first in our spirit, and soul, and then our actions. It goes something like this, from the “AllntheJeans World Book of some living, learning and understanding”:

Once a person not only receives Christ into her heart, but in turn surrenders her entire self to Him – Spirit, soul and body (and goes on to spend time daily learning what that means and then learning how to apply it first to herself), Jesus lives inside of her, living His life through her, changing her from the inside out to reflect His character of love through her. Old ways of thinking, talking, behaving, spending money, time, energies, etc. die away, maybe little by little and others right away, but they do die because they Have passed away (positionally at the kingdom exchange toll booth, and by faith), and therefore must and will manifest in reality that faith. ALL things are NEW as she is IN Christ covered by His blood, washed in the water of His Word, purified by the fire of His LOVE which burns away all malice, bitterness, wrath, gossiping, etc. (Titus 3:2-6) as Paul also teaches from the mouth of Jesus the Christ. (Remember the Damascus Road - Acts 9:1-9). Oh yeah, Paul - Saul was a mean Pharisee and he had to spend years in the desert alone being changed by Jesus the Christ before God could trust him to the baby church born just after Christ’s resurrection. (Acts 7:58; 8:1, 3; Galatians 1:15-24) He was full of RELIGION. (Galatians 1:13-14) Moses also was a mean Egyptian Hebrew/Hebrew Egyptian and he had to spend 40 years in the desert being melted so he could be gentle like a shepherd to lead Israel to the Promised Land. Just to name a few.

Maybe you are a Moses or a Saul turned Paul. But it still takes time to be transformed for old habits die hard, and those we’ve had since childhood, or that were passed on to us through our DNA, genes, lineage, ancestral lines etc. parental and familial “show and tell” examples and models; and those we fell in love with and addicted to, and those we did that affected no one else so we were never brought on the carpet concerning them for they were “nobody’s business if I did”, those “habits” that society says are legal and okay so it must be alright for a Christian to do too, for after all we are IN this world J and how can we have a testimony if we never did anything? Hmmm, I think you get the picture. It takes the rest of our lives to be like Jesus, but that’s still no excuse for Christians to remain mean for the entire journey.

The process of this Christian Love-walk with God doesn’t and did not happen and start “in the shower” on the first day that God entered our heart/life. (Then again, maybe for some readers that is where you met the Lord. I wasn’t there after all. My bad. J) Therefore we need to spend some quiet time with Him letting Him LOVE us clean. Outside of and away from our boisterous and energized church services, pretty clothes and makeup. We cannot live in church; we ARE the church. We must live in the world which is why we need as much personal time with Christ as possible. Sometimes love will feel and be like warm oil being massaged into the aching shoulders, neck and back. Other times love will feel like a loofah instead or a pumice stone. Love may sometimes feel and smell like rose petals and silk after a grueling day. At other times it may feel like a bone being broken so it may be reset for proper growth. Maybe at times love will feel and be like a sharp knife trimming away some meat with the fat because there’s no other way to get it all out – the infection, the bad and unwanted parts.

When patients are being treated with chemotherapy or radiation for cancer, some healthy cells and tissue die along with the cancerous ones. Depending on the complexity of our personalities i.e. hard-headed, hard-hearted, hot-tempered, hot-headed, stubborn and rebellious, deceived and blind to our own faults, etc. God sometimes has to extract some of our “good” as His love lovingly removes the cancerous mean cells from our personalities. But Isaiah 64:6 says that “ ALL our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is as filthy rags.” [Amplified Bible] {emphasis mine} So it matters not how good we think we are, God knows better than us that and if we are mean, and why we are mean.

What do we do? Let’s submit and subject ourselves to, marinate, submerge and swim in God’s love for us so much until we don’t even recognize ourselves, and all we see, hear, feel and know is Jesus-love. WWJD. That’s what HE did! He was so convinced of His Father’s love for Him, He found it easy to love you and me all the way to Calvary. We must let His love massage our heart’s pains and wounds and the bruises in our souls until healing sets in and we are made whole. Let us learn to believe in His love and acceptance of us no matter what kind of childhood or adulthood we may or may not have experienced. Let’s not just memorize and quote and pray His Word, but let’s taste Him (“oh taste and see that the Lord is good”), ingest Him, digest Him, consume Him and let Him by His love consume us to the point that His nature becomes real in us. This is not mindless, silly, stupid, out-of-their-minds Christianity. No, this is an intelligent, wise, knowledgeable, relationship with God. This is kingdom living. This is the way God has designed for us to become loving, patient and kind like Himself, for God is love. (I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13) It’s time for us to make the phrase “Mean Christians” an oxymoron.

Peace.

Some more good reading to marinate in:

• Ephesians 4:31-32
• Colossians 3:8-10
• I Peter 2:1
• Isaiah 53

May the WORD Be With You!

I grew up on “Star Trek” black and white, color, it didn’t matter. Just so I got to see Captain Kirk and Dr. Spock and the rest of the Starship Enterprise crew. I guess it is safe to say that STILL I am a die-hard Trekkie!!

Then along came some other great sci-fi movies, but for some reason I didn’t rush to see them or greet them, but as time passed I heard names like OB1 or O Be Wan or O Be One. Be one what? Hmmm. Not sure how to spell that name but an easier one was Luke SkyWalker or Luke Sky Walker, for maybe he had three names like most of us do. (Now it’s Walker Texas Ranger for me.) Hmmm again. Princess Leia or Lay-a. Nothing spectacular about that name, but I did begin to see girls and women with long hair now wearing their hair in pretzeled buns around their heads. I guess they went to “Princess Leia’s Hair Salon”.

Then I saw children with plastic swords that glowed in the dark or that lit up and maybe made a sci- fi “whirring” sound when they swung them, and the children would say something like “I am Darth Vader!” I wondered who is DV? (Do not change the order of those letters please. LOL!) Not long afterwards I learned that Darth Vader was the dark lord of this saga and his voice was played by one of my favorite actors of all time, James Earl Jones! Now what a voice, and he’s the reason why I finally watched “Star Wars” for the first time, several years after its initial release.

I loved the line “may the force be with you!” J Yeah, during those years I was in school and I found myself needing a lot of force from time to time. I never had a sword to swing at anyone though, at least not one that lit up or glowed in the dark. But I had another sword, “invisible” yet more powerful.

The other day I was reading a story about some guys who went fishing. It was their job, their livelihood not a hobby, and they knew that you catch fish best at night. But for some reason, when the sun came up on this particular day, they still hadn’t caught any fish. It was going to be a lean day at the fish market. So they began to clean their equipment and prepare to head on home to get some breakfast and shut-eye, for maybe that night would yield better results.

But all of a sudden a stranger was walking by and some folk were following him. It appeared that he was giving a tour of the area, but then he stopped in front of them and got into one of the boats. He told the owner “push away from the shore please.” Well, you can imagine the thoughts going through his head but instead he kept them to himself, as far as we know, and obeyed. Then this man began teaching the people from the boat and more people came. The owner of the boat thought “oh great. Now I’ll never get home.” “Hmmm, wouldn’t it have been wonderful if we could have caught some fish like this guy seems to have captured these peoples’ attention? Wonder what kind of bait He’s using?”

Well, if you can’t beat ‘em you might as well joy them, so he also began to listen while cleaning his equipment. Then just as suddenly as before, this “tour guide” teacher said to him “hey, throw your nets on the right side of the boat and catch some fish.” But the expert fisherman became a little miffed and said “man we’ve been fishing all night long and there just ain’t no fish biting in this area right now.” But then he saw the look in the man’s eyes, something strange and compelling making him feel kind of funny and he responded, “oh all right, since YOU say so I’ll do it.”

Suddenly (I think that’s about the third or fourth time I’ve used that word in this story. I think it’s important for us to take note.) he yelled to his partners in the other boats to come quickly and help him for his net was breaking! He realized then that he had been naked in the presence of a man who had a Word. A powerful Word. A Word with authority. A captivating Word. A Word to change his job’s situation and outlook. A life-giving and life-changing Word. The man with the Word was inside his boat and . . . and . . . so he bowed down and asked him to leave his presence for he was a man without a word. He was speechless. J

But this Man with the Word had a Word for him, and all his crew too. “Follow Me, and I will make you to be [more than just fishermen working for a pay check] ‘fishers of men.’” (Emphasis mine.) As time went on He said (and I’m narrating as I watched His activities unfold :->) ”I’ll give you a word that will cause the fish to jump into your net! Heck, they will even pay your taxes for you, at My Word. They will multiply from just two and feed 5,000, 4,000, and 7,000 men, women and children – at MY Word.” (The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.) Think about this the next time you sit down to a fish fry, or are just enjoying some Long John Silver’s and Cap’n D’s crunchies and fries. (We don’t have those restaurants in France so I’m using my memories as I write this one yall. Send me some please. LOL!!)

He also told them “I will give meaning to your very existence. I will show you how to touch heaven and bring God down to earth to touch and reconnect with His creation. I will give you a Word that will show you your life’s purpose and help you fulfill your destiny. I will show you how to walk with God and perform His works on the earth, with MY Word.” “I AM the Man with the Word and the plan.” (Jeremiah 29:11) “I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” (Revelation) “I AM, I was, and I always will be. “In the beginning God . . .” (Genesis 1:1)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was With God and the Word WAS God.” John 1:1. Hmmm, I just love this verse. In the beginning God had a Word. What is Himself for 400 Alex? LOL!!! In your beginning, for your beginning unto your ending God had and continues to have a Word, - for everyday is a new beginning. As the future becomes the present becomes the past He’s already there; always has been and always will be. And always with a Word. What is His Word today for you, for me? (And don’t forget, everyday becomes Today, and God is the same yesterday, today and forever! Whew, He covered ALL the bases.) He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you until the ends of the earth.” (Matthew 28J) Sounds like a never ending story of great Words. HE IS THE WORD.

And may the Word be with you!! R2D2 & C3PO over and out. Beam me up Scotty!

Peace.