Our Windows

As surprising as it may be for some to believe, I get a joke emailed to me almost every day.  I thought this one was funny but also something very telling about it as well:


A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean," she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap." Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?"

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."


 All too often this hold true in so many aspects of our lives.  Why is it that two people can be sitting in the same row next to each other (on a roller coaster, in a movie theater, in a restaurant, in a car) can have the same thing be seen, heard, experienced, but have such different reactions?  Most often, it is the way we see those events more than the events themselves, that makes the difference.  


This is why we can sit here in the U.S. with our comforts and luxuries (that we consider necessities) and look at places like Central or South America and feel bad for the way people have to live.  The people in the countries down there may or may not have electricity, more than one room, real walls, a floor, food for the day, and it is hard for us to imagine the suffering that must be going on and how God may have abandoned them to this destitute life.  The irony is that if you speak to Christians in these areas, who may be living day to day, not knowing from day to day where their next meal is going to come from, they will tell you that they are filled with joy.  They will tell you how very close they are to God and how much they see Him move in their life each and every day.  They will tell you that their reliance on God has brought them peace and joy beyond understanding.  Here is what is most ironic, the people in these countries will tell you how badly they feel about people here in the U.S.  They prayer for us and for us to know God more and to the extent that they know Him.  They prayer for us to have joy and peace.  And in a lot of ways, they are right.


Personally, I have problems with seeing people the way God sees them instead of seeing them through my limited, selfish, and judgmental eyes.  I don't look at the heart and I don't see the potential that God sees.  I don't see people as being made after God's image, full of hope and promise.  That is my prayer.  Like the song, I want to have God's eyes and to not only be able to see with His perspective, but to take action based off of what I do see.  I guess I am praying for God to wash my windows.

Chan's new book...

I shared with you guys a few weeks ago that Francis had released a new book called "Forgotten God: Remembering Our Crucial Need for the Holy Spirit"

I wanted to let you all know that its now available on iTunes for $4.95... I have been reading the book over the last couple of weeks since our study ended and I am really learning a lot about the Holy Spirit... it is definitely a view at a part of the Trinity I have not had in the past. If you get a chance to check it out on iTunes please do or if your not into listening to books (I have a hard time listening to books, would rather read and underline) then check it out on Amazon by clicking here:Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit


I will probably order the study guide video in a few weeks after I am done reading the book, so we can all share if your interested... RD