Is being a gentlemen, lost today?

I heard a story the other day (which I will retell with permission of course, but the names have been changed) I consider this a good example of the colliding of Christian and secular world views.…

A young man, we’ll call him Bob, was having a few friends over for the evening and was getting along very well with a young lady, we’ll call her Cheryl.  He was enjoying some playful banter with her all night.  She had a few drinks and was tired and he offered her his room to stay in for the night.  Sexual innuendos were flying in both directions, but he, out of respect for her, excused himself and left her alone to go to sleep for the night.  She however apparently was expecting Bob to return and curl up in bed with her.  After a long period of time, it was evident Bob was not returning and Cheryl was mortified.  From her perspective, she had made herself available and Bob had shunned her offer.  Bob, however, was not aware of an offer being on the table, not that the idea hadn’t occurred to Bob, but he thought he was being respectful.  She got dressed and shyly said her good-byes without any explanation.  Bob was none the wiser until his friends pointed out why Cheryl seemed so upset.  Poor Bob endured some serious teasing from his friends and Cheryl, completely crushed, never talked to Bob again. If only Cheryl could see the situation from a different perspective; in actuality Bob was not shunning & thus disgracing her, as she perceived; Bob was actually treating Cheryl with dignity, knowing that her value was not based on her sexuality.  Then perhaps she would have walked away feeling honoured and cherished instead of crushed.

Bob is apparently a dying breed, he is a gentleman.  He was raised with Christian values and was taught to respect women.  Cheryl, I’m not aware of her views but I suspect, she was doing what she had come to accept as the norm . Its in the movies we watch, the shows on TV, the magazines we read. The fact it never occurred to Cheryl that Bob did not want to take advantage of her, out of respect for her as a person; says something about our society at large today.  Has the value of being a “lady” and a “gentleman” become extinct? 

Well its not extinct to the Lord; the Lord treats us all as if we are Ladies and Gentlemen, cherishing us and valuing us as the people we are, and lovingly partnering with us to become the best we can be.  He also expects us to love and cherish all those He puts in our lives in the same way.  Jesus, when asked, what the 2 most important commandments were; “He answered:'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" God loves us, wants us to love Him, and then go spread that love to those around us.

…Hopefully, I pray, they will understand they are being loved, cherished and respected.

Let’s try not to miss it, when God is pouring into our lives.

How do you see God at work today?

Blankets of blessings on you.

Love without power?

"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love." — Martin Luther King Jr.

I read the above quote the other day and it started me thinking…Now I love Martin Luther King and pretty much everything the man said is filled with passion and love for the Lord, but the above quote bothered me. Specifically “love without power is sentimental and anemic.” 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” If God is love than technically we can not have love without power. Can we?

I think the problem today is that we throw the word love around too easily, and for the wrong things and then love gets a bad rap. Anytime we love someone, they are affected, even if it is not evident. Anytime we do something out of love for someone, it only benefits them in the end. Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about lust and temptation, which often gets confused with love; I’m talking about true, other centered, God filled, love. The kind that accepts unconditionally, no matter how messed up we are, the kind that forgives all things, that rejoices and cries with us, and the kind that always wants the best for us. I know that Mr King was talking about love as it pertains to justice, but even then I don’t think you can have love without power.

                                                               …God is love and He is all powerful…

“Jesus replied, “What is impossible with human beings is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

Where do you see God today?

Have a blessed day!

A New Year's Gift...

My new year’s story about seeing God is one I remember every year because it is my youngest son’s birthday.  He is turning 23 today, and he was and is a gift from God in so many ways.  We had decided to only have 2 children but just when my son Anthony was out of diapers, God decided otherwise.  I hate to admit that at the time, my views on abortion were quite different and for about a split second I considered it, but looking at my 2 other children, I realized I couldn’t even entertain the thought.  He was due January 7th and I prayed for the baby to be born on Jesus’ birthday.  Well Christmas came and went and I just figured that my prayer was not answered.  January 1^st 1988 my son Daniel Paul Godinho was born at 4:35am.  First to be born at KW Hospital in Waterloo that year. 

Many years later I remember watching a documentary on the true date of Jesus birthday, and they had claimed that a monk had been asked to find the actual date of Jesus’ birth and to revise the current calendar to start from that date; so according to this documentary Jesus birthday would be January 1^st.  The closest I’ve come, on internet searches is identifying that “Pope John the First asked a monk named Dionysius to prepare a standardized calendar for the western Church.” But apparently they say he was off by a few years.  As far as the day goes, there are various theories, but I am going to keep searching.  So maybe God did answer my prayer after all…whether or not he was born on Jesus’ actual birthday, he is my gift from God at New Year’s. 

Each of my children are special to me in their own ways, Daniel is my motivator, the optimist that keeps me on my toes, the one that knows just how to push my buttons, stubborn, like me, we get into disagreements that can only end in stalemate…he is also my baby that still needs nurturing, he is my sweet, big strong muscular man that is as beautiful on the inside as he is on the outside…oh ahem sorry, I mean handsome, he is one of my children, all precious gifts from God, this one given to me to hold and nurture, on New Year’s Day.

Thank you God.


Have a blessing filled 2011, and may you see God everyday.