(Reclaimed from Bubblews, where it appeared on January 23, 2014. Substantially edited in view of what's happened between then and now. Image credit ("bleeding heart" flowers): Natureworks at Morguefile.com.)
priscillaking.blogspot.com/2013/12/homeless-victims-of-welfare-state.html
The article explains how people who have money can contribute more money, faster, than you're doing by reading and sharing my Bubbles. My Bubblews account is dedicated to this church fund (was, from January through March 2014) that's collecting money to buy a trailer house where these people can live on their own land. I won't see the money. The family won't see the money. I won't even meet the family face-to-face until we either succeed, in which case I may well be helping them clean up their land, plant a garden, and start rebuilding their home, or fail to succeed, in which case I will have to invite the family to move into my house, which is many miles away from where they want to be.
So...I promised a post a day about this good cause, now what am I going to say about it that's fresh and new?
Well, this morning, after thawing out the rest of the water in the glass measure and cooking breakfast, I rode up to the computer center with a Christian who wanted to listen to a recording of one of J. Vernon McGee's "Through the Bible" lectures. I couldn't believe that those recordings are still on the radio. It was so nostalgic. I got into the car thinking, "If it were possible I could almost believe that's J. Vernon McGee. I used to listen to his lectures on days when we didn't have school...but of course he was old even then, so that can't be...but that man sounds just like J. Vernon McGee!" Then after twenty minutes of lecture, a voice-over announced that it had been J. Vernon McGee, whose lectures are being re-broadcast by an organization called Thru The Bible Radio. (Free endorsement: ttb.org/ )
I'm glad people within range of the right radio stations can still walk through the Bible with those lectures. Of course I never heard all, or even most, of them. My family had our own walk through the Bible. My father would acquire a fresh copy of the Bible and read it at breakfast, usually making comments in the margins, not scholarly comments but observations about what was going on at the time of reading and how it related to what he'd read. Then when I was fifteen, my parents never thought our regular classes went fast or deep enough, so by way of enrichment for Spanish class my parents gave me a Spanish Bible, which I would translate into English before bed, and that was my brother's and sister's bedtime story. But I still enjoyed J. Vernon McGee's discussion of the book of Philippians this morning.
Here's the chapter on which he was commenting:
www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=Philippians+3&;
He commented: "Works are useless to get you into Heaven...but (as James says)" [referring to www.gospelhall.org/bible/bible.php?passage=James+2&] "faith without works is dead. If you have faith, you will be doing works."
Some Christians don't like the book of James, so I need to tell you up front that it's my favorite. In the passage linked above, James discussed the problem of how Christians behave when others are in need. Some of us like to think that warbling polite words and thinking good thoughts will show faith in God and love for our fellow believers. James says it's useless. It is possible that James was the most intelligent of the Twelve Apostles.
Although I don't think it will do non-Christians any harm to know what's in the New Testament, this post is not for Christians only, so let's move back to more general terms. People who may or may not be Christians like to say things like "It's the intentions of the heart that count. I don't haff to do anything for these people. It's enough that I have good thoughts in my heart."
Reasonable, intelligent thoughts are located in the brain, not the heart. Thoughts like "I don't need to do anything useful for other people as long as I have good thoughts in my heart" may be located somewhere else...anyway, my point here is that, if the heart is not used to move the body around, the heart won't even keep pumping blood through the body and keep the body alive for very long. What is in your heart needs to move to your hands, your back, and your feet. It needs to move fast!
A friend has been finding out through personal experience what happens if some part of the body becomes lazy enough to keep what is really in the heart from circulating through the feet at the correct speed. "I lost all the strength in my legs." "I feel cold all the time." "My feet hurt, and I feel tired, when I've not been doing anything." "I could hardly get out of bed." "I've been advised not to drive and I have to take it easy at work. I could have died."
That's what happens when the heart stops moving blood through the feet, in a strictly physical sense, because the whole body has had a nasty infectious disease. A blood clot has formed in my friend's foot, and if it cannot be dissolved, there is a possibility that I might lose this friend. It is very similar to what happens when the emotional "heart" stops moving the feet, hands, and back, too.
Keep your emotional "heart" alive, Gentle Readers. When people need your help, do not just smile and warble pious thoughts. Stand up, move, and do something useful. (I'm not saying it has to be something for me. On The Blaze today there was a story about an unemployed roofer in Michigan who's been salvaging scrap wood for his family to burn. Maybe someone out there is in Michigan. Maybe someone in Michigan has roof damage from all this wacky weather. Etc.) Or if you can't stand up, at least read my Bubbles, hit the "like" button (or even the "dislike" button--either way it's adding money to the trailer house fund), and share these Bubbles with everyone you know.
[Update: The friend's blood clot apparently dissolved. I worked hard to raise money for the trailer house fund. Bubblews promised to send the church a check. That was one of many payments Bubblews promised to send to various people and has never sent. I receive no direct payment when you share things posted at this web site, unless you share them with someone who feels moved to send money to me. As of April 13, 2015, Google reports that this site has been visited by 108,157 people. If so, 108,156 people either didn't appreciate what they read, or were unable to use the Paypal "Support This Blog" button and too unimaginative to ask Salolianigodagewi@Yahoo what they could do instead, or are not in the habit of paying for things they appreciate reading.]
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