THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

I don’t know if you have been following the news about the fire or not, but I have.  Firstly, I’d like to thank God for holding the wind down last Tuesday and Wednesday.  Instead of 40 to 50 miles/hour the wind blew at a much slower speed.  Consequently, the attempts to contain the fire achieved considerable progress.  But secondly, I cannot help but feel angry at those who seize this opportunity for their personal gains, be it by looting or price gouging.  In times like this, we get to see what’s inside this skin: either beautiful or awful.  Those who take advantage of the suffering of others show how ugly their spirits are, but those who sacrificially help those in need show how beautiful their spirits are.  Tragedy reveals our true colors.

In his book, The Strangest Way, Robert Barron writes, “Christianity is a way, and we learn it by walking; it is a river, and we know it by swimming; it is a game, and we come to love it through playing.”  So true, isn’t it?  We cannot learn Christianity by sitting in a lecture hall but by following the examples Christ showed us and the Word, He taught us.  We must walk the way, swim the river, and play in the game, so to speak.  What we do when faced with tragedy—and opportunities to increase personal gain—reveals whether we have indeed learned the way of Christ or not.  It is the way of love.

We can learn about love by reading a book or listening to a lecture or a message about love.  But we cannot learn to love by reading a book or by listening to a lecture or a message about love.  We can only learn to love by loving—by caring for somebody, by giving to somebody, by making a sacrifice for somebody.  In other words, we learn to love by forgetting ourselves and remembering others.  This is the Christian way, the way to the greatest happiness, because as Elton Trueblood correctly points out, “The greatest unhappiness . . . comes from focusing attention on ourselves.”  From having no love!

Pastor Paul