I saw this bumper sticker on a car yesterday.  I wish I was able to take a picture, but since I was following the vehicle, it was hard to get out my camera and drive at the same time.  The sticker said:

My other tractor is my neighbors.

It the end it was just an advertisement for Tractor Supply’s neighbor day, but boy, it sure made me pause for a while, trying to figure out the meaning.

And then it hit me!

Oh, I have my tractor that I take care of and then I take care of my neighbors tractor as well.  Just like it was my own.  Hm.. interesting message– one that sound’s sort of familiar.

The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Mark 12:31 NLT

4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others Philippians 2:4 NKJ

Are you taking care of your neighbor’s tractor?

<3 The month of Love <3!!

yeah, whatever, but I did see this great t-shirt design earlier this week, and I thought it was just groovy. It’s entitled Love Conquers All.

Which we know is absolutely correct.

As we kick off the month with the weird number of days, remember, that Love does conquer all. ( that’s not the man-made, Valentiney sort of love, that, the God is Love sort of dying of the cross for you sort of love!)

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 New International Version (NIV)

Not much of the internet likes it, and today you will see many of your favorite web sites “go dark” to protest. The Daily Buffet is also participating in this blackout from 8-8 today.

It’s not that I am for online pirating, but I think the internet is a great free speech zone.  Plus who knows when someone may find my message offensive or unlikable and censor me?

Of course, if that were to happen, the message of love and dying to self and glorifying the Christ would still continue.  Remember this:

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” ⁴⁰ But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

But, I really don’t want the rocks to do my job for me!

Then there this about the power of principalities

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

( well after I write that, I am not sure how applicable it is, but hey, it’s always good to remember that nothing, not even internet censorship can separate us from the love Christ has for us!

Oh, and there is another reason I protest today.  Take a moment to remember all those people out there in other countries who would love even the chance to protest about free speech. They still put the message of the Christ out there, and the risk their lives every time they do it.

Enjoy the day!  Hope you can make it without some of your favorite sites!

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4 7-12

Anyway, I have still been thinking about that good old Samaritan and they way he impacted others.  That and a quote I read last week while I was busy doing nothing.

Love is the effort and desire to make someone else everything they were created to be.

To me that is a profound defintion of love, and one that you should stop and think about today.  This defintely would be on the mind of the samaritan as he addressed that dude on the road.  And more importantly can be very broadly applied to all of the relationships that you have.  Just think about that quote and the way you interact with you co workers, children, spouse and enemies!!!

Hm, seems like Philipians 2:

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

But anyway, today I will roll with it, as I roll through a very significant milestone age wise and post the Buffet’s 500th post. And today, I am thinking that I want(need) to put more wood behind fewer arrows and really really focus in on the important things in life.

As you now, there is one certain thing about birthdays – they keep coming, until they don’t.  And there is no going back – only going forward.  I sorta of sit in the middle of life today, strengthened by my past, but faced with the heavy realization that I don’t have as many days to waste as I had when I was 15.   I have referenced these few verses many times in the last few months, but they seem best to help describe the arrows that I (we) should put my(our) wood behind.  Not those of career advancement, not those of accumulation, not those of entertainment, but these.

 ⁸But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,

It’s very similar to what my father use to say to his sports teams  – “Go out, have fun, do the right things and winning will take care of itself.”  If we focus on love, mercy and humility, those other things will take care of themselves.Those are the arrows I want to focus my self on.

So today I am putting more wood behind fewer arrows, I am numbering these days, and I am looking forward to what life as a mature person actually is.!!!!! 

And as Coach Gundy says “I’m a man, I’m 40!”

That’s a pretty cool parting salutation, up there with ‘Shalom’, and it reminds me of the way Paul ended lots of his letters to the first century churches.

²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (Philippians 4:23, New International Version, ©2011)

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. (Galatians 6:18, New International Version, ©2011)

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14, New International Version, ©2011)

So, today, remember the story of the Jedi’s and where their power come from – and have fun with your friends bestowing that salutation on them. But also, be thankful for the electric power that you enjoy in your home, and spend a moment considering how the grace of Christ and the love of God will power you if you allow it to be with your spirit!

And how more can I add to words of the Master himsel5. Just think how he was trying in his last teaching sessions to convince others about the basic principles of thier lives!

 ^34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

 ^37-40Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” (Matthew 22:34-40, The Message)

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
‘Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

So, of course I started thinking about these words, not that I was dwelling on these thoughts from a personal perspective, but it did strike me that this song describes some of everyone’s basic needs. The more I thought about it, the more I started thinking about my daily life and the number of peeople I may have a chance to impact as the person who shows love.

Take a moment to consider the people around you – the people you deal with everyday. Who will you notice? Who will you see as a person created by God placed in your path today by the creator of the world? That seems to change the way we will interact with each and every person. It seems that maybe we will want to love them for them, and not what they may or may not have done for us.

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4, New International Version, ©2011)

Well what to do?  How should we celebrate this glorious day of mathematics?  Check out this page for some interesting facts.

On this day that we celebrate Pi and things mathematical, I think that is only correct to have a verse or two that  express simple formulas and demonstrate arithmetic operations.

For instance addition:

33″But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 (New American Standard Bible)

subtraction:

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (New International Version, ©2011)

And finally multiplication:

2May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Jude 1:2 (New American Standard Bible)

I think that last one will make a great formula for a successful and fun way to celebrate Pi day.

Let M = Mercy, P = Peace, L = Love and U = you. Therefore:

GreatPiDay = ((M+P+L)*U)^Spirit