FRIDAY MAY 27, 2011

Love each other 

Agape: divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love

Phileo: It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle.

A Fire Warden is not a fire fighter but as I am the first responder to the situation I will witness the fear in the people. Some will be aggressive and others will insult you for no reason. If things go bad it was your fault and if things go right they did not need you.

Peter loved Jesus, he was willing to give his life to defend Jesus. But why denying Jesus? Ravi Zacharias puts it this way: The high priest torn the law on paper apart from the law imprinted on the heart and the law killed Jesus to crucify Agape. Jesus needed his disciples to pray for him the night he got arrested but his disciples left Jesus alone - storge abscent. And Judas used a symbol of friendship with which to betray Jesus' love, and Phileo was made commonplace. Finally Peter Denied him three times after boasting that all others would betray Jesus but not him. Peter meant well but he acted in fear and he was not himself, he was yet not committed to Christ. We can see this as fear of commitment. But Peter change and he committed to God and discovered agape love for God first and then he gave agape love for the Sheep Jesus asked him to feed.

Relationships with the people in your life are the same. I invite you to see this clip. One of the characters does not how to fly and destiny chained him to this female macaw bird. She wants to fly away to her freedom and he is afraid to fly, he wishes he was back in his cage instead of flying in freedom. Another bird (George Lopez) tells him that he was made to fly and that he needs to feel it from the heart not from his mind. His fear almost gets him killed. The thing is that we don't do life alone, like the two macaws the fear of the one hurt the other. Like the birds were made to fly, God made our hearts to love not to fear love. Fear is not from God. Storge and phileo subsitute Agape in our hearts, that is why we hurt people we "love". Our culture teaches us Storge and phileo are the only kind of love and we give that mediocre dishonest feelings to the people that God places under our care, like Peter. Think about it: What kind of love do you practice with the wonderful people God placed in your life?  

Oh and by the way, run to see this movie it is so cute and funny! 

Rio Trailer

Every day the sun comes up, whether we are ready or not. In a day we take many decisions and the time frame to evaluate each one is very short. It is my conviction that we always have enough choices but that it is more important to know what the consequences are of each action and decisions we make. Every day I write a journal entry on the topics that I personally struggle with. I share my challenges, trials, joy, sorrow and the lessons learned with my friends. Not one day goes by without praising my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his wisdom and grace. My messages are to honor my Lord and be a witness of his endless love. This love is available for all of us.

Today I celebrate God's grace.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9  

All verses used in this emails are from the NIV 2010