Email Chain Letters for God
I got an email from a friend yesterday asking me to both send the email back to her and to forward it to as many people as possible for maximum effect. What was the email about? The email asked me to pray for her to receive financial blessings. I was also to pray for the same outcome for all those I forwarded the email to. If I followed through with her request I'd have many people praying for financial blessings for me as well. These sort of emails are troubling to me as I think they work to undermine Christianity.
There's a minister in the Twin Cities named Mac Hammond. He has a Sunday morning televised program called The Winner's Way. Week after week his message is all about prosperity. He received some bad press last year but he's still out there raking in the money. The main thrust of his sermons is to tithe to the church and that God will bless you with even more. I don't necessarily disagree with that because it is Bible-based teaching but what about asking people to give back to God because he's given so much to us and not just because we want Him to give us more?
I recently got an email from a cousin telling me that Microsoft would pay me to forward the email he sent me and that within a few weeks I'd have a check for hundreds of dollars. I would have figured that this particular email joke had run its course years ago. I did what I normally do with that sort of thing and sent it back to the person who sent it to me and everyone else who received it with a link to the falsehood of the email as described on snopes.com.
Back to the email I received yesterday from my friend. This woman and her husband are millionaires many times over. I can't imagine how much more blessed they feel they need to be. I have a difficult time understanding how much more blessed most of us in this country can be. Sure, there are some struggling people no doubt and I don't want to discount them.
I would rather have seen an email chain letter asking me to pray for a servant's heart or wisdom for myself and others; maybe a heart to be more grateful for what I have. Not more money. I believe that God wants us to prosper but if I'm not mistaken Jesus spoke more about having us give away that which ties us to this world and follow Him. I admit that I certainly have my faults in this area.
Moving on.
Rachel called tonight. I was under the impression that their mission work was going to be done at Pike Place Fish Market but that's not what's happening. They're actually working at a battered women's shelter about an hour drive from Seattle. She said it's been an incredible experience for her and that she has so much to tell us.
They spent some time at the fish market today but that was just for fun. And...she caught a fish! She was one of only two kids out of a group of 30 who volunteered to try and catch a fish thrown to them. She said that someone got a video and photos of it so I'm really looking forward to seeing that. What a goofball.
I planned a short ride today but I couldn't help myself once I got out there. I ended up doing 72 miles. I needed a longish ride for this time of year as I'm working
on getting some base miles in my legs before I work on my speed. It was a nice day but nowhere near the weather we were having last year at this time with temps creeping into the low 80s.
I came home, hosed down my bike then put it on my bike stand and broke it down for cleaning. It's in pieces now and I plan to spend a couple hours working on it before work tomorrow. I promised the pups a long walk in the morning so the bike will have to wait. My legs need a rest from riding so it's all good.
There's a minister in the Twin Cities named Mac Hammond. He has a Sunday morning televised program called The Winner's Way. Week after week his message is all about prosperity. He received some bad press last year but he's still out there raking in the money. The main thrust of his sermons is to tithe to the church and that God will bless you with even more. I don't necessarily disagree with that because it is Bible-based teaching but what about asking people to give back to God because he's given so much to us and not just because we want Him to give us more?
I recently got an email from a cousin telling me that Microsoft would pay me to forward the email he sent me and that within a few weeks I'd have a check for hundreds of dollars. I would have figured that this particular email joke had run its course years ago. I did what I normally do with that sort of thing and sent it back to the person who sent it to me and everyone else who received it with a link to the falsehood of the email as described on snopes.com.
Back to the email I received yesterday from my friend. This woman and her husband are millionaires many times over. I can't imagine how much more blessed they feel they need to be. I have a difficult time understanding how much more blessed most of us in this country can be. Sure, there are some struggling people no doubt and I don't want to discount them.
I would rather have seen an email chain letter asking me to pray for a servant's heart or wisdom for myself and others; maybe a heart to be more grateful for what I have. Not more money. I believe that God wants us to prosper but if I'm not mistaken Jesus spoke more about having us give away that which ties us to this world and follow Him. I admit that I certainly have my faults in this area.
Moving on.
Rachel called tonight. I was under the impression that their mission work was going to be done at Pike Place Fish Market but that's not what's happening. They're actually working at a battered women's shelter about an hour drive from Seattle. She said it's been an incredible experience for her and that she has so much to tell us.
They spent some time at the fish market today but that was just for fun. And...she caught a fish! She was one of only two kids out of a group of 30 who volunteered to try and catch a fish thrown to them. She said that someone got a video and photos of it so I'm really looking forward to seeing that. What a goofball.
I planned a short ride today but I couldn't help myself once I got out there. I ended up doing 72 miles. I needed a longish ride for this time of year as I'm working
on getting some base miles in my legs before I work on my speed. It was a nice day but nowhere near the weather we were having last year at this time with temps creeping into the low 80s.I came home, hosed down my bike then put it on my bike stand and broke it down for cleaning. It's in pieces now and I plan to spend a couple hours working on it before work tomorrow. I promised the pups a long walk in the morning so the bike will have to wait. My legs need a rest from riding so it's all good.
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