Jeff's Journal

My furnace filter needs washing.

   I think I will do that when I get home this evening.

The filter keeps the furnace from blowing dust and lint

   into the part of the house where we live, keeping the

   house cleaner and the air safer to breathe.

 

Changing gears a little, let me ask this,

   "What are your moral and spiritual filters?"

We are overwhelmed each day with songs, movies,

  television programs, you tube, facebook twitter,

  e.mail, advertising, interviews, blogs, message boards,

  and more, which bring to our attention every possible

  opinion and way of looking at things that you can possibly imagine. 

As my anthropology teacher at Transy, Dr. Richards said,

   "If the only thing you get from the college experience

   is to think critically, then we will have succeeded."

 

If you like the tune to a song that you hear, but at closer inspection,

   realize the lyrics are mean-spirited, encourage disrespect

   or violence, do you re-evaluate the

   the song and perhaps no longer include it on

   your play list on your I-Pod or MP3 player?

 

When you discover a movie or television program

   which does not portray high ideals and values,

   or has no redeeming social value, do you filter

   that through your faith and respond accordingly?

 

When was the last time you thought about

   a government policy, the words of a commentator,

   the way a news story was presented, a strong

   opinion from another person and rather than just

   agreeing with it, ran it through the filter of your faith?

 

Like Dr. Richards, my professor, I would say, "If all

   we get you to do in your time here at the church

   is to think critically (using your faith), then

   we will have succeeded."

 

I think God thinks our thinking is a good thing to think about.

Moving to the deeper places,

Jeff