The Power of Tears

Back in the day... I mean WAY back in the day, when Jesus walked the Earth, young people just starting out didn't flip signs behind their backs along the roadside (or flip burgers for that matter.) No, an entrepreneurial-type might go into the "crying" business. Since there were always people passing away (and not enough true friends with real tears) they'd send in actors who could work up tears at a moment's notice.

Even today professional mourners call up funeral directors and offer their services, for a price. I understand one professional mourner who garnered a large sum ($50,000!) actually tore out chunks of her hair as she mourned during Marilyn Monroe's funeral.

I know for me when I am at a funeral I find it so refreshing to be with someone who is moved to tears. It is both contagious and freeing. One person's expression seems to give the group permission to let down their guard emotionally.

"Jesus wept." John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible struck me in a new way this week. Those two little words tell us that Jesus was willing to be vulnerable, and for a moment "feel" instead of "fix." His friend Lazarus (who he would later raise from the dead!) had just passed away and his emotions welled up. He felt sorry for the crowd and Lazarus's sisters Mary and Martha. He did what the book of Romans calls, "mourning with those who mourn."

A few friends who get probably the worst rap in the Bible are Job's friends who provide him nearly 40 chapters of bad advice. (Not much different than mid-afternoon TV!) Anyway, in Job's friends' defense, when Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard that Job had lost his possessions, his children, and was physically sick they "met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. (Job 2:11) The three men wept alound and sat with Job in silence and tears for seven days. Seven days! (How many women could be quiet for seven days?!) These are rare friends!

In our crazy lives it is easy for us each to become too busy to take on each other's pain. The impending divorce... The lost job... The wayward teen... But as Jesus showed us, being a true friend means being willing to shed real tears because of love for the hurting.

When I think about my own funeral someday I don't want plastic, paid-off mourners but true friends who are both thankful for my home-going and heart-sick. Emotion at the end of life begins with emotional investment in others now.

$20 House?

Nearly 4,000 square feet for $20? It sounds too good to be true, but one former North Carolina family is raffling off their dream home because trying to sell it has proven ineffective. After building their home in 2001 the Peterson family took a job in Montana and the real estate market collapsed. They are now selling raffle tickets, with $19 going toward the Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center in Montana. Read more about it (and check out pictures of the house) at
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6009013/

"The Flood" Remembered

If you lived in North Carolina 10 years ago, most likely you don't even like to hear the name "Floyd." "Floyd" is more than just the name of somebody's uncle, it conjures up memories you'd rather forget. When our family moved to North Carolina about three years ago we heard plenty of stories from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest) students (and their families) who had to move in with off-campus families because they had no electricity.

Flooded homes and flooded cars...even lost lives. According to www.noaa.gov, "Damages are estimated to be $1.6 billion in Pitt County, North Carolina alone, and total storm damages have surpassed the $6 billion caused by Hurricane Fran in 1996."

But even as Hurricane Floyd brought devastating loss, it also brought North Carolinians together. Looking back at your own experience during Hurricane Floyd, how did someone go above and beyond to reach out to you? I'd love to hear your story!

The New Black... "Layaway" (Or at least a way to stay in the black!)

Have you ever used a store layaway plan? I remember seeing my mom do it several times when I was growing up and I personally put a pair of pin-striped, "ultra-cool" shorts on layaway once when I was in high school. Honestly, I haven't used a layaway plan since that time, but I am considering it.

The basic idea with "layaway" is simply making payments for something, interest free before you actually receive the item… the opposite of a credit card. The idea of delayed gratification that we try to teach our kids is coming back around to us. The layaway plan has had a revival of sorts because credit and cash are both hard to come by. A few stores which have a layaway plan are Kmart, TJMaxx, Marshalls, and Burlington Coat Factory. (Wal-Mart execs are most likely kicking themselves for doing away with their layaway plan a couple of years ago.)

Tracy from Rocky Mount used layaway this past Christmas and she said she also used it to buy school supplies this year.

Do you think you’ll use layaway this Christmas?