Talking with our mail lady the other day, she was explaining how the post
office was thinking of going to a 4 day delivery. It seems the amount of mail
has dropped off drastically due to emails, and some days there isn’t enough to
warrant sending out the mailman on his route. It seems after “best food day,”
the day all the ads come out, usually Wednesday, but here Monday, the mail load
drops off drastically, so the cutback may be needed. Of course at the other end
is the Sunday deliveries via the post office from Amazon, but even lately I have
noticed Amazon emblazoned vans in our neighborhood. All new and clean, the
opposite from the postal Jeep that chugs to our house. And even the periodicals
have declined, as evidenced by the growing online amount, the dreaded TV Guide
day a thing of the past. But some how they stumble on, managing to lose
millions of dollars per day, all at our expense. But to their defense, probably
the most efficient mail/package delivery system in the world.
It seems most of the mail I get anymore comes addressed to occupant. Not
sure who occupant is, male or female, but we get their mail. And a lot of it.
Years ago MAD magazine started a protest as a joke, which some people took
literally. They advised mail recipients, us , to return any mail addressed to
occupant, stating no one by that name is at this address. Potentially flooding
the system, while making a statement about junk mail. Today I just toss it, but
have my own form of protest, per Andy Rooney. All those ads that come with
postage paid return envelopes, I return them, empty. Keeps the USPS busier, and
hopefully sends a message, don’t bother me. Still working on a way for phone
calls at dinner time advising me of the prize I won in the contest I never
entered. I hear a high pitched whistle is effective...
But also from time to time, I send back the postage paid envelopes with a
tract inside, sharing Jesus with them. Not sure if they are machine processed,
but someone somewhere has to end up reading them. Just my small way of
spreading the gospel, for free, like the gospel, to anyone who is within mail
receiving ear shot. But I must confess, I like getting mail, so I send mail.
True, most is in the form of email, but I still handwrite letters from time to
time, making it more personal. A day and age that has passed, cursive isn’t
even taught in schools anymore, and texting has made it OK to not know how to
spell, as if the recipient could tell anyway. But on my desk I keep an old
letter, dated 12/5/75, from my Grandpa. I had just moved to Albuquerque, and it
was short, but loving. Very personal by his writing, not the happy faced icon
placed at the end either. He spelled words correctly, and signed it in a way I
always remember, “be good to yourself and others, and abundance of everything,
Grandpa.” A letter of love all by itself. A keeper, maybe the good old days
were that much better.
When reading the New Testament we forget, if we ever knew, that many are
letters addressed to a church, to a person specifically, written in love. Hand
written, on scrolls, delivered by a post man, and anxiously received by the
addressee. Can you imagine how excited the church in Galatia was when it
received the letter from Paul? The anticipation of having it read publicly
while gathering that night after it was received. How excited and encouraging
his words were. Written in a letter form, they read like the letters they were
then even today. We just have the luxury of having chapters and verse to refer
to, but you can imagine someone in the audience saying, “read that part about
Jesus again..” and maybe the scroll was even passed around. Seeing how their
prayers were answered, how things were going for their letter writer, and
learning more about Jesus. They read the New Testament first hand, back when it
was referred to as the teaching of the Apostles. How many in Phillipi would
have ever dreamed that it a letter to them would be part of a new book called
the Bible? Do we read the Bible as a letter and get excited, or is it
memorization, studying, or reading an assignment? Think how different it would
be if you read it like the letter it was when sent. Taking a bit of liberty
with John 14:4-7, this may give you an idea. And make Jesus more personal. And
the scripture come alive.
“Dear Father,
I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to
do.
Now Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were
always
yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything is a gift from you.
Your loving son,
Jesus*”
italics mine
Reads much different doesn’t it? Just as it was written, and probably
read. For any and all to read. Maybe the Bible was the first letter addressed
to occupant. The first letter for any and all to read, to be read personally,
and read over and over again. Somehow magically stored on scrolls that survived
thousands of years, protected and preserved by the same God that inspired them.
If he can preserve scrolls, how much more can he preserve us and resurrect us?
Take some time to read the letters from God today. Spend some time with his
son, and get to know him better. He took the time for you, take some time for
him. Be as excited as the first church, waiting to hear more about Jesus, and
being the first recipients of this new thing called the gospel. Read it with
the spirit guiding you, as it guided every word written, and find yourself
getting closer to God. No letter from home will ever have more of an impact.
And they are addressed specifically to you, to me, to us, the church. Occupants
here on earth until called home for our final address.
So maybe MAD was wrong, many occupants do live here at this earthly
address. But remember the words of Jesus, “ I brought glory to you here on
earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” A loving letter to a loving
father. He probably could have signed it “be good to yourself and others, and
abundance of everything,” maybe that is why I save my Grandpa’s letter. A
letter written some 2000 years later in love, without the verses marked. To be
read just like it was sent, in love. Can we read the Bible the same way and be
so blessed? Jesus Christ, for like the mailman, he knows here you live.
love with compassion, and an abundance of everything,
still doing the job you gave me to do,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com
|
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
|