james bruce mcnaughton

I’m a self-made man

The following is a little song I wrote to help all those who don’t have it as well as I do

I’m a self-made man

I didn’t get nobody’s help

I rely on me

and nobody else

I have no one to thank

‘cept the Good Lord above

And you can be like me

If you want it bad enough

Yes, the Lord’s blessed me

And I know it’s true

But I have no idea

What’s wrong with you

If you’ll try on my glasses

Then you’ll truly see

With a little hard work

You too will be like me

What?… Stop singing? You want me to try on your glasses? Well… alright… I don’t see why though, mine work great

Hey, wait a minute, I don’t have a job anymore

… I’ve been turned down for jobs how many times?

Well, if I just keep trying I will succeed, right?

I have no place to live? And no interview clothes?

How will they select me over someone who presents well?

And smells well?

This is depressing

I just realized I’ve felt bad for so long

Anti-depressants would help but I have no money

I was jumped last night

They said they would kill me next time

What was that song I used to sing?

I’m a self-made man?

I didn’t get nobody’s help?

… I’ve gotten lots of help …

My mother didn’t abort me

my dad didn’t desert me,

My teachers taught me

Veterans gave me

a free country

to use the gifts

God has given me

Doctors have helped heal me

Police have protected me

And I am so grateful to God

I will humbly ask if I can help lift up

My brothers and sisters

As I in turn learn from them

And I don’t know it yet

But they have much to teach me

Signed – I’m a grateful man

I invite you to discover how you and I can allow Jesus to lift our challenged brothers and sisters. I invite you to discover: The Open Table http://www.theopentable.org/

How can You win in this election?

It has been saddening to read/watch people viciously criticize and attack each other as they explain how their way of thinking is right and others’ thinking is wrong. Fear has replaced Hope as the motivation to “win” in this election. Fear cannot be satisfied. It can only be replaced itself by Truth. Jesus said he is the Truth. So how can Jesus calm our Fear?

In the Old Testament in Proverbs in the Bible it says that Jesus holds the heart of the ruler in his hand and turns it wherever he wishes. No matter who “wins” the election Tuesday a deeply flawed person will become President. And we don’t have to worry. Jesus has been preparing this moment since eternity past and he is not surprised or worried about what he will do. The main thing I worry about is what will I do? Will I humbly listen to Jesus and be true to what he tells me to do? Or will I Fear and say “Jesus didn’t say that, that’s not reasonable”… and shut the eyes of my soul … and deny him?

Dear Jesus, help me to choose Love in every situation. You are Love. And you always provide a way to Love. Thank you for answering this prayer. You always do.

How do you solve poverty?

4 Will evildoers never learn— those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD?
5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.

Isaiah chapter 14, NIV84

Those with money many times prey upon the poor – check cashing charges, fees for “plastic” money and money orders, cash advance charges, ever rising rent when the costs to the owner stay the same, higher prices for those trapped in the inner city without transportation for the same goods that cost less in neighborhoods that have customers that can shop around, lack of the volume discounts the rich enjoy, higher interest rates for loans to those who have the least money to pay for it.

Satan’s kingdom (fear-based, selfishness-based and money-based) is founded on “what can I get out of you?” Jesus’ kingdom (love-based) is founded on “what can I give to you?”

I believe heaven’s economy will be the opposite of ours. We will dream of what we can do for others, ask Jesus for the resources to do it, work with those resources in His strength and give away what we make, our only payment is the joy we receive when we give joy to others.

What would happen if we stopped giving hand-outs that are barely enough to survive on, and we made helping the poor become self-sustaining the same priority President John F. Kennedy gave making the United States the first on the moon? What about asking those who are challenged what they thought we could do to help them? What if we stopped being prejudice and gave jobs to those who would otherwise end up in jail because they can’t find someone who will hire them for honest work?

What would happen if I actually went about tangibly demonstrating the actions of the love of Jesus instead of just singing about it in my church or car?

I invite you to discover how you and I can allow Jesus to lift our challenged brothers and sisters. I invite you to discover: The Open Table http://www.theopentable.org/

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