OK. HERE I AM WITH A MINI ANTHOLOGY [whatever that is]!
Years ago, I was the executive assistant to a man who was the largest contributor to a major political party in a certain state [left-wing, of course]. Let’s face it – I had just come out of the ministry and now I was associating with …, well, you know, The Left!
I needed a whole new wardrobe, someone to watch over my kids and a different way of thinking. It seemed my future as it had been from youth was totally upended. To put it another way, the rug had been pulled out from underneath me, albeit floating in money.
For many years my life had been spent associating with church people, living from hand to mouth financially and always thinking “what will other people think?” Now I had money, associating with well known people and in many cases with the rich and famous; the political class, the unbelievably wealthy and the Hollywood crowd. The biggest issue, however, was the separation from the church culture. The people in the Hollywood/monied/political world seemed to be free of restraint. They talked freely, joked raucously, and laughed without restraint (some were irritating). And I noticed something else – they had no need to secretly gossip. They just blurted it out!
There WERE A COUPLE OF THINGS that bound them all together – well 90% of them – IDEOLOGY.
Yes, I know many of them were terribly insecure even though they may have been rich and famous. But that yawning and gnawing skepticism of anything related to “America the Beautiful” and/or Evangelical Christianity got on my nerves. It was all about making deals and how to screw their foes (and in some cases, those perceived to be below them). I have often stated that arrogance should have been included in The Ten Commandments. I’ll admit, sitting next to movie and TV stars, politicians of note, and spending the night in the mansions of the internationally known, was somewhat heady.
On the other hand, “what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8:36)
I’m telling you, when Jesus brings peace to your heart, the lifestyle of this world will never satisfy! My mother sang in church, “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands; I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand “Than to be the king of a vast domain Or be held in sin’s dread sway; I’d rather have Jesus than anything this old world affords today.”
(Rhea Miller)
Write It On My Heart 