PASSION

Passion is a powerful emotion that can be and usually is exhibited in a multitude of ways. It is a love language all its own because it encompasses all five of them in how they are offered. For reference the Five Love Languages are:

1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Receiving Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Physical Touch

For most of us we have one or two that we are most responsive too; and there are others that give and want all of them. We all need to have our language valued and understood and the need met. And often we show that through a passionate display of some sort that speaks to the need of another we are trying to affirm or encourage.  I have a passionate need and desire to encourage and give to others with all of my heart. I also am passionate about the gifts that I choose to give to others, and often the ones I wish to receive. Physical touch, the warmth of a hug, the tenderness of a kiss on the cheek from a cherished friend, or that ever so subtle way that someone greets you, arm outstretched reaching in a more intimate non-sexual way to say hello and last but never least is How we are Affirmed. As many of you probably have already guessed I am passionate in everything that I do, and it often gets me into trouble because I invariably do something unintentionally that negatively impacts another.

Well, so do kids. Kids are passionate about life because it is new and exciting and filled with all the do's and don'ts that go with growing up. Some become passionate early on for music or sports, knowledge or faith; love and family. But Passion mis-directed or misguided can lead to unimaginable problems, mistakes and bad decisions. It also can lead one into dangerous waters that none of us could ever even fathom.  It is the goal of every parent to protect their children but we live in a different world than we did 50 years ago, 30 years ago, 10 years ago. We live in a world that at every turn we are stimulated by advertising, seduction through all media types, the internet particularly, each other, and what drives all this - are the desires of our hearts - the Passions, as it were, that we seek to fill whatever need or void or love language that is not being fulfilled.

In the Passion of the Christ we watch as Christ Passionately shares the message of His Ministry and the basis for Christianity. We watch as He accepts the pain and suffering on our behalf - because WE ARE His Passion. John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son to die for our sins, so that we might know eternal salvation or eternal life with God. I reiterate that my quotations are usually loosely recited because I would rather share the word mono e mono than worry about whether it is grammatically correct to some version of the Bible. But I stray from my point. Many of you have probably seen the movie; many have not. But I doubt there is a single person in the Western World and a few others in between who has not heard the message of Jesus Christ or of the Movie that so profoundly and heart wrenchingly affected the lives of more than a billion people all over the world.

Without Christ's Passion for us, we would not know the freedom that comes from living with Christ, in Christ, for Christ. His Passion drove everything He did, said, preached, loved, healed and however else he shared the Passion. God's Passion for us is so unimaginably powerful and overwhelming that we cannot even believe in it or receive it because it is so vast and grand and perfect.

Our children today, are more aware, more savvy, more in touch with the world than in any other time in history. They are passionate about politics, the environment, teen issues, anti-drugs and alcohol messaging, etc. They are smarter and more able to multi-task than most of us adults can even fathom. They are incredible. But what about the ones that are buried behind walls of depression, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, loveless familial home environments, and a myriad of other what if's you can think of. Who is serving their need to have their passions met - their dreams of a life that is better and more fulfilling than what they have? 

As I settle in here, I walk out my front door and I look to my left, I look to my right and I look down in front and I see the lost kids, the kids bombarded by all the wrong messages and influence and none of the right. 3 Blocks from my house, they're selling crack and meth, out in the open in broad daylight...to kids no older than Emilio and Ingrid, Miranda or Jordan. Pick one of our children and I see one of them struggling, fighting for their lives to reach their Passions in a positive way, and not through the negative influence that surrounds them on their own front porch.

In my Passion to make my new home, my home I stepped on some toes, unwittingly...but it made me stop and think about these kids and how will God teach me to help them, teach them, minister to them,, love them unconditionally so that they know their Passions for Dreams of Something better, greater than what they see around them is out there - waiting, arms wide open....Isaiah 55 and Isaiah 40:31. How will Breiter Futures provide those Brighter Futures? How will that message of Passion be conveyed that will bring meaning to these young lives, young hearts and children of God.

Find their passion, tap into it, encourage and nurture it...and let God be God. And do it all through your passionate Faith, abundance of Hope and unconditional Love. 

Pebble out...