Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: casting crowns

  • Obituary 2: Searching for souls of my family

    Obituary 2: Searching for souls of my family

    Giving up on God

    Today we hearken to the cries of family and the hearts of souls seeking lost meaning not only for the lives of dead (or nearly dead) loved ones, but also crying out for meaning to their own lives. We were born connected to the souls of a family and lament at the loss of any. But crying out to another, pleaing to ‘some One,’ differs from the self-talk of the meaningless question of yesterday’s obituary.

    Yesterday we began this series with a question in song, “Is that all there is? in Obituary: Soul-searching men & women of Dust. We recalled a sweet life which seemed to come up short and introduced the philosophy behind a most famous song where we discovered that these singers and entertainers were part of an extended family with a resolve to pursue life ‘MY WAY.’

    I also suggested your study of an important 20th century philosopher who famously addressed ‘Man’s search for meaning.’ His personal history was well known due to his observations of so many facing death in a concentration camp. Yes, even Frankl discovered that faith in God provides a light of hope in matters of life and death.

    Today’s musical questions

    All those people going somewhere
    Why have I never cared?

    “Is anybody out there? … Does anybody care?”

    What is the difference between the lyrics of these two questioner and the lyrics of yesterday’s post? (Is that all there is?)

    God. Stated differently, the faith of the questioner expressed in song.

    5min 5 sec (if you would like to listen as you read further) Recommend reading the YouTube Comments on this encouraging song focused on Jesus Christ

    What do these lives mean?

    Today’s philosophical question points back to the 20th century. The life and philosophy of Frankl (1905-1997) was grounded in the Great Depression and two World Wars of the 20th century. It is also rooted in Judaism and belief in the Lord God.

    • 1905 – Viktor Emil Frankl is born in Vienna
    • 1914-1918 – WWI – Frankl children sometimes had to beg for food
    • Roaring 20’s, until 1929; then the ‘Great Depression’
    • 1933 – Lillie Klot (stage name: Georgia Brown) born in London, England; Jerome Leiber & Mike Stoller (Is that all there is?) born in US
    • 1940 – Lillie, daughter of Mark and Annie Klot, East European Jewish immigrants, attended school during the London Blitz
    • 1940’s Viktor Frankl survives Nazi concentration camps as many family members perish before liberation by the Americans

    You may have memorialized a few sad biographies of lives cut short in these times. But believe me, as these two songs of today’s post point out God sees lives cut short in these last days of this 21st century as well.

    Family of God

    Is it significant that Frankl and other Jews survived with a higher focus from Scripture ingrained in their memories?

    Scripture instructs the chosen family of God to teach the generations about the Lord. In a follow-up to today’s post we will glance further back into Jewish history from a lesson from the Holy Scripture (of the Old Testament).

    The question today is:

    What do I do when a loved one from MY FAMILY goes against the Lord God?

    And the music playing out in my head:

    Is it a haunting melody of melancholy or perhaps some song which draws your heart to the Messiah of Israel and light of the love of Christ Jesus?

    Original talkofJesus.com post

    Is that all there is (for my family)?
    Summer Reruns! with picture of sun wearing sunglasses
    Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
    • CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
    • THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
    • OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.

    Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

    (ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)

  • Is anybody out there?

    Is anybody out there?

    Please pray for me, as I also pray for you. I need answers from the Lord.

    Roger

    Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

    16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

    18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
        because he has anointed me
        to proclaim good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
        and recovering of sight to the blind,
        to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
    19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

    20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

    Listen

    Are you out there, my friends?

    As always, your Comments are encouraged here. Begin: ‘PRIVATE’ if you do not want me to post your comment to this or any of my 400+ posts publicly.

    Servant of our Lord Jesus Christ,

    Roger Harned

  • Is that all there is (for my family)?

    Is that all there is (for my family)?

    One day your ‘teen’ or ‘twenty’ reveals first to their friends and then to a parent: I’m ‘in a relationship,’ or I’m gay or I’m a vegan or I’m a witch or I’m quitting school or I’m pregnant or I’m getting an abortion or… or… any one of a number of things YOU as their parent had hoped they would not do.

    “WHY,” you ask?

    I don’t believe in God. I can do whatever I want. I am free. You can’t stop me. So what? Can’t I do whatever I like?

    Yet the “Single Mom,” (a great lie in itself) is crushed that the grown child of her womb has said, ‘I can do what I want’, when she had hoped for better.

    Is there no hope (for a ‘single mom’) who has defined the value of her life by what she has done for her children? Is that all there is?

    —

    A man comes home and his wife is sitting at the table drinking with friends… again. It seems her friends are her drinking friends, just as her family is her party and always having a ball.

    “You have to move on,” she says. She was too drunk to even wonder, “Is that all there is?” She was escaped far enough to fantasize, “I’ll keep on dancing… and break out more booze.” And I’ll have a ball, if that’s all there is.

    —

    An important man, once held high in the eyes of men and of women and of his family… a man defined by his job, a man defined by his work, a man defined by what he does and how much money he makes – a man once well respected loses his job… and his importance.

    The man mixed with the rich and socialized with the famous. He lived for his work… and then his work was gone and he asks: Is that all there is?

    “Is that all there is,” he asks? “Who am I now?”

    The words of another lyricist describe his defeat:

    There’s a man just to her right
    Black suit and a bright red tie
    Too ashamed to tell his wife
    He’s out of work, He’s buying time.

    All those people going somewhere
    Why have I never cared?
    —

    ALL in a search for meaning! ALL asking: “Is anybody out there? Does anybody care?”

    ALL wondering, ‘What is the meaning of MY life?’

    It’s a paradox of meaninglessness, isn’t it?

    We ask, “What is the meaning of my life?”   Who are we asking?

    And whose soul does touch our own that we would share in life’s meaning?

    —

    Meaning of our SELF must be defined in our relationships to OTHERS.

    Meaning of our SOUL, so alone and so broken is already defined by the LORD God our creator. He IS a God of relationship. He IS the Son of Sacrifice. He IS the Spirit of personal relationship to an overflowing consecrated purpose of His immeasurable love for you.

    A child defines their life by the latest discovery of their ‘friends.’ A mom defines her meaning by her children. A man defines his meaning by his work. And like the generations before, their child – a growing up child – searches for the same answers never found by their mother and by their father. They all ask the age-old question: Is that all there is?

    And in an instant, one once rooted in scripture remembers:

    All is vanity.

    —

     Second of 3-part series: To be continued tomorrow