A Note From Rob ...
Week of January 29, 2006

     One of my favorite cartoon strips is Peanuts. Although Charles Schultz is no longer with us, his wisdom remains a reminder of some of life's lessons. Did you ever have a favorite Peanuts character? To be honest, I liked them all. Did you ever identify with one of them? (Don't tell me it was Lucy?!) Linus had his blanket, Schroeder his piano, Peppermint Patty had her crush on Charlie Brown, Snoopy had his bi-plane, Lucy had her VOICE, Charlie Brown had his good- natured wisdom and spirit that struck a soft cord within us, and of course, Pigpen. The genius of Schultz described Pig Pen with the whirlwind of debris that went with him where ever he went. We saw him enshrouded in this swirling tempest.

     One of the things that made Peanuts so great was we could identify with the characters. Perhaps we could identify with all of them at one time or another. Ever felt insecure without something to hold onto and in that insecurity saw the fearful place in another? Did you ever get lost in something and saw all of life from that perspective, but brought beauty to others from that place? Ever fall in love? How about imagjning defeating the evil in this world? Ever get loud and obnoxious? Ever just want to say about life's events, "Good grief?"

          And then there is Pig Pen. Ever make a mess? Have you ever looked about at relationships, a room, a task, a situation and find it in a whirlwind of debris? Sometimes it seems that "debris happens." However, sometimes what we see on the outside is a result of what is happening on the inside. To paraphrase a saying related to computers, "garbage inside leads to garbage outside."

     This Sunday we will read about a man who had garbage on the inside. Lucky for him he came to church and met Jesus there. How about you? Got any garbage to be taken out? If you are like me, trash day could be every day. Why not this Sunday?

     Hope to see you there.

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