Some Talk about Love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

American society has a terrible habit of dulling words. For my parent's generation, saying, "You Suck" was a huge insult, on par with the four letter words we throw around today. This dilution of meaning has affected "Love", to the great detriment of our understanding.

I'm going to be writing several posts about Love. I'm going to be dissecting this and other passages about Love. But for openers, I thought that I'd share this. God's love is not the soft, squishy kind of love so often portrayed in bad movies. No, the sort of Love that Paul's talking about in this passage is not that kind of Love at all.

God's love is... different. God's love embodies all of these qualities, and as Christians, we're supposed to live a life which does the same. I'll be talking more about that in the days to come. But, in the mean time, I give you this. God is Love. The world is to know we belong to God because of our love. I know that I fail at love much of the time, but I'd like to be known as a man who kept trying.

Joining the Army

"Now, all of my brothers joined the Navy, so that was was what I was going to do too." Grandpa told me. "They were in the navy, and I figured that I would join the Navy, but first, I was going on a hunting trip up to Canada with my oldest brother. I went on this hunting trip, and had a grand time. I wasn't much of a hunter, but my brother bought me a rifle, and we visited our uncles in Canada and we went hunting. I had a good time of it too. Liked it. I came back home, and found a draft notice. For the Army. I had wanted to be in the Navy, but once you were drafted, well, they said, 'Go', and you went. So, that's how I ended up in the Army. I was the youngest, so I wasn't in World War 2, like my brothers, no I was in Korea."

George's War

"Now, I was the youngest of my brothers," Grandpa tells me. "And each of them was in the Navy during World War 2. My brother George started out the war as the deck gunner on a supply ship. His ship was carrying ammunition across the North Atlantic. Now, the German U-Boats were sinking ships all over there, so George was pretty eager to get off that boat. In fact, I remember that he wrote a story for my school's newspaper, titled 'Around the world on a Keg of Powder'. Well, George wanted off that boat bad. So, when they came to his unit, and said, 'We're putting together a new outfit. Anybody who volunteers will get 30 days leave, but we can't tell you what you'll be doing, or where you'll be.' well, George volunteered right away. He figured that he couldn't do worse than being on the Atlantic, on a ship that might explode without the Germans needing to help it. So, George went home and got married. He spent his 30 days with his wife, and went back to report for duty. George spent the rest of the war behind enemy lines in Burma, getting out information. He got malaria the first week he was there, but had to stay on for the rest of the war, malaria or no."

Geoff's note: I have no way to verify the accuracy of any of Grandpa's statements, and take no responsibility for their historical accuracy. The History Channel seems to only interrupt its war documentaries for the occasional episode of "Ice Road Trucker", and might be a better place for a history of WW2.

An Opening

Who am I?

Am I alone?

These are the questions asked by Michael Popper in the Animatrix. This is a pretty geeky way to start out a blog, which is a geeky endeavor, so let me explain. Fundamentally, Meat and Potatoes is about these two questions. Who I am is wrapped up in two people. First, who I am is expressed in, understood through, and determined by Jesus. Second though, who I am is related to my Grandfather. My Grandfather was my hero growing up. I decided to write this blog because his mind is faltering, and I wanted to be sure that the good parts of him aren't lost. So, lots of the posts will be about, or quotes from, Grandpa. At least as many posts will be about Jesus. Jesus is the Meat, and Grandpa can be the potatoes. (Hebrews 5:14)

The second question, Am I alone? I'll be spending untold lines of text in answering the question of whether I am alone. But, for a start, no, I am not alone. I am part of Christ, which means that I am never really alone. God says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5 referencing Deuteronomy 31:6).

So, here we have the two fundamental questions. Who am I? Am I alone? I promise to be tackling each of them in depth, in funny and heartfelt ways over the coming days.

Blessings be upon you.