Author: hballinger

Candidate for Good Neighbor

If you’re an American, you’re probably very familiar with the words:

” I am ________, candidate for __________, and I approve this message.”

This type of statement is required in political ads in the US because of a law enacted to combat anonymous negative political ads from flooding the airwaves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_by_Your_Ad_provision

These days, campaigns just resort to propaganda, fake news, rumor and speculation they feed into the social media machine in order to stir people up into a frenzy instead — so maybe we need something similar to curb this new ugly underbelly of political wrangling.

But this gets me thinking about the messages that we each “approve” every day via our various social media interactions. Every time that we like, share, comment and post — we are endorsing/approving a message. We are putting something out there to show people who we are — or at least who we want people to hear/see from us.

But I wonder what we are a “candidate for _______”? If we look at our social media presence, is it a good representation of a “good neighbor”, of a “good and faithful servant), of a “humble ambassador of Christ Jesus”? But even greater than that, is our curated social media presence a false and fake political ad that we put up as a front to garner likes, while our heart and lives are far from living up to the shiny promises of our campaign slogans?

For those who call themselves Christians, we should be living as a candidate for heaven, not because others get to “vote is in” (because they don’t), but because they need to see that all this “Christian religion stuff” isn’t just poppycock and nonsense like most political promises and candidates prove themselves to be. They need to see the reality of “Christ in us” in those where the Holy Spirit of God dwells so they might see, taste, touch, smell and hear that God is good for themselves. We are the candidates for “good and faithful servant” who are to take this gift of God’s abiding presence into the world for it to be multiplied in others.

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:14‭-‬30 NLT

I am Harold “Hop” Ballinger, a candidate for good and faithful servant, and I approve this message.

What is this?

What love is this,
From cradle to cross,
For my gain,
Seemed His loss?

What King is this,
Title and honor laid down,
Takes up my sin,
With His thorny crown?

What Savior is this,
Along the roadside I meet,
Who bows Himself,
And washes my feet?

What child is this,
Whom angels sing,
And Christmas praise,
To Him we bring?

He is my Jesus,
He is yours as well,
Come bend your knee,
We have a world to tell!

• “What is this?”, Harold “Hop” Ballinger, Nov 30, 2021

We can do better

“We can do better”

Did you read this statement as encouragement? Or did you read it as criticism?

Does how you read this say more about:
What I actually intended you to hear?
How you perceive me to speak?
How you choose to hear things?

I believe that “we can do better” is all about the opportunity that lies ahead of us. Looking forward and preparing ourselves to be and do the best we can is helpful. So I offer “we can do better” as an encouragement for what opportunities lie ahead, not as a criticism of the past.

But how we read something, how we receive something written, spoken, or acted out by another person usually has a lot to tell us about ourselves. As many of us will be with our families today — alongside the people who we have a lot of collective past,and baggage, and presupposed notions about — maybe we can prepare ourselves now to “do better” in how we see each other, how we hear each other, how we give the benefit of the doubt to each other, and how we avoid the pitfall of criticism and offense.

God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.
Proverbs 19:11 NLT

2009 Bristol Bay 3420BH Fifth Wheel Bunkhouse Camper – SOLD

We have a 2009 Bristol Bay 3420BH Fifth Wheel Bunkhouse camper for sale. We originally purchased this camper in June 2016 from Camping World in Spartanburg, SC to live in while we built our new home. We do not currently have a vehicle with a fifth wheel hitch to tow this home on wheels, so we are hoping someone else can put it to use. NADA Guides lists low retail for this unit at $17,600 and average retail at $21,200 (REF: https://www.nadaguides.com/RVs/2009/Bristol-Bay/M-3420BH/4103596/Values ) and we are asking $9500 because we are looking for a quick sale. We have a clean title in hand, and the first person to bring us a reasonable offer and bring their truck to haul it away — it’s yours.

It has a full master suite up front and a separate bunkhouse in the back for the kids. The kitchen and living room area is spacious and was more than enough room for us to live in full time for almost a year as our house was built.There is a nice, big automatic awning and plenty of storage space outside. We haven’t used it in over a year, but everything was working when we winterized it a year ago.

As far as condition and pricing goes — we’ve reduced the price based on a few things that aren’t as pristine/new looking as the rest of the camper. The carpet up the steps and into the master bedroom is noticeably worn – so if you want that to look as new as the rest of the inside, it might be worth having professionally cleaned or replaced (this is part of the reason for the reduced price). The outside needs a good pressure washing and I’m not sure that I’ll get to it this week before we start showing it to folks (this is a very busy time at my work). The tires have some small cracks on the sidewalls, but even though I haven’t seen any cracks in the tread, it might be worth planning to replace the tires prior to a long trip (this is part of the reason for the reduced price).

SOLD!!! I just want to thank God for creating a situation where one of my brothers in Christ could be blessed and bless others with this camper — and could also bless me in return. I realize that it’s “just selling a camper online”, but I’m even more excited about seeing my brother again in person than selling the camper. God is so good.

“Disability”? In Heaven?

Some of the things that we think of as strengths in this life may be weaknesses in the after, and some of those that we consider weaknesses or disabilities might be revealed as the favor of God.

I have met beautiful people who many would look at as “disabled”, or “broken”, or “less than whole” in this life (as if anyone were actually whole/able) — who I can see clearly are ABLE, and MORE, and FULLER in the areas that truly matter.

Rob Campbell Was recently talking about the old vinyl records and how there was an A side with the good song, and a B side with the song you didn’t want. It seems that with everything that makes us unique, there is an A side and a B side. Knowing our strengths and our corresponding weaknesses is so valuable. I feel very much the same about many things that we call “disabilities” — that there are really recognized challenges, pains and limitations physically — but that may be a part of not so easily discerned strengths, comforts, and freedoms.

There are areas of my life that are shortcomings, that are broken, that are imperfect — it seems quite foolish for me to think of anyone else to be “disabled” in comparison. What if heaven is more about us retaining our uniqueness and appreciating the A side of each unique difference rather than focusing on, measuring and comparing the B side? Isn’t this visible throughout the gospel story — isn’t this thread of true community and equality in the midst of unique and diverse persons a cornerstone of Jesus Christ’s example?

I love where this video and conversation takes our hearts towards common understanding and appreciation of these things.

https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/disability-in-heaven/

Recommended Reading:

• 1 Corinthians 12
• 1 Corinthians 13

The Church

I’m realizing there are such different personalities and gifts and talents — that even in a group of people trying to do right, only certain ones have the right talents and abilities to handle certain issues. So for any given situation, there is maybe 20% of the people who are really capable of handling that particular situation/circumstance well.

If we throw the whole 100% away because 80% of them weren’t helpful in a particular situation or didn’t meet our expectations” — we will miss out on the 20% who could actually be helpful. Instead of looking for and expecting a house full of perfect people — we need to see the bride as a house full of imperfect people — but when working together as a whole supporting, forgiving, encouraging and preparing each other — what we need can be found.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Ephesians 4:11‭-‬16 NLT

Yes, I’m not blind to the horrors and atrocities committed by organized religion throughout history — so I’m not advocating that. In fact, those types of injustice and oppression are the very things that I stand most firmly against! But there is something more, something greater below the plastic, outwardly visible costume of “religion” that actually is authentic, genuine and real.

As they might say in the music of my day, “Real recognizes real”. So if we are going to be prepared to accept “their” failures and shortcomings even while recognizing “their” value — we truly must be able to humbly and honestly look at ourselves and admit the same things.

Thank you Jesus, and God bless!