If you are involved in ministry, you need to thank your leaders often. I get into the habit of being a critic of people that are charged with leading the ministries that I really enjoy participating in. Most of the time, they are guaranteed to get criticism, so a good and friendly word does wonders for their spirit. Let your relationship with them be a joy, not a job.

This will be my last post for a while. I feel God calling me to get off of my duff and make some progress on my book. Today's post will be a result of what God placed on my heart this morning. We prayed for our children as they start back to school, and my heart was pulled from my chest and slammed against the wall. I don't exactly know who this applies to, but I feel that I need to write it so hear goes.

Love is a funny thing. We all need it, but most everyone at some point in their life has been abused by it. That is why we seem to want it to fail. Feelings and emotions often masquerade as love, and that makes us skeptics. Emotions and feelings ride the tide of your environment, and change as much as the skies in spring. On my TV, there is a show titled "Cheaters." This show is built on the premise that spouses will fail each other as soon as the opportunity presents itself. It shows the viewer that those feelings that creep in and start to unravel your beautiful relationship are perfectly normal, and expected many times. It is not the only show that thrives on this kind of garbage. The daytime talk shows and soap operas offer hours and hours of spiritual pollution. They vary in name and time slot, but carry the same virus of moral and ethical decay.

Observe one of these episodes, and you will wonder how the family unit is supposed to survive these kinds of attacks. When I grew up, the folks that drank from this well of "harmless entertainment" were the housewives that worked in the home. I think that this had a great deal of affect on my generation's divorce rate. When one of the marriage relationship is constantly bombarded by visual examples of infidelity and lies, the other (often un-suspecting) part of the relationship is seen in the same light of deception that is portrayed on the TV set. The marriage is undermined by the perceived lack of truth that is present in the relationship. Usually, the sides get into arguments for no reason, and the lack of communication is like a buffet dinner to this virus of anti-trust. The sides grow apart, and the result is just another contribution to the statistics of divorce. The christian artist "Carmen" said it best - "Garbage in, garbage out."

This perception of love is being soaked up by today's culture. You need not look farther than the magazine stand, hottest news blurb on the net, or the latest celebrity gossip show on your TV to find the example of love that our society is feeding off of. I heard a report yesterday that said the hottest fashion accessory of today's young Hollywood woman is a baby. How terrible that a child that should be seen as a blessing from God is now perceived as merely a fashion accessory! What is wrong with us?

We don't know, and that is the problem. We don't have a good idea of what true love is. True love does not beg us for something, and then leave us feeling hollow and deceived. True love is a captivating kind of thing. It transcends time and situation. It pierces through the darkest night. It draws us out of our painful situation, and begs us to leave the pain behind. It heals and gives hope, no matter the environment that it finds you in. True love gives us the push that we need to say "This isn't so bad." Without true love, we can never seem to make it all work. It is like pushing water up hill. Everything seems to blow up in our face, and nothing ever finishes the way we saw it finishing when we started it. True love is a life saver, and it is contagious. Unfortunately, we look for it a great deal without ever finding it.

Today, people will tell you that true love is a misconception. True love doesn't exist, according to Cosmo and Oprah. Everything has an agenda. Well, I can tell you that it does exist. I can even tell you where it is...and I will. For just three easy, monthly payments of $47.95 - plus shipping and handling - this "true love" can be yours! If you call within the next 15 minutes, I will even throw in a handy fruit juicer, and this luxurious set of steak knives.....AAARGHH!!! Is this how you feel when you are searching for true love? Do you feel that someone is wanting you to commit and throwing stuff at you to lure you in? True love doesn't operate that way. The Author of true love doesn't require anything of you for you to enjoy this true love. God only wants you to say "I love you, God." That's it. How simple is that? The only requirement is that you confess your sins, and ask Him to help you through the process of conquering them. If you fail each day, or several times a day, that is OK. Just ask Him to help you when you let yourself down.

I challenge everyone that comes across this blog to spread TRUE LOVE in your small bit of the world. Let true love be the banner that people see you carrying, and when they ask you where to find it, tell them. If we can spread true love like at the same rate that AIDS has been contracted, we can eliminate the virus of hate and the decay of deception. It will then be only a matter of time before we can see True Love as a cornerstone of our society. On your marks, get set, go!