Stinkers and Thinkers

I am wondering if the world has lost its sense of humor.  I was in the kitchen putting some rolls on a small paper plate.  Patty said that the plate was too small and that I might drop the rolls.  So she put a bigger plate under it and handed it to me and of course, I didn’t grab it and the plate fell on the floor.  I just looked at her and asked, “You were saying?”  She was laughing so hard she couldn’t stand up.  I was smiling, but I wasn’t laughing as hard as she was because those were MY rolls on the floor!  So, just in that one event, God was saying to me, “Don’t lose your sense of humor!”  So, I am telling you the same thing.  Don’t lose your sense of humor.  Wall Street lost its sense of humor a long time ago.  And while college kids were partying in school, Wall Street was having its own party and now these kids who were in school while Wall Street was partying have to face the reality of the real world.  And I was on the deck smoking a cigar thinking real deep thoughts and when I had finished my cigar I was getting up from the table and God simply said to me, “Brother Ralphie, don’t lose your sense of humor!”

I was thinking about what I would do with a lot of money.  I thought about the TV show “The Millionaire” from the late 50’s or early 60’s about a millionaire who gives a million dollars to a family and the show is about what happens to that family with his money.  It was almost always tragic.  So, I told God that I just couldn’t give it away.  He said to consider the Message and not think about the money.  He said the money would only be the means by which I would be able to deliver the Message.  So, God told me to think about great men who have had great wealth and think about the message these men have given to the world.  I would say that Billy Graham comes closest to the ideal in MY lifetime, but then I told God that there have been men of great wealth who knew at the end of their days they couldn’t take their wealth with them.  Warren Buffet has said that he wants to die having given his wealth away.  And Percy Ross from Minnesota vowed to die penniless.  I asked God as to how much money I WOULD have to have.  God said simply to use the money for the Message and He would take care of the rest.

Capitalism is NOT Christian.  The greatest Christian ideal is Socialism.  Christians always share with others.  So, I told God that I needed to “listen” to everyone.  He said that I would be able to go and dine in soup kitchens with the homeless incognito and “listen” to the homeless.  He said I could then go home, change my clothes, and put on my very best and go to the country club and “listen” to the wealthy.  He said that the advantage I have had in my youth is that I could dine with people of great wealth and play with children of those who had very little.  I said this was very true.  I have that background that taught me that the poor were just as important as the wealthy and in the eyes of God WE ARE ALL EQUAL.  And then I told God that great thinkers NEVER run for political office.  He said, “Great stinkers do!”  God has a terrific sense of humor.  But He said I couldn’t say that.  I know.  But I WILL tell you!  Great STINKERS run for political office.  Great THINKERS don’t.  God asked me if someone like Martin Luther King, Jr. would have run for political office.  I told God that His great men in the history of the world have NEVER been politicians.  He said politics corrupts a man.  I CAN’T be a politician.  God has kept me out of politics for a reason including the politics of the Church.  I can’t be a great STINKER!  Intelligent people who think others can’t control them in politics won’t last long.   God said to me that it takes men of great thought who aren’t controlled by others to be able to speak FOR Him.  And to this, I said to God, “You haven’t lost YOUR sense of humor either, have you.”  Peace.

Brother Ralphie for The Angels of Life Institute