True Thankfulness

In light of the tough economic times that seem to be looming on the horizon for the markets of the entire world, it seems that every one I’ve spoken to are in the process of planning for what looks to be lean times ahead. Every day we hear of more job lay-offs and very little hiring of people anywhere. Many have lost thousands of dollars in retirement funds and we all know what the housing situation is. The boom of post WW II is slowly grinding to a crawl and prayfully not to a complete stop. Well, so-much for the depressed thoughts of the day. My prayer for each and every one of my readers is for you to truly examine your life and be thankful. I know many of you are suffering great losses of those things you’ve worked so hard for your entire life, but let’s be honest with ourselves, life holds no promises. I’ve been on top, lost it all twice, and nearly lost it all a third time in my lifetime, but I’ve refused to give in or give up. Some days you’ve just got to take a deep breathe, sit down and weigh your options, pick the best one and press on. And, don’t forget to read the comics or watch a cartoon or two; Laugh a little.
Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes to the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects. Those present included Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy, lovingly describing Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was never considered a very smart cookie, wasting most of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty soul and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife, Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, and reportedly one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes. If this made you smile, for even a second, please rise to the occasion and take time to share it with someone who may be having a crumby day and kneads it.
[Psalm 100] This Psalm is one of the greatest songs of the Bible. It calls us to realize that we belong to God, our Maker, and to praise Him for His goodness, mercy and truth. Do you, “Serve the Lord with gladness” every day no matter your physical well-being? Maybe your service to God is more grudging than glad because you’ve got bigger fish to fry. Our selfish ways draw us away from our Maker when we’re more concerned about our financial woes than our spiritual viability. If you want to get through these rough times with some sort of sanity, then stop struggling with the world. It’s the schemes of the evil one that has you on the ropes fighting for your life (lifestyle). Put on the armor of God and stand strong. (Ephesians 6: 10-18) Did you hear me? I said stand strong. Don’t be a spiritual whiner walking around telling everybody, “Well, I guess it’s God’s will.” What we’re dealing with is of our own making, not God’s. God’s will for man is to be reconciled with Him. He loves us so much He sent his Son to die for our sins. True thankfulness is more than being grateful for what we possess.

The Final Exam

Indian Chief ‘Two Eagles’, well known for his wisdom and leadership abilities, was asked by a government official, “You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress, his failures and the damage he’s left behind.” The Chief nodded in agreement. The official continued, “Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?” The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied, “When white man find land, Indian running things. No taxes. No Debt. Plenty buffalo. Plenty beaver. Plenty clean water. Women did all the work. Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing.” Then the Chief sat back in his chair and smiled, “Only white man dumb enough to think he can improve system like that.”
We just don’t seem to be happy with what we have for very long. It seems we have to continually change our environment, stimulating our lifestyles, in an attempt to keep ourselves happy day after day. Today we find ourselves in a real pickle over finances. A bad habit of living out of our means, to support the lifestyle we want, has brought us into a state of great testing. What are we going to do now? Where will we go from here? Have we learned anything from our mistakes? Are we going to pass the test? I think the majority of people will pass and the world will press forward into the future, but the future is definitely going to be different as we realign our lifestyles to fit the changing environment. Speaking about final exams, a mathematics teacher in a small community college, put it this way. “Each semester, while grading final exams, I’m always amazed at a few of the scores. Typically I will have one or two students do exceedingly well on the final – students that need a good grade to pass the class. They prepare themselves to the best of their ability. There are others who only need a decent grade, yet they end up bombing the exam because they don’t adequately prepare themselves. Their poor exam grade sometimes lower their grade average so much they sometimes fail the course.” I think life and living needs to be a daily exam of wants and needs. Will what we do today benefit us tomorrow or hurt us in the long run? Are we living strictly on speculation or are we building on firm knowledge? Good times are still ahead for those who adapt.
[2 Corinthians 5: 10] And when life has ended, or the Lord appears in the eastern sky, it will be time for each of us to take our final exam. All things of your life will be examined, whether good or bad. One of the questions will be, did you except or reject the son of God, Jesus? Most educators spend at least a week with students, in review of their course teaching, preparing them for what to expect on the final exam. Our loving, compassionate God is no different. He has made it well known what will be on our final exam. Here’s a Cliff Note for you. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:34-40) The day of your test will come like a pop quiz in grade school, we simply don’t know when. (1 Thess. 5:1-3) Read on through the rest of that chapter and you will discover that those who are found in Christ, and living a righteous life, will pass with flying colors. Can you afford to be unprepared for your final exam? If you flunk a mathematics course, you can take it over. This life cannot be repeated to get it right.

Rational Reasoning

To say I’m disappointed might not be the right word to use, but a little surprised, I am. I hopped up on my soapbox a few weeks ago with my “stimulus package” using it to spur on conversation about the financial woes of the world and what Washington was or was not doing about it. I submitted that all we had to do was give every citizen of the U.S. a check for $1 million and it wouldn’t cost but $350 million, far less than the government wants to throw at the problem. I even expanded my reasoning at the morning coffee table gathering, raising the stakes to include that some large households could end up with $6 or $8 million. Over the span of three weeks only one person challenged my mathematics. HELLO!!! Is anybody really listening or paying attention? I guess all people heard was “...a check for $1 million” and reasoned that everything would be grand if only Washington would see it our way. Put a pencil to it. Do the math! Don’t just listen to someone without reasoning and applying what you’re being told to see if it really fits. We’ll spend weeks scrutinizing what tire would be best for us to put on our vehicle, but would accept the word of a scam artist in a matter of minutes, thinking we’ll get rich quick. Dumb luck is the only way I’ve ever seen anybody get rich quick. “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Investigate it anyway, but don’t work at it trying to make it into something it isn’t. CAUTION! Daily living may require rational reasoning while making decisions. Apply generously as needed.
A grandmother was surprised by her 7 year-old grandson one morning. He had made her coffee. She drank what was the worst cup of coffee in her life. When she got to the bottom, there were three of those little green toy army men in the cup. She asked, “Honey, what are these army men doing in my coffee?” Her grandson replied, “Grandma, it says on TV, the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup.”
Two brothers were standing at the side of the road pounding a stake into the ground with a sign that read, “The End Is Near! Turn Yourself Around Now, Before It’s Too Late!” As a car sped past them, the driver yelled out his window, “You religious nuts!” From the nearby curve in the road the brothers heard the screeching of tires and a big splash. One said to the other, “Maybe we should just put, ‘Bridge Out’, on the sign.”
[Acts 17] As Paul traveled about the known world preaching the Good News, he and Silas came to Thessalonica where they spent three weeks. Some accepted their teaching and others were “jealous” that attention had been turned away from them. Mock riots broke out in protest to what Paul and Silas were presenting. Of course those who were jealous did not want to rationally and reasonably deal with the message being brought to them about Jesus being the Christ and what he had done for the world. But, the situation was quite different in Berea. (v11) “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” They knew the message being delivered was of great importance and that their souls salvation might well depend on what Paul was preaching, so they investigated what was being presented to see if it was true. The Athenians wanted to hear more, so they could weigh their thoughts in reason. Salvation is too important to take someone’s word alone. Study it!

Massive Debt

Now that Super Bowl is over I guess we can get back to more important things like the economy. The thing they call the National Debt Clock found in Times Square, New York City, rolls right along adding dollars of interest to the national debt at a staggering rate while our leaders in Washington draw up a stimulus package handing out more borrowed money. We are some where around 11 trillion dollars in debt and the talked about stimulus package is around 1 trillion dollars. That’s $1,000,000,000,000. Your family share is somewhere around $90,000. How big is our national debt? If you were to single handedly pay on it at a rate of one million dollars a year, it would take you ten million years to pay it off. A great stimulus package would be to mail a check of one million dollars to every man, woman and child in the U.S. That would only cost about $350 million. The banks would be full, everybody would buy a new car and want a new house to live in. The only flaw with my package is, everybody would quit work. I don’t have the answer, but I’m sure we’ll survive whatever develops in the future.
One day a man called the church office and said, “Can I speak to the head hog at the trough?” The secretary thought she heard correctly, but asked, “I’m sorry. Who was it you wish to speak with?” The caller repeated, “Could I speak with the head hog at the trough?” The secretary politely said, “Well, if you mean the preacher, then please refer to him as ‘preacher’, but I prefer you not refer to him as ‘head hog at the trough’”. To this the man replied, “Well, I was planning on giving $100,000 to the building fund...” The secretary interrupted, “Hang on! I thing I hear the big fat pig walking in the door.”
A man asked God how much a million years is to him. God said, “Only a second.” Then he asked God how much a million dollars was to him. God said, “Only a penny.” So the man asked, “God, may I have a penny?” God replied, “Give me just a second.”
[Matthew 18: 21-35] As we observe all the debt surrounding us, it’s hard to believe that it will ever get paid back. Most people look at their own personal debt and wonder if they will ever be able to pay it back, but with discipline and determination it can be done. A good rule of thumb with finances; is my new purchase a need or a want. If it is a want, can I afford the monetary loss? Not too many people are willing to forgive you a foolish debt. In the story found in Matthew, the king called in one of his servants to settle a debt. The servant was unable to pay his debt so the king ordered his family and all he possessed to be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell to his knees pleading and begging promising the king if only he would be patient, he would pay him back. The king knew this was impossible, took compassion on the servant and forgave him his debt. Then the servant did a foolish thing. He refused to forgive a very small debt owed him. The king in turn canceled his decision and had the foolish servant put in jail until he could pay back the money he owed. Our sins are a debt to God that we can never repay. Jesus has paid that debt for us with his blood. If we reject what Jesus has done for us, we’ll spend eternity in hell until we become as worthy as Jesus. Impossible! Put on Christ in baptism, live a righteous life before God and your sins will be forgiven and forgotten. God is very patient with everyone, but don’t wait too long. And always remember this. Forgiving others that sin against you, makes you worthy of forgiveness.