081 - May 2010
PERSPECTIVE
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens on earth.
Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. A light year is a measure of distance... the distance that light travels in one year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles. Think about that for a minute and then continue.
I retrieved the following information from Wikipedia:
The Universe is a very large and possibly infinite in volume; observable matter is spread over a space at least 93 billion light years. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy is roughly 100,000 light years in diameter, and our nearest sister galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy is located roughly 2.5 million light years away. There are probably more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
We are talking BIG!!!!
Isaiah 40:26 "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."
I retrieved the following information from dmturner.com:
An atom is the smallest particle of matter that can exist. Anything smaller than an atom is just energy, not matter. An atom is one million times smaller than the human hair and the nucleus of the atom, compared to the rest of the atom, is so small it is like a single paper clip compared to the size of the whole school. An atom is so small that light beams miss it. That's why you cannot see an atom, even under a regular-light microscope.
We are talking SMALL!!!!
With all of this going on around us and putting this into some sort of perspective, the questions should arise - "What dumb thing are you upset about today?"
In the course of one day, light has traveled over 16 billion miles and all we can do is find something to be upset about. From the smallest to the largest, life is filled with amazing mind boggling wonder.
However, we can sometime lose our connection to this marvelous creation. Silly fears raise their ugly (and pointless) little heads and we choose to act snippy towards someone about something... about anything... about nothing! Sometime our ego gets a bit bruised and we create a complication over a hill of beans. We talk and we talk and we talk some more. Sometime our control issues drive us to convince the other party (usually family) to discover the "real truth" and we unsuspectingly draw them into the anxiety trap that we created. Sometime we become oblivious to all of the wonder of life. Sometime we misuse our valuable time and forfeit blessings in order to create mountains our of molehills.
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life
Think about it. In the scope of God's great wonder, most of our issues are just silly things. So, relax. Enjoy your life. Stop giving folks a hard time. Enjoy the people who are close to you. You'll be so glad you did.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
BAD TRADES
080 - April 2010
BAD TRADES
Esau was the first born and was entitled to special blessings and birthrights. One particular day, Esau arrived home and was very hungry. He asked his brother, Jacob, for some porridge, to which Jacob offered the porridge in exchange for Esau's birthright.
"And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?" (Genesis 25:32)
Desires and selfish ambitions can sometime cause people to make bad trades. We trade birthrights for a bowl of porridge. We exchange our character for a few minutes of carnal itch and we cash in our principals for a bit of fleeting power. And, sadly, we swap relationships and friendships for a few bucks.
We all do it. Think about it - you are not immune. We are all vulnerable to the porridge. A bit of hunger, lust, power and money can cause us to act unwisely.
We used to have a small camera shop and I remember a friend who brought in a Polaroid camera that he had acquired. He asked me for instruction. So, we spent an hour in the shop talking photography and explaining the operation of his camera. Five minutes after he left, I wanted some chewing gum and I ran to the pharmacy that was 10 doors down. There he was, my friend, standing in the checkout line with 5 packs of Polaroid SX-70 film in his hand. I asked "What'd you do that for?"
He embarrassingly declared that he has saved $3.00!
I've also been "cashed" in for some large bowls of porridge:
Twice for over $2,000 and, more recently, for a whopping $4,500.
So I figured I am doing quite well. It appears my "friendship dollar value" is growing... from a few packs of Polaroid file to almost $5,000.
1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil..."
Money can cause people to act strangely and behave unlike their seeming character. It makes them do funny things!
The porridge makes people do funny things!
To satisfy a fleeting urge, we make reckless decisions. Cravings and greed and jealousy raise their ugly little heads and cause us to see unclearly. We become blind and exaggerate a bit of hunger into an imagined doom... the payoff resulting with a bad trade!
Oh yeah, and one more thing - Never trade an eternal birthright in Christ for a temporal moment of carnal urgency. That's the ultimate bad trade.
More dreadful than the Red Sox selling a young Babe Ruth for a few cursed dollars.
You can say that again.
BAD TRADES
Esau was the first born and was entitled to special blessings and birthrights. One particular day, Esau arrived home and was very hungry. He asked his brother, Jacob, for some porridge, to which Jacob offered the porridge in exchange for Esau's birthright.
"And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?" (Genesis 25:32)
Desires and selfish ambitions can sometime cause people to make bad trades. We trade birthrights for a bowl of porridge. We exchange our character for a few minutes of carnal itch and we cash in our principals for a bit of fleeting power. And, sadly, we swap relationships and friendships for a few bucks.
We all do it. Think about it - you are not immune. We are all vulnerable to the porridge. A bit of hunger, lust, power and money can cause us to act unwisely.
We used to have a small camera shop and I remember a friend who brought in a Polaroid camera that he had acquired. He asked me for instruction. So, we spent an hour in the shop talking photography and explaining the operation of his camera. Five minutes after he left, I wanted some chewing gum and I ran to the pharmacy that was 10 doors down. There he was, my friend, standing in the checkout line with 5 packs of Polaroid SX-70 film in his hand. I asked "What'd you do that for?"
He embarrassingly declared that he has saved $3.00!
I've also been "cashed" in for some large bowls of porridge:
Twice for over $2,000 and, more recently, for a whopping $4,500.
So I figured I am doing quite well. It appears my "friendship dollar value" is growing... from a few packs of Polaroid file to almost $5,000.
1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil..."
Money can cause people to act strangely and behave unlike their seeming character. It makes them do funny things!
The porridge makes people do funny things!
To satisfy a fleeting urge, we make reckless decisions. Cravings and greed and jealousy raise their ugly little heads and cause us to see unclearly. We become blind and exaggerate a bit of hunger into an imagined doom... the payoff resulting with a bad trade!
Oh yeah, and one more thing - Never trade an eternal birthright in Christ for a temporal moment of carnal urgency. That's the ultimate bad trade.
More dreadful than the Red Sox selling a young Babe Ruth for a few cursed dollars.
You can say that again.
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