The King and Karl

I saw an advertisement for the new 3D television that is out. This thing shows every show in 3D if you want to watch it that way. Every channel. Think about it.........ESPN in 3 freakin' D.

I was drooling.

We all want the next best thing if we are honest. I remember when the iPhone came out and the next day my neighbor came by to show me his new toy. My wife said my eyes lit up like the 4th of July sky. That was yesterday though. Now the iPad is out. Thing just keep getting cooler, and the truth is that things will always continue to get cooler and we will continue to be amazed..... until tomorrow.

There is no permanent satisfaction in the things of this world. Just temporary happiness.

In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon is basically talking about the same thing. He was the wisest man in the history of history according to the Bible. He also had enough money to buy the planet.

The Bible says that "The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart".

He had it all.

In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon basically is saying that with all of his wealth and with the ability he had to buy whatever he wanted, that it is a sham. The wisest man to ever live is telling you and I that the 3D television is meaningless. That our desire for the brand new is a waste. That our desire to keep up with our neighbors is pointless.

You might be reading this and saying to yourself that his guy Solomon is out of touch.

Things have changed since those days.

But have they really?

I read an article recently about a man named Karl Rabeder. He is a 47 year old millionaire.

He has everything you could want. Luxury cars and multiple homes.

I am sure he has an iPhone too.

The picture is his villa in the Australian Alps. Nice view huh?

It could be yours now.

He is raffling it off and selling all of his possessions and giving away every dime of it to a charity he created to help needy people in Central and South America.

He is quoted as saying:

"My idea is to have nothing left."

"Money is counterproductive- it prevents happiness to come"

"More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now- all this luxury and consumerism- and start your real life' "

"I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need. I have the feeling that there are a lot of people doing the same thing."

And I drooled at the 3D television ad.

I don't know if he is right about a lot of people doing the same thing, but he pegged at least one person correctly.

By the way, Karl is moving into a small wooden hut in the mountains when the sale is complete. At this point he has no plans to add a 3D television.

You might think Karl to be a little extreme, but if I believe the Bible to be true, and I do, and Solomon was the wisest man ever.......

Karl is a wise man.

God, help me to trust the wisdom of King Solomon, and help me to be more like Karl Rabeder.

Where are your hands?

Have you ever known someone that every time they came around, all they did was ask you for stuff? They ask for money, they ask for help, they ask for your time, all the while never making a deposit in the relationship?
It's draining isn't it?
I call 'em takers. Take, take, take. You're lucky if you even get a thank you when it's all said and done.
You probably have a mental picture of that person in your head right now.
We all know somebody like that.

Now, what if I told you that you and I are that person?
You are the taker. I am the taker.

Not with any of our friends, but with God.

Some of us take credit that belongs to Him.
Some of us take glory that belongs to Him.
Some of us take His money by not giving Him our full tithe and more.
Some of us take His time by praying to get us out of something that we behaved ourselves into.
We are takers.
And we wonder where He is when we are going through a rough patch.

He's hiding!!! (ok, not really but you get the point)

He sees us coming from miles away with our hands out.
He hears us coming from miles away shouting gimme, gimme.

Do you know who He loves helping out of rough patches?

Those who thank Him and praise Him and love Him
Those who don’t treat Him like a 911 operator.

The only time we think of the 911 operator is when we are in big trouble. Do you think about them at any other time? Don't even try it...... We only call 'em when we need 'em.

I think all too often we treat God the same way. We only call Him when we need Him.
Take, take, take.

I'm guilty of it.
God forgive me for being a taker.
I don't want you to constantly see me with my hands out….
I want you to see me more often with my hands raised up.

Where are your hands?

I choose God

I read an excerpt from a book called Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland the other day. The excerpt was a true story about this guy doing mission work in a foreign country somewhere along the equator. He was there offering medical attention when a woman gave birth to a child and the woman died. Having no incubator to keep the baby warm during the cold nights, they had to depend on a hot water bottle. They only had one hot water bottle (how many of those do you need on the equator?), and it broke. To make a long story short, the man gathered some children from the local orphanage and they prayed for God to perform a miracle. They prayed specifically for a hot water bottle, and one little girl even prayed for a dolly for a sick girl among them. The very same day, a package arrives for the man. He gathered the children to help him open it. Inside the box was the typical items you would receive in a care package, and of course…..a hot water bottle and even a dolly. The package was mailed 5 months earlier from the man's church.

A good friend of mine and I were talking this weekend and he shared a story with me that happened to him last week. He was heading home from a long trip and had to drive quite a ways to get back. Normally he is an early riser and tries to get a jump on the driving that lies ahead, but not that day. He took his time getting up and ready and started on his trip a couple hours after he normally would have. The trip was a rough one due to weather conditions and he was going slower that he had hoped to. He pulled into a gas station to fuel up when he noticed a couple having trouble with their windshield wiper. They explained to my friend that the wiper was coming off of the windshield and due to the weather they could not clear off the snow and ice and it was to the point where they could no longer see the road. My friend had the same exact issue with an old Buick he owned before, so he goes into the gas station and buys some wrenches and fixes the wiper for the couple, who can now get home safely.

There can be a tendency to blow things like this off as coincidence. But a package shows up that is exactly what was prayed for. The package was shipped 5 months ago. It lands the same day the prayer was offered up. My friend just so happens to take his time for a change.
He experienced a wiper malfunction and learned how to fix it. He finds a couple in need of someone who has experience repairing a wiper malfunction.
Many would just say, "wow….what an unbelievable coincidence".
Now….there is a choice to make.

We can choose to chalk things like that up to coincidence.

Or

We can choose to believe God is not just some distant onlooker that doesn't interact with the very people that He created and loves. We can believe that He is actually with us, among us, and at work in us and all around us, and believe that He is orchestrating things like this to allow us to see how awesome He is.
I choose God.

Holy Spit

It was September 27th, 1996.
The Baltimore Orioles were visiting the Toronto Bluejays. One of the best second basemen to ever play the game of baseball, Robbie Alomar, was at the plate, and went down looking at a called third strike. John Hirschbeck, who happened to be the home plate umpire for the game was immediately lit into by Robbie who felt the pitch was a ball.
They started going at eachother in typical baseball fashion and then……. it happened.
Robbie spit right on Hirschbeck's face.
You would be really hard pressed to find something more humiliating and despicable than that in our culture. As proof of how detestable it is, in his first year of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame (2010), Robbie was kept out. Mostly all of the talking heads cite the spitting issue as the reason. 14 years after the incident and numerous apologies, it is still on the minds of the voters. Spitting on someone's face has never been, nor will it ever be tolerable.
Now, keep that in mind when you read what Jesus did in this excerpt from John 9:
"……He (Jesus) spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam". So the man went and washed, and came home seeing."
I know this was a long story to get to this point but I hope you hear this clearly:
You are far more valuable than spit.
So if Jesus can take something as detestable as spit on someone's face and turn it into something awesome….imagine what he can do with you.
Right now, He is waiting to use you…..will you let him?

A strange growth

Have you ever had someone take something that you said out of context? They just heard a snippet of your conversation and were shocked, so you had to tell them about the portion of the conversation that they missed before and after the snippet and then they understood?

It's annoying isn't it?

This happens in politics all the time. A Republican/Democrat will take a couple of words out of the middle of a full quote and misrepresent what the person in the opposing party actually said.

Perhaps you have seen a picture and the image just doesn't make sense by itself. The image demands that there is more to the story.

When something is taken out of context, we are robbed of the full meaning of what is intended.

This is also true when it comes to our pain and suffering in this life. If we just look at the snapshot of our suffering and pain, we actually take it out of context. It looks unfair or unjust and we like to demand an explanation from God.

The reality is that when we look at our pain or suffering in the entire context, it makes sense.

You might be feeling like there is no way out of your pit. You might be going through Hell in your life right now, but trust me…God is using the pain to grow you. You always come through the fire more refined.

I love what James says:

“Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” James 1:2-4

I know it might look like there is no light at the end of your tunnel, and that these tough times are never going to pass, but in context you are being built up. God is refining you, and when years have past by and you are able to look at the big picture you will be able to appreciate your pain for what it truly is. Growth.

Get over your crap

There are times in my life when I think back to the person I used to be and it depresses me. I have made some bad decisions in the course of my life, and I am not just talking about small ones either. These are bad mistakes. Until recently a couple of my past sins have really haunted me. I would be fine for a while and everything would be going great and then all of a sudden I would be reminded of what I had done and it would cause me to regress.
It's as if Satan was saying, "Not so fast, Tom……remember when you……God must be really disappointed in you……He could never use you for anything with that in your past".
Recently I read this: Philippians 3:13
"……but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."
That is the Apostle Paul speaking. The former Christian killer. Do you think he had some regrets?
You bet he did.
So how did Paul manage to become one of the greatest Christians of all time with all of that baggage?
He forgot about his past. Look at the verse again…."forgetting what is behind".
Paul is saying that the junk from his past is over, he is not looking back. When Jesus died on the cross, he allowed Paul and me and you to bring all of our past junk and lay it down at the foot of the cross…….and be forgiven for it.
Satan is the father of lies. He would have us believe that our past has crippled us, and left us as damaged unusable goods.
Jesus would tell you however, you are a new creature in Him.
Don't let the sins of your past keep you from being the person Jesus wants you to be.
Get over your crap.
Jesus has.

One on one

My wife and I have 3 little kids, and our house moves at the pace of a blender. There is always something going on......

ALWAYS.

Today was an awesome day like most days here, but today was different. I got to spend time with one kid alone this afternoon. Then tonight some great friends took our boys sled riding, which left me alone with my daughter for a couple of hours this evening. For the first time since I can remember, I was not battling for my kids attention. I wasn't fighting the other elements (kids) to get my kid to look at me in the eyes without distraction. Sometimes my kids want to say something to me but with 2 other kids screaming for daddy, it is hard to get them to complete their sentence before running off with their sibling and forgetting all about what they were wanting to say to me. It was an awesome day. I told my wife, I am gonna start making some one on one time for each of them from this day on because of how much that time meant to me today. Tonight was great and I am now jealous for that kind of interaction from my children.

I now understand what the Bible means in Deuteronomy 4, when Moses wrote : "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God".

He hungers for our undivided attention. He hungers for a relationship with His children. We are quick to throw up a short prayer before a meal or while we are laying our children down at night, but are you getting One on one time with your Creator? From my experience today I can tell you this........There is nothing He wants more from you than that One on one time.

Spend some time this week withdrawn from the everyday hustle and bustle of your daily routines and get somewhere where you can look into your Fathers eyes and give Him your undivided attention. Just the two of you.....One on one.