Core Values
I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may
know thy testimonies. Psalm 119: 125
Each of us,
a living breathing individual, made in the image of God, has 1,440 minutes in a
day. This writer is convinced that God
holds each of us responsible for how we spend each minute. George Washington, father of our nation,
certainly the most famous president of our democratic republic said, "Any
time misspent, is lost forever." It
is easy to pray in a foxhole, hospice or hospital bed. Do you ever consider, just what you would do
with your life if you knew, for a certainty, that you only had so many
hours-days to live?
This
revelation will surprise some of my friends but, I do spend $10 each week on
lottery tickets. Most of my life blind, forced
into inactivity, this gives me some excitement as well as contributing to the
education fund for the state. I can
truthfully say that if I were to win a "large pot" of money, it would
not change my life one iota; it would give me opportunity to give money to many
worthy causes, more than I am able to contribute to now. I can truthfully say that if I knew the exact
days of my life left, I would not change one thing. I live each day knowing that death is just
one breath away, last breath here, first breath there. My eternal life started many years ago when I
trusted, through the mercy of God, the redemption of Jesus Christ. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the
next thing these blind eyes will see will be the sights of heaven.
In my
lifetime, there has been many movies based on the bible.... Charlton Heston as
Moses, etc. Now, comes Noah, that
remarkable old testament figure of history who God chose to build an ark (to
save himself and his family, eight souls, and the animals of the earth which
God chose to save), who was 500 years old when his 3 sons were born and 600
years old when the great flood came. The
director of "Noah," Darran Aronofsky, called his movie "the least
biblical biblical film ever made."
This writer
has found, over many years-many individuals of many religious and non-religious
opinions (rich-poor, educated-ignorant) that most are not convinced of their
convictions, that most cannot explain their belief or unbelief; their souls
have a longing for something which they attempt to fill. This world traveler (eight around the world
trips, passport stamped in 157 countries) has never found a culture or
civilization that did not worship something.
The simplicity of Christianity is astonishing, if not accepting Christ's
redemption, then what? False religions
offer nothing except death such as the death of their founders. Even the hagarens (Muslims), the descendents
of the handmaid to Sarah, Hagar, mother of Ishmael, were, like Isaac and his twins,
descendents of Abraham. Under stress,
unbelievers, like believers, begin to pray.
Under stress and need, most people work, but, at least in America and
most socialist countries, a large percentage of the population resort to living
off of the work of others. This number is
rapidly approaching 50% in America. At the upper end of the population curve, a
small percentage of wealthy people who, making every minute count, have
achieved great wealth. At the other end
of the population curve, a large number who work, but never get far from the
hand-to-mouth lifestyle. In between, the
hardworking and the successful elitist (some from inheritance, some from
excellence in education, some from just raw luck) is a vast number who just
want to survive on entitlements, retirements, subsidies, grants and welfare. Let's face it, because of our education
system, secular media built up resentments of one kind or another, so we now
have a population of lazy, ne're-do-well, skaters, who are perfectly happy to
live a stress free life, relaxing before the television set, chasing a ball on
a golf course, or in some club or another (civic-country) sitting around
hashing out between themselves the world's problems to which they have never
contributed one thing except indulence.
We live in
a world with people who have made bad choices.
Many want to use the excuse of family background (the way they were
raised-their inadequate education-struggles through poverty). Would it not be wonderful if all of us had
been born healthy, wealthy and wise... genes from intelligent
sophisticates? Would it not be wonderful
if all of us were tall, super intelligent, good looking? Would it not be wonderful if all of us could
go to a private prep school, have influential parents-friends? Would it not be wonderful if all of us could
be blessed with a remarkable talent (musical ability, athletic ability, creative
ability)? As I have told so many
talented people, when blessed with talent you are far ahead of the rest of us. Jesus told us about such things. God just expects us to do the best we can
with what we have. Don't confuse
celebrity with accomplishment... think of Helen Keller and Madonna,
living-working through struggles even poverty, is part and parcel of
success.
Satan is so
much smart than we are, wants you to settle for counterfeit. In God's book, His instruction manual, He
tells us the same things over and over, to trust and depend on Him. It takes a long time, you will make many
mistakes, but as the old people in the country church sang, "Take your
burdens to the Lord and leave them there."
Not just your burdens, EVERYTHING.
The greatest part of your value system, depend on God and leave the
consequences to Him.
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