Stones & Sand

Nancy and I were returning home by plane a few weeks ago. We were in the last row, behind a family of four, a three year old boy, and an infant baby girl. On the way to our seats, the little boy pushed against his mothers bottom to hurry her along, then as I learned later, did it to Nancy too.
As we were waiting in the aisle to get off the plane, the little boy came across the aisle and stepped on Nancy's shoes. She touched his head to restrain him. The father exploded at Nancy. A verbal altercation ensued. "No one lays a hand on my kid", followed by "No one steps on my wifes shoes". There was no attempt to restrain the little guy, nor was there any apology. As a friend of mine said this week in a different setting, the father "took argumentation to a new level". I noted out loud to the father what a terrible message was being transmitted to the little one, namely that the lad can do whatever he wants without consequence. He countered with the fact that we are probably terrible grandparents. In other words, no discipline was being administered. Nancy and I walked down the concourse with a heavy heart for that beautiful family, knowing it was a ticking time bomb. Either the kid will be in jail in 15 years, or that father and 10 more like him could wreak havoc on an entire school system, or Little League, or city. It was a classic display of zeal without wisdom and common sense. It's being displayed on a global scale these days. What do you think?

"A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, but the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them". Prov 27:3

Work

Do you work for a living? If not, why not! If yes, are you happy about it? Well paid? Get time off? Great work environment? It's OK to be happy about Friday night, but do you look forward to Monday morning? Who's in charge here? Is work good or bad? Is it a curse or a blessing? What is it's purpose? Is there a thing in the genes of mankind that wants to be productive? Or did God make us to rest and take it easy? By the way, what is "a living"? Just enough to get by, or enough left over to indulge our pleasures? If you have just enough to get by, is that a bad thing? Does that make you a failure in life? Wow, some good questions, but do we ever ask them of ourselves? Here are some thoughts:

First Level of Work - To make money to live on
Second Level of Work - To be a place to grow as a person, and find fulfillment
Third Level of Work - To be a platform to promote our religious beliefs
Fourth Level of Work - To fulfill God's call on my life

You might not be at just one of these levels, but how high do you go on the list? How many of us get to level four? Does the church really believe everyone should get there, or just Pastors/Priests? Does the church really believe the exhortation to equip the saints involves anything but delivering great sermons? Have YOU sought the Lord about getting to level four? And by the way, what does reaching Four have to do with the Kingdom? What do you think? So much more to say, but maybe later. Reading too long a disertation can be work, you know!