Dream

 

Last night I had the strangest dream.  My dreams are usually a hodgepodge of events from the day before that are all mixed together.  So, in my dream, I was the manager at a convenience store/gas station along the interstate.  For some reason, no one was using credit cards at the gas pump, they were using cash.  And they were cranky because they had to bring in their cash, go pump the gas, and then come back in for their change.  And I only had a group of kids (8 & 10 year-olds) working for me!  And these kids were little hooligans with their three dogs with them!  I was so frustrated with my incompetent staff, the dogs running around, and the grumbling customers.  But everything worked out!  Customers would go to the restrooms, and they would brighten up as they petted the dogs, who were friendly and cute.  Then the little kids would plead with the customers to buy things.  The customers thought that the kids were cute and would buy anything that the kids suggested.  The people came in grumpy but left happy with armfuls of stuff.  And I was doing nothing but making all of this money in gas and snacks and fast food.  Hey, how often in life do our plans go awry?  We fuss and worry, but usually, things work out.  God has a way of patching together our problems and making His plan come to pass.  Paul said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  Today, take the problems and challenges that you are given and let the dear Lord use them to accomplish His purposes.  God is there behind the scenes, if you look for Him.  Hey, let God put your day together.  He’s got this!

Time Is Money

I was excited to buy my class ring in the spring of 1966.  The Josten’s man came to Edgewood high school and had his display set up in the cafeteria at lunchtime.  I had been working Saturdays at Barberry Sod company and had saved up the money to pay for the ring myself.  I felt so grown-up as I paid the $5 down payment for the ring.  Three weeks later, the Josten’s man was back, I paid the balance, and got the little paper envelope with my ring in it.  It fit perfectly, and I was so proud.  That ring cost me $21.50, and at $1.50 per hour at my Saturday job, the ring cost me a little over 14 hours of my life.  You see, time is money, and money is time. When you buy something, you are trading a part of your life for that item.  Oh, the more that you make per hour, the less of your life that an item costs, but nonetheless, it is costing you a part of your life.  And even if someone else gives you money, it cost them part of their life.  So, spend your money well, because you are spending your life!.  Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Hey, is there anything more important than your eternal soul?  Think about it, and live purposefully today.

 

Expensive Supplements

My dear wife is on a high-powered antibiotic, so she needs Greek yogurt and a probiotic to keep her gut flora flourishing.  So, this morning, I went by the drug store to get some probiotics.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that their vitamins and supplements were on sale.  Well actually, they weren’t on sale, they were just bogo (buy one and get one free).  I got my glucosamine chondroitin, vitamin C gummies, and Kathy’s probiotic gummies and the total was $75!  On my way home, I was grousing about the cost of healthy living.  I thought, “It’s cheaper to go to the doctor when I’m sick than to buy supplements to keep me healthy!”  Brother Larry at church had a similar problem.  He priced hearing aids and determined that it would be much cheaper to learn sign language.  Ha, ha!  David said in Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”  Hey, our days are numbered, and only the dear Lord knows that number.  Oh, we should do our best to stretch those days out, but our daily relationship with the dear Lord is much more important.  Remember Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”