Smiling with God...

“While Peter was wondering abut the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.” Acts 10:17-18 This event is just proof of how God really works everything together. Here, God was preparing the way for the non Jews to be welcomed into the Kingdom through Jesus. God was ready to take the message to the world. And what is really interesting is that there was a lot of things that needed to come together in order for this to happen. God needed a faithful gentile to bring Peter over to his place. Then God had to give Peter a reason to go. God intricately weaved plans together so that His glory was shown. This story is amazing in itself. It is a truly great to see God work in such ways. Sometimes I look at stories like these and wonder if they still happen today. I know that God is still working and will continue to work in miraculous ways. But...

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” -Job (Job 1:21) What a statement. This is profound. Despite his circumstances, Job praises the Lord. That takes some real commitment and some real dedication to the Lord to say. I don’t think I can fully appreciate this statement. It must have been a struggle to loose what was pretty much everything, and in those days they did not have like a safety net or like welfare for people to go to. If you lost everything then it is exactly that, you lost everything. It is a weird time in my life for this verse to come along. I am in the midst of a financial hardship with really no relief in sight and bills coming down my throat. It’s not like it is going to get any easier too. However, it is difficult to get to the end of the maze, when every time you make a turn, on what you think is for the better, it turns out to be a dead end. It is ...

”I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed in to eternal dwellings.“ Luke 16:9 Interesting passage. Here Jesus states it is okay to make money if you use it for eternal practices. At leas that is what one commentary says. But it makes total sense. Why not use money to gain important results? Why must shouldn’t we use money to gain eternal wealth. The whole passage is about stewardship. But it is also about how we need to use the resources to gain friends. The important thing is to gain friends. Go save the world, that is what the passages means. God gives resources of any type for you to steward. Use it to go save people and save the world. Do things right, but be creative in what you do. This is an awesome verse. Jesus states take every angle and go for it. Look at how to accomplish something and just go for it, and do it as wisely as possible. Use all the available resources at your disposal so that the...