LOST

Have you ever gotten lost? I am not talking about going the wrong way on the way to Grandma’s house, nor when your mom left you in the toy section at Wal-Mart and then told you to stay put, but you decided to wander around. I’m talking about wet your pants…break out in a cold sweat…heart stuck in your throat…lost.

Have you ever gotten lost like that…I have. When I was in the seventh grade my family…grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins…all went to Buena Vista, Colorado for a week of fishing, hiking and relaxing in the Rocky Mountains. Just down the road on the way to the ghost town St. Elmo is a place where the Colorado Trail intersects with the county road. It is a good place to stop. A cold mountain stream runs parallel to the road. There are lots of trees. It is a nice place to stop for a picnic.

We decided to hike a little of the Colorado trail. We crossed the stream on a footbridge then hiked across the valley up on a mountain on the other side. My parents headed back and my brother, uncle and I continued on a little longer.

After climbing up the mountain a little ways, we decided to turn back and head for the car. Now back then everything was a competition, I decided I was going to beat everyone back to the car. So I took off at a run heading down the mountain.

Now somehow on the way back I missed the trail. Instead of stopping to find it, I kept going thinking that I would eventually intersect it somewhere. I didn’t. I don’t know if you have ever been in the mountains before, but it gets dark early, and with the darkness it gets chilly.

So there I was, a young teenager lost in the Colorado Mountains. It was getting dark and cold and there was only one thing I could think of…HELP…MOMMY!!!! I thought I knew where I was going. Boy, was I wrong.

If you were to ask Jenn she would tell you I have a tendency to get misplaced. I never get lost, there are just sometimes I don’t know where I am. I am a typical male, I don’t usually ask for directions. I figure I will find my way eventually.

The book of Proverbs talks about that, a proverb is a wise saying, and piece of good advice we should listen to.

Proverbs 14:12—there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end in leads to death.

We may think we know where we are going or how to live our life right but if not careful we will end up getting lost. That is why God has given us his word, the Bible. The Bible is God’s road map for our lives.

So over the next several weeks I want to take a closer look at this road map.

By the way, I did get found!

Bringing Home the Bacon.

We are finishing up what we started several weeks ago on being a steward. A steward is simply someone who has the responsibility to use someone else’s possessions in the right way. So far we have talked about being a good steward of our time and talents. Today we finish by talking about everyone’s favorite subject…our treasure.

I personally don’t like to talk about money. Most people figure money is a minister’s favorite topic. It may be some minister’s favorite thing to preach on. I don’t enjoy it. But it is impossible to get away from it in the Bible, especially in the teachings of Jesus. Half of the parables he taught were about being good stewards of our financial resources.

In this story we read in Matthew 25, each servant was given an amount of money that was to be used in the correct manner. The master or boss trusted them to use it in a way that would benefit him.

So the question we have to ask is…what is the correct use of our treasure? If we believe that God has given it to us and that we should use it in the correct manner…how are we to know what he wants us to do with it? The answer can be found in Acts 20:35. It says, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus; it is more blessed to give than to receive.” His intention, his desire is that we are generous with what he has entrusted to us.

It was the day after Christmas and a man parked his car to pick up the morning paper. He noticed outside the store a dirty, poorly dressed boy, looking at his car. Seeing the boy he reminded himself to be quick about his errand or he might lose a hubcap or two. He came out of the store with his paper under his arm and just as he was about ready to open the door to the car, the little boy asked, “Mister, how much does a car like that cost?” The man replied, “I don’t really know, my brother gave this car to me as a gift.” The ragged little boy looked at the man and looked at the car, and then with wonder in his eyes he said, “Wow, I wish I could be a brother like that.”

Shouldn’t we all have that kind of mindset that it would be better to be able to give the car away then to have the car given to us? That it is better to give than receive?
Of course, the real issue is, what do we worship? Is it God or our possessions? We don’t have to be rich to struggle with our possessions becoming idols. Honestly, when it comes to our possessions, treasure or money, there really are only two choices. Either our treasure will be an idol or a tool. We will either worship our possessions and treasures or we will use them as tools to help increase the kingdom of God.

It was Jesus who said, “Where our treasure is our heart will be also.” What we place the greatest value on, we will spend our life trying to achieve.

Christian life is about priorities… either God is a priority in our life or our earthly goods will be. It was also Jesus who said in Matthew 6:24… “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

We should be good and wise stewards of our treasure

This little piggy cried wee...wee...wee

Now the parable we looked at when we started this little piggy adventure was about money, but we are going to do a little play on words. When we think of a talent we rarely think of money. Instead, when we hear the word talent our thoughts turn to a person’s abilities.

Like playing the guitar or singing. Some are natural born athletes, they can run faster, jump higher, and they are stronger. All you have to do is watch the Olympics to see this is true. Some have a head for business. They understand money and people and goals. And some of us have the talent of getting into trouble.

We are all born with talents and natural abilities. Some people have very noticeable talents, like my wife Jenn, she can take some chicken, a little bit of rice and a few other ingredients and make a dish that some would kill for. Some of us have talents that aren’t so visible.

I realize that this passage is not talking about our physical talents or abilities, but that does not mean we should not use them in the right way. They are still given by God and He expects us to be good stewards of them.

We have been given these talents and abilities to benefit ourselves, to bring profit in our lives. But at the same time we need to remember where they came from. We did not give them to ourselves. They came from God. Because of that, their use in our lives should bring glory to God.

There is another set of gifts we have been given. These aren’t natural gifts but are spiritual gifts. Anyone who belongs to the family of God has at least one of them. You can read a list of them in Romans 12:4-8.

Just as we are to be good stewards of our natural abilities and talents, we are to be good stewards of these spiritual gifts as well.

Let me make a few parallels between the parable from Matthew 25:14-30 and Paul’s writings in Romans.

1. All people receive a “gift” but not all have the same function. In the parable, the servants were given an amount of money but each amount was different, in fact it says based on their ability.

2. The talents were given to form one body. They were to be used for the good of the whole, not the individual. The talents were given to increase the wealth of the master, not for personal use.

3. The gifts were to be used in the right manner. Matthew’s point was not how much was made but that gift was used. The Master even told the third servant it would have been better if he had put it in the bank to draw interest. Our gifts and talents have been given to us to work, they are to be used to serve others.

We should be good and wise stewards of our talents.

This little piggy part 2

Today we continue what we started last week. Stewardship. Today we will look at the topic of time.

Everyday we are given 86,400 seconds that can never be replaced nor be reused. We only have one chance to use today, then its gone.

I saw a survey that few people would pay much attention to. It was taken of people 95 years and older.

They were asked one question. It was an open-ended question. They could answer however they wished. There was no religious connection to it, no anticipated response; all they had to do was answer this one question.

The question was: “If you could live life over again, what would you do differently?”
Here are the three most frequent responses.

1. I would reflect more
2. I would risk more
3. I would do more things that would live on after I’m gone.

Did you notice it was not…“I would work more”, or “I would make more money”, or “I would have a bigger house”. Instead, after looking back over the years they had lived, they wished they had spent more of their time doing something that was worthwhile, something with more meaning.

Studies show that in the average American lifetime…we sleep 23 years, work 16 years, watch TV 8 years, eat 6 years, travel 6 years, relax 4.5 years, are sick 4 years, and spend 2 years getting dressed.

Researchers say that by the time a person reaches 20 they will have watched 20,000 hours of TV, and then will watch 10,000 hours every decade after that.

Did you know that in 5,000 hours you could earn a bachelors degree? In 10,000 hours you could become an engineer. In 10,000 hours you could walk around the world if you wanted to and still have time left over to write a book about the adventure.

Do you want to know what I think is the best use of our time? I can actually think of several that are important…family, education or career. But the best use of our time is developing our relationship with God.

If we would just spend 5-10 minutes a day reading our Bibles, we could read through the entire Bible in the next year. If we would allow what we read to penetrate our lives, Iola (or wherever you live) would be a much better place to live and to raise a family.
Spending time with God and doing what he wants is the best way to use our time wisely. It doesn’t matter if you are a pig farmer, teacher, businessman or even a preacher.

My wife and my life

The other day I was thinking how my life is so much different because my wife Jenn is part of it. So I sat down one morning and wrote her this note. By the way, I have her permission to publish this.

"Before I do anything else I thought I would send you a note just to let you know how much you mean to me.

I was thinking about how my life is so much different since you became part of it. Not just how I now brush my teeth and hair every day. Or that my clothes actually match most of the time. Yes, you have have improved my hygiene and my style. Of course because of you the house is livable, clothes get washed, and I eat well.

You have made my life better simply by being the mother of our girls. Without you they would not exist. I don't think I have ever thanked you for that. There are also those times when you "fill in" for me in raising them. I appreciate you spending time teaching and training them.

But then there is also how you have made me a better person. I contribute my living for God to you. Without you in my life I would be heading down a completely different path. You make me complete in my ministry. Encouraging me to better myself and try harder. You reach out to people I could never reach. You help those I would not even know where to start to help. You bring a great sense of peace to my life, your presence gives me the strength to push on when it seems life is stacked against me.

So I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for all you have added to my life. I love you."

This little pig...

I once was the proud owner of a pig. Every year my high school ag class would buy 4 pigs for our annual pig race. Usually after the event was over, the four pigs would be turned into BBQ for the annual FFA meeting. My senior year, the ag instructor, Mr. Brooks, decided it was time for our class to start a gilt ring.

Now for you that aren’t familiar with a gilt ring, two “lucky” students would receive a gilt. A gilt is a female pig that has not had a baby yet. Those two students would then raise their gilt until it was old enough to breed. After the piglets were born, they were to raise them until weaning time. After the piglets were weaned, the student would return a gilt back to the class, keeping the other piglets and sow to do with what they wanted…sell it, keep it or eat it.

Some how, I’m not really sure how it happened, but I was selected to raise one of the gilts. So I took it home. My grandpa had room for it in one of his barns. We found someone who had a boar, got my pig bred then waited for my little dollar signs to be born…I mean piglets. On a Sunday evening in July during the week of high school VBS, four little pigs were born, two boys and two girls.

The first one out was a girl. She was a runt. The whole next week I spent working 24 hours a day trying to keep her alive. I bottle-fed her every hour. I kept her in my room under a heat lamp. Took her with me where ever I had to go. Unfortunately, she went on to a better place in hog heaven.

Next came Mutt and Jeff, named after a couple of guys I worked with. Though Mutt was a girl. They were two of the hardest headed, dumbest, obnoxious animals I had ever been around. Any time anyone came close to the pen, those two piglets would go squealing across it and hide. They were always into stuff.

The fourth piglet that came out we named Scrawny Williams. He had a pretty hard life from the beginning. He was born blind. He was smaller then the other two. They wouldn’t let him eat. I ended up having to bottle-feed him to keep him alive.

The days and months rolled by and I finally fulfilled my obligation. At weaning time I returned my only gilt back to the class. I decided it was time for me to get out of the pig business so I sold out.

I have always wanted to write a book or make a movie of my experience. Maybe you remember the book “Lord of the flies”, well. I did not write it, but that would have made a good title for that chapter of my life. Since it is already taken, I thought of another better title…“The ward of the sty.”

Believe me there is a point to all this.

The English language is a funny language. There are words that we use at times that we really don’t know where they came from. Take for instance the word “steward.” It actually means keeper of pigs.

It is made up of two words, first being “sty” or “pig sty” and “ward” meaning to keep or to watch over. A sty ward or steward as we pronounce it now, was a person who took care of someone else’s pigs. They did not own the pigs, but were hired to watch them and take care of them as if they were their own.

Today when we talk of someone being a steward, we aren’t talking about someone who watches someone else’s pigs. Instead, we think of someone who manages someone else’s money, property or business. They do not own the property but manage it as if it were their own.

When the Bible speaks of being a steward, we know it means a person who manages what God has entrusted to them.

There are three areas in our lives that God has given to us that we should be good and wise stewards…our time, our treasure and our talent. So over the next three weeks we will look in detail at these three areas.

To get ready for this, I would encourage you to read Matthew 25:14-30.

I wish...

There are many times that I think I have really dropped the ball when it comes to being a good parent. I feel like the lessons I try to teach my kids just seem to bounce off them and drop to the ground. Then there are the days they surprise me.

Several weeks ago we were sitting down to dinner. While we eat we make it a point to ask the girls how their day went. They usually tell us about whom they played with, what they did in music, how they did on a test or who got in trouble and who was sent to the office.

Well on this one night, I asked, “What did you do today? And Rachel said, “I told Lizzy about Jesus.” “That’s good,” I said, “what did you tell her?” Rachel replied, “I told her Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away.”

I am not sure what I did or said after that, maybe I passed out, or my jaw hit the ground, I am sure my eyes were the size of basketballs. That was the last thing I expected her to say. I thought maybe something like, Jesus loves all the little children. Or Jesus lives in my heart. But to share the basic message of the Gospel, never would I have thought she would say that. I sure am proud of her.

Of course that makes me think about myself. Why am I not more active about telling those around me, “Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away”? It’s not like I don’t have the opportunity. I take time out of every week to visit guests to our church. Most of them do have questions about it. I have a list of people that I pray for who I know need to make that decision. So why aren’t I more active in sharing the Good news?

I think it boils down to two reasons. The first one being fear. I am afraid I will be rejected. I am afraid I won’t know the right answers. I am afraid they may look at me as a weirdo. I am afraid they may think I am pushy or afraid it may damage a fragile friendship.

The second reason is, I believe the lie I have plenty of time. This one gets me more than the first I put off for tomorrow what I could do today. I have every intention of telling others but I seem to wait until I have “more” time or when they aren’t so “busy”. I can’t do it today but I am sure I’ll get the time next week.

As I think about this, Rachel didn’t tell Lizzy about Jesus because she had all the answers or because she knew her reputation was safe or that she wasn’t sure how much more time she would have with her. She told Lizzy about Jesus simply because Rachel cares deeply for Lizzy. They are friends. Rachel wanted to share the most important thing in her life with the most important friend in her life.

I wish I could be more like my five-year-old daughter.