Is it worth my time?

This is a great post, complete with beautiful sunset pictures, written by Paul Egge and copied from the blog, "FISH BOWL":
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Good Bye...

Hello everyone...

... Or should I say good-bye.

As an economics major you learn many things. Perhaps the greatest concept I learned in education is the value of a concept called "opportunity cost." I will refer to this as "OC." OC inherently challenges everything you do by asking the question, "What else could you being doing right now." What is the opportunity cost of doing what you are doing right now?

By you reading this right now you are not doing everything else that you "could" be doing. You, in essence, have made a decision that reading this right now is the most productive, interesting and beneficial thing that you could do. I made a decision that me writing this was the most beneficial use of my time at the time that I did it.

Blogging is fun and beneficial but I have concluded that it is not the best use of my time at this point in my life. My time is better spent elsewhere. The truth is that blogging takes time, perhaps too much time.

It has been fun to share, force and ramble my ideas to you over this blog. I have enjoyed many of the responses that many of you have shared. ...

...Know thyself and ultimately know God!

The above post was written by Paul Egge in the blog, "FISH BOWL".

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I just can't seem to get away from posting on the theme of "time" lately. Must be on my mind alot. I've already been accused of having too much time on my hands. That's all about to change soon, as I have been seriously job-hunting, and have applications out and interviews lined up this week. I needed a job all summer, so it's getting to the desperate stage.

If you think of it, pray for me: I need God's wisdom in this job-search. It has to be just the right amount of hours, with great pay, and no stress! Okay, so I'm picky! That's a bit unrealistic, I know, but God knows my needs. Pray that I'll let Him guide me, and provide for a job for me.

After all, my time is worth a lot!

When time is no more

The author of this post is gone on Sabbatical (must be nice!) but I'd like to initiate a discussion about these statements, and analyze their ramifications:

..."You are never more in ministry than where you are at present." ... God is never more to you and me, we are never more his, nor is the world ever closer to God than at this moment... There is not a greater next than the moment we've been given...

That is one of the most frightening, sobering ideas I have ever heard. Is there no hope of growth and development or advancement in an intimate relationship with God? What about the scriptures that tell of transforming grace, being "changed from glory to glory"?

I can vaguely grasp and appreciate the idea of the fullness of time; that the presence of Jesus ushers in the Kingdom of God here and now, eternity in the present. I believe that we will be held accountable for each "tiny moment" and that "this moment is the most holy of all." But,"nothing more" and "never more" strike a fatalistic chord in my heart.

I know it was not the intention of the writer to discourage his readers, but rather to instill a joyful purpose and holy calling in all of us. Instead of spending our lives waiting for the end of time, we should live each moment to the fullest, literally in the"fullness of time." Like the admonishment, "Carpe Diem!" we should live each day as if it is our last day on earth.

This was the writer's conclusion, after pondering:

"What's next is what's now."

Then he quoted Eugene Peterson in Christ Plays...: "I finally got it: end time enfluences present, ordinary time, not by diminishing or denegrating it but by charging it, filling it with purpose and significance. The end time is not a future we wait for but the gift of the fullness of time that we receive in adoration and obedience as it flows into the present."

Where does that leave hope for a better future?

If I will never be more in ministry than where I am now, then I am going nowhere!
If God is never more to me, and I am never going to be closer to Him than I am now in this moment, then He is far away!
If there is no greater "next" than this moment now, there's nothing great about this moment!

I guess it isn't always helpful to tell a depressed person, "It doesn't get any better than this!" :-)

Be Not Dismayed ... God Will Take Care Of You!

Have you ever stayed up half the night worrying about finances, wondering how you're going to get through the winter, where the money is going to come from to cover the rising fuel costs, how you're ever going to pay all the bills? Come on, be honest! I know you have.

Have you ever been sorely tempted to rob your kids' piggy bank, to "borrow some cash until payday"? Have you ever looked around the house at pieces of furniture with dollar signs in your eyes, wondering how much that item would go for in a garage sale? Have you ever considered becoming a breeder for your pet, just to bring in some extra money? Have you ever gone "backwards shopping" to return impulse buys and unwanted items (with tags intact and sales receipts, of course!)? Surely, you can relate to one of those scenarios.

Perhaps you can recall a day of panic and crisis, marked by embarrassment over a check that bounced or a debit card that didn't go through; fear and mortification upon discovery that the bank account balance was $2.98; followed up with an emergency transfer of funds or a trip to the bank to make a deposit? If you've ever had that unpleasant experience, maybe it was a wake-up call to get a better handle on your personal finances.

Maybe you decided to create a budget, or curtail your eating out expenses. Maybe you went on a job hunt, or put in an application to advance at your present workplace. Maybe you thought about getting a night job at the gas station nearby, but the fear of robberies (and the need for sleep!) kept you from actually applying there.

Did any of that worrying actually provide any answers to your financial dilemma? Did you solve the financial crisis, just by ruminating over it, until 3:00am? Did you at least come up with a plan of action, or was your mind too clouded with fear and fog from lack of sleep?

The Bible talks about money more than any other subject. It also has alot to say about worrying. I think the bottom line is that God expects us to be responsible stewards of our finances, but to remember that He is our Father who Provides, Jehovah-Jirah! The antidote for worry is a strong dose of simple child-like faith! It also acts a good sleep-aid, too.

Try it the next time you are tempted to whittle away the hours worrying all night. Worrying doesn't get you anywhere, but faith can move mountains!

1. Be not dismayed, what e'er betide, God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

Refrain:
God will take care of you through every day, o'er all the way;
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.

2. Through days of toil, when heart doth fail, God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you.

3. All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you;
Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.

4. No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.

Listen to the clock ticking!

The house is so quiet today that the clock on the wall is bugging me again. My ADD brain can't filter out the incessant ticking, even though I have tried padding the back of the clock with soft cotton. It's so loud, it makes me synchronize the ticks with the beating of my heart. I swear if I listen long enough, I'd hear my own biological clock marking off the seconds of my life!

In a moment or two, I'll get up and turn some soft worship music on. Not just yet; for a while I'll sit here, listening to the sounds of an empty house. It's such an odd stillness. Just yesterday, the fans were running, the phone was ringing, the doorbell was chiming, the dog was barking...and the whole house echoed with the obnoxiously rude noises of two adolescent boys playing an aggravatingly loud video game.

What a difference one day can make! With the flip of a calendar page, school has begun. Summer break has ended, "sleeping in" is over, free time has been curtailed. "Back-to-school" is an annual ritual, but it's different for me this time. My baby girl left the house this morning, ending a year of homeschool, and walked in to a public high school. My first-born...is now a freshman! My baby boy got up and showered, put gel in his hair, donned his private school uniform, and entered the twilight-zone of seventh grade. (Oh, horrors! How soon will he start shaving?) Elementary education is over for this family, it's time to clean out the picture books and grade-school supplies. My youngest is now a junior-high student!

I feel as though I'm having a pre-season peek at the "Empty Nest Syndrome." Oh, yes, by the way, where is that dear husband I've been married to for eighteen years? Well, it seems that he is off chasing polar bears on some island way up in the Arctic ocean right now. [Honestly, I'm not kidding, he really is in Kaktovik, on Barter Island. Look it up!] I was a bit miffed when it dawned on me that I'd be handling the morning rush myself, for the first two days of school, driving both kids to school in opposite directions. Okay, I'm still a bit miffed, but secretly quite proud of how smoothly the morning routine actually went.

I must confess I relish the solitude of an empty house almost as much as a hidden candy bar. This day is all mine, to fritter away, nibbling at the minutes (while listening to the clock tick!) -- or to chomp at with gusto, gobbling up big chunks of time (cleaning and organizing, which is what I'm supposed to be doing right now). Solitude is so delicious! It's such a luxury to savor the silence, to soak in the sunlight, to sip a cup of Seattle's best. Like a favorite poster saying, "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits."

But, dog-gone, that clock keeps on ticking! Like an annoying pest, poking at my arm, it won't go away or slow down. The clock is my enemy; every night it steals precious minutes of sunlight from the next day, until the winter solstice, when it grudgingly starts adding them back.

Well, I guess it's time. Guess I'd better turn on some peppy music, and get my body moving!

Puzzle Pieces

Here is a really neat in-depth Bible study, put together like a jig-saw puzzle. Follow the pieces of the puzzle to each new link.
God's Secret Treasure
Treasures, Hidden, Riches, and Secret: key words that fit together like a puzzle.
When we connect all our puzzle pieces together, this is the picture we see: a treasure chest full of God's secret treasure.
©Dee Dee Hall-2001