Ecclesiastes 12:10

    No matter how good the meal is you will still get hungry later. No matter how much water you drink, the thirst will return. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 6:7, “ All a man's labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied”. There is no ultimate thirst quencher. There is no permanent cure for hunger pains.   It isn’t just that way with food and drink. We chase after money, fame, power, and prestige, yet in the end, no matter how much we get, it leaves us feeling unfulfilled. Nothing fully satisfies     That’s what makes Jesus' word in John 6:35 so compelling. Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.     Here Jesus promises a meal that will stay with you. A drink that will satiate. Jesus is promising more than just the free lunch the people in the passage are seeking, he is offering them a chance at a life that will bring a satisfaction that ...

  Contentment is very much a biblical concept. Contentment comes from the right spiritual mindset and trust in God and his control. (Philippians 4:12-13). It is the idea of being happy with what you have. Contentment keeps us out of the temptation of longing for things that will lead us from God (1 st Timothy 6:6-10). It is a trait we need to cultivate and admire.         However, contentment isn’t complacency.         Complacency is getting to a point and thinking that is all I have to do. It's not finding satisfaction as much as it is being static. It's finding a comfortable rut and staying in it. Complacency longs for something, the status quo, for nothing to change for things to remain in a predictable easy pattern at will require little effort out of us.       While contentment is the secret of happiness, complacency is the recipe for failure.     You see complacency ignores the fact that chang...

  The British wanted a death ray. In 1924. An inventor named H. Grindell Mathews claimed to have invented one and he said Germany had everything to make it as well. He never could prove it, however, but the idea started a panic. Soon newspapers were full of claims from scientists, such as Nico Tesla, that devices could use invisible waves to crash planes and stun people from great distances.   So British officials turn to Robert Watson-Watt to see about the feasibility of using radio waves as a weapon. In his report, he said it was an unworkable fantasy but he said it did have a less promising possibility. The waves could be used to pinpoint the location of enemy airplanes. This possibility might just have saved the British Empire.     This possibility, called R adio D etection A nd R anging (RADAR), allowed the British to know the location of Nazi bombers during the “Battle of Britain” and gave them a critical advantage. This changed the course of the ...

  Everyone thinks their Mom’s cooking is the best, but chances are it is not [1] . It has more to do with the fact her cooking is the one that you started eating. It is what you expect food to taste like. If she made her potatoes lumpy, then that is how you like them because that is what you think they are supposed to be. It is not until you broaden your palate, that you may begin to see that maybe there is something better than that.  You’ll sometimes hear the remark; this will ruin all other <whatever> for you. Some cooking will reset your taste buds once you have had it. It becomes the standard. If we only ever had crummy versions of something, we really don’t know what it really tastes like. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew...

 I first noticed it on a trip, my phone had been plugged in the car but it was almost dead when I arrived. Weird. I figured the car charger was on the fritz. Then one night it didn’t charge. I began to see that something was wrong with my phone, my relatively new phone that I paid a lot of good money for. So I called the company.   You know how that went. I tried to talk to a person that wasn’t a native English speaker while they said my name over and over and they were going to be helpful. I just wanted my phone fixed. They said they would send me a new charger.   I wasn’t happy. I'd tried several different chargers on the phone and it had the same problem. Why weren’t they helping me! So after some voice raising, they agreed to send me a new phone.   I still wasn’t happy. Now it was going to be a week without my phone! So I tried to plug it in one more time.   You know what happened next. It charged perfectly. I tried again. It worked again....

  I admit it I’m too easily frustrated.  Whether it’s with the checkout person that can’t seem to realize I had not planned to spend my entire day in this line, or the company that makes ordering a 10 cent part a three day ordeal, or the insurance company that’s really good about taking my money but no so good at giving it back or ….. Well you get the idea.   I know I don’t need to get so upset, but my mind just can’t seem to let go. Then my blood pressure rises, and my temper start to spew out like steam from a teakettle.  So how do I take my mind off the frustrations, the foolish, and the unfair?   Well, recently I saw this wonderful little post by Jeff Archey, The beloved bride needed the private label Sudafed, so I get the little card from the rack, go to the pharmacist, show my license and sign agreeing to use it properly. Then I noted the price was wrong, so I go back in line again...got a debit card to make up the difference--not cash, not ba...

  We all ask the question that we really don't want the person to answer, “ How are you doing ?”. It's not meant to be a question, it's meant to be a greeting. If someone actually does tell us how they are doing after we asked, we normally are taken aback. They are not to respond with details. It supposed to be a simple, “Fine. How are you” . It is a feint in interest, not a necessarily a true concern.   So with that being said let me ask “How are you doing?”   Are you feeling well? Is the family OK? Are you happy at your job? Can you pay the bills? Did the doctor say you were back to normal?  Most of the time, we associated the physical in our tallying how well we are doing. A clean bill of health, a raise at the office, the kids are making you proud, all mean I am doing well.     But is that all there is to doing well?   Let’s consider for a moment the greeting of 3 rd John 1:2. Here John writes, “ Beloved, I p...

Actors start a band. Athletes release an album. Singers try to act. Ever notice no matter how good somebody is at something they always try to get into something else. Radio guys want to be on TV.  TV guys start a radio program.  Speakers try to write. Writers want to speak. Directors want to act. Actors want to direct.  Why can’t we be satisfied with where we are at?     One of the most difficult things for people is to find contentment. Don’t think that contentment only comes is completion. One can achieve everything they want to achieve and it won't be enough. The more you get the more you want.  Many find that even when they are able to go further than they ever dreamed, it is still not enough. They are not satisfied, so they go in search of something else. But contentment is not found in consuming.    Paul give us the secret to finding satisfaction in Philippians 4:11-13: Not that I speak from want, for I have lea...

          The town that I grew up near had an annual event called the “World’s Largest Garage Sale”. Each year half the town would take all their old junk and put it up for sale, while the other half would root around in it looking for a find. (I always said those people would wait till next year and sale the same old junk back to first group.) One person trying to get rid of something, another man is searching for the same thing.  One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.           This adage isn’t just true for garage sales. One person quits a dead end job that is making him miserable; another person comes along and takes that same job he sees as exciting because it of its great potential. One person dreams of moving out of the city to the country with open spaces and no one to disturb him.  Another person wants to move into town where everything is and things are going on. One p...

     One of the saddest stories in American history is that of Howard Hughes. At age 45, he was one of the most powerful men in the world. He was a top aviation designer and pilot, he dated famous movie actress and had earned numerous awards for his movie ventures. He had billions of dollars and own vast empire of businesses that include a chain of hotels and even an airline. But as he aged, he had several mental breakdowns, and became a recluse. His life devolved into a pathetic existence. He sent most of his days watching the same movie endlessly. His hair and fingernails grew without ever begin trimmed. He became terrified of germs and locked himself in small rooms without human contact. His business empire fell apart because of his strange habits. When Hughes died from a heart condition, it was discovered that he had broken hypodermic needles lodged in his arm from constant drug abuse.   How could an man that’s seemed to have everything, end up this way? Many ...