Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All & Happy Thursday!

My granddaughter, little miss Tempa Joanne Newbold, continues to fight on this morning…Prayers are asked for a good outcome for her.  She has some VERY rare medical conditions for a newborn, that requires a lot of “thinking outside the box” to come up with effective treatments for her to help restore her brain so that there is a way forward for her.  She’s a precious little thing, as are all of God’s children.  She needs some extra help in the way prayers and divine intervention/providence.  Thanks for keeping Tempa in your thoughts & prayers and thanks to all of you who have sent notes of support to us.  They are greatly appreciated!

Happy Birthday to childhood friend Tab, producer, director, and screenwriter extraordinaire, who celebrates his birthday today; as do CBS T.V. anchor/reporter Bob Schieffer, who is 84 today; talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael, who turns 79 today; to comedian/actor Carrot Top, who is 56 today; and to actor Sean Astin of “Lord Of The Rings” movie fame, who turns 50 today….Here’s to all of you!

I’ve been enjoying reading Scott Rodin’s “Six Lessons On Grace” the past week or so and I though I would share some excerpts from “Lesson Two.”  I hope you find it as engaging as I did…

“How do we acquire the things we believe will make us happy?  We are all pursuing them.  The call to do so is right in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

We are a nation fixated on pursuing happiness.  Look around and you will see two primary routes people take in that pursuit.  The first is the avenue of earning happiness.  If we work hard, make enough money, buy enough things, gain enough reputation, obtain enough financial security, have enough friends, and find some meaning in life, we will have done the things that will earn us happiness.  The American ideal is this independent, self-propelled process of finding our place among the successful through our hard work and personal efforts.  We applaud those who achieve success by their ability to acquire the trappings of happiness.  And we instill in future generations this penchant for climbing ladders, acquiring wealth and pursuing the trophies that demonstrate they have achieved the prize of happiness and security.  Happiness?  If it’s to be, it’s up to me.

The second avenue is through entitlement.  Rather than feeling the responsibility for earning our way to happiness, there are sectors of our culture that believe they are entitled to the elements of happiness by virtue of their place in society.  They interpret the words of the Declaration to mean that happiness itself, and not merely its pursuit, is the inalienable right.  The basis for this entitlement is our perception of our own goodness.  Believing we are basically good people who live mostly moral lives and make positive choices, we are deserving of a happy life.  It is our right…

…We live in a culture desperately seeking happiness through means that have no chance of securing it for them.  We can never earn enough, make enough or save enough to find the ultimate security we seek.  We can never claim enough entitlement to meet the deep needs in our spirit brought about by the brokenness of sin.   Left to ourselves to either earn it or claim it by right, the abundant life offered in Jesus Christ will never be more than a distant vision seen through a mist of doubt and despair.

As long as we continue to live in bondage to the deception that we must earn God’s favor or the prideful self-righteousness that we can, we will miss everything Christ came to win for us.

Grace is amazing because it frees us from the bondage of the deadly pursuit of self-generated success and the soul-destroying delusional pursuit of happiness by fiat.  Both are tearing at the fabric of our nation, and as they become more entrenched as the only two options available, the good news of God’s unmerited grace will become ever more reviled.

However, for that very reason, we must proclaim it all the more powerfully and joyfully.  As the body of Christ, we must allow this grace to so overwhelm us that people will see its fruit without us saying a word…How do we do that?  Here’s five ways to see it happen in your life in the week ahead:

1.  Keep your heart focused on finding true contentment in your status as a child of God and a recipient of his loving and unmerited grace.
2. Let your first thought every morning be praise and thanks for God’s unmerited grace.
3. Share what that grace means to you with one new person every day and pray that God will bring the right people who need to hear that word across your path.
4. Pray grace into every difficult situation you face this week.
5. Be gracious.  As you have received grace undeserved, give undeserved grace to everyone you meet.

God’s unmerited grace has changed your life forever…how might He use that amazing truth in you to change someone else’s life this week?  Will you steward God’s grace for just that opportunity?”

—Scott Rodin, “Six Lessons On Grace – A Lenten Series,” www.thestewardsjourney.com

Here’s the trivia fact for the day:

Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas dropped out of high school but earned his GED in 1993.  His GED class voted him “Most Likely To Succeed.”

Here’s the word definition for the day:

“Forsooth”:  An old English word meaning “Indeed (often used ironically or to express surprise or indignation).”

Here’s the thought for the day:

“If there’s a plane or a bus leaving Dallas…I hope you’re on it

If there’s a train moving fast down the tracks…I hope you caught it.

Cause I swear out there, ain’t where you ought to be…So catch a ride, catch a cab

Don’t you know…I miss you bad…But don’t you walk to me.

Baby run, cut a path across the blue skies

Straight in a straight line…

You can’t get here fast enough.

Find a truck…and fire it up

Lean on the gas and off the clutch…Leave Dallas in the dust

I need you in a rush…So baby, run…”

—George Strait, “Run,” from the album “The Road Less Traveled” (2001)

Here’s to a great Thursday and enjoy another winter snow (like the one we have in Spokane today)!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)