Sixty Minutes per Hour

I remember something that the evangelist, Lowell Lundstrom, said a number of years ago. He said that we are all speeding toward death at the rate of 60 minutes per hour. When you are young you don't think much about a statement like that. After all, most young people think they are indestructible and will live forever. But the Scriptures say, "It is appointed unto man once to die, after that the judgement."

Yesterday I had another birthday. Thanks to the many who sent me birthday wishes. I like the ones that say, "and may you have many more." I just turned 61 and many more means more now than when I was 31. I realize now more than ever that the clock is ticking. It never stops. When it does stop for me, it is over. But it will keep ticking for everyone else who is still alive.

My goal now is to appreciate and enjoy the life I still have left. I need to make the most of it. Even now more than later. Now when I still have excellent health, I may not have that later. I need to enjoy the enjoyable years for the years of suffering with old age are sure to come. I look back at my past now and say "Alas!" because I see so much error and squandered time. I do not want to say "Alas!" again in another 10 years. But I want to look back with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I have an appointment and a great review of my life will take place. I want to be ready for that appointment.

"The Laborer is Worthy His Hire"

I have always been a proponent of fair pay. Of course, fair pay is determined by the demand for labor, the skills and work ethic of the laborer, and the quality of work performed. It is not based on how badly the laborer needs a paycheck nor on how wealthy the business owner may be. The marketplace drives the worth of labor.

Having said that, in my business I have always paid above market value for labor and skilled craftsmen. It is important to me to have people who want to work for me. I also desire to reward people for their labor rather than take advantage of them.

Recently I had a gentleman who is one of my sub-contractors tell me about several jobs where he had worked where the pay was either slow in coming, or he was not paid at all. He worked for five months for one contractor who kept promising to pay him, but never did. The contractor went bankrupt and this man was never paid for his labor. This man now sub-contracts with me and we have a happy relationship because he is promptly paid after each job, and in return I receive a good day's labor.

It is heartbreaking to me to hear about those who work and don't get paid. And I believe that it is heartbreaking to God as well. It is totally wrong and immoral to not pay someone for their labor. In fact it is theft. It is trampling on the one who works. And I do not believe that God views this lightly.

The Bible says, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, and the laborer is worthy his hire."

A fair paycheck and a few bottles of Gatorade go a long way.

What is the Measure of Your Love?

I always thought a mite was some tiny bug that would bite me. In Scripture it is a tiny amount of money. Jesus said of the widow who gave the two mites, "she gave more than all the others."

What we give is relative to what we have. Giving out of our abundance is no sacrifice at all. giving out of our need is some sacrifice. But giving all that we have is total sacrifice.

Perhaps sacrifice is the true measure of our love. The widow loved God so much that she gave all she had. Abraham loved and honored God so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son. Then, of course, God did sacrifice his Son.

Guaranteed, His love for us is greater than our love for Him. About the time I feel pretty pious because of a good offering I have given or some way I have served God, I am reminded of this widow, who, perhaps sacrificed the food on her table to give an offering to God.

The Whole World

Typically I think that hard work is a virtue. We get paid for our labor and therefore can buy the things to survive and the things that make life a little nicer. And it really helps when we enjoy our work. Even Jesus said, "The laborer is worthy his hire."

But what is a healthy balance between working to have our needs and some of our wants met and working for excessive gain? What portion of our lives are we sacrificing to work for gain? We pass this way only once. What have we left undone so that we can work longer hours? Whose life should we have touched? What pond should we have fished in? Where should we have volunteered? What book should we have read? What path should we have walked down?

No, we were too busy working, acquiring gain that one day we will leave behind. We were building a mansion that one day the kids will auction off. We were acquiring things that one day will have no meaning to anyone. But work, work work! We must work ourselves to the bone. We must work until we are mentally and physically tired. All to acquire!

In the end will we hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant?" Will our lives really have reflected what God really intended us to be? Or have we really left the more important matters undone?

Luke 9:25 "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

Who is He?

Luke 9:20 "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?"

This could be the most important question we ever answer. Jesus asked the disciples who people said He was. They answered that some said he is John the Baptist risen from the dead, and others said the he is Elijah. Then Jesus cut to the chase. But who do you say that I am? This is where Peter came forth with his great confession.... "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." What a great answer!

But the question still needs to be asked of each one of us, who do we think Christ is? Who do you think Christ is? You answer and my answer will give direction to us for the rest of our lives. It will determine what we do with our lives, and how we conduct ourselves.

Just as important as our answer is whether or not we really believe our answer. Believing is faith and requires action on our part. It is one thing to say that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, but quite another to put our faith in Him as such.

Hymns

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear,

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in Payer.

I serve a living Savior whose in the world today

I know that He is with me , whatever men may say

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer.

Just the time I need Him, He's always near.

He lives! He lives!

Christ Jesus lives today!

I could go on with other hymns and gospel songs. To me it is truly sad that these songs with such great messages are seldom sung in our churches today. I have talked with many who dearly miss the gospels songs and hymns. They have encouraged us and ministered to our hearts.

No, I am not opposed to contemporary music, though it is not my favorite. There are some great choruses and other stuff that sound like African chants (nothing against the Africans). But I am definitely disappointed that we have totally abandoned some great songs, with great messages, with great melodies. Not all of these songs have a loud crescendo. Some are quiet and in the hush the Holy Spirit moves and ministers.

I know, I know! Now that I have said something from my heart I will be labeled as a trouble maker. But that's not it at all. There is just something I get from the old hymns that ministers to my soul in such a way that nothing modern has done for a long time.

I want to sing: Drinking From the Springs of Living Water, Such Love, What a Day that Will Be, and It is Well with my Soul. And, oh ya, This is the Day, Therefore the Redeemed, I Saw God, and Surely the Spirit. You know what I mean.

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it.

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb

Redeemed by His infinite mercy,

His Child and forever I am!

Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am.

Baptized

My grand daughter, Amber, was baptized this evening. It was pretty special. She accepted Christ when she was four, and now she followed the Lord in water baptism.

It reminds me when I was baptized in water. It was back in about 1970. I had moved to Minneapolis to look for work and found cheap housing at North Central Bible College dorms. I had told them that I intended to enroll in school in the fall, but really had no intention of doing that. But one Sunday morning I slept in and skipped church. Feeling a little guilty I picked up my Bible and began reading at the first chapter of Matthew. I didn't put the book down until I had finished the gospel of John. Wow! four books I had read in one sitting. And i wept all the way through. That is when I accepted Christ as my Savior. And I did enroll in college that fall.

I was then baptized in one of the lakes in Minneapolis. We found a secluded spot and a dozen of us waded out into the lake and there Alan Scott baptized me. These were the days of the charismatic movement.

Another thing that was memorable about that day was the spot we had chosen. We waded out to about waist deep. But the silt at the bottom of the lake was so soft that we began to sink in the mire. After I was baptized and stood back up the water was up to my armpits. It was with great effort that I was able to free my feet from the bottom of the lake. The others had the same problem. Even after our feet were free, the black slime clung to our legs. Leeches also thrived there.

After the baptism we decided to swim and rinse off. A few minutes later I heard someone yelling for help. It was Alan Scott, whose chine was just above the water. I saw panic on his face. He had stepped off a drop off in the water. I swam over and towed him in.

It was a day to remember.