Joel Stiff's Adventure

The flood waters run ankle deep and a man’s neighbor encourages him to evacuate as authorities are recommending.

“God will take care of me.” the man stated.

Now on his roof, the Red Cross comes by in a rescue raft and makes an attempt to get him to leave.

“God will takes care of me.” he insisted.

The water rises to waist deep as he stands on his roof’s peak.  A national guard helicopter lowers its rope ladder and through the loudspeaker orders the man to climb.

“God will take care of me.” he declared.

And then he drowned.

Approaching the Lord in Heaven, the man asked, “Father, my faith was strong and unwavering.  Why didn’t you take care of me as I told many you would?”

God answered, “I sent you a neighbor, a rescue raft and a helicopter.  What else could I have done?”

A good number of people end up drowning because when the water starts rising in their life, they miss what God is trying to do for them.  Sometimes they are looking for something else.  Sometimes pride keeps them from utilizing the means.  Sometimes they are blind to what God is doing.

Is the water rising in your life?

God will send a means of rescue.

Will you be smart enough to notice?

Or will you drown?

A friend of mine died alone a few months ago.

He didn’t have to.  He chose to.  Be alone, that is.  His last several months were spent in a downward spiral of discouragement, depression and ultimately death.  I believe the Lord was merciful in taking him when he did.

Today would have been his birthday.  He would have been sixty today.  But he’s not.

We will all be there.  That place that is dark and sad.  Where we don’t just feel like we aren’t winning, we know we aren’t winning.  If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t yet, you will someday.

When you get there, tell someone.  Find a friend and bare your heart to them.  A friend will listen and tell you what you need to do.  When they tell you, do what they say.

It’ll help you to just follow what you are told.  You’ll get out of it.

And hopefully live to celebrate sixty.

I was able to spend the last couple of days snowmobiling up north with my brother and good friend, Brent Dix.

Whenever we get together, we tend to throw caution to the wind.  My brother and I, whether by choice or inexperience, tend to do things that cause problems.  Brent is the experienced voice of reason to keep us from doing anything too stupid.

Although, in a conversation about the dangers of waterboarding, I was the one to dissuade them from testing it out in the bathtub.  I guess we all know how to speak up when things get crazy.

On top of my hot water heater, there is a pressure relief valve.  If the pressure in the tank gets too high, the valve opens and keeps the tank from exploding.

You need one of those.  You need people in your life who help you relieve that pressure.  People who make you laugh.  People you can be stupid with.  People who will walk right into trouble with you and then help you get out again.

If you don’t have one of these valves, someday the pressure is going to get too high and you’re going to explode.

In a boxing match, a fighter can take such a beating that he becomes what is called “punch drunk”.

The fighter is staggering and losing control of his motor skills.  He may even be unaware of his surroundings and purpose.

The only hope for a fighter in this condition is to be saved by the bell.  The round is ended and he gets one minute to recover.  That minute can be enough to help him regain his awareness and press on.  Without it, he’s going to get knocked out.

When we recognize that life is giving us a beating, the best strategy to take is to get to our corner and find our stool.  Take that extra minute to regain our composure.

It’s often the only way to stay in the fight.

 

 

I’ll never play in the NBA.

I’m 5’8″ tall and 44 years old.  My time has passed.

Life is like that.  We have certain windows in which we have certain opportunities.  As time goes on, those windows close.

It’s best to let the missed opportunities go.  No point in sitting around wallowing in regret.

The good news is that as we enter new windows, new opportunities can be found.

I may not be able to do some of what I could do at 14, but there’s a lot more available to me at 44.

I don’t hate my life.  My life is amazing.

But some people do.  Hate their life that is.

A good friend of mine posted this yesterday, “If you didn’t quit your job this morning because you didn’t win powerball last night, quit anyway.”

Henry David Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”

Why would you lead an existence that is loathsome?

Every day when you wake up, you can go do or become anything you want.

If you’re stuck in a life you don’t want, that’s on you.

 

When our focus is only on ourselves, we filter everything through that lens.

We fail to hear what the other person is actually saying and hear what we want instead.

We may better understand what someone means if we will focus on them and view it through their filter.

Get the point?

The water being delivered to people’s homes in Flint has been terrible and unhealthy for a few years now.

The city wanted to save money so they dropped the Detroit supply and started to bring in water from the Flint River.  From what I am told, the water from the river eroded a protective coating inside the pipes and the lead from the pipes was transferred into the water.

There isn’t a gallon of paint anywhere in the state containing lead, but the water running from the faucets is full of it.

Parents are furious and rightfully so.  They are angry that the city, the mayor, the council and the governor have allowed this to happen.

I encourage the parents to stand up for their rights as taxpayers and customers of the city’s water.  They deserve to have a product that is safe and healthy.

But while we are discussing protecting our kids, I would like to take it a little further.  See, I know some of these outraged individuals.  I’ve been to their homes.  I’ve held lengthy conversations with them.  I’ve witnessed their behavior.

Some of them are drunks.  Some are drug addicts.  Some are prostitutes or women who have a revolving door of men in and out of their home.  Some would sooner buy a pack of cigarettes as feed their children.

For some, bad water is just the beginning of woes for their kids.

Logically, there is no reason to play the Powerball lottery regardless of how high the payout gets.

Yet, millions are shelling out their hard earned cash for the possibility of riches.

They tell me that you are more likely to return a completely disheveled deck of cards to its factory order in a single shuffle than to win the lottery.

Someone else mentioned that you are more likely to be struck by lighting while drowning than win.

Yet, people continue to play.

Why is this?

The power of hope.

In Genesis 3:1, we find Satan asking Eve whether or not she can eat of the fruit of the trees of the Garden of Eden.

That’s how he works.  Satan puts question marks where God has placed periods.

We do it too when we doubt.

“Yea, hath God said?”