"Are you afraid?"

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I bought an old pick-up truck for using around our farm. I knew it needed some work and it turns out that it needs a new engine. So I found one and was explaining to one of our daughters about engines and how they work.

I told her that it’s actually what’s known as an internal combustion engine, i.e., that the gasoline is mixed with air and the spark plug ignites the mixture, setting off an explosion. "You mean the engine explodes?" she asked.
"Well, yea, but it’s a controlled explosion," I explained. And I told her about the strength of the engine contains the explosion, how it drives the pistons which turn, turn, turn other parts until the wheels move.

"It sounds dangerous," she said. "I guess you need it to move forward."

She’s right about life, too, you know. Are you afraid of the danger of life explosions, i.e., giving up control of life to God and asking God to move you forward? And yet, isn’t that the best way to move forward—an internal spiritual combustion; your spirit and God’s spirit mixing together to move you forward.

Ask God’s Spirit to mix with yours today as you make a life.

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"What will you choose to see today?"

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My wife and I were at the home of another couple. All four of us left together in their vehicle and as we turned down the street, the friend’s wife screams, "Deer! Look! There’s a deer! No, there are two deer! Look!"
Well, of course we looked and there stood a couple of white-tail deer. Our friends were entranced by the deer, just totally excited by seeing them.

But I’ve got to tell you that I wasn’t. I looked at those deer and thought, "Yea, they’re related to the ones on our farm that are probably eating my blueberries off the bushes before I can pick them. And I’ll bet they’re cousins with the doe that’s teaching her fawn to eat the tender shoots and buds on my rose bushes. I wish I had a gun…"

Eventually my friend drove on, but both he and his wife kept marveling over the deer and how extraordinarily wonderful it was to see them. I listened to them and thought, "It’s all a matter of the perspective we choose. They see beautiful wildlife and I see parasites."

What will you choose to see today as you make a life, not just a living?

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"Been to a class reunion lately?"

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Last month I participated in my high school graduating class’ 30th reunion. I couldn’t attend the 10th and didn’t know about the 20th so this was my first ever. And I have to admit it was really interesting…

…I don’t understand how all of them had aged so much and I hadn’t. I mean they were balder and bigger, had wrinkles and had to wear bifocals. Of course I’m none of those things…yea, right!

Seriously, since I hadn’t seen most of them in 30 years, it was really comical because I didn’t have a clue as to who some of them are. I kept getting asked that dreaded question, "Do you remember me?" I mean, there’s no way of faking an answer.

So I just confessed, "Nope," and introduced myself. But you know, as I talked with each person and started recalling childhood memories, and telling stories about each other, and laughing, I remembered. Their spirits—that part of you that never ages—spoke to my spirit and we were together again.

God’s spirit unites us all. Listen for that spirit as you make a life, not just a living today.

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"Amazing how God takes care of you, isn’t it?"

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A friend invited me to a surprise 40th birthday party for his wife. "Is there anything you’d like for us to bring?" I asked him. You see, he’s a walking sports encyclopedia and knows trivia no person should know and quote, but when it comes to the practical matters of a birthday party, well, another friend described him this way—"He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know."

We arrived at the birthday party to discover that one person had brought a fruit tray, but there was no cake. So someone went to a bakery and bought a cake. Another person went home and brought several cases of beverages back. Another brewed some coffee while another bought birthday plates, napkins, and forks. So when my friend arrived, everything you need for a birthday party was there, his wife was delighted, and all was well!

Now before you criticize my friend, how many times in your life do you just show up and God provides everything you need, most often in a similar and supernatural way? As you make a life today, thank God for taking care of you.

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"What are you polishing?"

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A young man bought an expensive gold watch from a jeweler.

Soon, the man brought it back to the jeweler, demanding a new case. The case looked like brass, not gold, and the man had paid for gold.

The jeweler looked at the case, rubbed it a little, and then asked the young man, "Are you taking any supplements that have extra iron in them?"

"Well," said the young man, "yes, I am."

"Okay," the jeweler said, "then that’s the problem. The extra iron comes out with your perspiration and has tarnished the case." And he took a cloth and polished and buffed the watch until it shone again with all of its original golden luster.

You know, we’re like this young man, his watch, and iron. What is inside of us always comes to the surface.

And sometimes what’s inside of us tarnishes what we polish so hard, things like our reputation. So make sure you polish not just what’s on the surface, but polish what’s inside of you as well as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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