Tag Archives: planning for the future

As I child, I enjoyed counting rare coins that my parents collected.  Placing our families spare change into a large jar located on a counter next to the main entrance, this giant piggy bank usually took a month or so to fill.  Once full, each coin was sorted on our kitchen table, separating the regular quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies from the valuable ones based upon dates and where each was minted.   Before the internet, large navy blue notebooks provided collectors with important informing above a coin sized filling system to hold each valuable coin, carefully pressed into place by my father.  Since I was the youngest, I was relegated the task of sorting the least valuable, but most common.  Though my family didn’t have much in my early years, we were frugal, savoring every penny.

Since Australia, Canada and New Zealand have recently phased out their version of the penny, American coin enthusiasts fear its days are numbered.  The cost of inflation might persuade leaders to discontinue the penny as it costs more to make than its actual worth.  If the penny is taken out of circulation, citizens, government officials and retailers are going have to develop a new way of measuring currency or simply round items up to the nearest nickel.  Since the days of 50 cent gas, 25 cent meals and 15 cent movie theater tickets are in our rear view mirror, the penny is on the verge of extinction.

During the days when Pharaoh reigned over Egypt, there was a 7 year period of bountiful harvests.  As a result, store houses went built around the fields in each city of Egypt, overseen by the governor Joseph.  According to Genesis 41:49, the yield from each area throughout the country was so plentiful, Joseph stopped counting since it was beyond measure.  This planning saved countless lives, serving as a security blanket during one of the worst 7 year drought Egypt ever faced.  Without Joseph’s insight from God, millions of people from the Middle East might have starved to death.

Whenever times are going well, people often forget to stop and give thanks to the Lord for their daily bread.  Success can result in pride, causing one to give yourself more credit than you deserve.  Yet, when famine or trials strike unexpectedly, God is usually the first to be blamed.  Instead of taking responsibility or blaming yourself for missing obvious signs from the Lord, the sinful mind distorts your perspective, Romans 8:5-8.  Beyond the measurements human beings make as well as previous judgments made by others, don’t forgot the James 1:17 principle.  Come to the realization that God is beyond measure; seeing yourself as a humble servant, trying to find your place in this world, Job 42:1-6.

by Jay Mankus