Tag Archives: projects

Misreading the Road Signs in Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2uKQi1Q4_8

I guess you can say I’ve always been geographically challenged the first time I drive to a new place.  Once I find it, my photographic memory will bring me back time after time.  However, sometimes the anticipation of arriving causes me to jump the gun, misreading road signs, causing me to regularly get off on the wrong exit.

For we live by faith, not by sight. – 2 Corinthians 5:7

The night before I met my wife for the very first time, I was on my way to a regional conference in Chicago.  Unfamiliar with the area, I wasn’t sure which exit to take.  Not afraid to ask for directions, I got off trying to find a convenience store or gas station to point me in the right direction.  Instead, I drove into what I thought was a development, actually one of the projects.  Before I could roll my window down, I found myself in the middle of a movie, about the get car jacked.  Whether it was the Holy Spirit or mere instincts, I gunned my engine, almost took out 2 people and fled as fast as I could back to the main highway.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. – Psalm 119:105

Fortunately for me, I escaped a life altering experience, similar to the events of Robert Allenby’s brush with death last weekend in Hawaii.  Every know and then, we all happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Subsequently, death can result like an incident bystander struck by a drunk driver.  Thus, trying to make sense of life’s bizarre circumstances is nearly impossible.  Nonetheless, when roadblocks send you in an alternate or different direction, open life’s road map, the Bible, to help you get you back on course.

by Jay Mankus

 

Read the Fine Print

Its amazing how dishonest commercials have become in this age of disclaimers.  By the time you try to listen to and or read the warning at the bottom of your television screen, another ad appears.  In a rush to strike it big, reward stock owners or pay for future projects, imperfections abound when you read the fine print.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1KduYyR_I

Meanwhile, walking billboards are just as guilty.  Whenever you hear words like “I’ve never done that, my pastor’s never sinned or you struggle with that,” wait a couple days or weeks and sin will flow like rain.  Christians that sound too good to be true aren’t doing anyone any good.  Rather, the closer you are to God, the more humble you become.  Yet, the opposite is true as the further you stray from the Lord, the better you feel initially until pride sets people up for a fall.

If you want to read the fine print, just open up one of the 4 gospels in the Bible.  Although Jesus spoke in parables to drive home a point, he doesn’t beat around the bush.  Jesus set high expectations for his disciples, causing many to walk away, unable to meet his standards, Luke 9:57-63.  Despite our own inabilities to achieve holiness, John 3:16-17 provides a highlighted reminder of God’s eternal plan.  Don’t let bad examples keep you from the truth.  Rather, read the fine print for yourself to reserve a room in eternity, 1 John 5:13.

by Jay Mankus