Brown's Daily Word 7-23-09

Good morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. We are excited for the Concert by the Continentals Brass and Choir this evening at 7 PM to be held at the First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott. Those of you who live in the vicinity please join us. You will be blessed.
Praise the Lord for summer season. Praise the Lord for the way He has put before us an open door to serve Him and glorify His name. Praise the Lord for the many who are serving Jesus as summer missionaries throughout the world. May Jesus bless their ministry and witness. May there be a great harvest of lives for the sake of the Kingdom. One of my best summers was the summer 1969, when I spent the entire summer withe Operation Mobilization, sharing the Good News of Christ, in North India.
San Jose, California is location of the Winchester Mystery House, a 160-room mansion built by an eccentric wealthy widow who just couldn't stop building--she kept on for 38 years. The house goes on and on, a maze of rooms with doors that open to blank walls and 40 staircases, some that go nowhere. The house is a monument to compulsive meaninglessness.
While attending the Passion Play in Germany in 2000, we visited Neuschwanstein, the most popular castle in Germany, a magnificent castle built by King Ludwig II. It sits atop a mountain overlooking the countryside and looks like something out of a fairy tale. In fact, it is the castle that was copied for Disneyland. Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances just a few months after Neuschwanstein was completed. He allegedly drowned--was it an accident, a suicide, or was he murdered? No one knows. He barely got to enjoy his castle, which became for him a tragic a monument to futility. Death, the ultimate reality, is here to remind us that we are mortal. No one gets off the planet alive.
King Solomon’s home took him 14 years to build, plus he built houses for his many wives. None of this brought him happiness; at best it was all a diversion. King Solomon admitted that he hated life. His accomplishments were never enough and failed to satisfy him. We cannot enjoy the things money can buy unless we possess the things money cannot buy.
Solomon indicated his concern over whether his son Rehoboam would continue his legacy. In fact, he did not. Rehoboam did not follow the wisdom of his father. Instead, he rejected his father and listened to foolish advisors who undermined Solomon’s counsel, and his subsequent actions divided the kingdom of Israel. At the height of his power, Rehoboam abandoned God. Solomon had once declared his fear, “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?”
Job satisfaction comes from God’s hand, a sense of divine calling, in knowing that we’re doing God’s will, fulfilling His purpose for our lives. We have a reason to work hard (and in an ethical manner) because we are not merely serving a corporation; we’re serving God. Paul states in I Timothy 6:17, “Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly provides us with everything we need for our enjoyment.” The “great life” is found in God..
The Bible declares that the cause of human desolation is an unwillingness to believe, which takes God out of the picture. We are restless until we find our rest and purpose in God. We trust the finite gods of pleasure and work, we seek economic security, but lack peace and purpose. God offers eternal security and a meaningful life. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added un to you."
In Christ,
Brown


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Q5vVa0q8Q

In 1923, Who Was . . .
1. President of the largest steel company?

2. President of the largest gas company?

3. President of the New York Stock Exchange?

4. Greatest wheat speculator?

5. President of the Bank of International Settlement?

6. Great Bear of Wall Street?

These men were considered some of the worlds most successful of their days.

Now, 82 years later, the history books tell us what ultimately became of them.

The Answers:

1. The president of the largest steel company. Charles Schwab, died a pauper.

2. The president of the largest gas company, Edward Hopson, went insane.

3. The president of the NYSE, Richard Whitney, was released from prison to die at home

4. The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooger, died abroad, penniless.

5. The president of the Bank of International Settlement, shot himself.

6 The Great Bear of Wall Street, Cosabee Livermore, also committed suicide.

However, in that same year, 1923, the PGA Champion and the winner of the most important golf tournament, the US Open, was Gene Sarazen.

So, what became of him?

He played golf until he was 92, and died in 1999 at the ripe old age of 95! He was very financially secure at the time of his death.

The moral here: Forget work. Play golf!