Back-Door Blessing

by Charles R. Swindoll

James 1

I had lunch recently with a businessman who runs his own company. As we talked, the subject of wisdom kept popping up in our conversation. So I asked, “How does a person get wisdom? I realize we are to be men of wisdom, but few people ever talk about how it is acquired.”

His answer was quick and to the point: “Pain.”

I paused and looked deeply into his eyes. Without knowing the specifics, I knew his one-word answer was not theoretical. He and pain had gotten to know each other rather well.

It was then I quoted from the first chapter of James: “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots” (James 1:2-4, Phillips).

There is no shortcut, no such thing as instant endurance. The pain brought on by interruptions and disappointments, by loss and failure, by accidents and disease, is the long and arduous road to maturity. There is no other road.

But where does wisdom come in? James explains in the next verse: “And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him” (1:5).

As I see it, it is a domino effect. One thing bumps up against another, which, in turn, bumps another, and in the long haul, endurance helps us mature. Periodically, however, we will find ourselves at a loss to know what to do or how to respond. It’s then we ask for help, and God delivers more than intelligence and ideas and good old common sense. He dips into His well of wisdom and allows us to drink from His bucket, whose refreshment provides abilities and insights that are of another world. Perhaps it might best be stated as having a small portion of “the mind of Christ.”

When we have responded as we should to life’s blows, enduring them rather than escaping them, we are given more maturity that stays with us and new measures of wisdom, which we are able to draw upon for the balance of our lives.

By accepting life’s tests and temptations as friends, we become men and women of mature character.

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Well maybe not bike trash. Went through Breck had a crepe and got hailed on. And yes that does hurt doing 60 when hail hits you. Spending the night in Glenwood. Great pasta.

When Freedom whispers, “be free”…….Answer her

Free yourself

Free others

That’s what we are doing at Denver Advertising. Starting Friday, our staff is getting on our hogs and heading to Grand Canyon the low and slow way baby. We are biker trash! Burgers, Ribs, oh….what’s that green stuff next to the meat, looks like lettuce. It’s freedom, It’s friendships, It’s life….It’s leather and lot’s of it. Think about it, where else can you wear leather chaps and smell like raw testosterone mixed with 98 octane.  It’s fun, it’s sun and it’s people stopping you after they get out of their cages and want to discuss where you are going, while desiring “please take me with you, I’m stuck, I’m scared, I wanna be free”.

Escape. Free yourself. I give you permission this summer to do something you have never done. Take a risk. I promise you, at 75, we aint gonna look back and wish we would of stayed at work all those extra hours. Yes, work hard, but play hard. Celebrate Life. God created it and He did a wonderful job. Now quit making excuses why you can’t and just buy the ticket and go.

Peace……May Freedom reign and rain in your life.

P.S. I’ll keep ya posted throughout the week.

The days of sitting around and listening to the radio are over.

My nephew just graduated. Go conquer the world, Jean Paul

That’s why we live in Colorado. Have a great weekend.

For almost 20 years Denver Advertising has been helping businesses start, grow and maintain. Most of the time, the conversation comes up as to how do I still support my family, myself or others during the rough times or heck even during the good times. And the conversation comes up often with our clients. For me and my company, we rely on God. There have been times where He has directed me to give a ton away and others where he directs me to lock down the hatches, no big steak dinners for a season and others where He instructs me to enjoy the fruit of my labor. I’ve learned that every season is good when you are plugged into God. At the end of this race, I want to make sure I ran hard but more importantly I ran the right race.

I love what Alister Begg says below (truthforlife.org):

God’s Provision

There is grain for sale in Egypt.

Genesis 42:2

Famine pinched all the nations, and it seemed inevitable that Jacob and his family should suffer great want; but the God of providence, who never forgets the objects of electing love, had stored a granary for His people by giving the Egyptians warning of the scarcity and leading them to treasure up the grain from the years of plenty. Little did Jacob expect deliverance from Egypt, but there was grain in store for him.

Believer, though all things are apparently against you, rest assured that God has made a reservation on your behalf; in the roll of your griefs there is a saving clause. Somehow He will deliver you, and somewhere He will provide for you. Your rescue may come from a very unexpected source, but help will definitely come in your extremity, and you will magnify the name of the Lord. If men do not feed you, ravens will; and if the earth does not yield wheat, heaven will drop manna.

Therefore be of good courage, and rest quietly in the Lord. God can make the sun rise in the west if He pleases and can make the source of distress a channel of delight. The grain in Egypt was all in the hands of the beloved Joseph; he opened or closed the granaries at will. And so the riches of providence are all in the absolute power of our Lord Jesus, who will dispense them generously to His people. Joseph was abundantly ready to help his own family; and Jesus is unceasing in His faithful care for His brethren.

Our responsibility is to go after the help that is provided for us: We must not sit still in despondency, but stir ourselves. Prayer will bring us quickly into the presence of our royal Brother. Once before His throne we have only to ask and receive. His stores are not exhausted; there is still grain: His heart is not hard; He will give the grain to us. Lord, forgive our unbelief, and this evening constrain us to draw largely from Your fullness and receive grace for grace.

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