treasuring god
Rumors have swirled and intrigue abounded over the life and bank accounts of Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress of a vast copper mine fortune. Though she owned mansions, exclusive estates, and posh New York high-rise apartments, Clark lived in a hospital room. She was in good health, but for mysterious reasons chose to live in the hospital—registered under a false name. The last known photograph of Clark was taken in the 1930s. She died in 2011, but continues to be the subject of public fascination. Curious minds want to know: How did Clark use her vast treasure?
elusive and illusive
Solomon laid out the yardsticks of success in ancient Jewish society: wealth, honor, possessions, a very large family, and a very long life (Ecclesiastes 6:2-3). Today, a large family and long life would be deemed by some as more of a burden and trouble than success. But wealth, possessions, and honor are definitely contemporary yardsticks of success.
Even as you…
true contentment
Whenever a friend succeeds,” Gore Vidal once said, ”a little something in me dies.” The words are sad, because a life lived in envy leaves little room for joy. But don’t Vidal’s words reflect our own feelings at times?
Every person who longs to be married knows that sinking feeling when yet another friend becomes engaged. Every childless couple feels…
never satisfied
"It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
We all know that Christians sometimes struggle with issues in their lives. Since we're all humans, we also have the frailties that are associated with our humanity. One of…
flying fish
The residents of Lajamanu, a remote Australian town, received a fishy gift last summer. Hundreds of small spangled perch dropped from the sky! Meteorologists believe the fish were sucked up into the clouds by a storm. “It could have scooped the fish up to 40,000 to 50,000 feet in the air. Once they get up into the system they [were]…
company you keep
One of the highlights of living in East Africa is meeting men and women from around the world who come through the region to participate in short or long-term missions. Today, for example, while sitting in a Kampala, Uganda, coffee shop, I met a young married couple from Charleston, South Carolina. Amanda and Michael recently moved to Uganda to help…
sellout
Anthony Marshall conned his mother out of millions before she died at age 105 in 2007. Her money, advancing age, and struggle with Alzheimer’s disease made her an attractive target. Marshall’s mother was Brooke Astor—famous New York City socialite and keeper of the vast Astor family fortune. Ironically, her senior-citizen son was already wildly wealthy, and yet he conspired with…
be on guard
Last year on Christmas Eve, a New York cab driver found more than $21,000 in cash and jewelry left in his cab by an Italian tourist. He drove more than 50 miles to return the possessions to an address he found in the purse. The woman wasn’t home, so he left a note that contained his phone number. The tourist…
our daily bread
Both the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program report that 1.02 billion people (15 percent of the world population) went to bed hungry in 2009. Every day, 18,000 children under the age of 5 die from hunger-related causes—one child every 5 seconds. The urgent cry of these 1.02 billion people is, “Give us today the…
tossing it back
During a Major League Baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals last summer, a man named Steve Monforto caught a foul ball as he sat in the bleachers. Since fans are allowed to keep balls hit into the stands, Monforto handed the prize catch to his 3-year-old daughter Emily. But instead of treasuring the gift, she innocently…
learning to be content
For nearly a year, I was disturbed by a passage in Philippians in which the apostle Paul claims to possess unwavering contentment. “I have learned how to be content with whatever I have,” Paul said, adding, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is…
no grumbling allowed
I laughed yesterday as I read Facebook comments written by a close friend and his wife. She updated her profile to read, “I am grumpy for no good reason.” Beneath it, alluding to Facebook’s “like” button, my friend wrote: “They need an ‘unlike button’ for these types of things.
Although the above exchange is humorous, Israel’s grumpy behavior in Numbers…
praise in the slum
More than a million people live in Kibera, East Africa’s largest slum, located in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya. A railroad track divides the massive area in half and, when no train is chugging through, also serves as a walking path for Kibera residents and visitors.
One day, as I was trekking down the track, a man in a shabby…
being satisfied
Biju Thampy, a young man from India, knew poverty. When an unidentified benefactor sent him to England to be trained for the ministry, Thampy was unwilling to rest in comfort. Hungry for the realization of the Great Commission, he asked the school officials to use part of the funds from his meal provisions for missions. For him, eating only one…
