Why Wait

Why Wait

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Ron Hutchcraft, and the Scripture is Isaiah 55:6 ...seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

A storm that roared through our area got so intense that a tree as big around as a car came crashing down on a house in our community. It went all the way through the roof and the house, and it did not take long for the insurance adjuster to come by and give the owner a check to get the damage repaired. She called a contractor to come over for an estimate, and when he asked if she wanted him to do the work, she told him she wanted another estimate first. He warned her that there was more rain in the forecast, but she was determined. She had a similar conversation with a second contractor. Then the big rain came and, of course, poured into her house. That is when she called a third and fourth contractor; both of whom gave her much higher estimates than the first two. Finally, she called in that first contractor who gave her a new estimate as high as the others. He said, You waited so long that the rain came and did a lot more damage, so getting things fixed is going to cost a lot more.

It is amazing how we have a tendency to put off repairs that need to be made in our marriage, with our child, with our parents, in a broken relationship, or in dealing with a problem that we do not want to confront. We keep thinking about how much it is going to cost to try to fix things, and we put it off a little bit longer.

Problem: the longer you wait to repair what is broken, the more expensive it is going to be. This is the easiest and cheapest it is ever going to be to make it right, and one day it is going to get so bad that the price of repairs may be more expensive than you ever dreamed.

Postponing the Christ who died for your sin gets more and more expensive; more and more days wasted without the love and the meaning you were made for. We are far away from God because our sin has cut us off from the one person we cannot afford to live without , and I urge that you will not postpone repairing your relationship with God one more day. Getting this settled brings the greatest peace in the world.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Nothing In This World

Nothing In This World
 

Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Isaiah 55:2  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
 
In every single one of us there is a raging, unquenchable and all consuming thirst that leads us to decide that nothing is good enough and will ever satisfy us.  We all have an infinite capacity for boredom and irritability with anything, even the best things.  The more successful you are the faster you come to realize that you have a bottomless pit inside of you.  There is a black hole and an infinite vacuum in you and me, and it does not matter what I put in there.  At first it is great, she is great, or he is great.  Then, after awhile I find fault, and I want to pull away. 
 
I have a large folder filled with quotes from successful people and famous people who after they got to the top, said, I do not know what happened, but I wanted to kill myself.  Boris Becker, for example, the tennis great, looking back on his life said that when he was at the height of his power, achievement and fame, he wanted to kill himself. Why?  Because when he got all those things, he still felt empty.  He said, I had won Wimbledon twice, and once I was the youngest player to ever do so.  I was rich, and I had all the material possessions that I needed.  I guess it is like the old song about movies and pop stars who want to commit suicide.  They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy.  It is true.  I had nothing on the inside. 
 
Like I said, it goes faster if you are successful, but we are all on our way.  Unless there is a cure or a medicine or a treatment or some kind of intervention, we are all on our way to being unhappy with anything and with everything.  Nothing will ever be good enough. If there is nothing in this world that ever satisfies me, then it must mean that I am made for something beyond this world.
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Your Word and Handshake

Your Word and Handshake

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by NFL commentator and former Harvard basketball player James Brown, and it was taken from his book Role Of A Lifetime. The scripture is Matthew 5:37 Simply let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

James Brown was a high school All American in basketball, and he was recruited by nearly all of the top teams in the country except for UCLA which was in the middle of their run where they won 10 national championships in 12 years. He finally narrowed his decision between Harvard and UNC. Below is from his book.

After an agonizing and long period of introspection and analysis, the process finally resulted in my selection of Harvard. They offered me early admission, because of my grades and the situation I was in with my recruitment elsewhere, to allow me to effectively end the continuing recruitment process and put it all behind me. I accepted and said that I would attend.

That is when the letter arrived that threw our house into chaos. Any thoughts of being a role model in Cambridge were put on hold when I held in my hands the envelope with UCLA written on its face in deep sky blue and sun gold.

Mom, this is from UCLA. I have to go. I have to at least visit. Pauley Pavillion. John Wooden. It is U-C-L-A. I said it slowly, carefully enunciating each letter, as if she were having trouble with my spelling. It is the mecca of college basketball. They dominate college basketball-they have won two straight national championships and four of the last five.

My mother was unmoved. My father, too, was completely unmoved. They sat me down. James, you have given your word to Harvard. Your word means more than anything, son. You shook hands and said that you were coming-you cannot change your mind now. You are going to Harvard. That was that.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining