As if it weren't kewl enough that I'm the husband of a princess, I am a son of the King!

I am the husband of a Daughter of the King.  Wow!

I could fill up my space on this cyber-page telling lot's of good things about my lovely wife, but that is not my purpose.  I am very proud of her.  She is a beautiful, capable, dedicated lady who is a blessing to many--I get to be at the head of that line!

Kathy and some other wonderful women have been planning an event for ladies that takes place later this week.  About a hundred women and girls will gather for an evening of encouragment, challenge and fun.  Hey, I know the meal will be great; I'm helping to prepare it, but talking about the event the ladies have planned is not my purpose either.

I just like the name the ladies chose for their evening out.  It's aPsalm-like title. 

Consider this from Psalm 36:6, "Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep."  or from Psalm 48:1, "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised."  Or, "You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it."  (Psalm 65:9)  Or how can you miss this:  "For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God."

David and the other Psalm-writers extol God's greatness, goodness, mercy, power, wrath against evil, love, wisdom and so much more.  And . . .

This is where I see the similarity to the name the ladies have chosen for their get-together.  Running through these Psalms and many other scripture passages is this subscript.  "He is my God!  All you worshippers of Baal, Ashtaroth, the hosts of heaven, and all the other gods who are no gods at all, take note; this is the true GOD, and I am His."  If such a combination of words is possible, it is a sanctified pride.

Thank you, Kathy, and all the other ladies who are planning this event.  It hasn't even taken place yet, and--other than as unhired help--I won't get to attend, but the evening has already ministered to me.  Just the name of the event reminds me that I am a son of the King!  The real Lord of all that is. 

"For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods "  (Psalm 95:3) And He has a boy named Howard.

It's STTA

Here is a messagefrom one of my brothers, another son of the King, who spends a few minutes bragging on Dad. 

Leverage

Financial gurus often speak of "leverage."  About the only thing I know about finances is that I don't know very much, but, as I understand it, leverage has to do with an individual investing a relatively small amount of his money, combining it with a great deal of the investment of others, and reaping a result that is far greater than would otherwise be gained on the basis of the small personal investment.  I don't have any experience with that in the fiscal realm, but I have seen it work spiritually.

When I invest in the lives of others my efforts are leveraged to produce far, FAR greater results than my meager resources would ever be able to accomplish.

 
• I'm not the smartest guy around, but God has given me the opportunity to invest in some some really sharp folk.
• My business ventures consist mainly of others giving me the business, but there are businesses that are guided, in part, by the influence the Lord has enabled me to have.
• I already mentioned my financial limitations.  Yet there are others who speak amortization without being mortified, with whom the Lord has given me the privilege of working.

Leverage--having an impact bigger than, longer lasting than, and far more impressive than anything I, with my limited resources, could accomplish.  Long before the "How-to-Get-Rich-with-the-Change-in-Your-Pocket" books were written, THE BOOK talked about this maximization of impact, not by investing the resources of others, but by investing in others.  Go out there and encourage, teach, counsel, or come along side one to invest in them.

Leverage your efforts for the glory of God.

It's STTA

I'm RICH!

A number of popular sayings have to do with how wealthy one is if he has friends.
It is good, from time to time, to shake the friendship coins out of the "Philo-bank" and take stock of just how rich you are.  
I'm sure I'm not finished reckoning the extent of my wealth, but I'm up there with Gates and Buffet.  My philo-wealth is even more impressive because I don't have a great deal of the coin which Forbes looks for in its "Richest" lists. Wonder of wonders, it is clear that my friends are not such because of what they can get.  They can all see and think clearly enough to know that  there isn't much there to lay hold of, yet they still take hold of my hand in brotherly-love.
Thanks to my friends, and thank God for them.
"A friend loves at all times."  (Proverbs 17:17)

  It's STTA

Rendition: To Caesar & to God

Jesus said to "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."  I hope you have done your rendering.  I got mine done very early, about 1:30 this afternoon.  Actually I could have E-filed my return ridiculously early--I pretty well finished at 1:00 this morning.  I'll get back to that.  In that statement I referenced, found in Matthew 22:21, Jesus also said ". . . and unto God the things that are God's.

I haven't read the book by Ross Douthat,

Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, but I did read an interesting interview with him here.  I find much with which to agree in the interview.  Much of my agreement has to do with that confusion of Caesar and God, which Jesus condemned.  I'll let you read the interview, or the book for yourself, but apparently Douthat is zeroing in on a principle that has been articulated in various forms throughout church history.  The monastics, and groups that radically separate from the world like the Amish, some Mennonites, and to a large degree the Fundamentalists of sixty years ago made the point one way.  "We believe," they said, "that what is supremely important has nothing to do with the world's power bases.  The concept is clear in the confrontational ministries of leaders like Billy Graham (after he learned some early lessons) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John the Baptist, the Old Testament prophets, Thomas More, Desmond Tutu, Chuck Colson, the host of martyrs in the early church, and many of the reformers.  These spokesmen for the Lord--though I don't necessarily agree with the positions all of them took--stood apart from the state and confronted it, sometimes facing not only a corrupt civil authority, but also a "church" in an unhealthy alliance with the state.  As the post World War I German church, learned too late, and as what is popularly called Evangelicalism* needs to learn, we are in greatest danger when we find something within Caesar's realm with which we agree.   We ought to rejoice in sound, righteous government.
"Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people." (Proverbs 14:34)  But, but, but, we have to realize--and history is full of examples--if you get into bed with Caesar, you wake up with Caesar's fleas.  Or to use an even less flattering analogy, it is hard to speak truth to power when our mouths are full of junk-food the brokers of power have poured into the trough from which we feed.

Oh, about my 1:00am tax-form completion:  I was glad about my way early "Caesaric rendition," so happy that I retired in bliss, such contentment that I forgot to set my alarm.  I slept the slumber of one whose conscience is clear of any unmet obligation to the toga-wearing class, and awoke at 7:30, the beatific aura of my fulfilled obligation still hanging on my patriotic, ethical, much poorer person.  The glow lasted until I realized that 7:30 is an hour-and-a-half past the time I was supposed to be at a Bible study with some guys.

Render to Caesar, but let's not let it keep us from giving God the supreme place in our lives that He deserves.    

 It's STTA