I frequently go into houses much bigger and nicer than the lovely home where my wife allows me to live. Some of my friends have newer, more manly trucks, and hotter cars, than what I drive. Some of my fellow DIY enthusiasts have  tool collections that are impressive, both for quantity and quality. Mostly, though, I don't struggle with envy about those matters. Where I have to sit myself down and give me a good talking-to is over the matter of intelligence. I'm blessed a good utilitarian mind. Most of the time, by God's grace, I can get-r-done. Since the work I do involves ideas, thinking, organizing and making persuasive presentations, I frequently spend time--even if only by way of books, articles, and blogs--with people smarter than me, sometimes way smarter. By the way, I think it is smart to do that. Sometimes, though, as I read some author who refers to scores of books--books that aren't short and that are devoid of pictures--which he/she obviously has read, understood, and remembered, or when I walk with someone through a brilliant analysis of of a complicated Biblical or Theological issue, I have to push back covetousness. How come they get to be so much smarter than me? I know that some of these folk's brilliance comes from discipline, and many years of dedicated study, but I look at some of what I read and realize that I have no more chance of being on that level than I do of being a star in the NBA. For those of you who don't understand sports analogies, that would be ZERO.
I want to thank some local kids for challenging me, reminding me, and helping me to realize that my worth is not determined by my IQ any more than it is by how many square feet my house is or how many horsepower I take out on the road.
In a world where decisions of worth and pecking-order are often made in a cut-throat manner, a group of students got it right. They realized that just because someone is better looking, smarter, richer, faster or stronger than somebody else, that doesn't make them worth any more. These students chose someone from a group that is often looked down on, and gave him a turn in the spotlight.
What they did was right. They honored this young man because of something he is. He touches the lives of others in meaningful ways. I'm sure it was a great encouragement to Chris. What the students at Alleghany High School don't know is they were a challenge to me. They reminded me that envying what others have and who others are won't get anything done. Using what I have and who I am to the glory of God can do more than I can imagine. Chris, fellow students at AHS, thank you. Lead on. Use what God has given you for His glory.
I think the rest of you can figure out how that applies to you.
It's STTA.
David shared some thoughts about God's sovereign control over the way he was made. You can read his thoughts in this beautiful Psalm. |
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Having the wheels properly aligned on anything that rolls--from cars that tend to dive for the ditch, to trailers (like the picture) that wear our tires on one side, to grocery carts that go "whappity, whappity, whappity"-- is incredibly important. A friend of mine just invested a pretty good chunk of money in getting the front end of his car lined up. It's money well-spent. The wheel needs to be going the same direction as the rest of the vehicle. Any deviation will produce excessive wear, or worse, disaster.
graduates to line up. It's a far more difficult task to get a graduate in line. Unlike servicing an automobile, there are no computer assisted people-alignment units, and the task is not done by a specialist. While there are counselors, coaches, and people like me, who seek to give guidance, in the human realm it is an amateur who is wielding the wrench. Each of us has to 
make the adjustment on himself. And especially for people like graduates, who are going on to something new (and isn't really true about all of us?), that means we are getting oriented to something we've never seen before.