Baseball, Coffee and God

    A certain Sunday school teacher stood before his class and placed a large, empty pickle jar on a table. He then dropped a baseball into the jar and asked,"Is this jar full?" With puzzled looks on their faces, they shook their heads.
   He then dropped in a bunch of golf balls. "Now is the jar full?" The young people began to chuckle and replied,"Yes...", not knowing where their teacher was heading with this. "Are you sure?" he asked. Some changed their answer and reasoned their choices.
   As they discussed, the teacher brought out a bag of corn and poured it in the jar. The kernels filtered down into the gaps between the golf balls and some reaching the baseball. "Now is the jar full?".
  They all agreed that now the jar was full and nothing more could go into the jar. With that, the teacher then brought out a cup of ground coffee and poured it into the jar. He then gave the jar a couple taps and the coffee settled down between the corn and golf balls leaving no room at the top of the jar. Patting the coffee down so that it was even with the top of the jar, he asked,"Now is it full?"
  "YES!" they exclaimed exasperated by this nonsense.
  "You see", he explained,"if this jar is your life, you have a full life. The ground coffee is the stuff that doesn't really matter. It's like Facebook. There's stuff there that grabs your attention and occupies your time, but, it really doesn't matter in the long-run.
   "The kernels," he continued,"are the the things that do matter. Your material needs. Clothes, money, job or school. Things you should care about but shouldn't obsess about.
   "The golf balls," ignoring the comments about obsessing over clothes,"are the important things in your life. Family, relationships, your health. These things require your attention. Although, most of the time, these are the things you take for granted. When was the last time you really noticed your parents? Took out your ear buds and asked them about their day?"
   "And the baseball?" someone asked.
   "The baseball is what we take for granted the most." Pointing to the baseball in the jar, the teacher continued, "Although the baseball is a huge part of our life, we give it the least amount of attention overall. The baseball represents our relationship with God. In Matthew 6:25-33, Jesus says,   
²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?... ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." 
   "By 'seeking' Him first, all the things in your life fall into place. I'm not saying it will all be butterflies and cupcakes, but, you can have order if you start your day with seeking God first. Pray, read your Bible. Sincerely seek God"
   With that, he pulled out another jar just like the first. He then poured a cup of ground coffee in the jar. Followed by a bag of corn and the same number of golf balls as . Not all the golf balls fit in the jar and 2 or 3 fell to the table.
  "What about God?" a young man asked.
   "Exactly Jesus' point! If you aren't putting God first in your life, where does He fit in?!"

How about you? Is your life full? Are you occupied by the things that don't matter? How do you start your day? With God or coffee? 
  
  
  
  

Am I Better Off?

I apologize for the length, but, to simply say "no" wasn't enough.
In a way, that's kind of a silly question. It did make me think about not only the last 4 years, but a little beyond.
I'm in the construction biz which is up and down as it is. Office furniture and conference tables. A feast and famine scenario. I was settled into my "career" at the end of the Reagan era. We had alot of business. Buildings were going up and needed to be filled with stuff. This was the beginning of the first G Bush term. People were trying to configure PCs into their desks. A trend was forming.
In late '90, the raid on Iraq began and the phones stopped ringing. Just like that. Staff and hours were cut back. After the Gulf War, it was a slow go but steady. I survived a few layoffs, bought a house, had some kids and went to Disneyland. In '92, my company was bought by a larger company. It was rocky at first but I can say at the end of those 4 years, I was better off.
Two years into the Clinton era things were going very well. More business, more work and more overtime. The "dot com" boom had begun and we were out in front. So far out that my company had the corner on modular furniture and the big boys were gunning for us. That was a good feeling. The business still went up and down but I still had a job. Was still paying bills and had decent health insurance for the family with a combination of my work and my wifes coverage. At the end of those 4 years, I was better off than the previous. Things were getting better, but, that was the peak.
With Clintons 2nd term, things began to slide. The boom busted. All those dot-com'ers went bankrupt and their furniture was going to auction for pennies. It was almost new. Why not? Manufacturers were in a scramble. It became a survival of the fittest. Who could produce the most on the least. I was supervising night shift and doing quite well at it. But when you have 2 shifts and need to start cutting back, the first to get hit is the extra shift. This was the beginning of my digression. When I took over the night shift, we had 80+ workers on the floor for both shifts. When I was brought back to days, we were down to 30+ on the floor and my wage was $2 less. With each month after that we lost a few more here, a few more there. The company began utilizing temps because they are expendible. Did I mention we were a union shop? Yeah. It didn't make any difference. If the work isn't coming in, then the people go. Union or not. The competition were dropping left and right, too. Somehow, we were hanging on. At the end of those 4 years, I don't think I was better off.
Enter Bush #2. There was a glimmer of hope. At least the stock market thought so. Business picked up a bit. we were coming up with new products and a new market, GSA. Government accounts. We were filling up military bases around the world! Well, the U.S. and Guam. Anyhow, we were busy and maintained between 25-35 people on the floor.
Then the towers came down. The phone stopped ringing again. We limped along for a few years. No lay offs but cut back on hours. At the end of those 4 years, we were hanging onto our house. I wasn't better off.
The era of hope and change. To put hope in a man, any man is ridiculous. But there was change. A big change. My company couldn't hang on any longer and shut down. For the first time in my working life, 27 yrs, I was jobless. I had to apply for unemployment, write a resume, fill out applications, online. Everyday, 5 times a day, for 10 months. Not one of them panned out.
I got a job when my former boss went to a company and he brought me in to help him. It's not what you know. It's who you know and what they know you know. Don't burn bridges.
Now, I have a job, I hate, making $3 less than I was 4 years ago with worse health coverage for more money. We still have our house and 2 cars that run. But, am I better off than 4 years ago? Economically, no.
What does this mean? I don't know. I simply answered the question. I do know I am not putting my faith in the government. Or a party or idealolgy. I'm not even putting faith in myself. The only one constant I could count on was God. He was always there. He always provided. When the money was coming up short, I would get some sort of side job that would cover expenses. We have a church family that was always praying, keeping an eye out for jobs or bring us groceries. Our true family supporting us through a variety of ways. All bundled in a faith in God. You say, "Well, you got unemployment." That ran out. I was hired my last month of UE. That's God. Not me. Not the government. Not a man.
Romans 8:18-28, 31-34
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

I'm sorry but I can't jump on this Kony band wagon. Is this a horrible tragedy? Yes, but, we can't even take care of our own backyard. Nothing can stop this short of a NAVY SEAL with sniper rifle. Meanwhile, we have a president and a herd of politicians advocating the killing of babies in OUR country. Shouldn't we be seeking justice for them? They too have no voice. Let's all link arms, flood Face...book and demand for the justice of a crazed killer half a world away, all the while turning a blind eye to the "legal" genocide happening just a few blocks from your own home. Reset your priorities. If you really value life that much, then stand up for the ones who are being dropped in a bio waste bucket day after day in THIS country!! http://youtu.be/7y2KsU_dhwI