Rescued by Big G

Can you believe the nerve of some people? A complete and total stranger entered my house recently, saw something he liked, and picked it up without asking. When it was time for him to leave, he didn't want to give it back to me. He tried to steal it!

When I asked him if I could please have it back, he pulled it away from me and gave me a look that could kill. I wrestled it from his fingers and he screamed like....a baby.

Okay, so he was only eighteen months old, but still. That was MY Mr. Potato Head! How dare he think he could enter my house and walk out with my stuff as if it belonged to him! As if he was entitled to anything within his grubby little grasp!

Unauthorized entitlement seems to be a cultural trend in America these days. Parents teach entitlement to their children at a young age. Rambo moms and dads will endure any torture to make sure their precious angel has the newest, the brightest, the prettiest, the most, and the best.

Those babies who wear designer diapers grow up to be teenagers who feel entitled to designer cars and adults who feel entitled to...EVERYTHING.

Newlyweds run out and purchase all the necessities on credit: the satellite dish with 500 channels, the plasma HD-TV that's bigger than their refrigerator, two of the latest cell phones with all the bells and whistles, two new cars, new furniture, and a monthly mortgage that takes two month's salary to pay.

Unearned, unauthorized entitlement is everywhere. This disease has now spread to corporate America. Banks have forgotten how to balance their books. Auto makers can't steer their way onto the highway of fiscal responsibility. So who comes to the rescue?

Not Superman. Not Batman. Not even Mr. Potato Head. This Rescuer is wearing tights the size of a circus tent and has a great big G on his chubby chest ---- the Government! If it weren't so serious, we should all be doubled over in laughter. Government to the rescue?

Yeah, right. The same people who epitomize irresponsibility and waste. That's like asking Atilla the Hun to teach anger management. And we fall for it. Why? Because it's better than US having to assume responsibility for ourselves.

We want someone else to assume responsibility for us. We want to take because we shouldn't have to wait.

Oh, that dirty four-letter word: WAIT. Makes you shudder, doesn't it? Wait. And yet...

...Therein lies the answer. The solution. The only plan that will work. The only hope for this country. The only hope for you.

The first place to wait is on the Lord. "My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5, NKJV).

Wait for who? God.
And who else? God alone.

"He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved" (v. 6). This country was built on a solid foundation. Every corner of it was anchored in an absolute faith in God alone. Yet we've allowed others to put wheels under it and move it to the beach. The tide has rolled in. The sand beneath is shifting. Our foundation is no longer solid. We are being moved.

"In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God" (v. 7). There is a rescuer worth waiting for who has a big G on His chest. He is God, not government.

"Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us" (v. 8). Trusting in God requires waiting upon God.

If we could all learn the value of waiting, we would learn to appreciate what we have and truly enjoy what we eventually acquire. It is in the moments of waiting that we grow. It is then that we learn to value what would otherwise be a blur in the high octane race to the next Mr. Potato Head.

I'm not waiting for the government to bail me out. I know many will. That's their choice. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright" (Psalm 20:7-8).

While waiting on God, I noticed a trailor hitch and a chain on the bumper of America. Several God-followers are pulling on that chain, trying to get us off the beach and back onto a solid foundation. It seems like we're stuck pretty bad. But I think I'll join them. Won't you?

It's stuck pretty deep. So we may all need to get on our knees...
Perry Crisp

Kudos

All cute puppies and kittens should come with the same warning label: If you feed me, I will grow.

A disclaimer on the reverse side of the label should follow: Once you start feeding me, you will have to keep feeding me. I will never learn to feed myself, nor will my appetite ever decrease. You are taking on a serious one-sided commitment here. Though I am cute and fun now, I will soon grow weary of your games, become increasingly lazy, and may develop an attitude.

Case in point: Kudo. Kudo began life tragically. At a very young age, he was separated from his mother and siblings. He somehow managed to get in the way of a road construction crew on a busy highway. The young, black pup was tossed and rolled in front of a road grater and left wounded and alone in a pile of dirt and gravel.

The whimpering pup caught the ear of a teenage girl who ran to his rescue. My daughter was driving along the highway at this time and saw her teenage friend rescuing the beat-up pup. Of the two teenage heroines, only one had a pushover parent who would allow the roadside orphan to take up residence in his home. Yep. Yours truly. The pup was fuzzy on the outside and tough on the inside, and I was just the opposite.

While it was my daughter and her friend who saved the pup's life, it is I who regularly maintain it. This story would be so much more Norman Rockwell if the cute little puppy grew up to be a small, fragile, intelligent, well-mannered dog. Ha! Not only did the dog grow huge and strong, he's also hyper and mentally challenged.

An animal psychologist I am not, but here's my evaluation of dear Kudo: He is something I feed every day, yet cannot control.

It's time to cross the bridge from the animal kingdom to the Kingdom of God. James 1:14-15 speaks of the temptation to feed our desires. Those desires are very enticing. But the argument of James and much of the New Testament is that what you feed, will grow. There are all kinds of negative applications here. Addictions and "ism's" can all be traced back to a little puppy that once seemed like harmless fun. Now, it's something you feed every day and can't control.

So what can you do? Starve yourself? Absolutely not. You should keep feeding yourself. But change the menu. Feast on the Word of God. Pack your spirit full of nutrients as you pack your mind full of truth. Spend so much time reading and concentrating on what the Bible says that you don't have time to feed anything else.

The Bible Buffet is open 24/7...and you don't have to count calories.
Perry Crisp