The wind was quite excited today, makes me homesick a bit. You know out in Wyoming the wind blows like that quite a bit. It isn't even a warning until about 55 or 60 mph. Brings some real memories back.
Enough of that I really appreciate Deb's responses and to hear her excitement is not only good but it can be infectious. Get on with us and lets hear from all of you out there. Catch the Spirit and let it fly, life will be beyond your wildest imagination.
Here is the lesson for today:

The Rewards of a Rich Live
In Victor Hugo's great novel Les Miserables. Jean Valjean is befriended and given lodging by the bishop, then steals his candlesticks. After the bishop reports the theft to the police, the magistrate questions Jean Valjean in the bishop's presence. When it begins to appear that Valjean is headed for jail, the bishop retracts his charges and offers a plausible reason for why the candlesticks are missing. Jean Valjean is amazed. When he and the bishop are alone, he asks, "Why did you do that? You know I am guilty."
The bishop replies. "Life is for giving."
The bishop was saying the same thing Jesus said throughout his life. A review of everything he said in the Gospel records reveals that Jesus's teachings regarding the secrets to meaningful living come down to one word—give. Give God your attention. Give people your love. Give the world your service. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35) Contemporary research reveals through scientific study what Jesus knew through spiritual instinct. The six greatest needs of every human being are meaning and purpose, self-esteem, loving relationship, spiritual connection with God, security, and a sense of immortality. Why did Jesus talk so much about money? Why do so many of his parables discuss the appropriate or inappropriate use of money? Because money has the power to help or hinder people from meeting these six basic needs that determine the quality of our daily living. "Money cannot buy happiness," we say repeatedly. True! But the way we use money directly influences how happy we are. Its use or misuse influences our ability to find value in life and spiritual growth in our relationship with God.
Leon Kass said to Bill Moyers, "Most of the human beings whose lives have stirred us and whom we admire are people who dedicated themselves not to the elementary pleasures, but to something noble, something fine, something that reaches beyond."
Haddon Robinson said that it is little wonder that God loves a cheerful giver, because so do we. Being generous does something for our spirit. "Which word would you like to have applied to you?" Robinson asked, "Tight-fisted or generous''"
Bill Easum, the author of a book about growing churches, says that 20 percent of the Christians he has known get 80 percent of the enjoyment out of being a Christian. They live fulfilled lives because they have discovered, in good times and bad, that they are healthiest when they reach out to others. All of them, he says, are good stewards. "I've never known a tither who did not know how to live. Pastors do people an injustice when they fail to preach about the stewardship of money. So one of the best things a pastor can do for the members is to separate them from some of the money that stands between them and God.
A waitress helped a customer select a breakfast special. "Get that instead of a combination breakfast with a side order." she said. "It's the same thing and saves you eighty-nine cents." After he thanked her, she added. "You learn that when you raise four kids." The primary things that most of our parents tried to teach us about money were how to save it and how to spend it. These are valuable skills. However, Jesus's teachings were primarily directed toward telling us how to give money. Knowing how to save and spend are orientations that appeal to the hoarding instinct and the materialism instinct. Knowing how to give balances those negative instincts with something positive that benefits us in deep spiritual ways.
A Korean legend tells of a noble warrior who died. When he arrived at the heavenly portals, he asked to see what hell looked like before entering the celestial area. He was amazed to be shown a magnificent chamber. A huge table was heaped with bountiful foods, but all the people in the room were cursing and screaming in anger. The guide explained the problem. They were all trying to eat with chopsticks three feet long. They had learned how to pick up their food, but the length of the chopsticks prevented them from getting the food to their mouths. When the warrior got back to heaven, he saw the same kind of room and the same kind of table. Here, however, there was laughter and joy. What made the difference? Here, the people had learned to feed each other. In giving, they received.

Wow, I just love what this study is doing to me. I have been inspired to many other things that have so little to do with money. I pose this question, "What in life do you hold onto so tight you are unwilling to let it exist?"
Pastor WaynO