Today was a good day. Slept in a bit, then got up, did a little reading, listened to my tape, went to tutor Eileen, saw my brother, and then came out to my house for a nap. When I woke up, I remembered that Jim & Cathy were coming back tomorrow, so I thought it be worthwhile to head out to their cabin to check on things and make sure all was in order.

Earlier, while listening to Ron Puryear’s Crown Tips, I made the important realization that it would be much more valuable to get a different interaction with my tape listening. At this point, I’m not sure if it would be better to try to transcribe everything, or how I might be able to take more heed to the content of the CD, but it’s certainly something to put some thought towards.

In The Richest Man in Babylon, the chapter gave some basic suggestions for how to decrease debt. It’s broken down like this:

• 10% to savings

• 70% to living/rent/pleasantries of life

• 20% to debt

There were some things that I noticed from this:

• At no point was it suggested that you ever have 90% towards lifestyle – I’m not sure what’s to happen if you get that taken care of like I have. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to invest 30% towards savings. Sometime, I’ll do the math to find out what the implications of that would be on my current budget.

• The scale was percentage driven – it wasn’t about how much you made. AKA: if you have $100 or $1,000,000, you should be doing the same.

Traveling Light had a chapter about loneliness. It suggested that perhaps loneliness is not such a bad thing after all – in fact, it could be good that God is preparing you for something more. For example, you might never listen to classical if you always had your rock to distract and turn to. Perhaps the lonly time is intended to bring you into communication with Him! One thing to think about: if you’re hungry and go to the store, that’s an unwise decision – you’ll buy and take more (even those unhealthy things) than you’ll need. If you’re spiritually hungry, you may choose things that aren’t wholesome, just because you think it might fill the void. Here’s a passage from the book on the subject:

“When you know God loves you, you won’t be desperate for the love of others. You’ll no longer be a hungry shopper at the market. Have you ever gone to the grocery store on an empty stomach? You’re a sitting duck. You buy everything you don’t need. Doesn’t matter if it is good for you – you just want to fill your tummy. When you’re lonely, you do the same in life, pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you are hungry for love.”

What Makes God Smile was the chapter title in The Purpose Driven Life. The chapter uses the example of Noah, and his obedience to illustrate many points. It’s with good reason too; think of the implications of what God was asking:

• Noah is asked to build a HUGE ship – in the middle of a land locked area.

• It had NEVER rained upon the earth – he didn’t even know what rain was!

• Building the ship took 120 YEARS – how much patience do you have?

And he did all that was requested of him, exactly, and completely. Wow.

There are 5 acts of worship that makes God smile:

God smiles when we love him supremely. Noah loved God, even when it was unpopular – so much that no one else did. God longs for us to love him back, much like parents might of their rebellious child.

God smiles when we trust him completely. “By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land.” He acted immediately, and as a result, Noah became intimate with God. There were three problems (Never seen the rain, Lived hundreds of miles from the ocean, and difficulty of rounding up the animals) that Noah could have clinged to, but he didn’t; he obeyed.

God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly. “Delayed obedience is really disobedience.” “God doesn’t owe you an explanation or reason for everything he asks you to do. Understanding can wait, but obedience can’t. Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. In fact, you will never understand some commands until you obey them first. Obedience unlocks understanding.”

God smiles when we praise and thank him continually. We are to praise god for who He is, and we thank God for what he has done.

God smiles when we use our abilities. We were endowed with certain gifts; things that are only for us, and that only we can maximize. You only bring God enjoyment by being you. Every act of enjoyment can become an act of worship when you thank God for it.

I recognize that I am a long way from being a ‘Spiritual Giant’ or one of God’s Warriors, but some day I’ll get there. And for now, I can just remember that He loves and enjoys me at every stage of my spiritual development. What God looks at is the attitude of my heart.: Is pleasing Him my deepest Desire?

When you live in light of eternity, your focus changes from ” how much pleasure am I getting out of life?” to “How much pleasure is God getting out of my life?” Will you make pleasing God the goal of your life? There is nothing that God won’t do for the person totally absorbed with this goal.

In Genesis 21-22, Isaac (Abraham & Sarah’s son) was born, and as he was matured, and had a place in the family, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son on the altar. And Abraham carried out God’s wishes. Fortunately, he was stopped before Isaac was killed. I can’t imagine what this would be like; to be directed to kill one of your family members. To have that burden on your heart for hours before hand. He knew the night before, and all during the hike up the mountain to make the sacrafice. But the thing that stands out most (to me) is that Abraham was willing to do it. I feel that I would fight it, question it, and delay it – anything to keep it from happening. Abraham didn’t.

In Matthew 9, Jesus continues with sharing His message, by healing and teaching. It seems that his message is that he wants the person’s heart and will to be in the right place, and from there, he will bless them. It’s not enough to follow the Law. At this point, I haven’t seen an answer to the question of what the results of desiring to follow his will, yet not acting it or following the Law. My guess is that if you really desired to follow God, you would find a way to get over the vices.