Proverbs 23 and 24

Good Morning Everyone,

Yesterday was a great day in Pearland!!! A very special thanks goes to Debbie Brown for helping organize our first activity for a group at our congregation we are calling the Littles. The Littles are the children of the congregation who are not in school yet but are old enough to begin doing some fun things with their parents. We had four of the coolest young guys I know here in Pearland come to Chuck-E-Cheese yesterday to have a lot of fun playing games and eating pizza.

Because of all of this fun I had yesterday I forgot to blog. Today we are going to look at Proverbs chapters 23 and 24. Our journey is coming to an end but not slowing down one bit.

Proverbs 23

Proverbs 23:4-5

⁴ Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
⁵ Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

My Dad told me a long time ago that I would never get rich preaching and he was right...well at least mostly right. I certainly don't have great physical wealth but I am rich in experience and friendship. I have watched men strive and strive to gain material wealth only to see it all go away because they never had enough. Let's make sure we are listening to the words of King Solomon and learning what really matters in life.

Proverbs 24

Proverbs 24:17-18

¹⁷ Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice,
¹⁸ or the LORD will see and disapprove
and turn his wrath away from him.

We love to see people fail, especially if we deem that they have done something wrong. We read the newspapers looking to see who has been indicted, we laugh out loud when we hear new stories about the CEO who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and we have to try to maintain control of the vehicle when the celebrity gossip comes on the radio. The reason I say we is because I must confess I do enjoy seeing people fail from time to time. We are better than this. We serve a God who demands that we live a life above all of this. Please join me in living a better life when it comes to how we deal with failures of others.

Proverbs 24:27

²⁷ Finish your outdoor work
and get your fields ready;
after that, build your house.

This verse is special for me today because I am planning on doing some yard work today. For those of you that know me you know that I hate yard work. When we moved here nearly four years ago we began looking at houses. We saw lots of places but the one that April and I loved came with a big yard. I am committed to doing a better job of keeping my yard up this year. They say God works in mysterious ways and today I was able to read this passage from his Word that makes me want to do some yard work.

Keep on enjoying this journey and don't lose your momentum.

Be Strong and Courageous,

Paul