What is "good enough"

    As children we are often wanting to know what is the LEAST amount of work we had to do in order to be allowed to go to the park or to a friends house.  Do I have to vacuum the WHOLE house or just the downstairs area?   Do I have to do ALL the laundry or just MY laundry.   We asked those questions almost immediately after being told to do the chores in question.  We wanted to make absolutely sure we did not do more work than was needed.

    Some areas in our life the minimum is not enough for us.  When we step up to the launch pad for a bungee cord site we don't ask the operator "Could you only attach the minimum number of cords to my legs before I jump?"   Of course not!  In cases like this we ask them to triple and even quadruple the number of cords needed to insure our safety going down.   We will take no chances when our life is on the line. I am reminded of a comedian from Oklahoma who talked about taking a flight on a small airline in the Midwest he called "Bubba Air" in which the booking agent on the phone for the airline asked him his weight in pounds.  He asked, "My weight??  Why do you need to know that?"  to which they answered, "We need to know how much gas to put in the plane".   In his astonishment he told them over the phone, "Well I am 300 pounds!  Fill it up! Fill it up!"   He didn't want to take any chances of the plane running out of gas to get to his destination.

   In the parable of the 10 virgins, Jesus lays out the situation where 5 wise virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come take EXTRA oil for their lamps and 5 foolish virgins don't.   The wedding goes late into the night before they arrive and now the 5 foolish ones must go in the dead of night to fill up their lamps with oil.   They had considered only the MINIMUM amount of oil to take with them.  They missed out because they were foolish.

   In another Gospel Jesus is approached by a "wealthy young ruler" who asks

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’^[d]”
²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

   Here another man was looking for what was "good enough" or the minimum he had to do in order to gain eternal life, but left sad as he saw the real cost was more than he was willing to pay.  So many today are still like that ruler seeking the minimum.  Do I HAVE to give up my Sunday mornings?   Do I have to give money to the church?  Do I have to stop sleeping with my girl-friend or boy-friend?  Do I have to give up my sexuality and what pleases me?   Do I have to give up my foul mouth and sick jokes?  Do I have to love those who hate me?  Do I have to return good for evil?  

    Did Jesus bargain for you with the Father?    Did Jesus ask if maybe only a few strikes of the scourge whip would be enough?   Did he ask the Father if a few beatings from the Roman soldiers would be "good enough"?  Did he ask the Father if just carrying the cross up the steep hill and being mocked by the public was "good enough"? 

   No.

    He went the whole way.  He filled up his cup with God's wrath so we didn't have to.  Our time with God spent in church on in His Word is not payback for what he has done, but is done out of love for what he has done for me.  He doesn't want us to be "fools" who think there is still time left to fill up our lamps.  Our time may be shorter than we think.   We don't know the hour of our calling and so must always be ready with ample oil in our vessels.

    Don't be a fool and play the "good enough" game.

You didn't build that... Oh yes I did!

We all remember the famous speech given by Obama in which he touted that the roads and bridges that a companies workers travel on to get to work or bring in new customers was built by the government. He also implied that the workers mostly educated in public schools and went mostly to public colleges.    The phrase "You didn't build that!"  went on into infamy along with "One small step for man... one giant leap for mankind".   

This is what is wrong with so many democrats today.  They fail to understand BASIC economics.  Yes the government built the roads and bridges that the workers used, but where did the government get the money to PAY for the roads, bridges, schools, fire departments etc.   Yes, of course, tax dollars raised by businesses who employed the workers and therefore paid the taxes that the government swept up out of their paychecks.  Money that went to the workers later paid for houses which garnered more tax dollars in the form of property taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes and DMV fees.   Without the jobs supplied by the businesses none of that would have been possible.

SO YES MR PRESIDENT,  THE PRIVATE SECTOR DID BUILD THAT TOO!

Words to my daughter on her graduation from college

    Congratulations!! You’ve made it!   9 years of elementary school.  4 years of high school and now 5 years of college are complete.  No more sweating out classes and papers.   No more trying to figure out class schedules and figuring out which courses to take.  The course work is all complete and now you are a graduate. It’s a time of celebration of what you’ve accomplished and anticipation of what lays ahead for you.  I wanted to share with you something that was handed down to me when I was young that has helped me.

    As you know, when I grew up in Illinois I mowed lawns for spending money.  One of my customers was a retired Lutheran pastor named Pastor Zimmerman.  He was a wonderful person to talk to and for me he was a surrogate grandfather as he went to seminary with my grandfather who was also was a Lutheran Pastor and had passed away before I was born.  He always invited me in afterward for lemonade and ginger-snap cookies.  When I graduated from high school and was moving on to college I decided to hand over my lawn business to someone else as I would not have time to do it.  On my last time with him he gave me some grandfatherly advice.  He said to me

"You probably played on the monkey bars at school as a child, and the challenge was to get from one side to the other without falling.  The trick to getting across is not losing your momentum as you swing and the best way to do this is to let go of the previous rung as soon as you grab hold of the next rung.   If you hesitate and hold on too long you will be stuck between the two rungs and will lose all of your forward momentum.  You can still get across but now you will have to exert a lot of energy to swing to the next rung.  Life is like that.  We are moving from one rung to the next in life and we need to let go of the past behind us."

    He went on to share a Bible verse with me that I have always kept mindful of.  It is from Philippians 3:13-14
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind me and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"

   As you swing from this rung to the next that lays ahead of you reach-grab-and-let-go.    Does that mean we forget the people we have worked with or spent time with?  Of course not.  It means we take them with us in our heart and in our memories  but we must leave all our decisions, mistakes and hurts behind us.  We can look at the past with fondness and learn from our mistakes, but we cannot stay here.  We must move on to the next rung and the rung after that.   Press on for the goal God has set before you.  Keep moving knowing God is there to dust you off and help you get back on if you fall.

   We are very proud of you!  You’re on to the next rung in life and moving forward!