Bonus Day #207

Cleaning out my roll top desk today, I had that rare opportunity to box up the stuff that came out of it.  Five full boxes of stuff came out of my desk!  FIVE BOXES–I had no idea it would be that much stuff–“stuffed” into those drawers.  Some keepsakes, but mostly pens and paperclips were the main items that were discovered.  I think back on those people who used to want to spend the summer “backpacking through Europe.”  I couldn’t even get a drawer of my desk into a backpack.  Ha!

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

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Bonus Day #206

We can’t know what the future holds.  It is good we don’t know.  First, it is good we don’t know what the future holds, because it makes us rely upon a power greater than ourselves.  If we could control our future, we wouldn’t need God.  Second, it is good we don’t know the future holds, because if we did, we would certainly try to control it.  We have to be reminded from time to time that there are circumstances, situations, and relationships beyond our control.  Third, it is good we don’t know what the future holds, because NOT KNOWING can help us–if we let it help us–refine our sense of hope and destiny.  Personally….I hate not knowing….but then when I look at how many–NO–most things turn out, I am better not knowing ahead of time!

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #205

I decided to combine all my tool into my tool chest out in the garage.  I did have a spot in the basement I kept some and a drawer in my desk AND the tool chest in the garage.  You would think (I actually did think) the most I had of any one kind of tool–screwdriver sets, socket sets, pliers, wrenches etc.  was two and at the most three.  Nope.  The truth is, in most cases, I had AT LEAST four sets of everything.  I remember when a friend past away several years ago his widow lined up a couple of other friends to go through and organize his tools for a sale.  He had at least 7 sets of everything.  At least that guy had rental properties that he maintained and repaired.  I don’t do much with tools at all.  I shouldn’t be shocked at myself, but the truth is, life as a way to put us in the position where we accumulate.  Often, we accumulate too much stuff.  We can accumulate too many tools AND too much baggage.  From time to time we just need to bare down and clean things out–and in the case of our spiritual lives–strip ourselves down and lay it all out.

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #204

The boxes around the house are really piling up.  My brother John came over today and helped take apart different items we will be moving with us to our new home.  I told John to remember how he took it apart, because he lives close enough he will need to put it back together.  Ha!  Fun to say it….even funnier to think in terms of how easy it is to take something apart versus how difficult to put something back together again.  The same can be said for human relationships!

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #203

It was the travel day back from Belize complete with a one hour and forty five minute delay going out of Belize City and running through the airport to make the connection.  Flight delays are always beyond one’s control.  The bottom line is we never know why these delays really occur.  Sometimes human error, sometimes mechanical, sometimes weather related–but it is important that we realize NOTHING IS EVER WASTED.  The only way to keep ourselves in the mental perspective that “nothing is ever wasted” is to really believe it and stay yielded to “whatever God wants.”

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #202

This afternoon while still in Belize, Pastor Heath drove me out to the Mayan Ruins still standing.  I have heard about these my whole life.  Every kid studies about it in school.  I was taken back by the primitive location and the lack of commercialization around them.  The Mayan culture was pagan.  Their worship consisted of human sacrifices.  Their “sun temple” had a round altar on the top where they beheaded people and the heads could roll down the front of the temple to the delight of the crowds of people gathered in the theater on the three sides out front.  It was a sobering to be in the presence of a place where so many people met their demise in this way.  Sobering still to think of how people end up treating each other.  We ought always be on guard.  We need to keep respect and reverence for human life at the forefront of our thinking, otherwise, we become a culture of the same.

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #201

Still in Belize for a couple more days.  It is hard to find a cardiac and gall bladder friendly diet in a foreign country, let alone a third world country, but it is coming together.  Jesus said we should pray, “give us this day our daily bread”–so off we go!  I carry dates along with me in my pocket in a baggie and am always on the look out for bananas.  (My idea about bananas is they come in their own wrapper so they should be safe to eat).  I bought a water melon from a road side stand for $10.  (Apparently the food is the same price as the US, but the incomes are a fraction).  The Pastor I am with on the trip doesn’t eat watermelon so I had that rare treat of cutting the watermelon open and eating the center (the heart) out of it first.  It was delicious!  Enjoying every bite in a foreign country on a bonus day.  Really cool.

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

BONUS DAY #200

Arriving in Belize today my friend, Pastor Heath Hiatt, introduced me to Pastor Joe and Pastor Dan who have a great passion to start a Christian University in Belize to reach their country and the entire Central America region for Christ by providing well trained disciples into the world.  As these men shared over dinner, it didn’t take long to realize what a God inspired, and (God sized) vision looks and sounds like.  Not only do these men have an idea, and talk, they also have a plan.  Often we forget that a God inspired vision is really only God’s if we have a plan to/for executing and achieving it.  It was an inspiring time.

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc

Bonus Day #199

We were discussing today about God being in control.  We know in and through faith that God is in control.  God is sovereign.  “His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven….”  HOWEVER, time and again we have experienced what happens when humans get in the way of “God’s will being done.”  Christians don’t always “pray through” the way they would lead us to believe.  Many times Christians haven’t yielded to God but to their own will and that can sometimes create a “domino effect” into and even through your life.  Is control still in control even then?  I guess the answer is still YES.  No matter what happens with in the control of a human, God can take whatever situation we face and make something beautiful out of it.  Even when humans mess it up.  Further, God doesn’t have a “Plan B” but a “Plan A+.”  God is always in control!

Every day is a Bonus Day!

Much Love,

Marc