What's in your Wallet?

Welcome…Brrrr..... Cold, frosty morn here on the Front Porch!…it is the day to get going and get ready to worship.  So, bundle up! set aside some time!...Utilize time to worship our Lord today….at the church of your choice...so we only have a few minutes.....so let’s talk…

Because time is of the essence today… and really everyday.... let’s get down to business…let’s utilize our time.  Yep, that is the “ize” word we are going to ‘discuss’.

Utilize..this is another one of those fine words we know…we utilize it on a constant, day-to-day basis.

Utilize: make the most of.  I refer to this as having ‘pockets of time’…those little gifts of time that we have throughout our day, our week, our lives.  Sometimes they are planned; other times unplanned and they just come around the corner and say “surprise!  What are you going to do with me?”

Hmmm...reminds me of that commerical advertizing a credit card..."What's in your Wallet?" They want you to  utilize their card....oh, really?? They want to separate you from as much of your money  as they can and put it in their fat wallets .  The are utilizing YOUR money.

How do you utilize your time?  Time management it is called.  It can be a challenge.  Most of us have way too much to do and never enough time to do it.  I am still baffled by this: we have every conceivable modern appliance and gadget to slice, dice, chop, and stir, wash, dry, steam and clean…yet our forefathers and foremothers seemed to accomplish more than we ever dreamed.  We were discussing this at a ladies meeting yesterday...they sewed…everything, made beautiful quilts, clothing, cooked from 'scratch’ (funny saying I need to research someday)...prepared the land, planted, weeded, harvested and canned…food enough for the winter…baked bread. Took care of farms: upkeep of animals, buildings and homes….raised their families….I think you get the picture: they managed to utilize every minute, every resource, and every opportunity: utilize.

We have the same 24/7…dare say, however, don’t think I utilize my time nearly as well as those folks did: running to and fro…on the go, go, go...running in circles, exhausted…hands full of resources…but often nothing to show for it…need to utilize.

This ability to utilize will come about if we can utilize some of the other ‘ize’ words…prioritize, organize, maximize, minimize, energize…that suffix...’to cause..to be’…

While we have families to raise, jobs to keep, relationships to maintain...we must not neglect utilizing our time for our Lord.  It is a must: prioritize, organize, maximize, minimize, energize... so we can utilize.

There again, we have gidgets and gadgets that are suppose to help us utilize our time with God.  Versions of the Bible so that no one can use the ‘excuse’…”I can’t understand the Bible-which could be true for the King James Version.  I’ve heard folk hold to this version as the ‘true Word of God’ and refuse to even consider reading another version.  Hello, folks, Jesus did not ‘use this version’….the Word was spoken in Hebrew…translated to Greek...then God anointed King James (an earthly king no doubt) to translate the original into the common folk-me and you readable version (for the most part)...this was utilizing this resource so that the masses could read for themselves on a daily basis the Word of God.  Keep in mind “men translated it”...into the ‘voice’ of that day-…King James…from England…with all the thee's and thou's…. Far better to utilize one of the newer translations and understand the WORD than to hold to a ‘tradition’ and not utilize a version that we can understand.  Make sure you utilize a version that is solid, and a genuine, bonified  translation.  Just sayin’….utilize!

Utilize and maximize are like brothers and sisters…in the same family…except I see utilize being what we actually have in our hands.  Like with Moses…when God asked him ‘what do you have in your hand’.  Moses replied all I have is a staff (plain ole walking stick-sheep herding tool).  God took that...staff…and blessed it in such a way that it was utilized to part the Red Sea…if you are not familiar with this miracle…and instead of watching.....  say…..another Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, or Duck Dynasty episode this afternoon…how about setting aside a pocket of time and ‘utilize’ that time and read one of the greatest adventures known to mankind!  Oh, I know you may have seen the movie version of Moses in The Ten Commandments

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OqCTq3EeDcY 

Trust me….the Book is far better than the movie…by the way God did not have to have Moses use the staff…the rod…it was a lesson for all of us how He can take and bless and ‘utilize’ what we have in our hand, what we are familiar with, what we know…and then He can maximize the results..

Speaking of utilize and God…He specializes in utilizing nothing….and making it into something...

Oh, little things like creation…every plant, tree, every animal…the sea, land, light. Down to the smallest molecule and HE put a ‘whole lotta ‘ stuff right here before us to ‘utilize’

BUT, the greatest resource He gifted us with…His Word…so my friends, as we close out today’s ‘discussion’…utilize…the Word…read it, cherish it, LIVE by it, walk it, talk it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it, consume it, devour it…there  is plenty of it for all of us all. Utilize.....

Then, take it even further and utilize it by sharing it the best you can, with those you love, those you know..evangelize ( a word for another day) utilize it…to exhort, encourage, enlighten,

So I need to ‘utilize’ my precious time before going off to worship today…Need to utilize my resources and time and get a nice, hot lunch started so the Preacher and I can come home and just cozy in for the afternoon.  Know he will start a fire…we will sit by it and utilize some precious time to eat our lunch as we sit by the fire and just talk a bit…reconnect…then he will slowly and surely drift off to Sleepsville and me…I will utilize my time this afternoon and work on some chores and 'to do' list…after all gotta..... utilize!

Tomorrow…stop by again…gonna be a little bit different type discussion: DRAMATIZE…we are gonna take a walk down Memory Lane…

Until then....stay warm and utilize!