What in the World Did I Eat?

November 10, 2023November 10, 2023 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

You know how we joke after having a bad dream about what we ate the night before? That is what I was asking myself the other day. The dream had me sitting in a classroom. Somehow, I knew it was a college class. I was sitting in the back of the room, which was usually my custom when I did attend college.

A humorous part of the dream was when the professor entered the classroom. Wallace Shawn portrayed that role. Don’t recognize the name? He is an actor who has played Dr. John Sturgis on the sitcom “Young Sheldon.” His role in the show is that of a nerdy professor.

In the dream, he walked into the room and asked, “What is the cost of a man?” After a few students attempted to answer his question, he began to write a series of formulas on the chalkboard. There were at least four rows of them. That is where he lost me! He came up with the solution of “0.02.” I’m not sure what that means. I woke shortly after that.

Whenever I have a dream that I remember, I will usually ask myself, what does that mean? I have taken a class on dream interpretation. Most of them are about yourself and tend to reflect what is currently going on in your life. In this case, I had to answer the question from God’s point of view before knowing why I had the dream. When that happened, I knew I had to share the answer in a blog post.

The cost of a man is “Jesus.” What? You see, God made man, and therefore man belonged to God, but God gave that ownership to man when He gave him “free will.” When man sinned by disobeying God, man transferred that ownership to Satan. God did not want man to die in a sinful state and, therefore, perish forever.

So God gave man His only Son. Jesus came to Earth as a baby. He matured in the word of God and the ways of God. Jesus walked the area teaching others about His Father, about real love, and a better way to live. He promised those who believed in Him and asked for forgiveness eternal life. Then, after the religious leaders became fearful that Jesus’ popularity would take away their power and control, they killed him.

The cost for a man to have eternal life again was the brutal death and then resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death purchased the right for man to live eternally. But once again, God has allowed man, via free will, to decide for himself if he wants to accept His gift of His Son. Jesus’ selfless action of love is the only way to have the hope of true life, eternal life.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. John 3:16-18 (MSG)

The Rules of the Game

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Starting with the Banker, each player in turn throws the dice. The player with the highest total starts the play. Place your token on the corner marked “GO”, then throw the dice and move your token (in the direction of the arrow) the number of spaces indicated by the dice…..

You buy a new game and you can’t wait to play it, but in reality, you don’t know how, because you don’t know the rules. Reading the rules takes time and can be kind-of, should we say, boring? We just want to start playing. And have you noticed? There always seems to be that one person who volunteers to read the rules and then proceeds to tell the others their interpretation of what they know?

Rules are very specific, or should be. They are important. They can help protect you, if you and everyone else will follow them. Like when driving. When it comes to God, mankind, has come up with his own set of rules. I mentioned a few weeks ago there are over 4000 religions. That’s a lot! Which one is right? Could they “all” be wrong? Probably.

God wrote his own, not “rules” to live by, but the kind of relationship you should desire to have with him. In his Word, He makes it very clear, that the only way to him is by accepting that Jesus is his son and died on the cross to forgive you of your sins, wrong doings, and we have all done something wrong.

You see, God is Holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. That is why he gave his own son to die for us, which makes us clean again. Then He can be with us and we can be with him. No “rules” just relationship. It’s so simple, but mankind has a hard time with that. He thinks it sounds too good to be true, but when it comes to God, it is true, and it sets us free. Mankind complicates it. It is so simple I understood it at the age of 7.

Satan knows how God designed things, and he knows he’s not going to win, but he still tries so hard to get mankind to loose with him. He either gets them to write their own rules by telling them God didn’t mean what He said, or he accuses others of cheating and tries to make them feel bad about themselves.

Read God’s Word. Learn about the relationship that God has wanted from the very beginning with mankind. Doing so will give you the authority to tell the devil to, “shut up!” Playing, or living I should say, this way will cause you to win in the end, because life is no game.

Finding Direction

October 2, 2020October 1, 2020 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Believe it or not, after my divorce, when it came to meeting a woman to potentially marry, I used to ask God to send her to my door and have her say, “Hi. I’m God’s woman for you.” In turn, I would say, “Great. Let me get my coat.” I was living in the Chicago area back then and it is cold 9 months out of the year. Guess what? It never happened. I didn’t like all of the effort it took to date after divorce, and I wasn’t real sure I even wanted to remarry, but one thing I did know, if God wanted to lead me that way He could have.

My approach was kind of like praying for money, but not going out and looking for a job. I used to tell my concerned friends, “Hey, I’m not looking for a wife, but my eyes aren’t closed either.”

One sure way to receive direction from God is to be moving. You can’t steer a car if it’s not rolling. With that said, you don’t stop praying while you are in motion. God can certainly open and close doors, or lead you to someone who knows someone who God can use to meet your need, or desire.

I know of a single woman who is looking for a mate. She keeps doing it her way, which seems as if she takes the first man to message her, and she gets involved in another long distance relationship that eventually ends badly. After a few days of hurt, and anger she’s back at it again. The problem is this; her expiration date is approaching. I get the sense she is not focusing on God first, and trusting him to lead her. There is nothing wrong with saying, “No” to a man when you get a check in your spirit. God will give her the desires of her heart when the right man comes along. In the meantime, she can have intimacy with God.

It’s important to yield to the plans of God.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jer. 29:11 (MSG)

For six years, before my retirement, I planned on buying an RV, travel America, and write. That didn’t happen then, but I now see a chance where it may happen in the future. My wife likes to add this phrase after making plans of her own, “If God permits.” Not a bad way to live at all.

“for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]” 2 Cor. 5:7 (AMP)

It’s not easy walking with God, I get that, but it sure is exciting!

Whether you need direction for a spouse, a job, a place to live, what to say to someone who needs to hear from God, etc. choose to live in boldness. Don’t sit in your living room and wait for the answers to come to you, oh, and don’t expect a billboard along the highway either, but get up, get out, and move. Then trust the one who has the wheel of your life. You’ll enjoy the destination that much better!