"A Business Affair"

 "For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity." (Ecclesiastes 2:23 KJV)

  "Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builder is wasted. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones." (PSALM 127:1-2 NLT)

 Didn't see this coming; but glad to share whatever God wants me to share! This is not something that is just for business owners, because even ambitious employees can be caught up in business affairs, which cause them to neglect their families and focus mostly on their work. Believe me, it is pretty much the same as an affair of the heart, as if you are sleeping with another person! 

 We can't really realize what it does, until the damage is already done, because we live our busy life as if what we do, is for providing for our family. Oddly enough, your time matters more than things; but things will replace your time, making your time less meaningful! How painful that turns out to be! 

 This opens up another subject, which is our fellowship with God! Does our business get in the way of our relationship with God? If your business is pretty much all you think about, it most surely does, because it has become your god, which means that your business is what you think keeps you secure! Smoke and mirrors! This is all you are depending on, an illusion that can vanish before your eyes, in an instant.  

 Back to Pastor Holden's journey to Iraq, which he believed was God telling him to go for the purpose of ministry to people and sharing the Gospel. When he arrived at the airport, he was discovered as being American, and was asked to show his Visa, which he didn't have. So, they arrested him and then locked him up in a cell within the airport. He felt as though he had made a grievous mistake, and he was going to die in an Iraq prison. 

 As he sat in his cell, he prayed to God and begged Him to forgive him for thinking that he heard Him speak, "Go to Nineveh," when he shouldn't have assumed it was God voice that he had heard. Then, not too long after he prayed, a man entered his cell, dressed as a very important officer, and instructed him to follow him through the airport. 

 When they reached the portion of the airport where he would be able to fly out and get to safety, the man pointed him into the direction, which had a sign that said, "Nineveh", a place that doesn't even exist anymore. Instantly, the man who had brought him there was gone and he stood there in amazement. (That is my version of what was said, after only hearing it once.)

 The whole point of what Pastor Holden had been through, was not to be given a job to do for God, but to learn a lesson about God's protection and the security we have in Him, no matter what! God must be our number one priority, above all else! There is nothing that we have that is more important than the relationship we have with God, absolutely nothing!

 If your relationship you have with God is first and foremost, then your family will thrive, and you will love them as you should...

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires." (PSALM 37:4 NLT)