Christian Living

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I am becoming more convinced with each passing day that the rest of the world is going a little bit crazier.

Take lawsuits, for example. People will sue over anything and everything.

Smoker's sue when they get smoking related diseases. Unless a person has been living under a rock, they can't be missing all the studies, facts, findings, and information that is available in regards to this issue. Yet, they still choose to smoke, they get sick, they sue the company who manufactured the cigarettes (with warning labels on each and every pack, no less!), and they win. Why? Who forced them to smoke? What is wrong with this picture? On the other hand, this same company will do everything in their power to keep you smoking, while they offer you information on how to quit!

Go to a fast food restauraunt and order a cup of coffee to go. Coffee. This word implies HOT, does it not? Why would anyone who orders this assume it isn't hot? Ooops! Off pops the lid, hot coffee splashes everywhere, and "Hello, can anyone say 'Lawyer', please".

I went to a grocery store two years ago and slipped and fell. I wasn't hurt. Yet, this is what I heard from numerous people, "Are you CRAZY? You should have stayed down, hollered a little, said something was hurt, and sued. It would have set you up for life! They didn't even have the "Wet Floor" sign out!"

Technically, maybe these people were right. Did I miss an opportunity to 'cash in' against a huge corporation? What are technicalities good for anyway?

I wasn't hurt. At all. Not even a tiny ache. I was only embarrassed. Thankfully, only one other person actually witnessed my fall. If I said I was hurt, I would have been LYING. Others tried to convince me that perhaps God had presented this opportunity in one of His 'mysterious ways' so I 'wouldn't be so broke anymore'. Hmmmm.

I know better. You know better. God doesn't work this way. If lying is required to further my financial situation, I'd rather stay broke. I'd rather do without some things, or a few meals, than to deliberately do this.

The best thing that came out of this incident is that I was able to demonstrate a little thing that has been rapidly disappearing from our world, and that is INTEGRITY. Character does still count. Things like this matter. They may be small to most, but to God, they are big.

I probably would have won had I pursued a lawsuit. At least in the world's eyes. In God's eyes, I would be the biggest loser of them all.
What else matters, except His perspective? Even without His perspective, I couldn't have done it.
It's that simple.

How many times have you been to a store recently where they forgot to charge you for something, or they gave you too much change? What did you do?

The last time this happened to me, I was miles away before I realized it. Gas prices are outrageous. My time was short--maybe, it WAS a 'little favor' from God. I rolled it around a little as I drove further away from the store. What do you suppose I did?

Yep, you guessed it. I turned my little Tracker around and went back to the store to straighten things out. I have to live with myself. I want to live in a manner pleasing to God, no matter how much I may be inconvienced at the moment.

I had a very clear cut choice in this situation. No one would have ever known except me, no one on earth. But God would have known. I answer to Him. I follow the Highest Power.

Little things mean a lot. They build upon each other, either positively or negatively.

Build a strong wall for yourself--don't allow yourself to take the easy road. Choose to be a person of integrity, deliberately, in spite of the world. And, in spite of your own self, your natural human nature. Go against the grain.

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