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Topic: Rest (01/17/13)
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TITLE: No Rest for the Righteous | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ron Barnes
01/19/13 -
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I got my first job when I was eight years old. My parents worked on Saturdays so I would get up, take a shower and catch a bus downtown to the YMCA, where I would swim, play table tennis, watch television and read. There was a bowling alley in the basement and I got a job setting pins there. I would come home every Saturday with five or six dollars in my pocket. For an eight-year-old boy in 1954, this was serious money.
This is how I learned very early in life the value of work. I no longer had to depend on somebody else to provide for my needs. If I wanted to go to a movie or buy toys or candy, I did not have to ask for money from my parents. I had my own money. This gave me the freedom to make many of my own decisions about how I lived my life. I learned to like the idea of being in control of my own life, rather than being controlled by others.
This attitude has continued throughout my life. I have always loved music. I cut my first record at the age of three. I played my first piano concerto on the radio at the age of eight. When I was twelve, my parents gave me a guitar for Christmas. I turned professional at the age of fourteen and only recently retired from performing. I have had two jobs through most of my life. Even now, although my wife and I receive checks from Social Security each month, I still work. I also have a ministry and write. I find these activities very rewarding and have no intention of quitting as long as I am able to continue.
Certainly the body needs a certain amount of rest. But I cannot think of anything more boring than sitting around on a cloud for all eternity. I believe our Father sent me here to do His work. I believe that, even after this life is over, there will still be work to be done. This is why I wrote a song called “Working Man’s Heaven”. You can find it at http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=4978488&q=hi&newref=1
We were sent here to be our Father’s hands, feet, eyes, ears and voices in this three-dimensional plane. He has given us the gift of life to accomplish His purpose. If you give somebody a gift, you hope they will use it. You might be insulted if they took your precious gift and put it in the attic and never saw or used it. You might be even more insulted if they threw your precious gift away. I have no intention of insulting our Father.
Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do.
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When I rest in the Lord, it is "trusting Him, meditating on Him and His word, applying good works in His name, loving Him..." etc., etc.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us in this lively piece.
God bless~