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The Connection |
A Thousand Marbles
In His Love, Mike A Thousand Marbles The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I started dialing around on my ham radio. Along the way, I stumbled across an older sounding chap with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind. He sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was conversing with someone about "a thousand marbles". I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well, but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, "Let me tell you something, Tom. Something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of "a thousand marbles". "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about 75 years." "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their lifetime. It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this in any detail, and by that time I had lived through over 2,800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that, if I lived to be 75 years old, I only had about 1,000 of them left to enjoy." "So I went to the toy store and bought every marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time on this earth run out to help you get your priorities straight." "Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time." "It was nice to meet you Tom. I hope to meet you again here on the band. 73 Old Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT. Good morning." You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I had planned on working on my antenna that morning and then I was going to meet with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke up my wife with a kiss. "C'mon honey. I'm taking you and the kids out to breakfast. And by the way, I need to stop at a toy store while we're out."
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I don't know who originally wrote this, so I can't give proper credit to him. Nevertheless, this story is a great lead-in to our message this Sunday. Enjoy.
Our second APEX worship event is this Saturday at 6:00 pm. Our first step into this new ministry adventure was highly successful and we believe that God has greater blessings in store for us. If you attended our first APEX, we hope you're excited to come again. If you haven't attended APEX, we invite you to come and check it out. It's designed to be different from our other ministries and programs, but APEX will always be Christ-centered. This is also a great opportunity to invite a friend who is not a Christian. Invite them to come and experience something they've likely never seen in church before. Also, plan on hanging around afterwards for some ice cream that's a perfect end to a hot July evening. Come and experience what's next at APEX. See ya Saturday!