Enjoy this new tune inspired by both my many hours spent playing video games when I was a kid and also by the new life (1UP) that I have been given… it’s just a fun little song that I hope you will like!

Singing cheerful songs to a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing someone’s jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in a wound.

Micah REALLY enjoyed his birthday this past weekend… lots of family, friends, gifts, and, of course, cake! Daddy has just realized that he only has about 17 more of these before we have to figure out how to pay for college! YIKES!

Well, it looks like yet another brilliant idea that was hatched in the minds of myself and my college buddies has actually been executed by an enterprising company. The conversations that we often had over lunch and dinner at our cafeteria (ahh… the memories of Caddo) were incredibly weird and unconventional, yet often had glimmers of brilliance. One of my friends, Joe, would actually come to eat at the cafeteria simply for the conversation and certainly in spite of the food.

Anyway – we often spoke about creating a new breed of fortune cookie that really “told it like it was” and instead of giving some vague happy thought would instead give you perhaps a smile from the silly “misfortune” that was found inside the cookie (oh… and the cookie should taste a little better as well).

So, Wonton Foods has beaten us to the punch (not sure that we were actually considering punching… perhaps we should have) though they have yet to seize the great marketing strategy of the name “Misfortune Cookies” (maybe I should trademark that now… hmm…). This just reaffirms my belief that the most successful people are the ones that actually act on an idea… even if it is birthed out of a moment of tomfoolery and silliness.

Do you bargain with God? Perhaps you say, “God, I will do this thing for You, but in return… I want this other thing.” In 1 Samuel 15, the Lord sent a message to King Saul through Samuel telling him to completely destroy the Amalekite nation… completely… everything including the animals. So Saul went and did as the Lord instructed, destroying everything… except he greedily decided that it would be a waste to get rid of everything, so he decided to spare the life of Agag (the Amalekite king) and also to keep the best of the sheep and the cattle… the fattest… and really decided to keep anything else that appealed to his men or to himself. Because of this, the Lord then decided that he would select another to become the king of Israel. When Samuel told Saul that he had sinned against God by his disobedience, Saul responded by saying (v. 20-22), “‘But I did obey the Lord. I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep and cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.’”

God is calling each of us to obedience… without compromises… without bargaining. If we aren’t being obedient to His calling, then He is not interested in our offerings and our sacrifices. I don’t know about you, but I am thankful for the example of what NOT to do that is found in Saul’s actions in this passage. Lord, I long to be obedient to Your calling… help me, Father, to remain steadfast in Your Word and in prayer.