JACK and Jesus

When I was an avid church-goer, I remember how the book of John impacted me. It's the thinking man's gospel, and as a thinking man I can really appreciate its perspective. It's definitely more down my alley than the perspective of a tax collector ... but I digress.

And I'm going to digress again. It has been a minute since I've been into my Bible studying it and trying to walk the straight and narrow path, but I still know a lot of Bible. What I can no longer do, however, is tell you exactly where the Word said what ... with few exceptions. Some mnemonic devices have really worked, like The Romans Road, but the ones that didn't really have a catchy rhythm or name? No idea.

So, folks, I am an avid user of The Bible Gateway. On this site, you can search key words in any translation (KJV, NKJV, NIV, Amplified, etc) and toggle back and forth from one version to another to compare chapter and verse. If you ever wonder where that scripture is about "putting on the full armor of God" just type it into the Bible gateway and VOILA! Instant Bible reading. No more see-thru rice paper, bonded leather, bible tabs ... nothing. Just instant Bible.

But anyway - back to my point. There's a scripture in the book of John that spoke to me many years ago and I continue to bask in its reality in my life.

Luke 12:48(b) - From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (NIV)

Why this scripture, you ask? Because I always feel like I've got too much to deal with. There's always too much going on ... and my life just always seems to be in one sort of disarray or another. And I have been thinking about the last two weeks and the fact that I have been to Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago and Indianapolis traveling in planes (Delta), trains (Amtrak) and automobiles (I love my 2006 Nissan Altima, even if I'm putting miles on it like a mother fucker) ... I'm now getting sick (head cold) and have tons of work to do at work that I don't even want to do it, I'm almost caught up with school work but am still behind, the ex-wife is hounding me because child support is late and there's nothing I can do because she chose to issue a court order to garnish my wages and I can't touch the money (if it's late, it's either delayed in the mail or on some state employee's desk waiting to get processed - what can *I* do?) ......

Luke 12:48(b) - From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (NIV)

And I'm to the point that I am about to get overwhelmed - because let me tell you, the above list is NOT exhaustive. My mom is 700 miles away and on all sorts of new pills for newly diagosed diabetes, high blood pressure and various and sundry mental ailments (I made that last one up), my finances are a mess, both as a result of my own spending and this stupid recession ... you get the idea. I"m a daddy, a son, an employee, a homeowner, a renter, a best friend, a confidant ... I wear many hats.

Luke 12:48(b) - From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (NIV)

But I go to my Bible gateway to read the scripture that is my life. Every time I get overwhelmed, and wonder why I have so much nonsense to deal with I remember ... God gave me the ability to handle it. I wouldn't be in any stressful situation I couldn't handle. So, I can't get exasperated ... I refused to becomes exasperated ... because within JACK there is a God-given talent to handle more than the average person. MUCH more ...

Luke 12:48(b) - From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (NIV)

So, I take som deep cleansing breaths and ask the Lord to make all the stuff I have to fit into the amount of time I have to do it. He has proven to me time and time again that I can fill a 5 pound sack with 10 pounds of sand ... and so, scoop by scoop, I get it done.

Thank you for joining me on my self-help, self-talk journey ...