Thought for February 26, 2024

•  1907: Royal Oil and Shell merge to form BP Petroleum
• 1919: Arcadia National Park formed [originally Lafayette NP]; Grand Canyon National Park formed
• 1919: Grand Teton National Park formed
• 1933: Groundbreaking for the Golden Gate Bridge
• 1935: RADAR first demonstrated
• 1944: First female Navy Captain--Sue Dauser
• 1962: Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public transportation
• 1964: Robert Penn Warren named first U.S. Poet Laureate
• 1969: Cowboys fire Tom Landry
• 1993: Truck bomb explodes in garage of the World Trade Center
• Born: Christopher Marlowe, Victor Hugo, Levi Strauss, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Harvey Kellogg, Herbert Henry Dow, Grover Cleveland Alexander, William Frawley ["I Love Lucy"], Jackie Gleason, Tony Randall, Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, 
• Die: Richard Gatling, Earl Lloyd [first black player in the NBA], Joseph Wapner [People's Court]

Thought:

We are in a presidential election year. Every day there is "news" about the leading candidates. Reading Ecclesiastes 10:16-19 made me think about our nation and the candidates this morning. Solomon writes:

• Woe to the land whose king is a lad and whose princes feast in the morning.
• Blessed is the land whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate time.
• Be careful when money is the answer to everything.

What do I hear in these verses? Your leader should not act like a child. Lads are not generally wise, prudent, patient. I think I have mentioned before the long term study done with doughnuts. Young children, about 5 as I recall, were placed in a room with a doughnut and told they could eat it whenever they wanted but if they waited until the adult returned, they would receive another doughnut. A record was kept of which child ate the doughnut and which waited. The study continued to follow these children for 40 years. Those that did not wait were less successful in school and in life and much more likely to be involved in drugs and crime. The children that waited were much more likely to complete their education, have good jobs, productive lives and avoid addiction and crime. Leaders who act like children and who celebrate before working [feasting in the morning] will bring nations down. 

Our leaders should be noble. Reminds me of America the Beautiful, "may God thy gold refine, Til all success be nobleness and every gain divine." What does it mean to be noble? High moral qualities and ideals---unselfish and morally good, ethical---generous, honorable, gentlemanly. The opposite of noble is degenerate, vile, sordid, base,  dishonest. 

Solomon was wise---be careful when money seems to be the answer to everything. I look around--I want a good football team or basketball team---what's the answer? Money. We pay 18 year old quarterbacks more than skilled teachers and gifted pastors and then wonder why things are messed up. We refuse to volunteer at church--let's just hire more ministers and helpers. Money is the solution to everything. Education is in a mess--let's just pour in more money and solve the problem. I don’t spend time with my children, but buy them stuff---money is the solution to everything.

Lord, forgive us and help us. We choose leaders who are childlike and ignoble and think money solves everything. We think spending more gets results. Solomon figures out that the answer to everything is to fear/worship/awe God and keep His commandments. [12:13] Help me find that same truth and apply it. 

Blessings

Larry