The story of Lazarus is one that everyone is pretty familiar with. I would suspect that even non-Christians have at least a basic understanding of the story. I have known that story for what seems like my entire life, but it was only recently I noticed a verse and allowed the implications of that verse to really shine a new light on the whole story for me. So, we all know that Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus. Jesus is informed that Lazarus is sick and He responds, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). After hearing Jesus say that, I’m sure the disciples assumed that Jesus meant that Lazarus’ illness wasn’t all that serious and that he would soon get over it. Jesus stayed for two more days before telling His disciples it was time to set out for Judea where Lazarus had died.
Tag: life
Motives and Incentives
Just yesterday, I made a decision to try and lose some weight. If you know my wife and I, or you read my post last week, you know that my wife has been on a health journey for quite some time now. In the last year, she has improved her physical, mental and spiritual health by leaps and bounds. You would probably think that this is the reason that I decided to get healthy. The truth is while my wife’s journey has inspired me in many aspects of my life, it wasn’t her weight loss that caused me to make a decision to lose some myself. Actually, it was a competition offering money and cigars to the person that lost the most weight. I love cigars and I could always use some more money. So the incentives of the top prize urged me to commit to doing something that I have known I should do for quite some time now.
Life Lessons I Learned from Poker
I have been playing poker with friends since I was 18 and soon found that it was tailored towards some of my natural strengths: Patience, observation, deduction, and logical reasoning. Trying to better learn the game, I started to read books and watch professionals play on TV. I was able to learn it well enough to dominate the games I played with my friends, but never actually tried it in a tougher setting. However, as I have grown into a responsible adult I have learned that I am sometimes able to use the things that I learned at the poker table in everyday situations.