Good old electric football.  Do you remember those things?  This was pre-video games, mind you.  Actually, this was pre-PONG!  

The commercials for that game were amazing to me when I first saw them.  Did you see how the kids playing were having so much fun.  You could just tell they lived in a world where they had no chores or school, actually, they didn’t even have furniture to get in the way!  You just knew that all they did all day long was play electric football where you controlled the game! 

When I first saw that thing, I knew right then my life would not be complete unless I had that game.  So I started the arduous process of begging and manipulating and bargaining with my mom until she agreed to get it for me for my birthday.

I remember unpacking all the players, and assembling the cardboard bleachers…

I followed all the directions on how to set up a play (actually, my brother Riley read them all and told me what to do…I’ve never been big on manuals).   Everything was set…the players all lined up, just like they showed on TV.  I flipped the on button… 

…and BRRRZZZZZT…all the players clumped in the middle of the field, with a few stragglers running in circles at the sidelines, just like every other electric football game I’d ever had.

It certainly didn’t change my life, nor complete me in any way at all.  I probably only played with the thing 2 or 3 more times after I got it.

But that didn’t stop me from going on a lifelong quest of searching for that something that I had to have, with which my life would be meaningless without.  That’s an American tale that most of us can relate to, right?  Dissatisfaction is pretty much a way of life for us.  One that the advertising world eagerly feeds, keeping us looking for the next commercial which promises fulfillment and satisfaction if we just get the right stuff.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy 6:1-10.  (Message) 

Paul will be touching on the subject of dissatisfaction and contentment.  He’ll talk about three areas where human nature has a tendency to become dissatisfied, at work, in our faith, and with our income, and he’ll give some clues as to how we find contentment in those areas. 

As you read Paul’s insights, what can you apply to your own experiences in these areas of life?

See yer’ Sunday

Sorry about not posting here last week.  That is…if anyone is still reading this and finding it useful.  That’s an odd conundrum, isn’t it?  If you’re not reading this, you don’t know I wrote it, and there’s no way you could tell me I should stop.  Just let me say, if you’re not reading this don’t worry about it.  Don’t give it a second thought, which of course you don’t because you haven’t read it.

This Sunday we’ll be reading 1 Timothy 5:17-15  (the message version here)

Paul has a lot to say about leadership.  How to treat them, how to correct them, how to appoint them and what to expect from them.  There’s part of me that feels really uncomfortable dealing with this passage…I almost wondered at one point if I should have asked someone else to teach it.  I decided in the end that I’m called to explore all of the Scriptures, not just the stuff that I’m comfortable with.  It’s there in the text, so we’ll deal with it.

Do you feel like there is anything in this passage that applies to your own life or responsibilities?  V23 is quite the topic.  Do you have any ideas on what Paul is telling Timothy in that verse?