Don Hinkle

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

“Antiquing,” the lady said on TV, “saved my life!”

That’ll get your attention. At least it sure got mine. I was drifting through the stages of a lazy Memorial Day Monday afternoon when I heard the phrase.

My oldest daughter had turned on a PBS program that features experts telling collectors what they’ve brought in to be evaluated and appraised is either junk or an incredible treasure.

This lady, in her mid-to-late 70s, had brought in a Duncan Phyfe sewing table. The value–which she already somewhat knew–was good, but the appraisal, I think, surprised her. It was valued at $100,000 plus. That’s what a collector would pay for the piece.

Amazing.

My first thought was, “not this collector–not me.” But my second thought was the lady’s phrase, “antiquing saved my life.” She had been diagnosed with cancer more than twenty years ago and was not expected to live. But she had a passion for antiques. Her passion gives her a spark, a drive. It’s what gets her up and going each day. She declares that it gives her a reason to live. Clearly, antiques are the passion of her life. And twenty years later, she is still going strong.

Passion will do that. An intense desire can overcome lots of obstacles. But if “antiquing” isn’t your passion, what is? Grandkids … stocks and bonds … golf… quilting … fly fishing … being left alone … reading … beating the contestants on Wheel of Fortune? All are possibilities. Let me suggest that an ideal passion is one that pays you well—gives you a good return on your investment—not so much in money as in life and vitality.

The lady ended up with a piece of furniture worth more than $100,000. Not bad. Yet, reality is that one day that $100,000 will be gone. How much wiser to invest your life in a commitment to eternal values. A passion for God will grow stronger each day and the payoff is great, both now and in the world to come.

I pray you have a passion in your life and that you are living passionately this very day.

Years ago an older adult told me, “Just because there is snow on the roof (his white hair), that’s no reason to think there’s no fire in the fireplace.”

So if you’re starting to feel a little distant and a little cooler in your relationship to life, then stir yourself into action. And may your fire burn bright all your days!

Don Hinkle, Senior Pastor at Yucaipa Christian Church in California shares a lesson in hidden values.

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

DON’T QUIBBLE OVER THE CALCULATIONS, JUST HUG YOUR INVESTMENTS

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle-income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn’t even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That’s a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is don’t have children if you want to be “rich.” Actually, it is just the opposite.

• What do you get for your $160,140?
• Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
• Glimpses of God every day.
• Giggles under the covers every night.
• More love than your heart can hold.
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
• A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
• A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, and skipping  down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
• For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
• You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
• You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.
• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother’s Day, and cards with backward letters for Father’s Day.
• For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
• You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off a bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
• You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.
• You get to be immortal.
• You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you’re lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.
• You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. We all know they grow up too soon.

Author Unknown. On March 25th, 2005 a new search was executed to attempt to discover the author of this piece. While it is still widely circulated on the Internet we still have not been able to find the author. If anyone knows of the author of this piece please contact us so we may attach proper attribution to the text.