If you don’t regularly read the newspaper, you don’t know what you might be missing.
I recently read an article about a man who did something so bizarre, it still has me shaking my head.
It seems this guy in Texas wanted to begin his own record company. He needed some funds to finance his musical venture, so he stole a blank check from his girlfriend’s mother, filled it out and tried to cash it.
Quoting the article: “Tellers at the Fort Worth bank were immediately suspicious – perhaps the 10 zeroes on a personal check tipped them off, according to investigators.”
Ya think? This guy wrote a check to himself for $360 billion!
Please note that this man was not dating the daughter of Bill Gates or some Texas oil tycoon. His girlfriend’s mother was a regular person. Know any regular people with $360 billion in the bank? Know any banks that keep BILLIONS of dollars on hand?
Bless his heart, I believe this fella’s common sense tank was on “E.”
I admit I laughed when I read this story, but honestly, it’s more sad than funny. Desperate to make his dream come true, this young man made a big mistake. Unfortunately, it’s not an uncommon storyline.
Watch the early rounds of “American Idol” on T.V. and you’ll witness essentially the same thing – people desperately trying to grab brass rings they are excruciatingly not intended or equipped to grasp.
Our culture tells us to go hard after fame, wealth and power. It’s difficult to resist the mighty pull of that deceptive vortex and many folks, like this man in Texas, drown as they get sucked in and spit out.
I’m not going to try to cash a forged check or sing in front of Simon Cowell, but sometimes misguided ambitions can subtly pull me off track, too.
The truth is that God has a better plan for my life and yours than we could ever come up with. And He offers a treasure trove of wisdom, grace, peace, and joy to all who are willing to make His dreams their own.
We’ve been lied to, persuaded that God’s plans for us must be boring and miserable. “I know God’s gonna ask me to do the thing I most don’t want to do,” we reason, envisioning ourselves fighting off killer mosquitoes on some desolate mission field.
That thinking doesn’t even make sense on a purely human level, where wise bosses understand that employees are most productive when they are gifted in and passionate about what they are doing.
God “knit us together” (Psalm 139) and best knows what will truly satisfy us.
Plus, the Bible also says God can cause us “to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13). If we yield to Him, God will change our desires to match His own. We’ll find ourselves wanting what He wants, which is the path to truly abundant living.
When we stubbornly insist on going our own way, the Bible says we’re like people who dig broken cisterns that can’t hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). Futility. Frustration. Humiliation. Kind of like trying to cash a bogus check when there’s no money in the bank.
There is a better way: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Now, there’s something you can take to the bank.