Surgery, Vacation Days and Super Mario Brothers

One of my best weeks I've ever had was a week spent playing video games with my brother. At the time he was stuck at home recovering from surgery during the same week that I took off for a vacation. At this time in our lives we were next-door-neighbors and he had just purchased a Nintendo NES game console. After spending a few hours playing the "Baseball" game, I suggested playing the game that he had received with the console, "Super Mario Brothers." (Plus, I was getting killed in the game of Baseball . . . )

Super Mario World was a side-scrolling platform game in which two players could work together to navigate the Seven Worlds in order to free the princess and fight Browser at the climax of the game. The team play in addition to the awesome amount of game play hooked us from the start. We decided that before the week was out, we would defeat Browser and win the game. The challenge was on.

The Hiring Dance

Raise your hand if you enjoy the experience of interviewing for a new job. Anyone? It's been my experience that even the most confident among us can be reduced to puddle of uncertainty when undergoing an interview that can influence your career trajectory.

In a previous life, I worked in retail management for over 20 years. In that time I probably hired hundreds of people and after awhile I found myself asking a variation of these same four questions:

Do you think you possess the skills, expertise and experience to perform this job?

What do you think you would bring to our team that other candidates don't possess?

Why do you think you are a good fit for our team, our culture and our company?

In what ways will you help our company make more money?

The Wonder of Romans

It would be very difficult to choose my favorite book of the Bible. There is the poetic description of creation in Genesis, the miracles in Exodus, the rise and fall of rulers in the book of Judges, the prophecy of Isaiah, the lyrical prose of Psalms and we haven't even got to the four gospels or Revelation. But if I had to pick one book as my favorite, it would have to be Romans. Paul, the author of this book, in my opinion offers the best balance between explaining the theology of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then showing us how to live out this gospel in real life applications.

Since I'm more of a bottom-line kind of person I used to skim over the first part of the book of Romans to get to the what I thought was the meat of the book, the "How To" portion. I have come to realize that without a knowledge of true theology, it is impossible to understand the task at hand. Yet since I am most familiar with the second half of Romans that's what we are going to take a quick look at today.

God Has Made A Way

One of the many things I love about God is His attention to detail. No element is too small to play a part in His ultimate plan for our lives and His Kingdom. This is repeated in the Old Testament view of how we approached God in worship and the New Testament ordinance established with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Looking at the establishment of the Tabernacle we see a clear flow of worship that man must complete before approaching a Holy God. We see this from the very beginning of Creation when God first killed an animal so that Adam and Eve could have clothing. In this very first act of sacrifice, God demonstrated His willingness to insert Himself into our world, to meet our needs, and to offer a pathway for restoration to Himself.