What all was made for

Just got back from Jordan. During our long trip on back of the bus several of us read out loud from the beginning of Genesis and talked about it. It struck me in a new way how even from the beginning God gave man so many gifts: "I give you every seed-bearing plant...every tree that has fruit...all the beasts of the earth...all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." Everything on earth has been given us to. To aid in our salvation, to bring us closer to heaven. As a place for worship- that's what it was made for.

Last night we inexplicably stayed at an opulent resort. There were gardens and fountains, a pool overlooking the Dead Sea, really soft mattresses and expensive soaps, antiquated wood doors with brass latches, and a little veranda out the back of every room with low couches where we stayed up late and talked. I definitely felt like an Arabian prince for the night!

I ate the best feast I’ve ever had in my life! Honestly, it put the symbol of the ‘Heavenly Banquet’ into a whole new light for me. Vegetables steamed and some I’d never seen, lamb and wild rice and fancy cheeses, sushi and homemade breads and chocolate mousse for desert (and strawberries and bananas in carmel). You should have seen my face! I enjoyed it all very much, but I have to tell you that I enjoyed it much more than anyone else who stayed at that resort. For me it was an unexpected gift-!

-When we went to Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean a few weeks ago we saw some of the Roman bath-houses there. They were much more luxurious than anything we have now. They had geometrically designed floors out of marble, hot-tubs and saunas, massage tables in the middle of porticoed atriums. There were these vast amphitheatres and hippodromes dedicated to entertainment: dramas and horse-races and such. Caesarea is the city where the centurion Cornelius lived, the first Gentile convert. (Acts 10) Just think of how he gave up that lifestyle when he became a Christian (and later a bishop)! I wonder how St. Peter felt, a poor fisherman, when he went to the extravagent house of that centurion? Or St. Paul, a tent-maker, when he was imprisoned in that city for two years before being sent to Rome? Of course, those people are all in heaven now, and Caesarea is a field of ruins.

It was fun to see the 'other side', but it made me realize how silly it is that some people dedicate and work their whole lives away so that they can live that way. I think I'll give my life to something a bit more important! What is the greater good? What is lasting?
What is your pearl of great price, for which you would give all else? What are you giving your life to?

-Mike