There are some verses of Scripture that are so outstanding they jump off the page yelling, “Look at me. Memorize me.” Colossians 2:9 & 10 are two of them. Paul wrote, “For in him (Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him . . .” Jesus is fully God. Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus is the exact representation of God and all the worlds (plural) were created by Jesus. Then Paul adds we are complete in Him.

There is no character defect that He cannot repair. There is no deficiency of character that He cannot supply. There is no sin He cannot forgive. There is no lack of personality that He cannot add to us. There is no skill needed that He cannot provide for us when we need it. Every excellence can be developed in us by the indwelling of His Spirit. We are COMPLETE in Him. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

What is so exciting about this is we need never to be ashamed of what we are. We can come boldly before His throne and request what we need and then not worry about it. When we need it, it will be there. We don’t have to beg. We don’t have to nag Him. We don’t have to remind Him of our need. He knows everything. He knows we asked. We don’t have to exhibit all the gifts all the time because we don’t need them all the time. But they are there and He knows the precise moment when we need them. This is trusting in Him. This is knowing that with Him in us life is and will continue to be a growing experience.

I first saw him literally shuffling into our local market. He was hard to miss; cashmere sport jacket, wool scarf, Stetson hat, white mustache, white hair flowing out from under the hat, bushy eyebrows, glasses on the tip of his nose and a twinkle in his blue eyes. I asked him how he was and I never said another word for the next twenty-five minutes while my wife shopped and then came and pulled me away from him. He was as British as one can be; eighty-eight years old, lonely, a widower for the past two years. I heard all about WWII in London; bomb shelters, Yanks, airmen, uniforms and officers.

I have met others like him. As he spoke of the war there was vibrancy in his eyes. Some men love war. I think they are the ones who never hit the beaches. They are the ones whose lives were full of the adventure of new places, meeting new people, learning new skills and not having to go to a 9 to 5 job. Theodore Roosevelt glamorized war and was continually enamored with it until his son died in combat. Suddenly it wasn’t so wonderful anymore. There is a dear price to pay for the handsome uniforms and the adrenaline rush.

As I left him he said, “You Yanks are really quite boring.” I guess I was. I never said one interesting thing. All I said was “How are you?” and “I have to go.” Truthfully I would like to have listened to more of his stories. People really are the most interesting animal on earth. God must be interesting; after all we are made in His image. He must have some great stories to tell. He knows them all.

I am very proud of my wife. On Tuesday morning one of her students failed to show up for class. It was not just an ordinary class but one in which students had to cooperatively present a project. We are very close now to the end of the semester and every class counts. So she gave the students that were present a reading assignment and she took off for the dormitory. Finding out at the desk which room belonged to her errant student she promptly went down the hall and knocked on the door, hard. Inside she heard a sleepy voice say, “Come in.” Need I even talk about the shock of that student. God could not have startled her more. The student actually got to the classroom before Ian got back.

Jesus said, “If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goes into the mountains, and seeks that which is gone astray?” It’s all about care. It’s saying to that student and the others, “You paid for your education and I am not going to let you throw it away.” With Jesus it’s quite a bit more important. Jesus says, “I paid for your salvation and I am not going to let you throw it away.”

God chases us. Jonah tried to hide and that didn’t work and neither can we hide. God just keeps after us. Sometimes we do need a wake-up call. We allow life to stupefy us into almost not hearing Him wooing us. But if we will pause and listen His voice is there. He might even be saying to us, “Get to class!”

This afternoon I watched a clerk in a drugstore cough on her customers. I wonder how many people will become ill because they went to the drugstore to purchase something to make themselves healthier. She reminded me of me and all my colleagues who sometime stand behind a pulpit. There we are advocating a Christ-like life without ourselves measuring up to the standard we promote. To stand before others proclaiming the need to live by high standards requires one of three things. A. Ignorance of one’s own faults. B. Hypocrisy. C. Confidence in the grace of God that covers our lack of personal righteousness.

I was informed yesterday that someone told someone (Don’t you just love the grapevine?) that I was a heretic. I thought that interesting because we are all heretics in the eyes of those who don’t agree with us. So that was nothing new. There are thousands of opinions in the world and thus all of us are heretics in the eyes of thousands. It’s a good thing we no longer burn heretics at the stake because the air would constantly be full of smoke. But I was curious and asked, “How so?”

“He doesn’t believe in obedience. He believes we can be saved without obeying God’s law.” Actually there is a bit of truth in that. But it is not really accurate. Here’s what I believe. Obedience has little or nothing to do with our salvation. Salvation is a gift from start to finish. However those who are saved will obey for three reasons. A. They are extremely grateful for their salvation. B. Once saved Jesus’ lives in us and motivates and enables us to obey because God’s law is written on our hearts. And C. it’s the smart thing to do.

I’m truly sorry for coughing on you.

We have had an African Grey parrot in our family for over ten years. They live to be in their forties so we expect to have it for a long time. It chatters away all day long and provides quite an interesting presence. His name was Max. I said was because last week we got the shock of our lives. We came down in the morning and discovered an egg in her water dish. Max is Maxine. I am still trying to adjust to what I thought was this very manly fellow being a hen. Since last week she has laid yet another egg.

Life is full of surprises. Some are not as pleasant as our parrot. There are times we are horribly surprised by the report of an accident or a diagnosis. These are the kinds of surprises we can readily do without. Satan received a horrible surprise at Calvary. He never intended for Jesus to die on that cross. When he swooped in upon Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane he was certain if he made the next few hours atrocious enough Jesus would give up. When I was young I wondered why Satan drove the national leadership to kill Jesus. Surely Satan understood the meaning of the sacrificial system. If he could get the leadership to ignore Jesus then Satan would win. But there are two reasons why that would not work. Jesus cannot be ignored and secondarily Satan’s personal hatred for Jesus drove his sadism.

Wonder of wonders when Jesus cried out, “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit. It is finished.” Jesus died. It was more than Satan could comprehend. Love won over hate. Such love was the greatest surprise of all.

We got a coupon book in the mail today boasting on the cover that we were receiving over $2,505 in savings. In order for me to garner the entire value of the book I would need to purchase four computer screens, four laptop computers, two pc computers, two printers, six cameras and a host of other products that all totaled would run somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000. I did actually find a two dollar coupon for the toothpaste I use and I only need to buy a year’s supply, so all was not in vain. We live in a world of overvalued products and we are supposed to feel fortunate to find a coupon that discounts it down to its real value.

The ultimate value on earth is of course the gift of eternal life. Its cost was not overvalued. It was something of such extraordinary worth it was impossible to discount. The price required the death of someone who was totally sinless. If there was but the tiniest of stains it was nullified. The Father knew it. Jesus knew it. Satan knew it. The pressure on all three was so intense we cannot begin to comprehend. This was not a game. This was the continued existence of God’s government. If Jesus failed all was lost. Satan’s claim that God’s dream of perfection with free choice wasn’t realistic would have prevailed.

What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane and all the way to the cross terrified the universe. Would He, could He do what had to be done? There could be no compromise. There could be nothing less. No coupon - - this was the real deal. The bottom line was everything that God valued. When God gave us Jesus He made Himself poor.

Yesterday my wife and I took some friends to the top of a small mountain that overlooks our little city. The oak leaves are freshly fallen on the rocks and are quite slippery. Wanting to make sure our guests would make it safely to the top and back to the car without slipping and falling we equipped each one with a walking stick or ski pole so they could plant the point and have the advantage of a third point of contact with the mountain. As we neared the bottom of the mountain and were almost at the cars guess who slipped and fell. If you guessed me you are absolutely correct. Stepping not on an oak leaf but just plain mud I was down in an instant. The last twenty-four hours have seen me babying my left hand that got crunched under me. Ouch physically and ouch psychologically. I was the one telling the others how to stay safe.

I am going to guess that most of you now know my Bible text for today. “Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” I Corinthians 10:12. The truth is we are all vulnerable in almost every aspect of life. I have seen an English teacher misspell a word. Much to my delight I might add. I was with a very pious man when he hit himself with a hammer. Oh dear. I will NOT repeat what he said. One of my flight instructors was killed in a horrible crash. He really was an excellent pilot. Making mistakes is just part of being human.

Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Everyone needs a Savior. Only Jesus was perfect.

One of the great texts of all Scripture soon follows Hebrews 11, the list of the spiritual and the not so spiritual (Samson) giants of the past. One thing is evident that despite their significance, and all they had done, all of them were dead. Now comes the really good part. Chapter 13:8. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” In Chapter 1 Paul told us that Jesus was the exact representation of the Father. Now he assures us that others die but our Jesus lives and not just for today but forever. We have an advocate with the Father and He never changes.

We never have to worry about Him being moody. When a volcano erupts it isn’t because He is angry with us. That’s pagan stuff. We can count on the consistency of His love, care and mercy. He is so concerned with saving people He keeps careful records of lives; by doing so He can then vouch for us by finding some one moment in our lives when we gave Him an opportunity to shower us with grace. He can shut down Satan’s accusations against us by actually producing evidence. Satan can produce a mountain of evidence to verify his claims against us. All Jesus needs for grace to abound is a moment. He will squeeze as many into the Kingdom as possible.

And why is He so jealous for us? It’s because He is exactly like His Father who spared not His son that we might be saved. Don’t you just love Romans 8 where Paul says if He did that, who can be against us. So fear not. He is in the saving business and He never changes.

I wish my father was still alive so I could call him tonight and tell him we are no longer short. We are tall! It’s a grand feeling to be tall. I have never experienced it before but I know it’s true. This evening I stopped for a cup of hot chocolate (winter is coming) and my choices were tall, grande and venti. My dad would have loved it. His vocabulary was a bit spicier than mine so I can only imagine some of the expletives I would have heard after he took his cigar out of his mouth.

Life is fun. In the field of education we continually need to be alert to the latest jargon lest we offend someone by describing them with a 90’s word. Now I have to get a new dictionary because “venti” isn’t in mine. Hooray, I have a new way to play the letter “v” in Scrabble. Words are not only interesting they are powerful. With words we can sooth or rile. With words we can heal or wound. With words we can invite someone to join us in the new kingdom or make them not want to be in heaven because we are there. That’s a frightening thought. As a teacher I really need to remember that when I become frustrated with a student. I remind myself that Jesus has every legitimate reason to be frustrated with me.

Jesus’ brother James had some classic things to say about words and our production of them. Once uttered they cannot be taken back. We can be forgiven but the hurt is still there. One of the most fascinating and wonderful combination of words ever written makes the sentence “For God so loved the world He gave His only son.” How venti is that?

I just finished reading an article about geoengineering. Some scientists are proposing regularly releasing tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere creating the same effect we get from an active volcano. By doing so we can offset global warming by a degree or two thus prolonging our use of fossil fuels. It reminds me of old movies about pilots seeding clouds to make it rain. Actually altering the atmosphere is really not a bad idea. It’s an idea as old as the day Eve saw Adam for the first time. She smiled and Eden became paradise.

It’s amazing how quickly a small act can alter the feeling in a room. During one of my class discussions a student took exception to a comment made by another student. Instantly the room went cold. People were on edge as the hostility grew. I realized I needed to do something quickly. I took a deep breath and pointed at one of the contenders and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen. In this corner weighing 135 pounds the world’s lightweight champion.” I didn’t need to point to the other. Both started to laugh and the room instantly warmed.

With a smile, with love, with care, with humor we can change where we are. If the people around you aren’t being nice to each other make a concerted effort to be super nice. Psychologists tell us it only takes one person to make or ruin a gathering. I can only imagine the changes we can make when we carry a spirit of Jesus with us. When I was in college I worked one summer on a construction crew. One day one of the guys said, “I like it when you are here. The others don’t swear so much.”

One of the greatest gifts God has given to us is the power of choice. One of the greatest curses is the power of choice. It is a gift because we get to choose who we become. It is a curse because in the end we can blame no one but ourselves for who we have become. It was not our DNA. It was not our environment. They were the tools we were given to build a person. With a hammer and saw we can build a palace. With a hammer and saw we can build an outhouse. The end product is the fruit of discipline or lack of.

Truthfully, I would like to blame someone. But the old line “The devil made me do it” is nothing more than the excuse of cowards looking for an easy way out of taking responsibility for themselves. In I Timothy 1 Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. At first we are tempted to think he is merely playing the humble bit, but after getting to know Paul from reading all of his work that we have, we realize he meant it from the depths of his heart. It wasn’t because he had persecuted the church as Saul. It was because he got a glimpse of the depravity of the human heart. He knew all the stoning, shipwrecks, snakebites, etc. were nothing compared to what it really took to earn a place in the kingdom. What it required was the righteous death of God Himself.

Paul chose to use the education, the talent, the brilliance to build a palace where God could dwell. It is what God wants from us. Some people are afraid of the message of grace lest salvation be too easy. If they think it is easy it is only because they have not yet grasped just how difficult it is to accept real grace. It’s called accepting responsibility.

When we hear the word “prospector” we usually think of the stereotypic grizzled old codger walking rope in hand pulling along his donkey loaded with bags and pans. I just happen to have a very good friend who is a prospector. He doesn’t own a donkey but on occasion he looks a bit grizzled after a summer in Alaska. We all keep hoping his next adventure will be the bonanza.

For those of us who are considerably less adventuresome I would like to draw our attention to a spectacular bonanza that is a sure thing. It is the biggest bonanza ever. Mention of it is found in Ephesians 3:8. Paul wrote “. . . that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; . . .” A few verses later he speaks of the height and depth of Christ’s love. Just when we think we are beginning to understand a new door opens with a brand new vision. Each new vision is yet deeper and more wonderful than the last. One of my favorite books is The Desire of Ages by Ellen White. In the past forty years I have read it over twenty times. One would think I would be bored with it by now. But quite to the contrary, each time through brings something new and I would testify that it was not there prior to the current reading.

And just what will we be doing for eternity? Lots and lots of things but mostly we will be focusing on those unspeakable riches of Christ. As we do so our intelligence will continue to grow. Each new vision will add another ten points to our IQ’s. How grand!

While thinking of my father today I remembered a confrontation. I wish that would not happen. There were so many happy times. There were walks in the forest with our boxer dog. I remember sitting snuggled up to him in church and good times just sitting on the porch with a soft afternoon wind wafting away our good conversation. So why did I have to remember something unpleasant? I am angry with myself for allowing that to happen. I wish there was a place we could put all unpleasant memories and just lock them away. How is it that I forget appointments where I need to be yet remember things I do not want to remember?

Our minds are incredible. There are times when I struggle to remember a name only to have it pop up once I stop trying to remember. Where do these things hide and how are they organized? I was a very fortunate child. From the earliest I learned my weekly memory verses. Then they were easy to learn and now come flying to my conscious just when I need them. How grand. But then there are those other things I don’t want to pop up like today’s remembrance of a not so good moment.

I value the promises that Christ will live within us, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. To surrender one’s mind to the influence of God is a great thing. At first I wanted to write “control” but I erased it. God never wants to control us. He gave us free will for a reason. He wants to share with us good times and good memories – the abundant life.

When I was a little kid I memorized the Ten Commandments. The “jealous” word describing God was a bit disconcerting. I thought of that characteristic in negative terms and I did not want my God to be negative. I was told if I wanted to know what God was like I was to look at Jesus since Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus is an exact representation of the Father. I couldn’t see Jesus having a bad attribute. Then it was that I learned that the word “jealous” can have positive characteristics. The dictionary uses the example, “The American people are jealous of their freedom.” It goes on to explain that it means they are vigilant and protective.

I like that idea. Our God is vigilant and protective of His children. It goes along with Paul’s idea in Romans 8. “If God be for us who can be against us? . . . For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But there was still an idea in Exodus 20 that bothered me. It is about God visiting the iniquities of fathers unto their children. Thankfully I came to understand that inheritance is not only eye color, etc., but the mental dispositions of our ancestors. This is not only a Biblical concept but an idea shared with the likes of Freud, Jung and the sociobiologist Edward Wilson. Our God isn’t kicking around children because their fathers were wicked. It’s talking about natural inheritance.

I have come to like the idea of my God jealousy taking care of us.

It was time for a new tube of toothpaste. Being a skinflint I had squeezed every possible bit of white stuff out of the old tube. After taking the cap off the new tube there was yet a foil seal to be removed. I pulled up on the tab and puff, the tube belched and promptly flattened. It had been 90% filled with air. It is needless to say anything about my disappointment.

At first I was tempted to write about the bags of hot air I have known. I even worked for a few, but that would not be very Christian of me. Instead I have elected to be reminded of other disappointments I have had. Again I am tempted to personalize that topic, but I shall resist and think of the times I have disappointed myself. That is the hardest topic. One of life’s most important needs is self-esteem. I wonder how, without God’s forgiveness, any of us can have much after decades of life. I sometimes talk about the great human tragedies of a life well spent and then having one disappointing event. When the person’s name is mentioned instead of remembering decades of good we instantly remember that one day when things didn’t go well. Not only do we do it about others we do it for ourselves.

We try to be good parents and put eighteen years of dedicated effort into trying our best but we remember the few times we were lousy parents. I have come to believe it is much easier to forgive others than it is the person we see in the mirror. It is on such thoughtful moments that we need to remind ourselves that our heavenly Father not only forgives the times we disappointed Him but He actually chooses to forget them. That is amazing.

I had the wonderful privilege of being the recipient of a major trove of marvelous old books from a pastor’s library. His widow saw to it that I received the gems. I am most grateful. The few I already had have gone to the eager young theology students on our campus. They cannot believe their good fortune and rightly so. Many of them are long out of print and will enhance their future ministries. Right now I am sitting here with one published in 1915. My parents were both four years old when this book was printed. It’s called Personality – How to Build it. It’s a really good read. While culturally dated the basic ideas have not changed.

Some people seem to think the personality we have is basically who we are and nothing much can be done about that. Nothing could be more wrong. Cranky people don’t have to be cranky. It’s a choice. Oh, I understand that the older we get the more aches and pains we have and that makes us want to be cranky. But crankiness is still a choice. Sometimes because we are old we think we can be rude and get away with it because what can people do about our rudeness. They can’t fire us if we are retired. In my case I have tenure. That makes it very tough to get rid of me. In order to do that they would have to push me in front of a moving truck.

However, personality is not something we are born with. Personality is the face that we wear for loved ones, not so loved ones and strangers. If we want to really be Christians and really want to be like our hero Jesus, rudeness and crankiness should be left in the outhouse.

If you are looking a bit haggard in the morning, if the bags under your eyes seem just a bit droopier and darker, if those once wonderful smile lines have become deep crevices, I have a verse for you. It is 2 Corinthians 4:16. “. . . though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” We ought to put that on our mirrors. It gives us reason for thanksgiving. Hooray for the inner man. Hooray for the God who renews that inner guy. It’s hard to read that and not smile and behold when we smile that old haggard face in the mirror doesn’t look half bad.

This passage in 2 Corinthians is really good. Look at what comes next. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; . .” Sunrises and sunsets have glory. Morning Glories have glory. But nothing is going to top the “far more exceeding” glory waiting for us. I tell you. I promise you. You are going to be looking good. God is going to lavish you with a glory that has “eternal weight.” It will never fade. It will never go away. You got it. You get to keep it.

So there, you old haggard face filled with scars, cracks and crevices. You are having your day now but the best is yet to come. In 1 Corinthians 15 God promises us a spectacular resurrection body. I put this “old acorn” in the ground and up comes a “magnificent oak.” I told my students today I feel sorry for them because I am just a few years away from consciously realizing this glory and they have to wait decades. Don’t tell me getting old isn’t great.

I have a friend who recently took a standardized test and received a perfect score in the math section. That’s not supposed to happen. If one receives a perfect score that means the person was not tested to his limits. We don’t know how much more he knows. Maybe he only knows a little bit more or perhaps he knows a whole lot more. There are many human developmentalists who believe the only way we learn is by actively confronting things we don’t know. Things we don’t know challenge us to learn and the more we learn the more we grow. The more we grow the more capable we are of service. The more service we can provide the more complete and happy will be our lives.

Failure to know something is an avenue to an expanded and more fruitful life; that is if we travel “up” that avenue and learn. Please note I said travel “up” because there are certain things we are much better off not knowing. Eve did not know the sorrow of death and suffering until she ate the fruit and learned. She went “down” that avenue. Not all things are good to know.

Psalm 1:1 is a great text for all of us to memorize. It describes the progression of sin. “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” As we move through life we cannot avoid walking past things that are harmful. The secret to happiness and growth is to keep on walking and not stop and look at it. Confronting that which we don’t know can be a growth experience or a disaster. It’s our choice.

In preparation for a coming weekend retreat for our administrators I am reading a very fine book on leadership. The book is designed to instill in corporate leaders the importance of such vital concepts of gifts of love, power, significance and authorship. The author’s goal is to impress leaders to lead with soul and heart. It’s a very fine book. Now comes my negativity. Because the book was written for people of all faiths it is very generic. It has to be so. The authors had no choice if they wanted the book to have a broad appeal. But it is missing the richness of Christ. As fine as other faiths are there is nothing that compares with the love, mercy and grace of Jesus. Take the best of every other faith and you will find excellent ideas but they pale when compared to the extravagant richness of Christ described in Ephesians 1 and 2.

Reading this excellent book is like eating an Oreo cookie without the middle layer. The cookie all by itself is excellent but doesn’t come near being as spectacular as when we savor that middle layer. The authors have a fine idea but they are looking for the best of humanity inside humanity. We are only at our best when our humanity, our personhood is filled with the divinity offered to us by Christ. Peter says it so well in his second letter, “. . . given unto us are exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, . . .” We are at our best when we open ourselves to being God’s temple.

I’m sitting here with an old book in my hand whose author has long been dead. He has letters after his name so I am inclined to give reverence to what he has to say. When I think about that I realize how silly that is. I know tons (literally) of people with letters behind their names and little that they say should be revered. And just because the author is gone doesn’t mean what he had to say was meaningful. Ah, there I go again. Negativity is such a problem. My dark side wants to criticize and complain about things that really are none of my business. I want to complain about our school administrators. But really now, I don’t get paid to deal with what they deal with. I don’t know the pressures they have. I don’t know the nuances of the issues. It just seems a bit delicious to complain about them as if I could do a better job. That is narcissistic madness. Should I have their position I would most likely do very poorly.

I have come to realize in many cases administrators have to make decisions not between better and bad but between bad and badder. The decision is what will do the least harm because there is no good decision possible. However, it is so satisfying to belittle others. Little do I realize when I do I am actually belittling myself, in my own eyes and most usually in the eyes of those who heard my ranting. My dad passed on to me one of life’s great lessons and I need to remind myself of it on a daily basis. It is quite simple. I need to mind my own business.

We have some dear friends we like to diner with each Sunday morning. This morning while sipping on a hot drink I watched our waitress top off one of my friend’s hot drink. Immediately she had to try to conjure up the right balance of drink, cream and sugar. The added top off upset her prior perfect mix. As I watched I realized how much this was like our lives. We can have the perfect balance. We enjoy our jobs, our health is good, our children and grandchildren are doing well, the weather is great and the bills paid. Then something happens. The mix is changed and the balance is gone. Life’s challenge then is to seek to regain the prior perfect mix. It’s not easy. Often there are just too many variables and one of them might be gigantic.

It’s on these occasions we would be wise to seek divine help. God is only a prayer away and though it might not often seem so He is eager to help. When Jesus told us to pray “Our Father” Jesus was not using a metaphor. God is most anxious to have us consider Him to be the best Father we could desire. He has unlimited resources but wisely doesn’t just dump upon us our requests. He’s much smarter than we are and knows exactly what we need to restore the balance.

Balance is not easy. I am always impressed to see a trapeze artist walk a wire without a balance pole. That’s a tough act. The bigger the pole the easier the walk. So it is with us. God provides a pole that is just the right length. Too long would make it too easy and we wouldn’t grow. Too short and we would fall. He knows exactly what we need.