Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 894 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Don't Quit – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 894 of our trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For some, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. Some may utilize structured meditation practices.

In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you too will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind. 

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. There are many people that are ready to give up because of trials and hardships. You may be one of them. Instead of giving up, let us put our energies into encouraging others. It is then we will have purpose and meaning in our own lives and will have the strength to “Keep Moving Forward.” In our Meditation Monday today, we will learn…

Don’t Quit

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."

There are times when all of us feel overwhelmed by problems and feel like quitting. I've been there, but couldn't find anything better than my Christian faith to quit to. Today I thank God for the courage to keep going, knowing that God was allowing trials to strengthen my faith and to help me grow.

If you feel like giving up and quitting, perhaps the following poem will encourage you to hang in, hang on, but never hang up when the going gets tough.

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low, and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must—but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up, though the pace seems slow—

You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man,

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup,

And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out—

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—

It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

It reminds me of the quote, “Tough times never last. Tough people do.”God never forsook the Apostle Paul who faced incredible trials and opposition. He will never forsake you or me as long as we place our trust in him. We are reminded of His steadfastness in Hebrews 13:5-6.

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 893 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Dont' Worry, Be Joyful - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 893 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time when we can “Ask Gramps.” Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, are unable to. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We will address areas such as finances, relationships, health/fitness, business/work, home repairs/renovations, seasons of life, spiritual/Biblical questions, and any others areas that come our way. As your fellow sojourner and mentor on this trek that we call life, it is Gramps’ goal to provide you with practical wisdom and advice about any area of life. It is crucial that I receive a constant flow of questions, so please submit your questions to [email protected]. And Gramps will answer your questions on our Friday podcast.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. With the recent high-profile celebrity suicides and the fact that suicide rates are increasing in all cultural and age groups, it seems as if more people are losing hope in our world today. So the question today is:

Hey Gramps, “How is it possible to maintain hope in our lives and accept that we are worthwhile and have a purpose that is greater than ourselves?”

Don’t Worry, Be Joyful

While I do not generally have an issue with depression and have never experienced bouts with feeling worthless, I do have family members and friends that do. There are many causes for depression, such as mental or physical illness, what we eat, and whether we are getting adequate exercise. Even what we allow to enter into our minds through TV, videos, audio, reading, and listening to the advice of others impacts us.

In most western cultures people strive relentlessly to be happy, but no external resources or circumstances will bring us lasting happiness. In fact, I would encourage you to stop striving for happiness because it is, at best, as temporary as the morning fog. Instead, on a daily basis, we need to seek deep and abiding joy.

Joy can only be realized when we realize who we are in God’s eyes. If God loves us and considers us worthwhile and precious, we need to have that same view of ourselves. Here are some Bible passages that will help you to change your thinking about yourself, so that, in all circumstances, you will love and accept yourself for who you are, for who God designed you to be. You can never love others properly and be loved by others until you first love yourself properly. We are truly valuable because we are God’s masterpiece.

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

If you want to lessen your depression, you need to change the way you think. No longer can we think and act as other people do. Romans 12:2 reminds, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."Before you were ever born, God knew and loved you.

Psalms 139:13-14

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 892 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Allergic to Gravity – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 892 of our trek, and it is time for our 3-minute mini-trek called Humor Unplugged. Our Thursday podcast will provide a short and clean funny story to help you lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life - something to cheer you and provide a bit a levity in your life.

We are told in  Proverbs 15:30, "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health." We are also encouraged in Proverbs 17:22, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength." Consider this your vitamin supplement of cheer for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s funny, which is titled...

Allergic to Gravity

Today I want to tell you a story about John and Sam. John’s story reminds me a lot about myself and the attitude that I try to have. There are also many similarities to my fall from a ladder last year with a chainsaw in my hand where I ended up with a fractured femur bone right below my hip socket.

For many, John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He always seemed to be in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator.

If a fellow associate was having a bad day, John was there telling them how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made Sam curious, so one day he went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

John replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood, or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim, or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life! I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right! It's not that easy," Sam protested.

"Yes, it is," John said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

Sam reflected on what John said. Soon after that, Sam left the company they both worked at to start his own business. They lost touch over the years, but Sam often thought about John when he made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, Sam heard that John was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

Sam happened to run into John about six months after the accident. When Sam asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

Sam declined to see his wounds, but he did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

This was John’s reply,  "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," John replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?"  Sam asked.

John continued, "..

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 891 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

When Giants Walked the Earth - Wisdom Wednesday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 891 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday.

Creating a Biblical worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical worldview, it is required that you also have a proper understanding of God’s word. Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors.

In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God’s Word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. He has compiled these essays into a book titled I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. The Bible is full of rich imagery and stories that fill our minds with wonders and questions. Today’s essay explores one such incident as we will focus on…

When Giants Walked the Earth

If they haven’t read it, most people have at least heard the story of David and Goliath of Gath ('‘the Gittite”). The names of the hero and villain have iconic status. But how many people know anything about the giant Goliath, other than that he lost his head to a boy named David from Israel?

This story can be found in, 2 Samuel 21:15-22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8. The story tells us that there were other unusually tall warriors among the Philistines. The lists are not identical, but putting them together we read that there were four: Saph (also called Sippai), Lahmi, Ishbibenob, and an unnamed warrior. The descriptions are similar to that given Goliath, noting “great stature” and the dimensions of their weaponry. Unlike Goliath or any of the other named warriors, the unnamed giant is said to have six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. This malformation, known as polydactylism, is only mentioned in the description of this giant. The Bible does not mention it when it discusses other giant clans.

· Wait a minute—giant clans?

There are several people groups described as giants or among whom giants lived in the Old Testament:

There are the Anakim, who are descendants from the Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6:4, which reads, "In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times." The descendants of those giants lived in Cannan, which was considered The Promised Land and are encountered by the Israelites under both Moses and Joshua. In Numbers 13:33 the spies reported back, "We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next, to them, we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!"

At one time, before the children of Israel traveled through the Transjordan, the land to the east of the Jordan River was heavily populated with tall people known as Emites, which is found in Deuteronomy 2:10-11, "A race of giants called the Emites had once lived in the area of Ar. They were as strong and numerous and tall as the Anakites, another race of giants. Both the Emites and the Anakites are also known as the Rephaites, though the Moabites call them Emites." They are also referred to as Zamzummites in Deuteronomy, "That area was once considered the land of the Rephaites, who had lived there, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummites."

The Amorites, another group that stood in the way of Israel claiming the promised land,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 890 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Persistence + Effort = Success – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 890 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged.  This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today.  So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from Elbert Hubbard, and it is, "A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success."

Persistence + Effort = Success

True and lasting success is never gained quickly nor through shortcuts. Success cannot be determined during the process while you are in the midst of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.  Sometimes success is not fully realized until long after a project or situation has ended.  In fact, there have been many times where a person has not been recognized as a success until long after they have died.

Success cannot and should not be measured by monetary accumulation, but for the impact of transforming the lives of others positively. All of the truly great persons of history were willing to put in the time and the sacrifice to further God’s kingdom without the consideration of whether they were going to be successful. We should be willing to do the same. As we conclude, today we are reminded in Proverbs 13:11, "Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time."

Also, success comes from wisdom gained through understanding and following God’s precepts as found in Proverbs 1:3, "Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair."

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com.  As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.If you would like to listen to any of our past 889 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Apple Podcast or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 889 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Foolishness – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 889 of our trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For some, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. Some may utilize structured meditation practices.

In my life meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you too will experience a time for reflecting and renewing your mind. 

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. There are many foolish people and situations in our world today which we should not follow or become involved with. There is an exception to this, and in our Meditation Monday today we will learn about…

Foolishness

When Dietrich Bonhoeffer reflected on the meaning of the cross, he concluded, “A king who dies on the cross must be the king of a rather strange kingdom.” After all, everything about Jesus’ life was counter to the kingdom that his contemporaries were expecting and the empire that Rome had established. Perhaps, therefore, it is not so unusual that the nature of his kingdom would be “strange” to modern-day sensibilities? Even easier to reject. Especially a kingdom where the king suffers in apparent foolish weakness.

Brennan Manning said, “Jesus entered our world as the music man, but the world was disturbed by his song…” But did the nails silence the music? Could it be that, in those nails, God succeeded in putting into operation his new creation and plan for the world? Could it be that, in those nails, a new kind of music could be heard?

Anyone who looks at the cross as a single screenshot on the monitor of their mind will think God is not loving or powerful but cruel and unfeeling. But when we see the cross as a part of the whole story, we will see it as a shining tile in the divine mosaic that is the story of God.

That this tile reveals to us that God is not waiting for us on the other side of suffering. He understands its significance and meets us in the midst of our suffering. We may never know why God allows suffering, but we know that God allows his heart to break as we suffer. To those who do believe, to those who embrace the foolishness, Jesus opens up a new reality that transforms the poverty of our nature by the riches of his grace. It is in this strange kingdom that we find grace that lays its arm down a wooden beam and never stops reaching out to bring us eternal life.Our faith and our calling do not rest in human wisdom, but in the power of God. This means we must pray daily for this kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. It is an invitation for us to take up our cross, the apparent foolishness of it and the scorn that may come because of it, and confront the world’s foolish power with the fact there is a different way of wielding power. Defined and characterized by love.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 tells us, "The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,

'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise

and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.'

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 888 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The State of the World, Communications - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 888 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time when we can “Ask Gramps.” Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason are unable to. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We will address areas such as finances, relationships, health/fitness, business/work, home repairs/renovations, seasons of life, spiritual/Biblical questions, and any others areas that come our way.  As your fellow sojourner and mentor on this trek that we call life, it is Gramps’s goal to provide you with practical wisdom and advice about any area of life. It is crucial that I receive a constant flow of questions, so please submit your questions to [email protected]. And Gramps will answer your questions on our Friday podcast.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This week we will continue with part 3 of 3 for our question from last week which was…

Hey Gramps, “Listening to most news sources and even many preachers, it seems like the world is getting worse each year, but is that really the case?”

The State of the World, Communications

Nearly everyone in the western world, and even in many developing nations own a smartphone or at least a mobile phone.  One of the most prevalent areas where we have seen great advancements and improvements in our world is in the area of communication.

Many of us take it for granted now, but in 2017, we had 3.8 billion people connected on Earth. That is ½ of the entire world’s population, including all children. In the next five years, we'll see the deployment of the 5G global network that Qualcomm has been developing, which will enable many more types of connected devices.

We're about to see Facebook and Google launch large amounts of balloons, drones, and satellites. The company, OneWeb has plans to deploy 900 satellites leveraging a $1.2 billion Softbank investment. In addition to that 4,425 satellites are being launched by SpaceX. Within the next 5-10 years, it will provide connection capability to every single human on the planet with a gigabit connection speed. This will be a gigabit connection for everyone, effectively for free.

That connection represents a lifeline for health sciences. It’s an ability to upload data or enable AI support. Imagine doctors in the US or other countries being able to perform advanced surgeries remotely to areas where health care is limited or unavailable. Think of all the good that can be brought about by these advancements in communications and connectivity.  Imagine how much easier it will be to reach the world to build God’s kingdom through the proliferation of His Good News to every tribe and nation. This is truly great news.

And it doesn't slow down. With the “Internet of Things” and a proliferation of sensors, by 2020 we'll have 50 billion connected devices with a trillion sensors in the world. By 2030, we’ll see 500 billion connected devices with 100 trillion sensors.

Regarding health, every single person will have the ability for real-time monitoring. Every single element of their lives – their glucose, their blood pressure, their microRNAs,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 887 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Old Has Become Cool – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 887 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Humor Unplugged.

Our Thursday podcast provides a short and clean funny story to help you lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life.  It is something to cheer you and provide a bit a levity in your life.

We are told in  Proverbs 15:30, "A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health."We are also encouraged in Proverbs 17:22, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength." Consider this your vitamin supplement of cheer for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s funny which is titled...

The Old Has Become Cool

Gramps and his grandkids had been up in the attic together doing some cleaning and organizing. The kids uncovered an old manual typewriter and asked, "Hey Gramps...what's this?"

"Oh...that's an old typewriter," he answered, thinking that would satisfy their curiosity.

"Well, what does it do?" they asked.

"I'll show you," Gramps left the attic and returned with a blank piece of paper. He rolled the paper into the typewriter and began striking the keys, leaving black letters of print on the page.

"WOW!" they exclaimed, "That's really cool...but how does it work like that? Where do you plug it in?"

"There is no plug," Gramps answered. "It doesn't need a plug."

"Then where do you put the batteries?" they persisted.

"It doesn't need batteries either," he continued.

"Wow! This is so cool!" they exclaimed. "Someone should have invented this a long time ago!"

Make it a day full of cheer.

As we conclude our story, let me leave you with a Thursday Thought from Ecclesiastes 1:9-10, "History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, 'Here is something new!' But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new."

Sourced at: www.mikeysFunnies.com

That’s a wrap for today’s Humor Unplugged. If you enjoy these short stories, let me know so I can continue to bring a bit of cheer to your week.

Just as you enjoy these nuggets of humor, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.If you would like to listen to any of our past 886 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on Apple Podcast or Google Play so each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 886 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Righting the Wrong - Wisdom Wednesday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 886 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is important in order to have a proper perspective on today’s current events.

To establish a Biblical worldview, it is required that you also have a proper understanding of God’s Word. Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the Scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors. In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God’s word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser.  He has compiled these essays into a book titled I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Have you ever made a vow or a promise to God or a person and regretted it afterward? In today’s essay from Dr. Heiser, we want to explore one such vow made by Jephthah, one of the Judges of Israel. We will compare and contrast this vow to a New Testament story of Jarius where Jesus reversed this foolish vow. In Judges 10-11 we will focus on…

Righting the Wrong

The story of Jephthah and his tragic vow is paralleled by other stories—including a New Testament story that subverts it.

· The Story

After the brief judgeship of Jair (a man from Gilead), the people of Israel fell into idolatry by worshiping foreign gods. This account is found in Judges 10:6, "Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all."

As a result of this disobedience, God then allowed a foreign enemy to oppress the Israelites as punishment. This time it was the Ammonites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan in a place also known as Gilead. The Philistines and the Ammonites oppressed Israel for 18 years, and finally, the people called on God for deliverance.

God had his fill of their disobedience, and in Judges 10:13-14, God tells them, "Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore.  Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!"  After

much pleading and putting away all idols, God once again relented by calling Jephthah, another judge from Gilead, to deal with the Ammonites who were getting ready to wage war against them to take back some land.

In Judges 11, Jephthah sends a message to the king of the Ammonites. He wonders why the king is not content with the land that his god Chemosh had given to the Ammonites. Jephthah’s plea is flawed: based on historical data from that time period, Milkom also called Molech was the chief deity of Ammon, not Chemosh. It won't be the last time he makes a theological blunder.

When Jephthah leads Israel against Ammon, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him for battle. Just before the fight, he utters his horrible vow..."And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, 'If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.'"After a resounding victory, we pick up the story in verse 34, "When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy."

· The Story Behind the Story

The ancient Israelites believed that geographical areas and nations were under the dominion of o...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 885 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Living Successfully – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 885 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget.

Living Successfully

Today’s quote is from Mother Teresa, and it is her 10 steps for living successfully:   

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.  Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.  Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.  Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.  Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.  Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.  Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you invest years building may be destroyed overnight.  Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.  Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and you'll get kicked in the teeth.  Give the world the best you have anyway.

As we conclude, today we are reminded in  Titus 3:8, "This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone."

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 10,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.If you would like to listen to any of our past 884 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Apple Podcast or Google play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

Live Abundantly (Fully)

Love Unconditionally

Listen Intentionally

Learn Continuously

Lend to others Generously

Lead with Integrity

Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow for Wisdom Wednesday!