Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 844 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Tomorrow – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 844 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. This past weekend we had the privilege of attending the show Annie: The Musical, in which our granddaughter Aurora, who is six, played one of the orphans in the orphanage where Annie was also an orphan. The performance was amazingly good and was presented to a sold-out crowd at “The People’s Bank Theater.”

Of course, we are very proud of the great job that Aurora did. As I reflect on the performance, my mind keeps going back to one of the theme songs in Annie, which is called “Tomorrow.” The message is clear that regardless of how difficult some days may be, there is always hope in our tomorrows. In today’s meditation, let us explore…

Tomorrow

All of us have difficult days and even difficult seasons of life. Sometimes it seems like those seasons will never end. This is not the case, though. Just as night always turns to day and winter always turns to spring, so our difficult and dark todays will always turn into our better and brighter tomorrows.

Since I have the opportunity to travel by plane a lot, one thing that I know will always happen is that the sun will always be shining bright above the darkest of clouds. Think about your tomorrows as I read the lyrics to the song.

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There'll be sun…

 

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs,

And the sorrow

'Til there's none…

 

When I'm stuck a with day

That's gray,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin

And Grin,

And say…

Oh

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

So ya gotta hang on

'Til tomorrow

Come what may…

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I love ya, tomorrow

You're always

A day

Away…

 

When I'm stuck a with day

That's gray,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin

And grin,

And say…

Oh

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

So ya gotta hang on

'Til tomorrow

Come what may…

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I love ya, tomorrow

You're always

A day

Away…

 

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I love ya, tomorrow

You're always

A day

Away

When our days are difficult, we also have a loving God that we can turn to. Yes, the pain and darkness of today may be severe, but the hope of tomorrow will shine ever brighter. Meditate today on Lamentations 3:19-24.

The thought of my suffering and homelessness

is bitter beyond words.

I will never forget this awful time,

as I grieve over my loss.

Yet I still dare to hope

when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 843 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Controlling Your Money - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 843 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 where 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. Money is something that affects us every single day of our lives. It’s used to pay for our shelter. It’s used to purchase food for our families. It’s used to purchase heat in the winter. It’s used to purchase necessary medical care. The list could go on and on.

So our question for today is…

Hey Gramps, “I have a very difficult time controlling my spending. Even when we receive more money than expected, or needed, it seems to be gone so quickly. What can I do to help control the money I have so I can get ahead in life.”

Controlling Your Money

This is a topic that is near and dear to me because I see so many of my friends, family members, and associates struggle to get control of how they use their money. Financial controls seem relatively easy for me, but I realize that I am the exception. Since money is so important to our daily lives, you’d think we’d devote more time trying to keep it. However, it seems like most people regularly devote more time trying to find new ways to spend it. It is akin to an addiction for most people.

First, as with so many aspects of life, you need to change your thinking. All the money and other resources we possess is not really ours. It has been given to us by God, and during the few years we have on earth, we are only managers or stewards of God’s resources. We are held accountable for how wisely we manage the money and other resources that we have. You came into this world naked with nothing, and so it is when you leave this world. At best, we are stewards of what we are blessed with. Once you have this mindshift firmly engrained in your mind, then you start looking at those resources differently.

Due to this interesting paradox, I find it necessary to occasionally sit back and reflect on my financial life. To do this, I ask myself a few questions regarding my current financial health. Each question is very short and is designed to get me thinking about the bigger picture of keeping and investing the money I have been given to manage. I encourage you to ask yourself these same questions in order to keep a proper mindset of the resources that you are responsible for managing.

· “Is the Money Being Invested in the Things That Truly Matter to Me?”

Are there items in your budget that could be removed or reduced to help better utilize your income?

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 842 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

No More Excuses! – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 842 of our trek, and it is time for our 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 Laura Schlessinger, and it is, "People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses."

No More Excuses!

Is your word your bond? There was a time where a handshake was as good as a contract because the reputation and integrity of an individual were based on the fact that if he gave his word he followed through.

We should always follow through with our commitments, which are promises, no matter what. We do not have to make excuses because our word is more important than any personal loss that may result from following through with our commitment.   We can be the same today.

Even if contracts are required, and most of the time recommended, our actions should be exactly the same whether there is a contract in place, or not. It seems to be a rare person who consistently follows through with his promises. Instead of trying to make excuses for non-performance focus on performing as you promised, we need to accept responsibility for our actions, and not make excuses or place blame on people, places, or circumstances.

It may cost you dearly in the short term, but throughout your life, if you are a person of integrity, you will follow through and do what you said you would.  Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:37, "Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one."That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like free access to my database of inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, 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 841 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 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 Philosophy Friday!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 841 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Tale of Courage We Never Teach - Wisdom Wednesday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 841 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. The past several months on Wednesday we have been focusing on interpreting current events through a Biblical worldview.

To establish a Biblical worldview, it is important 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 God’s Word, we are investing the next several months on Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser, which he has compiled 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. There were some practices during the Old Testament timeframe and culture that are difficult for us to understand today. As we continue to explore the Old Testament, our topic today is one such situation. Many preachers and Bible scholars avoid such passages, but we will look at one in our essay today titled…

A Tale of Courage We Never Teach

Moses’ encounter with God in Exodus 4:21-26 is arguably one of the strangest, most confusing events recorded in the Bible. In this passage, Moses is heading back to Egypt, seemingly following God’s call to deliver the Israelites from Pharaoh’s vice-like grip. But then something shocking happens…

And the Lord told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.  Then you will tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son.  I commanded you, “Let my son go, so he can worship me.” But since you have refused, I will now kill your firstborn son!’” 

On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him.  But Moses’ wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She touched his feet with the foreskin and said, “Now you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”  (When she said “a bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) After that, the Lord left him alone.

This passage is not only difficult and confusing, but it raises numerous questions. Why would God want to kill Moses right after calling him to deliver Israel? In addition to this theological conundrum, there are other uncertainties. We are startled and confused when Zipporah, Moses wife (Exodus 2:21), deals with this threat by immediately circumcising her son Gershom and touching the foreskin to Moses “feet.” What does that mean? And why would her action pacify God’s wrath?

· Doing the Wrong Thing: Moses’ Negligence

If we looked at the original Hebrew text of this passage, we would notice that the name Moses does not actually appear in the phrase translated as “touched Moses' feet.” The text literally reads, “touched his feet.” Consequently, Zipporah could have taken the foreskin and touched either Moses or Gershom, which would affect our interpretation. However, since Moses is the major character in the wider context, it seems logical to conclude that God is angry with Moses, not Gershom.

Why is God angry? We can infer the answer from two considerations: the difference between Egyptian circumcision and that prescribed by the Abrahamic covenant (Joshua 5:2-9; Gen 17), and the circumstances of Moses' birth and childhood (Exodus 1-2).

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 840 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Be True to Yourself – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 840 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 Ray Lammie, and it is,"One person you can never get away from is yourself. Be true to yourself. Respect yourself. Live life with integrity."

Be True to Yourself

The primary person which you must face in life is the one you see when you look into the mirror. Yes, we are ultimately accountable before God, but every single moment of each day you are accountable to yourself. You must accept the responsibility, and the consequences, of every decision and choice that you make in life.

When you look into the mirror, deep into your eyes, to your very soul, who do you see? A person you love, respect, and admire? A person that has unchanging and unwavering integrity? You can fool almost everyone for a period of time, even close family members. You can never get away from yourself, nor from God’s omniscience.

As we look into the mirror of our heart and mind, let us see a person that is true to ourselves, a person that we can love, respect, and admire. A person that we would want to emulate. A person of integrity

As we are instructed in Hebrews 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable."Let us not only be accountable before God, but also ourselves. It is then we will be the person that we want our spouse, children, grandchildren, and everyone else we impact to emulate.

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 839 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 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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 839 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

As a Child! – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 839 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. As I grow older, although it is hard to accept, I realize I am not a child, or a teenager, or a young adult anymore. Even with the advances in medical technology and understanding of human physiology, I am still aging.  The Apostle Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.”Yet Jesus said there is one area where we should not be. In today’s meditation let us explore…

As a Child

When we read the verses below, I want you to notice Jesus’s interactions with His disciples regarding a rich public official who turned away from following Him. Jesus challenged His disciples to think through His rejection of His call to focus their attention on those who are worthy of their emulation. Religion gets far off track when the focus becomes a question of who is most important, most religious, and most deserving of the Father's love.

Jesus came to us as God. The rich public official in the story that I will read today missed this truth. He called Jesus "good," and only God is truly good. So Jesus challenged him to listen to Him as God. Jesus told him that he needed to drop his religious game of trying to earn the Father's love.

He needed to quit trying to outdo all the others around him in his religious practices. He needed to look deep into his own heart and see that there was an idol he held as more important than obeying the voice of the Father. However, he dismissed what Jesus said. He refused to give up his idol — his great wealth — for two reasons:

He didn't think of Jesus as God. He dismissed what Jesus said as just more religious teaching. He didn't accept what Jesus said as the very commands of God.

He was rich and his idol — his real god — was his money. Unfortunately, he thought he could earn the Father's favor just like he had earned his money.

Sadly, he walked away from Jesus and from the joy of His kingdom because he couldn't give up what was false. Just before the description of this rich public official's visit with Jesus, you meet children who are the model for the kind of heart that receives His kingdom. Just after this official, you meet Jesus’s disciples. In childlike amazement, they wonder how anyone can be saved if someone who has lived a good life, like this rich public official, couldn't find his way into His kingdom.

Jesus reminded them that they were thinking in human terms. In human terms, it is impossible. But the Father, Son, and Spirit — make the impossible, possible. All that Jesus’s disciples had to do was look at themselves and what they had given up.

You see, nothing is impossible for the heart totally yielded to Jesus. You cannot give up more for Him than you will receive many times over in the age to come.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 838 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

True Friendship - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week, wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 838 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 where we can Ask Gramps. Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, you 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. We all desire to be liked and accepted by others; it is part of our nature. To expand that into having close friends is more difficult.

So our question for today is…

Hey Gramps, “I desire to have close friends, and also be friends to others, but I find this is difficult for me. What is true friendship, and how can I have friends and also be a good friend to others?”

True Friendship

The first principle is “to have friends and to be a friend you must show yourself friendly.” The second overall principle is that “you cannot like or love others unless you love yourself.”

It is impossible to love and accept others without first loving and accepting yourself. God created you uniquely to be a bearer of His image. You are a child of the King, joint heirs with Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the definition of a true friend, "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me," John 15:13-15.

Jesus is the pure example of a true friend, for He laid down His life for His "friends." What is more, anyone may become His friend by trusting in Him as his personal savior, being born again and receiving new life in Him.

There is an example of true friendship between David and King Saul's son Jonathan, who, in spite of his father Saul's pursuit of David and attempts to kill him, stood by his friend. You will find that story in 1 Samuel chapters 18 through chapter 20.

Proverbs is another good source of wisdom regarding friends. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." Also Proverbs 18:24 reads, "There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother." The issue here is that in order to have a friend, one must be a friend. Being a friend also means that sometimes you have to confront your friend as found in Proverbs 27:6, "Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy." Good, close friends, also help each other improve and to become better in all aspects of life. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 837 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Integrity Starts at Home – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 837 of our trek and 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 an unknown source, and it is, "Integrity starts at home. Learn to be a person of your word and stick with your commitments even when you no longer feel like it."

Integrity Starts at Home

No one knows you better than your close family, especially your spouse and kids.  They see you are your best and, unfortunately, at your worse. We all tend to be less patient and considerate of our close family members than we do with those we work with or go to church with.

To build a life of integrity, it must start at home, with those you love most and who love you. You must keep your commitments to your family, even when the demands of work, organizations, and ministry pull you away.

Being available and present is so important. This includes physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually. As the years go by, you will not be remembered for the things that money can buy for your family, but for all the precious moments that money can never buy. Be present, be active, and above all keep your commitments, even when you do not feel like it, even when you feel pulled in other directions.

Your family will learn their integrity from you, especially your children. As we are instructed in Proverbs 20:7 , "The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them."

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged. If you enjoy these quotes, I have created and published a searchable database of over 10,000 quotes that I have collected for many years. If you would like free access to my database of inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. As you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, 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 836 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 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 Philosophy Friday!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 836 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Abandoned Child Is a Basket Case - Wisdom Wednesday

Today is Day 836 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. The past several months on Wednesday we have been focusing on interpreting current events through a Biblical worldview. To establish a Biblical worldview, it is important 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 God’s Word, we are investing the next several months on Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser, which he has compiled 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. Being abandoned as a child is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. That abandonment can include both physical and emotional abandonment. It would make most of us a basket case as adults. As we continue to explore the Old Testament from the time frame and culture in which it was written, the topic of our essay today is...

The Abandoned Child Is a Basket Case

In modern stories, people destined for greatness rarely start off privileged. They are dropped off at the doorstep of an orphanage or abandoned in the rain. This literary motif goes back to ancient stories, where writers use the abandoned child theme to identify a character that rises from obscurity to privileged hero status. It’s a motif found in the biblical account of Moses’ birth. But is that really the whole story?

Moses’ story begins when Pharaoh feels threatened by the growing Hebrew population in Egypt and commands that all Hebrew male infants be killed. This narrative is found in Exodus 1:16-22. Moses' mother hides her newborn son for three months and then devises a risky but calculated plan: She sets him adrift on the Nile in a small basket made of papyrus reeds, waterproofed with tar and pitch as described in Exodus 2:1-3.

About this time, a man, and woman from the tribe of Levi got married.   The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months.  But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.

Moses’ older sister, Miriam, watches as the basket floats to where the daughter of Pharaoh bathes. God uses these circumstances to bring Moses under the protection of Egypt's ruler portrayed in Exodus 2:4-10.

Ancient literature outside the Bible attests to several stories in which a child, perceived as a threat by an enemy, is abandoned and later spared by divine intervention or otherworldly circumstance. Roughly 30 stories like this survive from the literature of ancient Mesopotamia, Canaan, Greece, Egypt, Rome, and India.

The Mesopotamian work known as the Sargon Birth Legend offers the most striking parallels to the biblical story. It relates the birth story of Sargon the Great, an Akkadian emperor who ruled a number of Sumerian city-states around 2000 BC, centuries before the time of Moses. The infant boy is born into great peril: His mother is a high priestess, and he is illegitimate. Consequently, his mother sets him adrift on a river in a reed basket. The boy is rescued and raised by a gardener named Akki in the town of Kish. He becomes a humble gardener in Akki’s service until the goddess Ishtar takes an interest in him, setting him on the path to kingship.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 835 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

One With God – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 835 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 Ike Reighad, and it is, "Integrity is when you are one with God, yourself, and your loved ones."

One With God

To have integrity is to be without pretense or subterfuge. It is being true to yourself and to be able to stand before God and your loved ones without a trace of guile or deceit. It means to be honest and transparent in all transactions and interactions with everyone.

Pure integrity means that every action you take, every decision you make, in every possible situation, you can unashamedly stand before God and your close loved ones who know you best. To be one with God means that you can stand before Him with complete transparency. To be a person of integrity is to be sincere.

The word “sincere” comes from the Latin words sine cera, which means “without wax.” The phrase comes from a practice where people would hide the cracks in cheap pottery with wax in order to pass the pottery off as being worth more than it actually was. Quality products were often stamped with the words sine cera to show it had not been doctored. It would be similar to those products today that are stamped “all natural” or “100% pure.” So should a life of integrity be…100% Pure.As the Apostle John tells us in 1 John 3:18-19, "Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God."

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 834 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!