Wisdom-Trek ©

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 824 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Don't Let Fear Intimidate You! – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 824 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. Fear is all around us. The news media and their commentators are constantly bombarding us with bad news. Politicians make us feel like the opposite political party is driving our country into the brink of destruction.

Unfortunately, even many well-meaning preachers and religious teachers focus on all the bad things that happen instead of the good. It is no wonder why the world is driven by fear and anxiety. In today’s meditation, let us explore what Jesus taught us about fear. We will learn…

Don’t Let Fear Intimidate you!

People are afraid of many different kinds of things. That's why one of the most frequent commands in the Scriptures is not to be afraid. It is also a command that Jesus gave several times to His disciples. Fear is a real issue for people in our fallen world.

The Father sent Jesus to deal with fear and to defeat the power behind our fears. To defeat, the devil who uses sin and death to keep mortals enslaved to fear. The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus’s role in defeating the devil and his power to use death to enslave us in fear.

Hebrews 2:14-15 - Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.In today’s meditation, we are journeying with Jesus to Jerusalem as we read from the Gospels in these devotionals. When Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem is complete, He will have died for our sins, He will be buried, and He will be raised from death to life to conquer hell, giving us glorious life beyond our death. The apostle Paul says it this way:

Romans 7:24-25 - Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 - For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Father is the only one who should truly be feared, but only if you are not His child. If you are a Christ-follower, you are the Father's child. Then you don't need to fear Him. You are more precious to the Father, Son, and Spirit than you ever can imagine. The Father sent Jesus to save you at great cost. He went to the cross to redeem you and destroy the devil's hold on you through fear. The Holy Spirit lives inside you to lead you, comfort you, empower you, and transform you.

Don't fear what might happen; remember what Jesus accom...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 823 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Take Your Job and Love It - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 823 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 not able 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. Nearly all of us have to work at some sort of occupation in order to live and meet our financial obligations. From the very beginning of creation, God made us to work. Genesis 2:15 tells us, "The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it." Granted, because of the choices that Adam and Eve made in the garden to disobey God’s command, work became more difficult, but that is not where work began. My experience is that most people don't love their work. Many like it, some tolerate it, but it is a minority who find work they love that also supports their lifestyle.

So our question for today is…

Hey Gramps, “I am really struggling to enjoy my work, how can I change my situation?”

Take Your Job and Love It

When you do not enjoy your job or it does not bring you satisfaction, does that mean you must live in frustration, desperately seeking that perfect job you can be passionate about? Not at all.

First of all, as with most things in life, your choice of attitude about your job will determine the level of satisfaction that you have. You can and should choose to find enjoyment in your work. Doing so is very valuable to your life in many ways, including greatly increasing your probability of financial success. The fact is, though, you don't have to love or even like your overall job to enjoy everyday aspects of it.

It is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every job has aspects that will be very unpleasant for you. You need to be able to get through them with a smile on your face.

As an example, even when you work for yourself, which seems like it would be ideal, it has significant drawbacks, and most people are not suited to own their own business.  I remember my mom saying, “When you work for yourself, you only have to work half days, and you can decide which 12 hours of the day you want to work.” As someone who has been an entrepreneur and small business owner for most of my adult life, I can tell you, that statement is very true. There are long hours to be worked, and at times the rate per hour turns out to be very low. Even with this, I have chosen to love my work although there are days that I don’t really like it.

You may not be passionate about your job,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 822 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Have The Courage – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 822 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 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 W. Clement Stone, and it is, "Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity."

Have The Courage

Most of us are so easily swayed by others that we are willing to compromise our values, morals, and integrity just to "fit in" or be accepted. We need to resolve to say no when faced with ethical dilemmas. To stand for truth, regardless of the potential consequences.  To do what is right and to stand for what is right because it is the right thing to do.

Giving in to fit in is never a good strategy. Failure to stand for what is morally right is the prelude to being the victim of what is criminally wrong. Having the courage to stand regardless and to always do what is right is the key that will allow your life to be a life of integrity. A life that is both good and godly. A light that will be a shining light in a world that is often dark. As we are instructed in Psalm 31:24, "So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!"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 Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.  If you would like to listen to any of our past 821 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly I am your friend as I serve you in through this 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 821 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Even the Bible Needed Upgraded - Wisdom Wednesday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 821 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. The past several weeks 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, I would like to invest the next several weeks reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser that 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. I have been closely involved in the computer industry since 1980, which is 38 years now. When I first became involved, the personal computer had just started being released to the public, and they were too expensive for most people.  One thing we could count on from the very earliest days of the industry is that there would be frequent upgrades needed to keep up with the most current computers.

The smartphones of today, which is literally a handheld computer, is thousands of times more powerful than when I was first involved with them. All technology devices are frequently upgraded along with their documentation. Another piece of documentation that was upgraded, which few of us are aware of, is the topic of our essay today which is…

Even the Bible Needed Upgrading

Wait a minute. The Bible needed an upgrade?

Those sound like fighting words to anyone with a high view of Scripture. An upgrade implies that something needed updating, but the Bible is timeless! That's true, but in this case, I would have to excuse myself from the ring. I wouldn't want to tangle with those responsible for the improvements – the Biblical writers and, well, the Spirit of God.

Believe it or not, there is evidence that the Bible was updated. That may sound strange, but if you read closely, it's undeniable. Take Genesis 14:14 as an illustration.

When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan.

Did you notice the problem? This is the time of Abram, a time before Moses and Joshua—before there was a promised land divided among the tribes of Israel. There wasn't even an Israel yet. So what's up with reference to the land that belonged to the tribe of Dan?

If we plotted out the battle Abram described in this verse on a map, with place names appropriate for Abram's day, we’d see that the writer really meant that the enemy was pursued all the way to a place called Laish, not Dan.

Many Bible critics would call this an error, but it isn’t. Much later, in the days of Israel's judges, Laish was renamed as Dan as we are told in Judges 18:29, "They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor, Israel’s son, but it had originally been called Laish."

Evidently, an unnamed editor updated the text of Genesis 14:14 after the name change took place. The editor likely did this to make sure readers of his own day would understand the geography. What most casual Bible students are not aware of is that much of the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible was finally recorded during the Babylonian exile,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 820 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Non-Hypocritical Integrity – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 820 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 Charles Swindoll, and it is,"Few things are more infectious than a godly lifestyle. The people you rub shoulders with everyday need that kind of challenge. Not prudish. Not preachy. Just cracker jack clean living. Just honest to goodness, bone-deep, non-hypocritical integrity."

Non-Hypocritical Integrity

When we think of infections, our minds go to colds, flu, or even more serious diseases. While none of us want to be infected by or infect others with disease of any kind, our lives can be infectious in a very positive manner. Whether in churches, companies, organizations, or in politics if you are not true, you will eventually be recognized as someone who is not genuine. That is not the type of person who we should desire to emulate.

We need to live lives that are both good and godly. We should not just put on a mask of being a good or godly person, but actually live a life that is genuine, a life that may not be perfect, but is real. When we live a life that is real, good, and godly, we do not need to be self-righteous, nor to be preaching to others.

Our lives will be a shining beacon in a world that is dark. We need to live lives to our very core that are clean, honest, good, godly and display non-hypocritical integrity in every area of life. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:24, "Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."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. Just 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 819 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe to iTunes 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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 819 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

People Count Most – Meditation Monday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 819 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. Let me ask you a question today as we take time to meditate on the most important aspects of our life. How do you treat those people who you know don’t like you and oppose you? Would you go to their house for dinner if they invited you? In today’s meditation, let us explore how Jesus reacted to his opponents in a lesson called…

People Count Most

Let us look at Jesus’s example and hear His words in the verses which we will explore today. They merge into one, simple, clear message…People count most!

We find Jesus at a dinner in the house of a leader of the Pharisees, His most vocal opponents. Why? Why go to a meal with people who are hounding Him and trying to trap Him? Because He loves them! They matter to the triune God — Father, Son, and Spirit. Their hearts need the opportunity to be exposed to His truth, and seeds need to be planted in their hearts, seeds that can blossom into faith and bear fruit after these people see His Crucifixion (referred to as His passion) and hear about His resurrection.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit desire that all people have an opportunity to change their hearts and come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Jesus goes to the house of this leader and a dinner with his friends, people who regard Him as their enemy, for one simple reason…People count most!

Jesus challenges this leader and his Pharisee and scholar friends to see this same truth in their own religious understanding. They help their children who are in trouble on the Sabbath. They help their animals that are in distress on the Sabbath. They do not see these gracious actions as a violation of their traditions of the Sabbath rest. When they have the ability and opportunity to help, comfort, encourage, or ease a brother or sister's distress or trouble, the Pharisees and scholars must come to see that a person in trouble must be helped regardless of the day…People count most!

As a Christ-follower and disciple, we need to understand this truth as we seek to apply His teaching — this principle that Jesus taught and lived as an example for all of us to follow...People count most! Jesus came to seek and to save lost people, to ransom you and I and all of humanity from the grip of sin and death in our lives, and to bring His grace to all. That is why Jesus went to the house of those who wanted to get rid of Him. That is why He emphasized the need to help people on the Sabbath even if it violated the tradition of the Pharisees. Most of all, that is why Jesus voluntarily headed to Jerusalem to die as the Lamb of God Who will take away the sins of the world. Because people count most!

· Verses to Live

As we read through the verses that follow, ask the Holy Spirit to help you visualize the scene. What are the expressions on the people's faces?

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 818 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Age of the Universe - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 818 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 you 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 my 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. Granny and I are blessed to have a heritage of ancestors dating back to the early explorers of what was once referred to as The Northwest Territory for the fledgling United States. In fact Marietta, Ohio was the first organized settlement in The Northwest Territory.

I am a direct decedent of the General Putnam who was an officer in the revolutionary army and served directly under George Washington before he was President. They also were some of the men who surveyed the land in this area of Ohio. The Big House is the family home my great-grandparents built and lived in. While we are honored to be part of this heritage, it is such a short time period compared to our world and the universe.

Being a space and sci-fi enthusiast, I like to learn as much as I can about our universe. The more I study, though, the more I realize that within our finite minds we will never comprehend its mysteries. From the vast cosmos to the subatomic particle, we can never grasp all that God has created. We are locked into a mindset of space and time, God is not. As God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-,

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

There is a question though that we all wonder about, our question for today is…

Hey Gramps, “What is the age of the Universe?”

Age of the Universe

In Genesis 1:1, we are told that "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

The Bible gives no date for the creation; the only hint is that it happened “in the beginning.” In Hebrew, the word for “beginning” is bereshith, meaning literally “head or start.”

As a Christ-follower who believes that the Holy Bible is the revelation that God chose to share with us, I am convinced that God created the universe. Where Christians have a difference of opinion is in the interpretation of the word day (Hebrew yom) in Genesis 1. Those who hold to a literal, twenty-four-hour “day” believe in a comparatively young earth; those who hold to a non-literal, poetic “day” believe in a much older earth.

Many scholars and Christian scientists believe the word “day” in Genesis refers to a l...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 817 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Ambition Is a Powerful Force – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 817 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 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 Zig Ziglar, and it is, "Ambition, fueled by compassion, wisdom, and integrity, is a powerful force for good that will turn the wheels of industry and open the doors of opportunity for you and countless others."

Ambition Is a Powerful Force

Ambition like many character traits that we may have can be a force for good or bad.  What will make the difference is the underlying foundation and motive that is fueling that ambition. First, there should be compassion for that ambition, this compassion should be to help others, to improve yourself, and to positively impact your world.

Next ambition must be built on the strong foundation of wisdom and integrity. With this strong foundation in place that ambition will result in a positive and powerful force for good. When this is the case, you will set in motion the changes needed to burst open the doors of unlimited opportunity for yourself and all those that you impact. Being wise with integrity and ambition is the key to success, as we are told in Proverbs 12:14,"Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards."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 816 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly I am your friend as I serve you in through this 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 816 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Walk Like an Israelite - Wisdom Wednesday

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 816 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. The past several weeks 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, I would like to invest the next several weeks 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. If you ever invest much time around teenagers, and even adults for that matter, you will soon realize that within a certain group, they will start acting very similar, dressing the same, walking the same, using the same vernacular, and even taking on many of the same practices and traditions.

It was not any different when God called Abraham as a chosen person to start a new nation. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and indeed the entire nation of Israel had many of the same practices, habits, and traditions of the surrounding nations and people groups. We in our western culture and society through the millennium have morphed into a much different mindset and practice. Because of this and the practices we have adopted, it is difficult to take on the mindset of the ancient Israelites and the surrounding nations.

So our essay for today is titled…

Walk Like an Israelite

Dr. Heiser explains his mindset change came during graduate schools when he took a course the Ugaritic language, which came from the Persian area and dates back prior to the calling of Abraham. Heiser puts it this way, “Cuneiform tablets changed my life. I’m not kidding. As I look back on my 15 years of graduate school in biblical studies, the turning point in how I view the Bible was my course in Ugaritic, a cuneiform language very similar to biblical Hebrew. This class compelled me to transform how to ‘read the Bible in context’ from a naive platitude to an issue of spiritual integrity.”

· A Bible Study Epiphany

Most of us have had the impression that interpreting the Bible in context meant learning about a piece of pottery here, an odd custom there, or a factual acquaintance with who was alive, and what those people were doing at the time of the biblical events.

Through his study in his Ugaritic course, Heiser learned that all of that can divorce the Bible from the ancient world in one critical way: It can exclude religious or theological ideas from all the “context talk.” It’s easy to presume that most of the Bible’s theological content was unique to Israel. We usually think that Israel shared some cultural customs with pagan Gentiles—like diet, dress, marriage, and family structure. When we come to think about Israel's religious worldview, we think it was uniquely handed down from heaven, having no common links with paganism. Not true – the similarities in the Ugaritic tables is striking.For starters, the people of Ugarit, which was a city-state in ancient Syria, described their gods with words and phrases that were in the Old Testament—in a number of cases word for word. Their chief deity shared the same name (El) as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. An important difference is the El of Ugarit could hardly be called holy by biblical standards.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 815 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Integrity of Intent – Wisdom Unplugged

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 815 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 an Anonymous source, and it is,"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent."

Integrity of Intent

Regardless of whether you are an introvert, extrovert, or like most of us something in between, the fact is that in certain areas of your life, you are a leader. Since we have this impact or influence on others, let us make sure we excel within our God-given abilities.

At times it will require confidence to do what is right, even when everyone else is not.  To have the courage to make those tough decisions. To be compassionate, even when we do not feel like it. We can only do this when we take actions with quality and the purest integrity because it is the right thing to do.

We need to lead, whether actively or passively, by living a good and godly life. To be a true leader does not mean you have to be forceful or "rally the troops," but to live as the Apostle, Paul wrote in Philippians 2:14-15, "Do everything without complaining and arguing so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people."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 814 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe to iTunes 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!