I NEVER DID UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW THE STOCK MARKET WORKS. I only know that when I was burned back in 1987, I decided (actually, it was after consultation with my wife, who handles money better than I do) to just get out of the whole mess. Isn’t it a little like gambling? I mean, you trust that the movers and shakers of the financial world will watch out for you. Right? I know, I know. Let the buyer beware, but honestly, who has the time and knowledge to go it alone. Not me! Perhaps the illustration below will help clear things up.

Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy any monkeys from them for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.

He further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him.
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers, 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35, and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.' The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man nor his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.

This illustration fits right in with what has been happening lately---Monkey business! Rip-off city! Abuse of power! Greed! I guess I’ll just stick it under my mattress for now and hope for the best---that I don’t have a fire or tornado.
Still confused? Tony Lima Associates offers these humorous definitions:
Bull Market - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
Bear Market - A 6 to 18-month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry and the husband gets no pie.
Momentum Investing - The fine art of buying high and selling low.
Value Investing - The art of buying low and selling lower.
Broker - Poorer than you were last year.
"Buy, Buy" - A flight attendant making market recommendations as you step off the plane.
Stock Analyst - Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
Financial Planner - A guy who actually remembers his wallet when he runs to the 7-11 for toilet paper and cigarettes.
Market Correction - The day after you buy stocks.
Cash Flow - The movement your money makes as it disappears down the Toilet.
Call Option - Something people used to do with a telephone in ancient times before e-mail.
Day Trader - Someone who is disloyal from 9-5.
Cisco - Sidekick of Pancho.
Yahoo - What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
Windows 2000 - What you jump out of when you're the sucker that bought Yahoo for $240 per share.
Institutional Investor - Past year investor who's now locked up in a nut house.

Seriously, one thing is certain---the best investments in life are those intangibles--- pouring our time, energy, and resources into things that will outlast this life, that are spiritual in nature. We can send it on ahead, by investing in people and relationships. Perhaps we should heed the words from the Celestial CEO: "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21, NLT).

INDESCRIBABLE! That is the name of a DVD that I had the privilege of viewing a couple of days ago. It took me on an image-rich journey through the cosmos, allowing me to peer into God’s universe to discover the amazing magnitude of His greatness, glory, and grace. It was hosted by Louie Giglio and pointed out the bigness of our God. One could not help but be moved by the vastness of the heavens.

Truly the heavens are telling the glory of God, and their expanse declares the work of His hands. Night after night they remind us of just how small we are, and how huge God is. Looking out into the far reaches of the universe, we find a seemingly infinite expanse of mystery and wonder, intricately fashioned by a God of unfathomable size and power.

Just a glimpse of one of the billions of visible galaxies He has formed resizes us, shrinking us, and the world we call home, to seeming insignificance in an instant. But as tiny as we may seem, the God who knows every star by name also knows ours—yours and mine. And in the most stunning rescue imaginable, God sent His one and only Son to this tiny orb we call home—the Creator reconnecting us to Himself with life that never ends.

I need to see the bigness of my God on a daily basis. Cannot one so grand handle my puny problems? How big is your God? Is He powerful enough to do what seems to be impossible to us? I believe He is. Perhaps a nightly view of the heavens will help to keep things in focus. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above. With wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God.

How is it then, that two men can gaze up at the same stars on a cold, crisp, clear night and not see the same thing? Some look at the stars and worship them as gods. Others gaze at the heavens and order their lives according to its movement. Still others study them and see them merely as a combination of certain chemical elements that came into existence as the result of a cosmic explosion billions of years ago.
And then there are those like the Psalmist who praise God who made them, who by faith cling to the biblical account of creation. They do not rob God of the glory due His name.

The Russian astronaut Gherman Titov said after his return from outer space, “Some people say there is a God out there…but in my travels around the earth all day long, I looked around and didn’t see Him. I saw no God or angels. The rocket was made by our own people. I don’t believe in God. I believe in man, his strength, his possibilities, his reason.”

However, when some American Astronauts were in space, they were so moved by what they beheld that they read the Creation account from Genesis for the whole world to hear.

Perhaps one way to explain this different way of observing the heavens is to liken God’s revelation in nature to a concert performed by an orchestra. Some who come to listen hear only the instruments as they express the melody and harmony of the music. But others who come are familiar with the composer and know the words that go with the music. These hear much more than sound.

In much the same way, only those who have a personal relationship with the Creator can really see in all of creation the fullness of what God intended to communicate through it. And together with all the saints, with hearts spilling over with praise, they sing with the Psalmist:

1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
6 He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.
7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,
9 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,
12 young men and maidens, old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
14 He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD.

Psalm 148:1-14

Have you ever taken the time to lie on your back out under the stars on a warm summer evening and gaze up into the heavens? If not, why not? You see, there is stretched out before you a wonderful display of God’s power and artistry. It will fill you with reverence, awe, and a sense of how small we are and how grand God is. And that, I believe, was His intent from the beginning.

“BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT.” That’s a quote from the Old Testament (Numbers 32:23). Another way of stating it is: “You can be sure that your sin will track you down.” This was addressed to the nation of Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land. However, it also has meaning for the individual as well. We may live in denial, but eventually the truth will surface---if not in this life, certainly in the one to come. Consider the breaking news from last week:

O.J. Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after he was acquitted of murder in 1995, was found guilty October 3, 2008 of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. The 61-year-old former football star could spend the rest of his life in prison. Sentencing was set for Dec. 5.

A weary and somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read by the clerk in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody. The verdict came 13 years to the day after Simpson was cleared of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles in one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century.

God is the Judge of all hearts, so I am not about to say that I know for sure that he got away with murder. However, all the evidence points to it and most Americans believe that at last, justice has prevailed.

Our Daily Bread carried a story recently that speaks to the whole issue of denial of wrong doing: “A man arrested for the murder of a 12-year-old girl was also suspected of other killings. When police searched his computer, they found a file labeled "My Sins," but it couldn't be opened because it was protected with a password. A computer expert went to work using software to break the code. After 16 hours and billions of combinations, he found this password: "Godhelp." The file detailed six brutal crimes, including rape and murder.

I wonder if that man had created the file and its unique password because of the overwhelming burden of guilt for what he had done. Perhaps he knew that only God could help him deal with the enormity of his crimes.

We all have past sins that weigh us down. We may feel as David did when he wrote that God's hand was heavy upon him day and night and that his ‘vitality was turned into the drought of summer’ (Psalm 32:4). Yet relief can come. David said, ‘I acknowledged my sin to You . . . . I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin’ (v.5).

The miracle of God's forgiveness does not remove the consequences of our sins. But when we confess our sins to Him, He will forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). His mercy and help are sure” (David C. McCasland)

OF ALL THE CHARACTER TRAITS THAT MARK A SUCCESSFUL PERSON, DETERMINATION is at the top of my list. There’s a great deal to be said for those who have the ability to keep on going when they’re sure of their course. Here’s an example.

One cold January morning in a little town in Wisconsin, on the southern shore of Lake Superior, something astounding took place. It happened to be the Saturday when they had their annual dog sled derby on the ice. A one mile course had been staked out by sticking little fir trees in the ice. The whole course was easily visible because of the steep slope of the shore.

It was a youngsters’ meet and the competitors ranged all the way from large boys with several dogs and big sleds to one little fellow who didn’t seem over five with a little sled and one small dog. He looked kind of silly among so many larger contenders. But it didn’t seem to bother him. He was there to win the whole thing, regardless of his size, or the lack of several powerful dogs.

They took off at the signal and the little fellow with his one dog was quickly outdistanced. He was hardly in the race. All went well with the rest until, about halfway through, the team that was second started to pass the team in the lead. They came too close and the dogs got in a fight. And as each team came up the dogs joined the fight. None seemed to be able to steer clear of it. From where the spectators were, all they could see was one big black seething mass of kids and sleds and dogs---all but the little fellow with his one small dog. Somehow he managed to avoid the whole mess and finish the race in first place!

As I reflect on the many vexing problems and the stresses of our times, this simple scene from long ago comes vividly to mind. And I draw the obvious moral: No matter how difficult the challenge or how impossible or hopeless the task may seem, if you are reasonably sure of your course, just keep going!

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14