Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1382 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Demise of the Doughboy – Humor Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1382 of our Trek, and time for a 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 give 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 Demise of the Doughboy

It seems that there is an announcement every few days of a well-known actor, musician, or sports celebrity that has died recently. Most were not Covid-19 related, and is probably just a sign of the times with so many baby boomers reaching the end of their natural life.  I am afraid that I have one more to announce today. It is the death of our beloved Pillsbury Doughboy. I know that all of us morn his passing.

 Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. Here is Doughboy’s obituary.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The gravesite was piled high with enriched flour.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy, and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Born and bread in Minnesota, Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half- baked schemes.

Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty older man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough, and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. His elderly father, Pop Tart, also survived him.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If you smiled while reading this, please rise to the occasion and pass it on to someone having a crumby day that kneads a lift.

Our Thursday thought is, “The Pillsbury Doughboy was a perfect man. He’s cute, and he’s sweet, and best of all, he’s rolling in dough.” 

Here is our verse for today is referring to false teaching:

Luke 13:21

It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.

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 ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1381 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com.  I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

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 of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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!

Welcome to Day 1381 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Mastering the Bible – Paul’s Letters in Context and The Tower of Babel Reversed – Worldview Wednesday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1381 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. Our focus for the next several months on Worldview Wednesday is Mastering the Bible, through a series of brief insights. These insights are extracted from a book of the same title from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars, Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. This book is a collection of insights designed to help you understand the Bible better. When we let the Bible be what it is, we can understand it as the original readers did, and as its writers intended. Each week we will explore two insights.

Mastering The Bible – Paul’s Letters in Context and The Tower of Bable Reversed

Insight Sixty One: The Book of Acts Provides the Context for Many of Paul’s Letters

The book of Acts picks up the New Testament story after the resurrection of Jesus. The book opens with the resurrected Christ giving his disciples instructions on spreading the good news of the cross, and his resurrection in the familiar verse Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus promises to send the Spirit after he ascends, something that happens on the Day of Pentecost (Acts2:1-13)  The events of Pentecost mark the birth of the early apostolic church in Jerusalem. The book of Acts follows the triumphs and travails of the followers of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit to advance the kingdom of God. The central characters through the first twelve chapters are Stephen, Peter, and James. That changes in Acts 13, when the Jerusalem church sends Paul and Barnabas to preach to the gentiles.

Paul’s conversion had been recorded earlier in Acts 9, but Acts 13 changes the focus of the early Jesus-movement to the journeys of Paul. While Acts includes other figures who traveled with Paul, such as Barnabas, Silas, John Mark, Luke, Timothy, Paul is the central figure of the book from that point on.

Anyone who reads through Acts will know that Paul traveled widely, preaching the gospel of Israel’s Messiah to people of all nations. Acts tells us Paul went on three “missionary journeys” to gentile nations. Acts 13:1-14:28 chronicles the first trek, during which Paul visited places like Antioch, Perga, Pisidian Antioch (which is in Phrygia), Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. His second journey is the focus of Acts 15:36-18:22. His itinerary included Philippi. Thessalonica, Berea. Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. His third and final trip, one that ended in Jerusalem with his imprisonment, is described in Acts 18:23-21:14. Paul revisited places he’d previously ventured as well as new locales; Macedonia, Philippi, Troas, Rhodes, Tyre, and Ephesus are among them. Paul spent three years in this last city.

Experts in Paul’s life and ministry have been able to determine that these missionary trips spanned roughly ten years. If we restrict ourselves to the churches named in Acts 13-21, Paul started just over a dozen churches. Chances are good he started more since he visited regions during his journeys on which Acts offers no additional details. Many of the churches that are named received letters from Paul, a good number of which we possess in our New Testament. Understanding those letters (referred to as “epistles”) requires paying careful attention to Paul’s travels in the book of Acts. A specific occasion prompted every letter Paul wrote. Without keeping the original circumstances that led to his correspondences, we’ll fail to grasp the meaning of Paul’s words in many places.

Insight Sixty-Two: The Events of Acts 2 Launched the Reversal of What Happened at the Tower of Babel

The incredible events of Pentecost are something with which virtually all Christians are acquainted. As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, enabling them to speak in the languages of the multitude of Jews who had come to Jerusalem from every nation. This miracle resulted in thousands of conversions to belief in Jesus as the risen Messiah, which in turn meant that new believers would return to every nation to spread the word. But while all this is familiar, its Old Testament context is habitually overlooked.

Earlier, we saw the events at Babel provided the context for most of what occurred thereafter, from the call of Abraham through the exile. Specifically, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 informed readers that God disinherited the nations when he dispersed them at Babel. Instead, they were put under the dominion of the sons of God, lesser divine beings. This incident was why God next called Abraham and started his own people, his “portion”’ as Deuteronomy 32:9 puts it. The list of disinherited nations is given to us in Genesis 10, the “table” of the known nations at the time. If you were to look at a map of those nations, they would extend from the Persian Gulf (the area of Babylon) in the east to Tarshish (modern-day Spain) in the west. At the time of the writing of Genesis 10, Tarshish was the westernmost landmass known.

Moving to Acts 2, the nations at Pentecost also stretch from east to west, this time from the Persian Gulf to Italy. The names can be different at times because the events of Acts occur in the first century AD, thousands of years removed from Babel.

If we read the nations listed in Acts 2 in the order they appear, they proceed from the east to the west. When the list hits the Mediterranean, the nations fork north and south and continue westward.

The point should not be missed. Jews from all nations were gathered at Pentecost and would be a new army of missionaries to spread the gospel to the disinherited nations. The reclamation of the nations begins in the regions where the Jews were exiled and proceeds westward, sweeping across the known world. But why does the list in Acts 2 not extend to Spain? Which was the westernmost region included in both Genesis 10 and the punishment of Babel? Because it didn’t need to. Paul would finish the job.

The apostle Paul, the apostle to the disinherited gentile nations, understood the symbolism of what happened in Acts. Twice in his letter to the Romans, he expressed confidence and urgency about getting to Spain (Acts 15:24, 28). The repatriation of Spain to the true God (Tarshish) had been prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 66:19). Paul believed it was his destiny to get there and to bring the rest of the gentiles into God’s family (Isaiah. 66:20-23).

That will conclude this week’s lesson on another two insights from Dr. Heiser’s book “Mastering The Bible.” Next Worldview Wednesday, we will continue with two additional insights. I believe you will find each Worldview Wednesday an interesting topic to consider as we build our Biblical Worldview.

Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute Humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer, which will help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1380 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

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

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1379 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Chosen to Rule – Meditation Monday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1379 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 you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, Meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making 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.

 Most Christ-followers don’t realize or understand how great of high privilege and responsibility that God has granted us. He has crowned us to rule over His kingdom on earth. Today let us meditate on:

Chosen to Rule

To set the stage for today’s Meditation, let me first read Psalm 8

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

Your glory is higher than the heavens.

You have taught children and infants

to tell of your strength,

silencing your enemies

and all who oppose you.

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—

the moon and the stars you set in place—

what are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

You gave them charge of everything you made,

putting all things under their authority—

the flocks and the herds

and all the wild animals,

the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,

and everything that swims the ocean currents.

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

This Psalm begins and ends with the same phrase about God’s majestic name and how it encompasses or fills the entire earth. Not only that, but His glory also encompasses all of the heavens. God’s majesty and glory are so grand, yet simple enough that it can be taught to children and even infants. When God’s story is that simple, it silences even the loftiest arguments of those who oppose God.

All we need to do is to look at the night sky, and we see such grandeur, that it is impossible not to see and acknowledge God. The moon and stars are a silent witness that shouts to all creation of God’s glory and majesty.

As a mere mortal, created being, I am awestruck when I witness the entirety of God’s creation. Why would God hold us in such lofty esteem? Why would God care for us so intensely when we turn our backs on Him so often? It is because God created us for a specific purpose that fulfills His plan for all of His creation. He made humankind just a little lower than His heavenly council, who were created to fulfill their divine roles ruling over the heavens, as we were created for the specific purpose of ruling over His earthly domain. God crowned us humans with glory and honor as Kings to rule over his earthly abode. We are kings who have charge over everything He made, putting all things on earth under our authority. Our rule includes the entire earthly domain, domestic and wild animals, birds in the sky, fish in the sea, and everything that swims in the ocean.

God has two abodes. The first is His heavenly realm in which His divine council dwells and assist with the governance. The second is His earthly realm, in which we, as humans, were created to govern. The concept is illuminated further for those who have been chosen by God through our acceptance of Him in 1 Peter 2:9, But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

These passages for today certainly provides us with much to meditate on this week. Invest time pondering their meaning.

That is a wrap for today’s Meditation, next week; we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. 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 the past 1378 daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

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

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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!

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1378 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Essential or Non-Essential – Ask Gramps

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1378 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we will ponder some of the fundamental 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, this is not possible. 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 may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.  If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com

So the question for this week is:

“Hey, Gramps, “I just don’t feel like I’ve done anything significant for God. I’ve tried to live a good life, but I just don’t see how it matters. I don’t feel like I have really contributed or made much of a difference. How can I be sure that what I am doing is having an impact on God’s kingdom here on earth?

Essential or Non-Essential

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard these words or words like them. What rips my heart out is that they are often spoken by people who are precious to me and others in God’s family. They do things that are sweet, sacrificial, serving, and tender to people when they need it most. Yet because their acts of service are done quietly or don’t seem to be a big deal to them, they think they don’t matter that much to God.

One of the many positive results from the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic is that most of us will never again view our workforce in the same manner. In a matter of fewer than two months, it is so evident that many of the essential contributors to our society were the unforgotten ones. Those individuals who have had little or no formal education and training. The truck drivers, the grocery store clerks, the gas station attendants, the janitors in hospitals, and those who were able to prepare meals at our favorite carryout restaurants. These are the essential workers of today, and let’s hope we continue to see them as such for many years. Yes, many others are considered professionals in the medical field that have sacrificed even their lives to save the lives of others. They will never be considered in the same light but as the heroes that they are.

Some of the most critical people in any story go unnoticed and under-appreciated. Yet these people are vital to the story unfolding in the way it does. Without them, the most important things would never happen. This is true whether the story is a movie or a novel or our own personal story. I believe that for many of you who have been on the front line during this pandemic should re-evaluate your impact on God’s kingdom, for it is excellent. This is quite often true of God’s story in the Bible.One of the most amazing stories in Scripture is the conversion of Saul. Saul is the fiercest, most passionate persecutor of the early followers of Jesus as described in the book of Acts. Of all the initial problems Jesus’ followers had to overcome, Saul was one of the dangerous and troubling ones. Yet in one event, Jesus turns Saul from his most significant problem into his most excellent spokesman! While it took fourteen years for all the details to get sorted entirely out (Galatians 2:1), the threat of Saul’s violent persecutions were immediately solved, and he was on his way to being the most influential follower of Jesus ever to live!

However, I’m guessing you can’t remember the name of one of the most significant people in the story of Saul’s transformation. His name usually escapes most folks’ memories. See if you can remember it!

Saul of Tarsus, known later as the apostle Paul (Acts 13:9), was struck blind after an amazing encounter with Jesus on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9). Jesus tells him to go to the city and he will be told what to do to be saved, given a new life mission, and receive his sight again.Meanwhile, a well-known follower of Jesus from Damascus is told to find Saul and share the message of Jesus with him. His name is Ananias, and he is reluctant to go because he knows Saul’s mission in Damascus is to arrest and persecute people like Ananias and their families (Acts 9:15-16). Ananias is assured that Saul is repentant, and has been spending the last three days fasting from food and water, blindly praying for God’s messenger to come to share what he needed to do (Acts 22:10). So that is what Ananias does. He risks his life and safety to share Jesus, baptize Saul, and help Saul regain his sight (Acts 22:14-16).

So who is the unknown and essential player in this story? The man who opened his house for the blinded Saul to wait, pray and fast! The man who was greeted at the door by Jewish Temple soldiers and a blind Jewish man looking for a place to stay in Damascus, Syria! The man who welcomed Ananias, a Christian who was targeted for persecution, into his home to speak with Saul and then lead him to Christ. Without this man’s hospitality, none of this would have happened in the beautiful way that it occurred.

And the man’s name? Do you remember? His name is Judas. Yeah, it is not a name we remember with fondness because of the other Judas. Only a few people to whom I’ve posed this question remembered his name. Luke describes it this way in Acts 9:10-11:

 Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.

Here is the point I want us to get. You may feel your life doesn’t make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things. You may not think you are doing anything significant for God. You compare yourself to the great Bible heroes like Moses and Esther, Mary and Peter, Joshua, and Deborah. In today’s world, you may compare yourself to business leaders, sports stars, or actors.

One of the reasons we do this is because we forget how important other people are to the life of someone who is a leader or famous. Without all the truly essential workers in their lives, they become much less essential themselves. For example, where would the apostle Paul have been if Judas hadn’t welcomed him into his home and then received Ananias into his house to lead him to Jesus? There are many others in Paul’s life that had a dramatic influence on him and enabled him to do the great things he accomplished for the Lord. Without these essential workers, not only would Paul’s life have been greatly diminished, but Paul’s work for God would have come up far short of what God had intended for him.

So rather than discount your work for the Lord, remember that anything we do, when it’s offered to the Lord and done for his glory, will be used to grow God’s Kingdom and bless God’s people. That’s why the smallest things, even a cup of cold water given in the Lord’s name, is not forgotten and not wasted! Most important of all, even if no one remembers what you did and can’t even remember your name, there is One who remembers and will not forget!

That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Friday for another question on our ‘Ask Gramps’ episode. Our next trek is Mediation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of the past 1377 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that 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 in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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 on Monday!