what we do verses what we need

People know where to mine silver and how to refine gold. They know where to dig iron from the earth and how to smelt copper from rock. They know how to shine light in the darkness and explore the farthest regions of the earth as they search in the dark for ore. They sink a mine shaft into the earth far from where anyone lives. They descend on ropes, swinging back and forth.

Food is grown on the earth above, but down below, the earth is melted as by fire. Here the rocks contain precious lapis lazuli, and the dust contains gold. These are treasures no bird of prey can see, no falcon’s eye observe. No wild animal has walked upon these treasures; no lion has ever set his paw there. People know how to tear apart flinty rocks and overturn the roots of mountains. They cut tunnels in the rocks and uncover precious stones. They dam up the trickling streams and bring to light the hidden treasures.

But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living. ‘It is not here,’ says the ocean. ‘Nor is it here,’ says the sea. It cannot be bought with gold. It cannot be purchased with silver. It’s worth more than all the gold of Ophir, greater than precious onyx or lapis lazuli. Wisdom is more valuable than gold and crystal. It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold. Coral and jasper are worthless in trying to get it. The price of wisdom is far above rubies. Precious peridot from Ethiopia cannot be exchanged for it. It’s worth more than the purest gold.

But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it. Destruction and Death say, ‘We’ve heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.

God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall. He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning. Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what he says to all humanity:

'The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;
to forsake evil is real understanding.’

leadership

It begins with Confidence and a Friendly nature. Add Willingness... and you end up in student government and a team captain. A lot of unpaid time, but rarely stressful. 'Popularity' is a nice by-product.

Then it advances... you are Organized and Committed to seeing things through. You Finish that which is laid before you, which is so uncommon that you end up with a title and more unpaid time.

Eventually you notice people are always waiting on you to make Decisions.

"I don't know any more about this than you"

"I don't know what to do"

But it doesn't matter. They wait on you anyway.

Stress arrives in full-force, and your Level-Head continues, whatever the work is. Everything is expanding, and the challenges faced regard New Territories. Confidence comes forward, and onward we go.

Who knew going into all of this how much you can be stretched? Character becomes a centroid, an exhausting reality. Character is never satisfied with itself.

Enter dark times. Bigger than me. Bigger than anything I can grasp, control, or understand. Leadership at a level previously untested is required.

It begins with a willingness to help

Then a willingness to make decisions

to finish the tasks

to search out answers in a new world

to deal with yourself and your faults

Here I am making decisions that hurt some to protect others.

Heavy

Walking forward without joy

Stretched and thin and frail

Amazed at how life just keeps coming at me..

Duplicity

God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die'... the serpent said to the woman 'You surely shall not die!'... all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
Genesis 3:3-4; 5:3-5

God told Adam he would die if he acted according to the serpent. But Adam fell curious about experiences beyond his Creator/Sustainer and trusted that he would continue to live: 'Surely if I touch and ate of this simple fruit I will not cease to be... such is irrational'. And you know, the serpent was correct; Adam's disobedience turned out not that big of a deal as he piles on another 800 years enjoying creation, fat and happy.

"This... bread..., one may eat of it and not die... if anyone shall eat of this bread, he shall live forever.'
John 6:50-51

Every person Jesus was speaking to here died. As far as we know, none of them extended their days beyond standard expectations. Ironically, those who chose to eat Jesus' bread failed to match the 800 years which the 'Surely you'll die' Adam enjoyed. Jesus was incorrect; the disciples were fooled... they ate of His bread oand did not live to see the fall of Jerusalem.
God has it backwards in both of these passages: He predicts death but allows life; He promises life but watches death overtake.
That is, unless life as God creates and defines is more than the blood flowing through our veins, neurons firing within our cranium. If by faith we believe that Jehovah Father and Jesus Son knew what they were speaking of regarding the death and life of 'life', we must search out what it is they understand of their creation.
We naturally estimate existence beyond matter... somehow beyond what we ourselves see and feel. Those who deny this seem to do so at great effort on their part, insisting such a belief and then finding a means to its end.

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.
John 6:53
If by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus [the] Christ.
Romans 5:17

These claims are a-rational and ridiculous. However, they are at the root of the greatest single force in history. Life is duplicitous; there is some part of us both physical and not. There are answered and unanswered questions about what it is within us that is not physical... answers we have spent history searching, only to begin anew with the passing of generation to generation. We may have clean skin, fresh breath and pure lungs, yet be found an apostate. We may walk the land in frailty and leprosy, yet be sought out as a living saint.

Let us acknowledge the fullness of life in both the physical and spiritual, seek harmony with our Maker and look to His Spirit, His words and fellow saints for guidance to do so.