Silly Old Bear

[PART 6 OF 12]

King Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to chronicle his quest for meaning and purpose in life. What is it that makes life worth living? What is out there that is worth waking up for every day?

How about money? Wealth and riches are powerful forces in our world. People have lied for money, cheated for money, betrayed their country for money, even killed for money.

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One of my favorite songs ever is “Dream Big” by Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband. In fact, it starts off at the top of my Favorite Songs list, and will probably stay in the Number 1 spot.

First of all, “Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband” has got to be the coolest name ever for a band!

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I love music. Always have. I started collecting records when I was in junior high school — back before the days of CD’s. By the time I graduated from high school, I had amassed a collection of over 300 LP’s. I still have all of them stored away in a cabinet in our “junk room”, and have even added to the collection through the years thanks to garage sales and thrift stores.

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[PART 5 OF 12]

Read carefully the following words from wise King Solomon as he begins explaining his quest for meaning and purpose in life.

“What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.” (Ecclesiastes 1:3-11)

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[PART 4 OF 12]

King Solomon and the Oreos. Sounds like a 60′s doo-wop group!

Let’s review. As Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, he developed the entire writing around a central, recurring theme. Think of Ecclesiastes like an Oreo cookie with Double Stuff cream filling. The two parts of the central theme are placed at the beginning and the end, with a lot of stuff in-between.

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Country singer Alan Jackson sang a song entitled “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)?”, referring to that fateful day in 2001 that will forever be remembered simply as “Nine Eleven”.

Do you remember where you were?

I will never forget.

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[PART 3 OF 12]

Solomon begins the book of Ecclesiastes by introducing himself to us.

“The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:” (Ecclesiastes 1:1)

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[PART 2 OF 12]

The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes was written by David’s son Solomon, who, like his father before him, served the nation of Israel as king. Solomon was a wise king. We learn of the depth of his wisdom in 1 Kings 4:29-34.

“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man.”

“Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”

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[PART 1 OF 12]

At some point, most of us have spoken the phrase, “A little birdie told me.”

“Hey, congratulations on the promotion at work!”
“How did you find out?”
“Oh, a little birdie told me!”

“So, is it true? Are you really pregnant?!”
“How did you know I was pregnant?”
“Oh, a little birdie told me!”

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Ashley wanted to be an actor. She was in Drama in junior high and really enjoyed it. When a letter arrived in the mail from a talent agency in Dallas, addressed to her, Ashley lit up. The agency had some spots open for new clients, and would be interviewing prospects in the near future. Ashley begged us to take her. So we did.

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