I just read about an Israeli woman who threw out a mattress with 1 million stuffed inside! That set off a frantic search through tons of garbage at three dump sites. As of yet it has not been found.

The woman said she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise and threw out the old one. She later discovered that her mother had hidden her life savings inside the mattress. So now, somewhere in a dump there is a lumpy old mattress stuffed with cash. I’m sure the daughter meant well, thinking mom would be more comfortable on a new mattress, but I gotta tell ya—sleeping on a lumpy old mattress stuffed with a million bucks sounds pretty comfortable to me!

I suppose you could make a lot of applications with this story, but this is what comes to my mind–Sometimes the younger generation discounts and discards things of great value from the older generation simply because something new seems more desireable. In some cases this is no big deal. However, in other instances it is a very costly mistake.

It seems now days just about everyone wants everything new. Personally, I get sick and tired of hearing things like,”This ain’t your grandma’s church”,etc. Newer isn’t better just because it’s newer. In most cases today it is worse. The craze for something new, something different, change for the sake of change has a way of getting us into trouble.

I’m not interested in newer unless it’s better. Call me old-fashion if you want, but until someone comes up with something better than “Amazing Grace”, ” Rock of Ages”, etc. I’l keep singing the old hymns. If you dislike songs like that it’s an indictment against you, not the hymns.My list of things could go on and on–I simply want to warn you of the danger involved in exchanging the new for the old. You better figure out what is of the greatest value before you toss it aside. Think about it!

As far back as I can remember I’ve loved the outdoors. In my childhood days boys explored every inch of woods, meadows, swamps, and caves within walking distance of their house and I was no exception. We didn’t need to be entertained–every day was a new adventure! I grew up hunting and fishing, nearly every week of the year. My first career choice was to be a conservation agent—they didn’t have professional bass fishing back then. My idea of a perfect place to live was an old log cabin way out in the woods, near a river, with a pack of hounds laying on the front porch. Although puberty changed my views about living alone, I never lost my love for the outdoors. After I got married I still spent as much time as possible chasing the dream. But all that changed the second I surrendered to preach. Now I had a new focus. As I busied myself in the Lord’s work I seldom had time to hunt and fish, but I never lost my love for it. Today I spend more time watching birds and squirrels than I do on outdoor sports, but I still thrill at the thought of simply walking through the woods.

I’ve said all this (it’s hard to stop writing about childhood experiences) to introduce you to a great article I just read. It was written August 25, 2005, but was just reposted on Dr. Albert Mohler’s blog. This would be a great article for every parent to read. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out. Even if you aren’t a parent it will be worth your time. Who knows, it just might bring back a lot of pleasant memories. Here’s the link———http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php

My wife and I just recently returned home from Savannah, GA, where we had gone to welcome our son Jason home from Iraq. On the way home we began to notice the many white crosses that marked the places where people had died as a result of car wrecks. I would guess that we saw at least two dozen on the west-bound side alone. suddenly I relized that every cross has a story.

Every casualty was caused by something. In some cases people were killed through no fault of their own– someone hit them. In other instances people died as a result of their own wreckless driving. But, in other cases the driver simply went to sleep while driving and it cost them their lives. When you go to sleep at the wheel you are headed for trouble! As I struggled to stay awake near the end of our 17 hour trip I kept that in mind.

This experience caused me to start thinking about causalties of another sort–spiritual causalties. During my 43 years of preaching I’ve seen untold numbers of people who made a wreck of their lives. Most of these people simply went to sleep and it resulted in their ruin. These tragedies could have been avoided if they had remained alert. Numerous scriptures remind us of the need to be vigilent. If we are wise we will heed them. When we doze off we put ourselves in grave danger. We need to give heed to the words of Paul,”—it is high time to awake out of sleep—“(Romans 13:11). Sleeping saints end up getting hurt and hurting others. Don’t let it happen to you. Wake up! Arouse yourself to action. Get busy serving the Lord. Stay alert. Keep your focus on Christ. Don’t become another casualty along the roadside of life. THINK ABOUT IT!