It’s pouring down rain and I have a wet seat.\u00a0\u00a0 I drive a little Miata convertible with a leaky top.\u00a0 From what I hear, it’s not that unusual.\u00a0 Anybody that has had a convertible for long knows that sooner or later, it will leak.\u00a0 For me, it leaks sooner AND later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes the leaky top really frustrates me, but over the years I’ve learned to live with it.\u00a0 I keep extra towels in my car and try to park in spots that lean the right direction so as to run the water in the least leaky fashion.\u00a0 It’s all part of the trade-off.\u00a0 A convertible top is just not ideal for a rainy day . . . but oh when the sun is shining on a beautiful spring day . . .\u00a0 For me, it’s worth the trade-off.<\/p>\n
Life is full of trade-offs.\u00a0\u00a0 Getting wet in the rain versus feeling the sunshine on a spring day.\u00a0 More work hours may equal\u00a0less family time.\u00a0\u00a0A higher paying job may equal more stress.\u00a0 Bigger house, smaller house, cars, toys, fame, responsibility,\u00a0donations of time and money,\u00a0everything has trade-offs.\u00a0 I think one of the keys to contentment in life is knowing what to trade, and being happy with the trade-offs you make.<\/p>\n
Jesus was the master of trade-offs.\u00a0 Satan offered him some bad trades.\u00a0
\n“Turn the rocks into bread and you won’t be hungry,” he said.\u00a0 “Worship me and I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world,” he offered.\u00a0
\nJesus said, “No thanks.”\u00a0 He had a better trade in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It happened on a cloudy day over 2000 years ago.\u00a0 As the sky grew dark, they nailed Jesus to\u00a0a cross and a trade-off took place.\u00a0 Many would have thought he got a bad deal.\u00a0 But\u00a0He saw the future as well as the past.\u00a0 He saw me and all of us who call Him Lord and Master.\u00a0 He saw\u00a0a world He loved and\u00a0decided it was worth the trade.\u00a0 He looked through the eons of time, saw me driving my little Miata\u00a0while talking with Him on a sunny spring day, and traded\u00a0His life for mine with no reservations.\u00a0 I’m so glad He did.\u00a0 It was the grandest trade-off that will ever be made.\u00a0 And it’s enough to make me sing His praise, even when it’s pouring down rain outside.<\/p>\n
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s pouring down rain and I have a wet seat.\u00a0\u00a0 I drive a little Miata convertible with a leaky top.\u00a0 From what I hear, it’s not that unusual.\u00a0 Anybody that has had a convertible for long knows that sooner or later, it will leak.\u00a0 For me, it leaks sooner AND later.\u00a0 Sometimes the leaky top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consider","category-misc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markspruill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}