TEXT - flashback

We did part 2 of "TEXT" yesterday @ Ridge. It was awesome. some pics from yesterday are scattered throughout this post. I might be posting again this week about some of the "texts" my wife and I are reading together along with the rest of the peeps from Ridge. You can catch up on my thoughts on last weeks' texts HERE & HERE. Or you can check out Chris' blog (our lead pastor) HERE. He was a lot better at blogging his thoughts every day on the different texts.

Anyway, the last text from last week was Proverbs 2:1-6. & reading that with my wife gave me a major flashback.
I have actually done a talk on that passage many times, but the 1st time ever was to a group of about 100 college guys when I was actually in college. My "WIN" for the talk was similar to Andy's unhidden agenda for this TEXT series = get peeps to read their Bible. (Mine was more specific in trying to get these guys to read Proverbs & get wisdom by doing that.)

I started out NOT by reading the text = Proverbs 2:1-6 (which you can read HERE), but by telling them I was going to give someone $10.
***Now, I don't know if you remember what it was like to be in college or not, but I do (wasn't that long ago)... & 10 bones was A LOT of money! We were BROKE college guys. These guys would do ANYTHING for $10. seriously. I mean, at the least that's laundry money for the rest of the semester. You know you're broke when you don't have a couple quarters for laundry! = which happened to my roommate on several occasions & he would wear board shorts in place of boxers & then soccer shorts & then turn his boxers inside out... not cool. That's pretty broke. [also, we all knew $10 was enough to enjoy a little piece of heaven on earth on Monday & Thursday nights at Kooter Browns! all you can eat Best Wings on earth. These are probably stories for another blog but I remember us downing 40 & 50 in a night & then not eating for 3 days. We would vow to NEVER go back again... but the next week = "anybody up for Kooter Browns?"]

Knowing $10 was on the line they were all ears. I told them there were just 4 things they had to do to win the 10 bucks. (I'll link to the text & maybe you'll catch on...)
step 1 = just accept my explanation (words) about how to win the $
step 2 = I made every single one of them YELL at the top of their lungs "I WANT $10!!!" If anyone didn't they couldn't get the dough.
step 3 = they had to all cup their ears, lean in towards me & listen super close for me to say "go"... I just barely whispered it.
step 4 = tear the room apart searching for the $10 hidden somewhere in the room!

It took them a while to find it so it was CRAZY chaotic. They were killing each other & ransacking the room to find this cash. After a kid finally found the $ I tied it all together.
Basically we saw in both Proverbs 3:15 & 8:11 that wisdom is better than ANYTHING we could want. Definitely better than money... and they definitely agreed better than $10. The question it made everyone ask & beg for an answer was "HOW DO I GET IT?"
"well I'm glad you asked", I said...

Our "TEXT" on Friday was the answer. (Proverbs 2:1-6) ->
verse 1 = accept God's Word (step 1),
verse 2 = listen intently to it & "turn your ear" to it (step 3),
verse 3 ="call out" for it [maybe like yelling "I want it"] (step 2),
verse 4 = "and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure" (step 4)
... "THEN you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (verses 5-6)

*SO, if a bunch of college guys did ALL THAT for $10... surely we can spend a couple minutes a day doing that stuff & getting some wisdom from God's Word. After all "nothing you desire can compare."