My son and I just returned from a long road trip (with our high school ministry) that took us through four states and resulted in over one-thousand miles there and back. Along the way we stopped at many places to eat and, of course, use the bathroom. Usually this type of trip will yield some pretty interesting situations as well as thought-provoking questions/observations from an eight-year-old. As I mentioned before, we took our share of bathroom breaks and I am very careful at warning Tyler about the importance of not touching ANYTHING in the restrooms. Many of these places were, how should I say it, dirty…filthy…and had not been cleaned for days. One of those places was a gas station somewhere in West Virginia. I could stop and make some West Virginia jokes but I happen to think the mountains make it a very beautiful state. However, I have a “bone to pick” with the wonderful residents who manage places of establishments along Interstate 77 – please teach your employees to clean bathrooms! Maybe I am mistaken and it is only the men’s bathrooms…it is possible the women’s restrooms were hygienic and decorated with posh sitting rooms, but I doubt it. This particular place was nasty and Tyler was using one of the urinals when he had one of those “why moments.” As he looked into the urinal he was occupying, he discovered that a quarter was lying at the bottom. “Why did someone throw a quarter in here” was his response. In case he was thinking of going for it, I quickly yelled at him to not even think about retrieving it. He had a hard time grasping why anyone would put something of value in such a low place. I said to him, “I’m not sure why people don’t value things which are important.” After I thought about my response, I guess I lied to him. I do know why people, including myself, fail to value that which is valuable – their system of worth is messed up.

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives. "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit. "The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve." Like a bird that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. Sooner or later they will lose their riches and, at the end of their lives, will become poor old fools. – Jeremiah 17:5-11