When God Laughed

One morning I was praying to God, asking God to forgive me and I heard God say, "I forgive you, Rich." I said I know but I don’t want to take advantage of you. Then God laughed and said, "I’m God. You can’t take advantage of me." 

I think what God was saying was that God will always forgive me and I should never be afraid to ask him to forgive me even for the same sins again and again. Because I cannot take advantage of God.

You can't take advantage of God either. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep asking for forgiveness, even if it is the same thing you've needed forgiveness for before.

God is not on a budget of forgiveness. There is no 77 or 70 times 7 for God to forgive you. 

You can't take advantage of God. God is God 🙏 And He loves you more than you can imagine.

A Rich Life: What inventions had an impact on my life?

The invention of the light bulb by Edison had a big impact on my life even though it was long before I was born. It is said that before the light bulb people slept an average of eleven hours a night. Now people try for seven to eight hours but often don’t reach that. That is my goal as well and when I am in the seven to eight-hour zone I definitely am more refreshed for the day. But imagine what it would be like to sleep from sundown to sun-up. That would be pretty cool and probably a lot more healthy. But I’m not expecting that to happen any time soon. Thanks, Tom, for the light bulb and for changing the way we sleep.  

The computer age has happened during my life. I used to have paper files and a typewriter but now I write some and keep some journals but mostly I use the computer for communication with others and for work projects. I don’t really want people to give me information on paper because I want it all online now. However, my file cabinet is still used at times when I get encouraging notes on paper and I still have files of cards from my family members and some others. I have the cards my girls made me over the years. Nice to pull them out and see them. 

Of course, another invention that followed after the computer is the internet. The internet lets me communicate quickly with people for work and more importantly lets me be in contact with my girls even when they are far away. I am so grateful for Skype which lets me not only talk with my girls but see them as well. It lets us all be together virtually at times which I appreciate even though there is nothing like being there in person. 

I also appreciate the invention of my Fitbit. It lets me know the time and keeps track of my steps. I like the fact that I can know how much I have walked during the day and over a period of time as well.  

Of course, my Fitbit also tracks my sleep for me which reminds me that it doesn’t get up to eleven hours when it tracks me … because of the invention of the lightbulb. Thanks again Mr. Edison for your invention that still keeps me sleep-deprived, but now I can know exactly how much.