Our Spiritual Superstore: July 2nd Devotional

Our Spiritual Superstore

Philippians 4:19

July 2nd Devotional

      On this day in 1962, Samuel Walton opened his first Walmart store in Rogers Arkansas. Walton was born in 1918 in Kingfisher Oklahoma. Samuel's family were farmers in his youth but due to the difficulty of the great depression and the dust bowl his father was forced to work for farming mortgage and insurance companies. Walton learned the value of work at a young age. Due to the severe suffering of the great depression, Walton would work long hours at a variety of different jobs each day to help his family make ends meet. During his youth, he also became the youngest eagle scout in the state. Walton would later work his way through college at the University of Missouri. Walton excelled both academically and personally. His degree was in economics and he would manage his first store at the age of 26. He would quadruple the value of this store by providing cheaper products and keeping the store shelves stocked. He continued to develop fantastic marketing ability and was extremely competitive with other businesses. He would open up multiple different five-and-dime stores, one of them being in Bentonville Arkansas where the corporate office of Walmart is today. He also owned multiple different Ben Franklin stores. His greatest success though would be Walmart. Originally the Walmart corporate design was to provide American-made products at a cheap price to compete with a foreign market. At one time Samuel Walton was the world's wealthiest man. Over time, Walmart has become the biggest private employer in the world. there are nearly 5,000 Walmarts in the United States, over 11,000 in the world, and over 2.2 million employees.

      Walmart today is known as a One-Stop shop where you can purchase anything you need in one store. Walmart revolutionized the shopping experience by creating super stores that provided a mass variety of different products. It seems that Walmart can provide everything that you need. The Bible speaks about somebody who provides for all of our needs. Paul writes in Philippians 4:19 "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Jesus is literally our spiritual superstore who we can come to about any matter, any time, anywhere. Philippians 4:19 is a promise from God that he will supply for us, that he will take care of us. He does this through the immeasurable riches of his son Jesus Christ. The immeasurable riches do not necessarily refer to the physical but to the spiritual. God takes care of his own in incredible and often jaw-dropping ways. Reflect at this moment on how God has provided for you.

God, We have a Problem: April 17th Devotional

 

God, We Have a Problem

April 17th Devo

Psalm 55:22

      On this day in 1970, the hobbled Apollo 13 spacecraft splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean. Apollo 13’s fame wasn’t the splashdown, instead, its fame was over the troubled journey the crew endured. On April 11th all of America watched as the Saturn V rocket carried the Apollo 13 crew from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral to the heavens. This same rocket was used twice the year prior, taking the Apollo VI and Apollo VII crews safely to the moon. The crew consisted of Fred Haise, James Lovell, and John Swigert. This was the fifth lunar mission commissioned by NASA and was supposed to be the third time man stepped foot on the moon. This journey would forever be remembered for a near tragedy. On April 14th the crew was about 210,000 miles from Earth, almost to the moon. The crew had been in flight for nearly 56 hours and had just finished a national tv broadcast. They were inspecting the craft when an explosion rocked the ship. At 9:08 Eastern time astronauts Swigert and Lovell radioed in saying "Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Oxygen tank 2 had exploded causing a major mechanical issue. This issue disrupted the flow of oxygen, electricity, water, and light to the vessel. This was a worrisome event because the ship was losing oxygen and fuel at an alarming rate. NASA quickly aborted a moon landing and started scrambling to find a way to get the three astronauts back home. Both the astronauts and NASA worked tirelessly to get the crippled and cold ship to circle the moon and loop back to head back to Earth. The crew had to abandon the Command Module and instead move into the LM (Landing Module). The Landing Module was only designed to get the astronauts onto the moon and back to the command module. It was not designed for a crew of three, nor did it have the appropriate amount of oxygen needed for the journey. The other complication was that it struggled to move the Carbon Dioxide from the module. The crew bunkered down in the nearly freezing temperature. Only by a miracle was the crew able to safely land back on Earth on April 17th.

      The movie Apollo 13 took from creative license when they changed the SOS to say “Houston, we have a problem.” Apollo 13 did indeed have a very real problem, one of a life-or-death nature. We as Christians have problems and worries too, but we don't say "Houston we have a problem." Instead, we should say "God, I've got a problem." Psalm 55:22 says "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." God invites us to come and lay down our burdens at His feet. We can take any problem to God, we can cry out to Him no matter what may be the case. God works in the impossible. God never panics when we cry out to Him. Unlike NASA’s ground control, God is perfectly in control. He already has it figured out. The word sustain in the passage is translated elsewhere as nourishing or feeding. The text seems to provide the image of God feeding us, and taking care of us as we cast our burdens on Him. God does not want the burdens of this life to destroy you or stifle you. He wants to take care of you as you travel through this pilgrim pathway. Cry out to Him, “GOD, I’ve got a problem; I need your help.” He hears you, He cares, and He is actively already working for your good and His glory.