What have you been blessed with?

Today I was reading one of my favorite forums and a member was complaining. His complaint was that a woman he worked with transmission when out. The pastor of her church overheard her praying and the church payed to have her transmission replaced. Although this forum member did not attend her church, he was furious that her church did such a thing.

How often do we see someone receive a blessing and have jealousy set in? Does it ever seem like God has overlooked your problems while tending to the needs of others? Honestly now? I will admit, I have been there.

Now let me offer up this idea. Maybe God has chosen to bless us with character rather than cash. Some times when difficult times arise, we are forced to make choices we would not otherwise have to make. When money runs short, we are forced to look at what is our needs and our wants. Perhaps a situation may come along that would give us the opportunity to unethically improve our situation. Choosing the right things builds character within us. Material things are temporary, but our integrity last forever.

So the next time you feel like you got overlooked by God, I hope you remember this post and thank God for his blessings.

About my blog

So here I am joining the world of bloggers. I used to post blogs on Myspace, but since switching to Facebook, I lost that option. On occasion, I get the urge to share something that's on my mind. I do not intend to have a theme for my blog, just random thoughts. Hence the name "welcom to my brain." You have probably noticed by now that welcom is spelled wrong. This was done for two reasons. Reason 1, when I filled out the info to start the blog, I misspelled the word. Once I discovered my mistake and tried to change it, the correct spelling was already taken. I was already sold on the title and I didn't want to change it. Reason two, I am a horrible speller. If not for spell check, there would be more misspelled words than ones spelled correctly. It is only fitting that the introduction to my thoughts, is flawed.

So what should you expect from my blog? Nothing and anything. I am neither a profit, poet or saint by trade, although sometimes these may shine through. I am an average man with unusual thoughts.At any given moment my brain is moving at a mile a minute and some of the things I ponder on lead me to strange places. I am using this forum to share some of my more notable thoughts, ideas and opinions. Some posts will be deep, others will be humorous and sometimes a simple venting. If you so choose to read, I hope you are at least entertained.

Enjoy your visit at your own risk. My mind is a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

Brian

Goliath's Helmet

The other night I was lying in bead and for some reason, I was thinking about the story of David and Goliath. The thought hit me, what happened to Goliath's helmet?

1 Samuel 17: ⁴And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
   ⁵And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

I know a bit about metal but not much in the way of philistine armor. Brass is a soft metal. It would serve well to absorb the impact of a stone without much damage to the wearer. Perhaps the helmets only protected the tops and back of the head and not the forehead. I ran a search on philistine armor and by all accounts, the helmet would have covered all of Goliath's forehead. So how did David stick a rock in Goliath's forehead?
(1 Samuel 17: 49)

I do not intend to discredit God's hand in this matter but this is what I think may have happened.  I think Goliath saw David unarmored and without a sword. Seeing this obviously insulted Goliath's ego. After all, he did say "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?" (1 Samuel 17:43) . If you read the chapter, Goliath approached David (Verse 41) but later in the passage it says, "when the philistine arose" (Verse 48). Why was he getting up? Why did he sit down? I think he sat down to remove his armor, helmet included.
Surly a man of Goliath's size wouldn't need all this armor against a child. I think Goliath removed his armor in an act of pride.

Now back to my world. How many times do I remove my armor in an act of pride? "I know what I am doing, why do I need instructions?" "No, I got it. I don't need help lifting this." "I know where I am going, I don't need to ask directions"

It has me wondering how many times my downfalls were my own doing. We have armor all around us. Our friends, family, faith and our God. How many times do I push these away to fulfill a selfish sense of pride. How long until this pride lands a rock in my scull?

Proverbs 16:¹⁸"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."